Takedown Report

College Results & News (6th)

CornHuskers Score Two Victories at Nebraska Duals
The fifth-ranked Nebraska wrestling team scored a pair of season-opening victories over ranked Division II foes as part of the Nebraska Duals on Thursday night. The event featured the Huskers, 24th-ranked Chadron State, Hastings College and fourth-ranked Nebraska-Kearney.  The Big Red first grappled with Chadron State. The 1,477 fans in attendance at the Devaney Center had barely taken their seats before redshirt freshman Alex Thomsen (125) pinned Tate Stoddard in their 58-second match. The Huskers then scored decisions in their next five bouts. Zak Hensley (133), Christian Miller (141) and Caleb Licking (149) all secured victories before Johnny Blankenship (157) triumphed over fifth-ranked Chase Clasen 7-4. Following a closely-contested bout at 165 between Tate Allison and junior Dalton Peters, returning All-American Mikey Labriola (174) needed only 13 seconds to pin Gavin Eason. A sixth-place finisher at the 2019 NCAA Championships, the third-ranked Labriola began his sophomore campaign in style.  Rest of the story at https://huskers.com/news/2019/11/7/wrestling-nebraska-duals-recap.aspx?mc_cid=12fcfb3e66&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

TRANSITION WRESTLING

COLLEGIATE WOMEN’S WRESTLING NEWS
College wrestling to follow Nov. 7-10
by Gabrielle Lord-Klein Posted onNovember 6, 2019
A look at college women’s wrestling for the second week of November.
Thursday, Nov. 7
Dual: Southern Oregon University vs. Menlo College
Hosted by Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR
Starts at 7pm PT
Watch: via SOU livestream
Dual Records: SOU (2-0), Menlo (0-0)
Notables
– The Menlo Oaks are the 2019 WCWA & NAIA National Team Champions, with 3 champs at the 2019 WCWA’s and 5 champs at the 2019 NAIA’s. Rest of the story and details at https://www.transitionwrestling.com/college-wrestling-to-follow-nov-7-10/?mc_cid=12fcfb3e66&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Second-Ranked Wabash Wrestling Takes New Approach To Upcoming Season

The Wabash wrestling team opens its 2019-20 season Saturday with a slightly different approach. The Little Giants enter the season ranked second in the nation in the preseason National Wrestling Coaches Association poll. Wabash sent six wrestlers to the 2019 NCAA Division III National Tournament with three earning All-America awards. The Little Giants tied for ninth place overall at the tournament marking the first time since 2014 the team finished outside of the top-five places. That has Wabash head coach Brian Anderson and his staff looking at the overall process for this season. “We want to get back in the hunt for a trophy,” Anderson said. “The last two years we’ve kind of been on the outside looking in. It’s always better to come away from the national tournament with a big trophy in your hand. I think our guys want that feeling back this year. “To do that our approach needs to change. We need to not be so focused on the end results but more on the process that gets us there. That’s what we’ve been preaching at the start of the season. We want to take everything one day at a time and stay focused on the short-term goals. That will allow us to accomplish our long-term goals. We’re attacking the whole season that way.” Thirty-four upperclassmen make up the veteran portion of the Wabash roster for the 2019-20 season. Leading the way for the Little Giants is 2019 174-pound national champion Darden Schurg. A two-time All-American and the 2019 DIII Wrestler of the Year, he enters the year as the top-ranked wrestler in the weight class and one of seven Little Giants earning spots in the NWCA preseason individual rankings. Rest of the story at https://sports.wabash.edu/news/2019/11/7/second-ranked-wabash-wrestling-takes-new-approach-to-upcoming-season.aspx?mc_cid=12fcfb3e66&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Conel ready for fresh, healthy start with Nittany Lions
Less than a year ago, Kyle Conel was staring down a daunting shoulder surgery and quite possibly the end of his wrestling career. On Tuesday, the former Kent State standout stood near the door of Penn State’s Lorenzo Wrestling Complex, in front of a throng of reporters wearing a big grin, his arms crossed as he took stock of his new home.
One thing has stood out to the newcomer who arrived at Penn State as a graduate transfer earlier this year. The Nittany Lions’ room is fun. Conel looked out over a row of exercise bikes where a handful of his new teammates were setting up a game of battleball on the mats.  “There are a ton of smiles,” Conel said. “It just reminds me of how much fun I had back in high school.” And Penn State fans will remember Conel. They rooted for him as if he was one of their own two years ago at the NCAA Championships. There, Conel made a name for himself with a stirring run of upsets, including a pin of Ohio State’s Kollin Moore. That win helped Conel take third in the tournament. It also helped propel the Nittany Lions to the team title. Rest of the story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1573231610787&twSessionId=fxhzddotvv&postId=1728639132&mc_cid=4e11e7aebd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

The MatBoss Podcast Episode 40: Keith Gavin
Third-year head wrestling coach Keith Gavin from Pittsburgh joins The MatBoss Podcast for Episode 40. On this edition, host Chad Dennis talks about Gavin’s prospectus for the 2019-20 season with his Panthers wrestling team and how the squad is looking to push through after a successful dual season a year ago, but a disappointing NCAA championships. Rest of the story and audio at http://matbossapp.hs-sites.com/blog/the-matboss-podcast-episode-40-keith-gavin?mc_cid=4e11e7aebd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

RUDIS Wrestling Podcast #99: The Princeton Open and the Impact of True Freshmen
On this Episode of the RUDIS Wrestling Podcast Benn Askren and Matt Dernlan continue their coverage of the opening week of college wrestling season. They begin their discussion with a continuation on the topic of talent in sports and then move into a discussion of the advantages of starting your sport at certain ages vs holding athletes back from a sport. Askren and Dernlan also cover the results of Missouri vs Virginia Tech, as well as the Princeton open, … Rest of the story and audio at https://therudis.com/podcast-99-princeton-open-and-the-impact-of-true-freshman/?mc_cid=4e11e7aebd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Five Things To Watch for in DII Wrestling This Weekend
Last week may have opened the NCAA Division II wrestling season, but this week really starts kicking things into high gear. There are great Opens taking place as well as some very good duals. With so much to take in, here are five things you absolutely do not want to miss. 
1) Kaufman-Brand/Bayly Open
A host of teams will descend upon St Louis this weekend to take part in the annual Maryville Kaufman-Brand/Bayly Open. From here on out, I will simply call it the MKBBO because it has a nice ring to it (COPYRIGHT!). Nine Division II teams will mix with teams from Division I, Division III, and the NAIA for a shot at winning one of the biggest open tournaments this season. Five of the nine Division II teams are ranked in the TOM top 25. We will get to see revamped lineups from fourth-ranked McKendree University and finally find out what fifth-ranked Lindenwood is going to do at the logjam between 133 and 157. I am wondering if coach Rollins will just enter all of them at 149 and see if he can make me lose my mind. The MKBBO will have visitors from Illinois, Mizzou, Purdue, and SIUE that will be carrying the banner for Division I. Incredibly, this tournament has traveled from the “other school” to its new home at Maryville. The legacy that Mike Denney built at the “other school” continues to grow at Maryville and we should all witness and applaud its continued success. The action will be Trackwrestling.
2) MEGA DUAL!!!!!
Come one come all to witness a battle of giants in Division II taking place at the site of one of the most famous wars in antiquity. Top-ranked Pitt-Johnstown and third-ranked St Cloud State are squaring off in Troy!  Rest of the story at https://news.theopenmat.com/college-wrestling-news/five-things-to-watch-for-in-dii-wrestling-this-weekend/75310?mc_cid=4e11e7aebd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

‘A ton of hammers in here’: Augsburg’s new women’s wrestling team kicks off season
When Augsburg University’s women’ wrestling team begins its season on Saturday, it does so with a completely blank slate. The program is the only varsity collegiate wrestling team for women in Minnesota, and it’s new this year. Saturday’s competition at Waldorf University in Iowa will be the team’s first. Of the 10 Augsburg wrestlers, most are first-years, including Vayle-rae Baker from Pennsylvania. “I feel like it’s my art,” Baker said of wrestling. “It’s what I love to do. I get to have my own style, I get to have my own performances when I go out and wrestle. And it’s the bonds that you make, and the connections. It’s like a family.” Baker’s teammate, sophomore Bel Snyder, grew up in a wrestling family but initially played basketball at Wadena-Deer Creek High School in central Minnesota. Rest of the story at https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/11/08/we-have-a-ton-of-hammers-in-here-augsburg-universitys-new-womens-wrestling-team?mc_cid=4e11e7aebd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

November 12, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A sport of their own

A high school wrestler from Kansas spent four years fighting to give girls the OPPORTUNITY to compete in an official state sport.
MCPHERSON, Kan.
She was awkward at sports that involved rackets, balls or any kind of equipment. And the middle school girls she considered friends picked on her instead. Finally fed up with being bullied, Mya Kretzer looked for a new crowd in seventh grade and found it in wrestling, a sport that ran through her family like strong winds whip through Kansas. She loved wrestling’s demands: the discipline and commitment required to control an opponent using only skill, technique and grit. And if she had to practice and compete against sweaty boys, the chance to wrestle was worth it, she decided. But no matter how much she improved, Kretzer soon realized she would never have a realistic chance to become a state champion. She could compete and enter any tournament she chose. But because Kansas didn’t recognize girls’ wrestling as an official sport, she would have to beat the best boys in her weight class to win a state title — a virtual impossibility given the greater strength and muscle mass boys tend to develop as they get older. What girls needed, she believed, was to have a sport of their own. Achieving that goal came to define her high school wrestling career. Rest of the story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/sports/girls-wrestling-high-school-mya-kretzer/?mc_cid=4e11e7aebd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

November 12, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

TAR HEELS PICK UP ROAD WIN OVER MICHIGAN, 19-17

ANN ARBOR, Mich. —Clay Lautt’s first-period pin and A.C. Headlee’s win over No. 10 Will Lewan helped lead No. 17 North Carolina to a 19-17 win over No. 19 Michigan Friday night at Cliff Keen Arena. After Michigan scored bonus points at 125 pounds, Jaime Hernandez stormed out of the gate to collect a 20-7 major decision over Austin Assad. Zach Sherman followed up Hernandez’s standout performance with a 9-3 with over Ben Freeman, giving the Tar Heels their first lead of the night, 7-4 in the team score.
Michigan picked up a win at 149 pounds, but A.C. Headlee’s upset win over Lewan proved to be one of the major turning points of the night. Leading 3-2 late, Headlee used strong defense and late-match effort to fight Lewan’s pressing offense, ultimately scoring a takedown late for a 5-2 decision.
No. 16 Kennedy Monday’s decision extended UNC’s lead to 13-7 before Clay Lautt locked up the performance of the night with a pin over Reece Hughes. At a new weight down at 174, Lautt was able to secure a cradle of Hughes and win via fall in 2:19. That bumped Carolina’s lead to 19-7, enough to fight off the Wolverines’ late run. Rest of the story at https://goheels.com/news/2019/11/8/wrestling-no-19-unc-picks-up-road-win-over-no-17-michigan-19-17.aspx?mc_cid=4e11e7aebd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

November 12, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment