Takedown Report

Wrestling magazines announce 2019 college awards

It’s been a couple months since the college wrestling mats were rolled up and put away for the season. Even though it’s the offseason, now is an unbeatable time for three national wrestling magazines — WIN (Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine), Wrestling USA and Amateur Wrestling News — to reveal their award winners for the 2018-2019 season. 
WIN 2019 special award winners
In terms of wrestling awards, WIN magazine may be best known for its Dan Hodge Trophy, given each year to the nation’s top college wrestler a week or so after the conclusion of wrestling season. (This year’s honoree: Bo Nickal of Penn State.) The May 29, 2019 issue of WIN unveiled its choices for its annual collegiate awards beyond the Hodge, including:
Dan Gable Coach of the Year: Rutgers’ Scott Goodale: Goodale, head coach at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, since 2007, was honored with year’s award for guiding the Scarlet Knights to their first top ten finish at the NCAA championships… and for coaching the program’s first national champions in Nick Suriano at 133 pounds, and Anthony Ashnault at 149.  “We needed a year like this. Top guys growing up wanting to wrestle at a top-brand school,” the 47-year-old Goodale told WIN Editor Mike Finn. “The elite schools are brand names so it’s been super, super hard to get those guys to believe in what we’re trying to do. I like to think, from a wrestling standpoint, we are making Rutgers a brand name.”
WIN first presented its Coach of the Year award in 1997.
Schalles Award: Penn State’s Bo Nickal: Nickal, who concluded his college mat career with his third NCAA title, the 2019 Hodge Trophy and 2019 InterMat Wrestler of the Year honors, also managed to be the nation’s top pinner for the second straight season… making the Nittany Lion fall guy a natural choice to receive an award named in honor of Wade Schalles, one of the all-time top collegiate pinners in his time at Clarion in the early 1970s. 
“Being in the Penn State room and having the amazing partner and coaches that I have, I’ve seen ten times the in practice every situation I’ve been in during a match,” according to Nickal, who also won the Schalles Award in 2018. Rest of the story and photos at https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/21994

June 5, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized