Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

Dave Mariola Jr. steps down at Barberton to take over wrestling program at Walsh Jesuit

Dave Mariola Jr. will step down as Barberton wrestling coach after 20 seasons to take over the wrestling program at Walsh Jesuit. Mariola has 31 years of coaching experience. He is in his 28th year as a physical education and health teacher, and will remain a teacher at Barberton.

Previous Walsh coach Tom Milkovich will be on Mariola’s staff along with Louden Gordon, Louie Iacoboni and Larry Vance. Milkovich was a three-time high school Ohio state champion at Maple Heights, a four-time Big Ten champion at Michigan State with an undefeated record in conference matches, an NCAA champion and a veteran coach. “I am extremely proud and honored to be able to take the reins of this program and feel very blessed to have a staff including Tom Milkovich,” Mariola said. “Tom has been a longtime mentor and fried of mine in the sport of wrestling and it will be great to sit in the coaching chair next to him. Additionally, with Louden, Louie and Larry, who were all high school Ohio state champions and have many years of experience coaching wrestling, we feel that we will have one of the best high school wrestling staffs.”

Mariola won a Division II state title at 155 pounds during his senior year in 1983 at Bedford St. Peter Chanel High School, and proceeded to wrestle on scholarship at Michigan State before graduating in 1989. He received All-American honors as a redshirt sophomore in 1986 when he placed fifth at 177 pounds in the Division I national tournament. Mariola taught at Nordonia from 1994-1999 and was the Knights wrestling coach. He has an overall dual meet record of 302-129-2 (48-16-2 at Nordonia and 254-113-0 at Barberton). “When Dave Mariola arrived at BHS, he had seven wrestlers in the high school program and leaves the program with over 30 high school wrestlers, a strong middle school team and an organized and competitive youth program,” Barberton Athletic Director John Sabol said. “He has taken the Rest of the story in the Akron Beacon Journal at https://www.ohio.com/sports/20190331/high-school-notebook-dave-mariola-jr-steps-down-at-barberton-to-take-over-wrestling-program-at-walsh-jesuit?mc_cid=79c4ac01bf&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 5, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Relive the 2019 NCAA Championships with WIN Magazine’s Commemorative Issue

Here is your chance to relive all the exciting moments that took place at the 2019 NCAA Division I Nationals, which took place March 21-23 in Pittsburgh, Pa., in WIN Magazine’s 2019 NCAA Commemorative/Hodge Trophy Special issue (Vol. 25, Issue 6) that was printed April 5. WIN Magazine was there to cover a 25th straight tournament and is ready to bring you features on all ten individual champions as well as a breakdown how all the top teams did and Penn State’s fourth-straight team title and eighth in the past nine years. Rest of the story and details at http://www.win-magazine.com/current-past-issues/

April 5, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sesker Slant: Final thoughts on college season

By Craig Sesker For the Predicament
The 2019 NCAA Division I Championships are in the books and it was another successful event with sellout crowds and great competition. It was another exciting season with so many compelling story lines.

Here are my final thoughts on the college season:
What can you say about Iowa’s Spencer Lee? He had his share of doubters and detractors after losing three matches this season, but Lee showed he’s at his best on the big stage. The Cadet world champion and two-time Junior world champion delivered by earning his second straight NCAA title at 125 pounds. It will be interesting to see if he makes a run at the 2020 Olympic Team in freestyle.

David Taylor and Ed Ruth formed one of the best 1-2 punches during their fabulous careers at Penn State, but Bo Nickal and Jason Nolf were every bit as impressive during their careers for the Nittany Lions. Taylor and Ruth combined to lead PSU to four team titles while Nickal and Nolf also led Penn State to four gold trophies. No matter what team you cheer for, all of these guys wrestled an aggressive, entertaining style that was fun to watch. Nickal was my pick for the Hodge Trophy with Nolf coming in a close second. It was great to see Kevin Dresser’s Iowa State Cyclones bounce back with a strong season this year. He was named national coach of the year and ISU had two All-Americans after finishing second in the Big 12. This is just the beginning. The Cyclones are back and they will continue to improve.

Kudos to NAIA powerhouse Grand View. They keep winning national titles and they keep doing it in impressive fashion. It was a rough finish to the season for the Wartburg Knights, but the Knights will be back. You can count on that. Their program is too strong. One of the best stories that came out of the 2019 NCAAs was that of Northern Iowa senior Drew Foster. He never won a state title, wasn’t considered by many to be a Division I prospect and he nearly played college football. But Foster chose to wrestle at UNI, and made great strides for the Panthers under assistant coach Randy Pugh. Foster had been an All-American before, but virtually nobody was picking him to win a national title this year. Foster did an incredible job to cap his career with an NCAA title at 184 pounds. It was awesome to watch. Rest of the story at https://www.thepredicament.com/2019/03/sesker-slant-final-thoughts-on-college-season/?mc_cid=6106e1abe5&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 5, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Why Shouldn’t All Girls Have the Opportunity to Benefit From Wrestling?

By Shannyn Gillespie
As a former U.S. Olympic Education Center (Marquette, MI) women’s wrestling coach, the author’s charge was to ready & develop female wrestlers for the U.S. Olympic Training Center (Colorado Springs, CO), Jr. World Championships, & the World University Championships. This task was challenging largely because, at the time in 2005, there were only 2 sanctioned high school girls wrestling state championships to recruit from (most recruits were noticed at junior national championships). Fourteen years later, there are 6 sanctioned high school girls wrestling state championships…

To be certain, female wrestling worldwide and in the USA is slowly growing (around 17,000 US high school female participants) even though there are a low number of sanctioned high school girls wrestling state championships (6 as of 2019; 7 to add for 2020) or female only wrestling leagues (38+ college teams included in WCWA & NAIA). Despite this inequity, many females do wrestle and thrive in the sport. This article lists some of those successful female wrestlers who are also pioneers. These pioneers have added their perspective on how and why females deserve their own wrestling leagues plus girls-only wrestling state championships in the USA. Rest of the story and timeline at https://news.theopenmat.com/womens-wrestling/why-shouldnt-all-girls-have-the-opportunity-to-benefit-from-wrestling/72509?mc_cid=6106e1abe5&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 5, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Collegiate wrestling shines at PPG Paints Arena

Year in and year out, wrestlers from the WPIAL move on to the college ranks and dominate in the NCAA tournament like no other region in the country. This year was no different, only for one exception — they got to do it in front of their family, friends and hometown fans at PPG Paints Arena. For the first time in more than 60 years, the NCAA Division I wrestling championships — or as Iowa associate head coach and two-time world champion Terry Brands calls it, “The toughest tournament in the world” — returned to the mecca of amateur wrestling in Western Pennsylvania to showcase the sport’s brightest stars from all over the country.

Penn State did what it always does — win. The Nittany Lions have won four NCAA team championships in a row and eight out of the past nine. So did Spencer Lee, a three-time PIAA champion and three-time age-level world champion from Franklin Regional High School who has yet to lose a match at NCAAs in two trips while outscoring his opponents, 113-10. But while most of the favorites won as expected, no one is safe from the imminent danger of a tournament where 330 of the nation’s top wrestlers are competing for the same goal, with only 10 national championships to go around. Someone has to leave empty handed. Rest of the story at https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/psu/2019/03/26/NCAA-Wrestling-Championships-PPG-Paints-Arena-Penn-State-Jason-Nolf-Spencer-Lee-Franklin-Regional/stories/201903250122?mc_cid=19991bd8ba&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 5, 2019 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment