Takedown Report

41st College News, Results & Reports

Everything you need to know about the nine best freshmen in college wrestling right now
Every college wrestler has four chances to compete in the NCAA tournament, four years to make a mark and leave a legacy. Sometimes an athlete needs a few years of experience to work his way to the top of the podium. Some years, freshmen phenoms come out the gates on fire and cruise to first-place finishes in the national tournament, like Mekhi Lewis did in 2019. Lewis was the only freshman champion of the ten NCAA winners last year, and while he opted to take an Olympic redshirt this year, nearly a dozen freshman have emerged from this year’s crop of talent looking to find similar success in March. 
COLLEGE WRESTLING: 7 breakout candidates who could become All-Americans this year
Here’s what you need to know about the nine freshman athletes ranked in the top 10 of the Intermat rankings, and how they might fare in their NCAA tournament debut: 
No. 2 Trent Hidlay – North Carolina State
Following in the footsteps of his older brother Hayden, Trent Hidlay has already made an impact on the North Carolina State Wolfpack wrestling program as a redshirt freshman and currently holds the No. 2 spot in the country at 184 pounds. He’s the highest ranking freshman in the country at the moment, and after winning Bronze at the Junior World Championship, Hidlay’s momentum hasn’t slowed down at all. He currently holds a 11-1 record with his only loss coming against two-time NCAA champion Zahid Valencia at the Cliff Keen Invitational. 

SUMMER SUCCESS: Here’s what we learned about Trent Hidlay from his Junior World Championship performance

The success of the younger Hidlay shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has been following the upper-weight wrestler since he stepped on campus for his redshirt season in 2018. As a first-year competitor for the Wolfpack, Hidlay went 24-2 in open tournaments and took home titles at the Hokie Open, Bearcat Open, Wolfpack Wrestling Club Open, Appalachian State Open and National Collegiate Open. Now, as a starter in the lineup, Hidlay has been a force for the Pack, defeating No. 4 Taylor Lujan 7-4, No. 6 Lou DePrez 2-1 and No. 7 Ben Darmstadt 7-5. Hidlay’s victories have helped North Carolina State stay undefeated throughout the first half of the season, but challenges still lie ahead. North Carolina State will … Rest of the story at https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2019-12-20/everything-you-need-know-about-nine-best-freshmen-college?mc_cid=a7cbe452af&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

College wrestling’s All-Decade Team selected by Trackwrestling staffers
What would college wrestling’s All-Decade Team look like if you had a vote? Where would Kyle Dake fit into your lineup? Would David Taylor have a place on your team? How about Jordan Burroughs? Would you go with Jason Nolf or Alex Dieringer or someone else at 157 pounds?  All-Star selections are often debatable, especially when considering as many stars as college wrestling showcased during the past decade.  Below are the teams assembled by four Trackwrestling staffers, along with the rationale behind their selections.  Rest of the story and selections at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1577936595500&twSessionId=bgkjmghnsg&postId=2005588132&mc_cid=ece6ffc1ec&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

