Pecora looks beyond No. 1 ranking as UPJ prepares for season
Pat Pecora heard the news about his Pitt-Johnstown wrestling team earning the top ranking in the NCAA Division II National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) preseason poll released on Wednesday and shrugged. Entering his 44th season as coach of the Mountain Cats, Pecora appreciates the recognition but knows better than to put too much emphasis on preseason polls or predictions. “It means absolutely nothing to me right now,” said Pecora, whose Mountain Cats have three returning national champion wrestlers among six All-Americans on the roster. “I think it’s good for the program and good for the fans, but for us, it’s business as usual.” Pitt-Johnstown went 16-3 overall last season, won the NCAA Super Region I Tournament and placed sixth in the NCAA Division II National Tournament. As usual, expectations are high at the Sports Center. Pecora prefers to keep a low preseason profile and let his wrestlers do the talking on the mat. “I haven’t read one article. I haven’t seen one ranking,” Pecora said. “I don’t even look at them until the end of the year,” he said. “I know there is a lot of talk about it and I can hear it. I just try to stay focused on what we’re doing every day, what we’re practicing every day, the guys making the grades, studying hard and working hard.” Pitt-Johnstown received 88 points, six more than second-ranked, defending Division II national champion St. Cloud State in Minnesota. Rest of the story at https://www.tribdem.com/sports/pecora-looks-beyond-no-ranking-as-upj-prepares-for-season/article_1e0e3fe0-fb95-11e9-bdaa-7f81374976c8.html?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Mountain Cat Wrestlers Garner No. 1 National Ranking in NWCA Preseason Poll
With six returning All-Americans, including three NCAA National Champions, Head Coach Pat Pecora‘s Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cat wrestlers earned the national No. 1 ranking when the 2019-20 NCAA Division II National Wrestling Coach’s Association (NWCA) Preseason Poll was released on Wednesday. Pitt-Johnstown received 88 points, six more than second-ranked and defending NCAA National Champions St. Cloud State (Minn.). McKendree (Ill.) was third with 71 points, while Nebraska-Kearney (68 pts.) and Notre Dame (Ohio) (58 pts.) rounded out the Top-5.
All Six Pitt-Johnstown returning All-Americans were individually ranked, led by Eddins, the top-ranked wrestler at 149 lbs., and Tyler Warner, who was ranked first at 133 lbs. Eddins, a senior two-time NCAA Champion, won the 2018 title at 141 lbs., then moved to 149 lbs. last year and made it back-to-back National Championships with a perfect 24-0 record. The Super Region I Wrestler of the Year also claimed his second Regional title and ranked second in the NCAA’s Most Dominant Wrestler category. After winning a NCAA Division II National Championship at Wheeling Jesuit (WV) last season, Warner transferred to Pitt-Johnstown for his junior season in 2019-20. Warner dealt Nebraska-Kearney’s Wesley Dawkins a 4-1 loss in last season NCAA title bout at 133 lbs. He finished his sophomore season at 25-1. Rest of the story at https://pittjohnstownathletics.com/news/2019/10/30/wrestling-mountain-cat-wrestlers-garner-no-1-national-ranking-in-nwca-preseason-poll.aspx?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
SOME BELIEVE IOWA HAS CLOSED THE GAP WITH PENN STATE, BUT TOM BRANDS WANTS NO PART OF THAT NARRATIVE
By Pat Harty
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – There will be a time again when Penn State doesn’t win the national title in wrestling, but until that happens, Cael Sanderson’s dynasty-in-the-making still is the king until somebody else proves otherwise. That somebody could be a once-proud dynasty from the Midwest that ruled college wrestling for most of the 1980s and 1990s.
Before Penn State, it was Iowa that dominated college wrestling, winning 15 national titles under the legendary Dan Gable, and three apiece under former head coach Jim Zalesky and current head coach Tom Brands.
But not since 2010 has Iowa won a national title in wrestling, and by Iowa’s lofty standards, that’s an eternity. “I think about it every day,” junior Alex Marinelli said at Iowa’s annual media day event on Wednesday. “I’ve got the 2010 national title picture in my apartment right now. My wife and I have it hung up and it’s a motivation for me every single day.” Iowa still has elite status in wrestling, but the dynasty is long gone and has since been supplanted by Penn State’s dynasty, which includes winning eight of the last nine national titles.
Penn State was hit hard by graduation, losing three NCAA individual champions, while Iowa returns the bulk of its roster, and that is fueling a belief that Iowa could be a legitimate threat to Penn State’s dominance.
Wednesday’s media day event was held outside at Kroul Farms on Highway 1 just south of Mount Vernon despite almost freezing temperatures, and the first question asked to Iowa head coach Tom Brands was if he was trying to make a correlation with toughness. The farm is owned and operated by the family of former Iowa football player Matt Kroul. “There’s not a correlation of toughness,” Brands said. “I think wrestlers pride themselves on being tough. That’s not what we’re trying to show. We’re trying to do something different, and include a part of Iowa that is synonymous with wrestling. Rest of the story at https://allhawkeyes.com/pages/story/details/3327?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
and another story on this at https://www.press-citizen.com/story/sports/college/columnists/chad-leistikow/2019/10/30/tom-brands-should-proud-iowa-wrestling-roster-hes-compiled/4095741002/?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
NCAA Division II Wrestling Coaches Association Rankings – October 30, 2019
The NCAA Division II Wrestling Coaches Association Top 25 and Individual Rankings have been released for October 30, 2019. Complete rankings at https://theguillotine.com/2019/10/ncaa-division-ii-wrestling-coaches-association-rankings-october-30-2019/?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Storied Coach Frank Romano Joins John Carroll University
Head coach Mark Hawald will enjoy his biggest staff yet in his five seasons at John Carroll. He was able to keep all four coaches who helped him last year — Chad Rhoades (GA), Dan Anderson, Chad Teague, and Kevin Shadrach. Three of those (Rhoades, Teague, and Shadrach) were wrestlers coached by Hawald earlier in his career. Last year’s staff was able to help the Blue Streak wrestlers achieve numerous honors. In total the team had one All-American, three NCAA qualifiers, six regional place winners and a number of other individual and team achievements. “I am pleased we were able to retain our entire staff from last year” noted Hawald, and “we were also able to add two very strong additions to the staff for this upcoming season.”
Joining the staff this year will be another Hawald coached wrestler in Mitch Tikkanen. Tikkanen joins that staff after wrestling on the team in the last four years. Tikkanen crossed the 50-win plateau in his career as a Blue Streak and was nominated to the second-team all conference in 2017.
Frank Romano will also be joining the Blue Streaks after spending the past 13 seasons at Notre Dame College. Romano took over the Falcons program in the inaugural 2006-07 season and built it into a national power. Frank Romano hired Hawald as an assistant back in 2006, giving Hawald his first chance at coaching collegiate wrestling, and now coach Hawald had the opportunity to hire Romano. Hawald made note of this by saying that his “coaching career has come full circle.” On his arrival, coach Romano said “He hopes to be able to contribute to coach Hawald’s successful program.” Also, “the wrestling community is so small, I know or know of almost all the All-Americans at JCU, (There have been over 100 in program history), and I know that this team’s future is really bright. So, I feel glad to be apart of the staff that helps these talented wrestlers.”
While at Notre Dame, coach Romano brought nothing but success to the new program, posting a 123-14 record in dual meets with the Falcons. Under his leadership, Notre Dame won four NCAA Division II National titles, four NAIA National Titles, and one NCWA National Title for a total of nine national championship in just 13 seasons.
Before arriving to Notre Dame, Romano was the head coach at Kent State University from 1996-2003. During his stint as head coach he coached three All-Americans, 64 national qualifiers, and had 44 Mid-American Conference (MAC) individual champions.
Romano began his wrestling career at Maple Heights High School, where he won two Ohio State Championships. After graduation he chose Ohio State University to continue his wrestling and academic career. As a Buckeye, Romano was a two-year team captain and was a three-time NCAA qualifier and finished top eight in the country his senior year. Romano was a two-time Big Ten place-winner. He became the first wrestler in Ohio State history to be selected to the U.S All-Star meet in 1970. Romano obtained a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Ohio State and a master’s degree in athletic administration from Kent State. Romano’s first year with the Blue Streaks will be his 50th year overall in coaching. Over his 50 years in coaching, he has coached almost every rank of wrestlers from high schoolers all the way through to All-Americans at the Division 1 level. Rest of the story at https://jcusports.com/news/2019/10/30/storied-wrestling-coach-frank-romano-joins-jcu-staff.aspx?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
MAC Announces 2019-20 Wrestling Coaches Preseason Rankings
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is about to embark on a historic 2019-20 wrestling season as the MAC welcomes seven new affiliate members this season as the Conference membership increases to 15 wrestling members, the second-largest NCAA Division I Wrestling Conference in the nation.
The Mid-American Conference wrestling coaches announced the November preseason weight class individual rankings and team rankings in conjunction with the league office today. Based on the rankings, seven-time defending MAC Champion Missouri Tigers (41.0 points) were selected first in the Conference over second-place Old Dominion (32.0 points) and third-place Lock Haven (24.0 points).
The November ranking witnessed Rider (20.0 points) in fourth place, Central Michigan (14.0 points) in fifth place and Northern Illinois (13.0 points) in sixth place. Clarion (12.5 points) ranked seventh, while Buffalo (11.0 points) placed eighth, with Edinboro (10.0 points) in ninth place and Ohio (8.5 points) filled out the top 10 team rankings. Kent State (8.0 points), George Mason (5.5 points), SIUE (5.5 points), Cleveland State (3.0 points) and Bloomsburg (2.0 points) rounded out the team scoring.
Last season, the MAC witnessed six All-Americans and 31 wrestlers seeded in the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championship, and the rise of MAC wrestling continues with great expectations in preparation for the 2019-20 wrestling season. The MAC had six All-Americans in 2019 and will see three of these All-Americans returning this season, including sophomore Brock Mauller (Missouri, 149), who finished fifth at the NCAA Championships, junior Matt Stencel (Central Michigan, 285), who placed seventh at the NCAA Championships and senior Larry Early (Old Dominion, 157), who finished eighth at the NCAA Championships last season. Rest of the story at https://getsomemaction.com/news/2019/10/29/mac-announces-2019-20-wrestling-coaches-preseason-rankings.aspx?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Live Stream Schedule for NCAA Division I Wrestling: Nov. 1st – Nov. 3rd
TDR Editor’s Notes ; Yes, this is being posted late yet it shows another service provided by The Open Mat. Great to see another force promoting wrestling by more coverage of the events. Look forward to future opportunities to watch some college matches.
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25 NCAA Wrestling duals featuring Division I teams are live streaming on the internet this week. Where can you watch? There are many outlets scattered around the web that will provide college wrestling this weekend, some free, some for a fee. Here is the list of all NCAA Division I wrestling events we’ve found steams for starting Friday, November 1st through Sunday, November 3rd, 2019 . If you spot any other DI streams, let us know by sending an email to support@theopenmat.com.
Rest of the story at https://news.theopenmat.com/college-wrestling-news/live-stream-schedule-for-ncaa-division-i-wrestling-nov-1st-nov-3rd/75202?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Olympic wrestler to appear on ‘Talking with Tony
Olympic wrestler Bruce Baumgartner recently visited Newnan for an interview with Tony Jones, which will air on an upcoming episode of “Talking with Tony.”
Baumgartner won gold medals in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and 1992 Barcelona Olympics, a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.“Most of the time my shows are on local people, local coaches, and local athletes,” Jones said. “Kelly Lynch, the local softball player, has come on here more than any other high school athlete. But something like this is something special.” Baumgartner works as the assistant vice president for advancement at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. He was visiting an alum of the university, Steve Mader, when he first visited the Central Educational Center, where the show was filmed. Rest of the story at https://times-herald.com/news/2019/10/olympic-wrestler-to-appear-on-talking-with-tony?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Women’s Wrestling Pioneers: Kent Bailo and the USGWA
By Shannyn Gillespie
The author first met Kent Bailo in 2005 at his US Girls Wrestling Association Nationals, held at Lake Orion H.S., in Auburn Hills, MI. This was 8 years after his first girls only wrestling state tournament.
Mr. Bailo started the USGWA to get more girls involved with our sport partially because of what he saw as a referee. Kent was named Wrestling USA “Man-of-theYear” for 2004 for his work as a coach, referee, and women’s wrestling pioneer. Some of Kent’s wrestling accolades include: high school coach, record of 251-65-2; referee, refereed at 12 Michigan High School State Wrestling Finals, 7 NCAA Division III National Championships; & creating opportunities for girl wrestlers across the USA as you will see.
Not only does Mr. Bailo have credentials in our great sport, he also holds a Master’s degree in Secondary School Administration from Eastern Michigan University AND 11 majors & minors in social studies, history, geography, physical education, psychology, sociology, economics, area studies of Africa, African-American studies, political science, & criminology. Kent has some interesting takes on folkstyle, freestyle, & the growth of wrestling in the USA. Below, you will be able to briefly get inside his mind and discover how he was able to effectively transform the sport of wrestling.
Why did you start the US Girls Wrestling Association?
I saw a few girls here and there when I was reffing [refereeing] in the ‘90’s. Every girl I’d see wrestling (on a boys team), I’d ask, “Are there any other girls in this area wrestling?” And the answer was just about always the same, “they have two at some high school and one at some other high school and that’s about it”. But I reffed in such a wide area (75 mile radius around Metro Detroit), I saw at least 30 girls wrestling and they all thought they were the Lone Ranger – when in fact, there were a lot of girl wrestlers. Also, I’d ask the managers & scorekeepers “why aren’t you wrestling?”
Answer was nearly always, “I would, but not against boys”. So then, my businessman (save wrestling mind) mode kicked in. Why not get all these girls together so they could wrestle each other — then 100% of the winners would be girls. Much easier to like a sport or any endeavor when your chances of success (winning) are greater. Then, I decided to mail a letter to all 480 schools in Michigan that had a wrestling team. One letter to each coach, each athletic director, & each principal so they’d know my intentions were legitimate.
What were some of the obstacles USGWA had to overcome?
Finding a building to host events… No coach was ever interested unless he had a girl or daughter on his team.
Finding refs [referees]… My son Brent, my brother Sam, one other ref and myself reffed that first Michigan State Meet in 1997.
I heard some guys worried about [inappropriately] touching the girls maybe to prevent illegal holds or injuries — but those things never happened… After a couple of years and the USGWA Nationals that started in 1998, the touching issues were never a problem again. Heck, we even had female refs come to Michigan from Missouri & Illinois. Our first Michigan Girls Wrestling State Meet, in 1997, had 116 girls. We allowed 7th & 8th graders to compete to get the numbers up. In the first girls Nationals, at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, we had 272 girls from 35 states.
Why do you believe USGWA Nationals was a success?
The USGWA Nationals were a success because every girl in the country who had a coach — who cared — knew about it. Originally, I was going to mail to 10% of the high schools in each state. Then I thought, “heck Ohio, Indiana, Illinois are all real close, then geez Pennsylvania might bring a lot”. Then, I decided the best thing to do was to mail to EVERY high school in the country that had a wrestling team. I got the coaching directory from every state from the Clell Wade Coaches Directory Company. With the help of my wife, we entered every address in my computer, printed labels, folded 10,500 letters, stuffed envelopes, put on stamps, address labels, & mailed.
Rest of the story at https://news.theopenmat.com/womens-wrestling/womens-wrestling-pioneers-kent-bailo-and-the-usgwa/75165?mc_cid=fd834b255f&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
TOM’s Campus Visit – McKendree
TDR: An interesting story from The Open Mat.
What do you do when you are trying to bring more Division II wrestling coverage to the fans and you have a weekend off from work? I was faced with that conundrum last week and I had myself an idea, what if I traveled four hours south to St Louis. I even had a built-in babysitter in my oldest sister and her family. I have a four-year-old and she has two kids right around the same age. I could drop her off with my sister and give my wife a weekend with just her and our eight-week-old while I took the chance to visit three Division II wrestling powerhouses all within 45 minutes of each other. How could I miss up an opportunity like this? Three emails later and I had visits set up with #4 McKendree University, #5 Lindenwood University, and #9 Maryville University. The trifecta!
Rest of the story at https://news.theopenmat.com/college-wrestling-news/toms-campus-visit-mckendree/75168?mc_cid=fd834b255f&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
TDR blog
After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
Takedown Report 