3rd Season Column 18: Shuffle down to Scuffle-Town
This week about 2 dozen teams will be testing the wrestling waters by the Tennessee River, converging on Chattanooga for the Southern Scuffle. They’ll come from Fargo, North Dakota, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Palo Alto, California, Raleigh, North Carolina, New Brunswick, NJ, and Stillwater, Oklahoma. They’ll represent every Division 1 wrestling conference in the country. The host team, the UTC Mocs, and the Southern Conference in ALL its glory (save two) shall be there. The two day treat Jan. 1st and 2nd will both answer and pose a myriad of questions as the college wrestling season springboards from the last, best in season event to the heart of the dual meet season. The Southern Scuffle presented by Compound Clothing is a full family treat in a city just the right size for a few days of top flight food, fun, nature, history, art and sports entertainment. So what’s to know? Well, pilgrim, glad you asked. Looks like theres some teams thinking they got a good shot at winning the whole darn thing….
CONTENDERS: A FANTASTIC 5 They come from 4 different conferences and they’ll log nearly 5100 miles cumulatively just to arrive at the Scenic City. So what happens when Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, NC State and Stanford all roll up on the rolled out mats in McKenzie Arena? GOOD things, man, good things. Let’s start with that #straightouttaStillwater crew. The Oklahoma State Cowboys are a Southern Scuffle staple, God bless ’em, and Coach John Smith is looking at a real shot or 6 at yet another Tournament title. With Coach JS and company, that’s like another gold bar in the Shahs treasure room(a), but this one will take some extra-heavy lifting to lug back home. Minus current USA #1 57KG Daton Fix (taking an Olympic Redshirt year) and plus a BUNCH of young’uns and no established heavyweight, the ‘Pokes will be pressed hard in this event. Still, they’ll take those 5 #1 pre seeds(b) and run with them, thank you very much. Looks like OK. St. will lean heavily on their big guns to produce up to par and maybe manufacture a couple unexpected podium spots in addition. That would do it indeed. You should be VERY excited to see the senior season debut of one Joe Smith, son of Coach John, #1 pre-seed at 174LB. Joseph, or Joe, has been nothing if not extremely flexible for the Cowboys in his 2XAA career, and hes due for a healthy, properly filled out weight class final season. Also cheer on one Boo Lewallen, who’s sandwiched an AA season for OK. St. in between 1 shortened and 2 injury ended campaigns. A redshirt junior thanks to a medical hardship year, Boo is the Scuffles top pre-seed at 149.(b) Cowboy Up! How far? Going to say all the way here, IF health holds. There is hot breath on their spurs, though, and it’s of a predatory nature. NC State and Pittsburgh come to the Scuffle at the same time for the first time in some time. About 2015 for Coach Pat Popolizio and co., when their 10 strong Packs effort was highlighted by then RS Jr 157LB Tommy Gantts 3rd place showing. The same Scuffle saw Pitts double tough Max Thomusseit, along with Tyler Wilps, Mikey Racciato, and Edgar Bright, all find their way to the podium. Thomusseit had a brutal Scuffle Finals match with eventual 2X National Champ Gabe Dean of Cornell, Maxs only loss till the NCAAs. Wilps would follow his Scuffle 4th place showing with a run all the way to the National Championship Finals. So what to expect from the Panthers and the WolfPack this time around? There are 7 Top 8 pre-seeds for the #AmericanWerewolves, as NC State is affectionately known in this column. And thats without nationally ranked 133LB Jarrett Trombley, healing up back home in Raleigh to prepare for the seasons 2nd half. The Brothers HIDE-lay, Hayden at 157 and Trent at 184, are top seeded at the Scuffle, and Tariq “the Freak” Wilson sits #2 at 141. They, along with #3 seed 197LB Nick Reenan and the Bullard brothers, Thomas at 165 and Daniel at 174, will have to wrestle at least to their seeds for State to sniff the top of the podium. 17 total Werewolves are coming, including 4, count em, 4 heavyweights. EACH with a winning record, but all unseeded. Interesting. For Pitt, also with 7 seeds, it starts and ends with top seeds Micky Phillippi, 133LB, and Demetrius “Meech” Thomas, 285LB. Bookend titles could boost #pinzbugh close to the top, but middlemen Taleb Rahmani, Jake Wentzel, and Gregg Harvey (157, 165, and 174 respectively) will have to add to the profit margin for a Panther pose at the summit. And no, we did not forget Über-tough sophomore 184LB Nino Bonaccorsi. That he is seeded 3rd here speaks to the top end talent at the weight class in Chattanooga. Pitt and NC St. are, obviously, the only schools besides OK. St. to have multiple top seeds. That unaccounted-for #1? Stanfords 165LB super frosh Shane Griffith. Coach Jason Borelli and Stanford have 4 Scuffle title contenders in Griffith, fellow freshman superstar Real Woods at 141, 149LB 2nd seed Requir van der Merwe, and 2019 Scuffle finalist and defending PAC 12 champ Nathan Traxler. The wild card for the Cardinal(c) is @TheBlackCard, senior star 125LB Gabe Townsell. The 2X NCAA qualifier is a USA Freestyle and Greco Roman star in addition to his college exploits, and if Scuffle pre-seeds hold, he will face OK Sts. top seeded Nick Piccininni in the semis. Can the self professed “blast doubles, good raps and Jesus” mat star take down the top seed? Sure. Will he? Probably not, but if not, Stanfords gonna want Gabe climbing that backside of the tournament wall. They’ll NEED him on that wall.(d) Big points from the 5 top 4 seeded Stanford wrestlers could have the defending PAC 12 tournament champs close to or equaling last years 4th place finish.  Rest of the story at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/3rd-season-column-18-shuffle-down-to-scuffle-town/?mc_cid=a7cbe452af&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Readers’ Choice: TheMat.com’s top 10 news/feature articles, and the top 10 education/information stories of 2019
BY USA WRESTLING | JAN. 02, 2020, 
Happy New Year!! Hoping you are fired up about what 2020 will bring in wrestling… Over the last few weeks, we have been inundated with Top 10 lists for the year, not only within wrestling but also in every other aspect of our lives. Of course, opinions are interesting and entertaining, something we like to read and ponder. However, perhaps the best Top 10 stories are based upon what the community tells us, by their decisions to click open a story and read it. Using a metric called “pageviews,” as determined by Google Analytics, we can share some Top 10 lists based upon actual readership. Rest of the story and lists at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/January/02/Top-10-stories-from-TheMatCom?mc_cid=3d23d316ba&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Vikings Take Down Second-Straight Nationally Ranked Opponent
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Senior Bailey Neises used a last-second takedown to force extra time in the 165 pound bout against Western Colorado on Thursday night. The senior then delivered a takedown within 15 seconds to win in sudden victory amidst an electric atmosphere in the Elmen Center as the Vikings defeated No. 23 Western Colorado 24-12. Neises’ win powered the Vikings to a 12-9 lead, one which they would not surrender the rest of the night. Junior Ben Kelvington, now ranked No. 8 at 174 pounds in Division II, followed Neises’ performance with a 5-2 win, before sophomore Daniel Bishop brought the house down with a match clinching pin at 1:33 at 197 pounds.  Rest of the story at https://goaugie.com/news/2020/1/2/wrestling-vikings-take-down-second-straight-nationally-ranked-opponent.aspx?mc_cid=3d23d316ba&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Short Time Shots: We’re Scufflin’ (1-2-20)
There isn’t a whole lot I’m going to go in-depth with tonight, but it’s now 2020 and oddly, this will be statistically the third decade I podcast. Yes, I realize that starting in 2009 and then going through all of the 10s into the 20s is basically 12 years, but whatever. This is Short Time Shots, a mostly daily look at the wrestling scores and more from around the world of wrestling, I’m Jason Bryant. In case you’re wondering, this will continue to be MOSTLY a weeknight show, since I also need to have some semblance of a life on weekends (but I still do the newsletter) and I figure most wrestling fans have an opportunity to consume what’s on the web on the weekend. Or, I’ll just do it on weekdays when relevant, because it’s my show. And probably nothing on Friday night, since I’m heading down to The Clash.
Minnesota Beer of the Night: I’ve been kind of holding out on this one – it’s Castle Danger’s Castle Cream Ale. This was a small brewery in Castle Danger, Minnesota, which is a real place, but now it’s grown to the point it has its own spot in Two Harbors, just north of Duluth. This is a beer that if it’s on draft where you’re at, you buy it. It’s really everything I want in a beer. Not heavy, not hoppy, just smooth, crushable and awesome. I’ll be honest, it’s almost always in my fridge.
New Patron: Mike Conley, a guy I’ve known a long time from his days wrestling at York High School in Virginia. York has a cool history and Yorktown itself is one of those places where history buffs can spend days on end and still not discover all the world-changing events that happened there. Thanks Mike for your support, but that’s the only love I’ll give to those Falcons – well, there’s that one time where I picked Jason Dye to win the state title. Jason Fulmore also jumped on, he’s the guy behind SoutheastWrestling.com. He’s trying to start something rolling there in the south when it comes to wrestling, I’d encourage you to give it a look. Rest of the story at http://www.mattalkonline.com/podcast/shots/short-time-shots-were-scufflin-1-2-20/?mc_cid=3d23d316ba&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

January 6, 2020 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized