Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

Bentley Reaches 100 Wins in SoCon Sweep of PC, Davidson

BOONE, N.C. — JohnMark Bentley reached a career milestone Sunday.  
Coincidentally, he achieved it in the company of many App State wrestlers who helped him get there. With a large group of wrestling alums in attendance for the annual Old Timers Match, Bentley picked up the 100th win of his head coaching career as the Mountaineers swept a Southern Conference doubleheader in Varsity Gym.
App State opened the doubleheader with a 48-0 victory against Presbyterian and finished it with a 41-3 victory against Davidson to improve to 3-0 in SoCon action and 4-2 overall. In the process, Bentley improved his career record to 101-68-1 (with five SoCon regular season titles) since he became the Mountaineers’ head coach in 2009.
In between the two wins Sunday, App State recognized its wrestling alums with a presentation that included handshakes from Bentley, who received plenty of congratulatory embraces and comments immediately after the announcement of his 100th victory.
“I’m just honored and humbled and thankful to be able to coach a lot of great wrestlers and a lot of great teams,” Bentley said. “My sights are all looking forward to what we’re going to do to move forward.”
App State picked up 19 wins in 20 total matches, with bonus points resulting from 15 — there were a combined four forfeits. Cary Miller (heavyweight), Matt Zovistoski (157 pounds) and Jonathan Millner (149 pounds) delivered pins as part of 2-0 afternoons, with Millner accounting for 11 points individually thanks to a tech fall in his other match.  Rest of the story at https://appstatesports.com/news/2020/1/12/wrestling-bentley-reaches-100-wins-in-socon-sweep-of-pc-davidson.aspx?mc_cid=35027a7ecb&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

January 13, 2020 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wisconsin considers proposal for girls wrestling division

Girls wanting to wrestle in high school in the state of Wisconsin may soon have a division of their own, as a proposal is under development to create a separate girls division with opportunities to win a state title.
An ad hoc committee comprised of coaches and administrators — along with the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association (WWCA), and the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation — are crafting a proposal that then would go to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA), the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison reported Thursday.
“Girls wrestling is taking off all over the country with nearly 20 states sanctioning a girls division,” according to Stoughton athletic director Mel Dow, a proponent of expanding wrestling opportunities for girls in Wisconsin. “The WWCA has a proposal nearly complete that will allow for girls to join their schools wrestling team, train and compete against comparable opponents throughout the season and then have the opportunity to compete for a state title like the boys have been afforded for decades. The current proposal does not impact the current structure of the boys individual state series and would provide for greater attendance at the WIAA team state event.”
Right now, the proposal would add a separate, fourth division within the current wrestling season… provide an additional level for schools that offer wrestling (a new girls level to join existing varsity, varsity reserve, and junior varsity)… provide opportunity for females to compete for an individual state title… permit girls to practice with the existing team (without need to establish a separate program with its own coach)… and allow girls to choose to compete in regular-season events or girls-only events.
According to the proposal as outlined in the Wisconsin State Journal article, girls would practice with the boys, teams could use the girls in regular-season duals and teams could use females during regional and team sectional events. A girl who qualifies for individual sectionals would have to choose between competing in the boys’ sectional tournament or wrestling in the female state tournament.
The number of high school girls participating in wrestling within the state of Wisconsin is growing quickly. According to statistics supplied by Stoughton’s Dow, in 2018-19, 127 of 333 schools (38%) in Wisconsin had a female wrestler on the roster, with a total of 248 females who wrestled in the state last school year. So far in the 2019-20 school year, 143 of 336 schools (43%) have a female wrestler on the roster and 325 females have competed overall. Rest of the story at https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/22853?fbclid=IwAR0MzEVTU6wAJZqUXOcHX5_BGthmMnGqqBXLvhGz-Q-QNlWINUiKXCcxi5w

January 13, 2020 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

45th College News, Results and Reports

Wrestling Senior Night to Honor C.J. Morgan
WEST POINT, N.Y. – This seasons Army West Point wrestling senior night versus Lehigh, now on Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., has officially been moved to West Orange High School in West Orange, New Jersey, to honor the late Black Knights wrestler, C.J. Morgan. “We just felt like moving our senior day match to West Orange was the right thing to do,” said head coach Kevin Ward. “I left the decision up to our seniors, and they didn’t hesitate, they knew they wanted to wrestle in C.J.’s home gym on senior night. I appreciate everyone’s support in making this happen and we look forward to honoring C.J. on senior night.” Morgan, originally of West Orange,  Rest of the story at https://goarmywestpoint.com/news/2020/1/6/wrestling-senior-night-to-honor-c-j-morgan.aspx?mc_cid=55aa4b0df7&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Mike Raccioppi Honored as PSAC WrestlER of the Week
EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University redshirt senior Mike Raccioppi was announced on Monday as the PSAC Wrestling Athlete of the Week. Raccioppi (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) went 4-0 for the Warriors at the Williams Open and claimed the 174-pound title after defeating Chance Lapier from Castleton University via a 10-8 decision.
His other three wins were pins and totaled 12:32 as he finished fifth among individual wrestlers with the most pins in the least amount of time.
Raccioppi also claimed the 174-pound title at the Bob Quade Cyclone Open, going 4-0 with three pins. He notched an 18-3 tech fall victory against Pitt-Johnstown’s Brock Biddle in a bout between the top two wrestlers in Super Region I to open the 2019-20 season. Raccioppi is currently ranked No. 1 at 174 pounds … Rest of the story at https://esuwarriors.com/news/2020/1/6/mens-wrestling-mike-raccioppi-honored-as-psac-wrestling-athlete-of-the-week.aspx?mc_cid=55aa4b0df7&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Top 10 Oklahoma State Wrestling Moments of the Decade
List of the top 10 OSU wrestling moments of the last ten years
With the 2010s closed up as of last week, I decided to take a look at what I see as the top 10 moments of the decade for Cowboy wrestling
Dieringer wins Hodge
The Hodge award is given annually to the best wrestler in all of college wrestling. For the 2015-16 season, Alex Dieringer was that guy. He was really untouchable for his entire junior and senior season, and for his senior year he was recognized as the best.
Coleman Scott wins Olympic Bronze
In 2012 Coleman Scott won an Olympic Bronze Medal. This was the 16th medal won at the Olympics by a former Oklahoma State wrestler. Relive his medal match here. With the 2010s closed up as of last week, I decided to take a look at what I see as the top 10 moments of the decade for Cowboy wrestling.
Oklahoma State beats Iowa in front of 13,811
What can’t you say about how great this was? The environment, the crowd, the win! To date the, best sporting event I’ve ever attended. The building legitimately shook when Nick Piccininni pinned Spencer Lee.
With the 2010s closed up as of last week, I decided to take a look at what I see as the top 10 moments of the decade for Cowboy wrestling
Grapple on the Gridiron
OSU came out on the losing end of this one, but during the 2015-16 wrestling season Oklahoma State went to Iowa in November and wrestled in front of a 42,287 fans. It’s hard to overstate what big events like this mean for the sport and pretty awesome that OSU was able to be a part of it. Rest of the story, and video at https://pistolsfiringblog.com/top-10-oklahoma-state-wrestling-moments-of-the-decade/?mc_cid=55aa4b0df7&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Northern Iowa’s Taylor Lujan named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for Week 9. This honor serves as the first Conference award of the season for the senior. Lujan won the title at the Midlands Championship, going 5-0 in the process, including a perfect 4-0 in the championship bout. The senior registered a pair of falls and a major decision, while his 25-9 technical fall against Utah Valley’s Jacob Armstrong helped the Panthers to their first Big 12 victory of the season. Rest of the story at https://iawrestle.com/2020/01/07/taylor-lujan-named-big-12-wrestler-of-the-week-2/?mc_cid=381ae09669&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

D3 WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: JOSIAH GEHR
The d3wrestle.com Wrestler of the Week is Josiah Gehr of Messiah. Gehr won the 133 lbs. weight class at the Washington & Lee Jim Crytzer Memorial Tournament last weekend. He started the day with a pair of technical falls and tacked on an 8-0 major decision in the semifinals. This set up a finals match with #1 ranked returning All-American Levi Englman of Ferrum. Gehr overcame an early 3-0 deficit to earn a 5-3 decision. For his efforts, Gehr was named MAC Wrestler of the Week. Gehr, a sophomore from Stevens, Pennsylvania, was … Rest of the story and release at https://www.d3wrestle.com/wrestler-of-the-week-josiah-gehr/?mc_cid=381ae09669&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Mount Union’s Jordin James Finalist for Greater Cleveland Male Collegiate Athlete of the Year
Mount Union junior wrestler Jordin James (Bedford) has been named a finalist for the Greater Cleveland Male Collegiate Athlete of the Year Award that will be presented as part of the 20th annual Greater Cleveland Sports Awards on Wednesday, January 22 at the Renaissance Hotel downtown. James went 34-1 on the mat a year ago as he was just the third wrestler in school history to in an NCAA individual national title. He wrestled at 133 pounds with 15 technical falls, six major decisions and four pins while winning tournament titles at Messiah (Pa.), Wheaton (Ill.) and the NCAA Central Regional. He is an exercise science major, who wrestled his freshman year at Iowa Lakes Community College. His brother Jairod also wrestled at Mount Union and he won the 2018 national title at 174 pounds. The Sports Awards is a celebration that supports a local non-profit and honors …  Rest of the story at http://athletics.mountunion.edu/sports/wrest/2019-20/releases/20200107dcrs13?mc_cid=381ae09669&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Seeing Double: The Twins of Little Rock Wrestling
LITTLE ROCK – You’re seeing double, but you don’t need to get your eyes checked. As Jayden Carson and Jaylen Carson walk in wearing matching Little Rock wrestling sweatshirts, the only major difference between the identical twins is the St. Louis beanie Jaylen wears, representing their hometown. The two usually dress the same, if not always.  “We like the same things because everything we do is done together,” explains Jaylen. That includes clothes, pastimes like fishing, and of course wrestling. The duo committed to Little Rock after buying into head coach Neil Erisman‘s vision for the Trojans: building a squad from scratch and turning the first Division I wrestling team in Arkansas into a high-level program. “We realized they were creating a program where we could have the opportunity to be the first conference champs, the first national champs, and that sounded cool to us,” says Jayden. “Our whole goal since we were younger was to wrestle at the Division I level together. We came here together to reach our dream. We would never leave each other.” “No matter what, we were going together, like a package deal,” Jaylen adds … Rest of the story at https://lrtrojans.com/news/2019/12/13/seeing-double-the-twins-of-little-rock-wrestling.aspx?mc_cid=381ae09669&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Brands: ‘Competition is Good’
IOWA CITY, Iowa — During a typical week, University of Iowa wrestlers Cash Wilcke and Abe Assad eat together once or twice.
Wilcke and Nelson Brands play video games together a couple times every week.

The thing that makes the relationship between these three Hawkeye teammates unique is that they are all competing for the varsity spot at 184 pounds. And they are all pretty darn tough.
Wilcke, a senior, is 11-2 and ranked 10th or 11th in the nation. Brands is a redshirt freshman with a 4-3 record. Assad, a true freshman, is 15-3 competing unattached. At the Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30, Assad placed second, Wilcke third, and Brands went 2-2 and did not place. Any of the three could have their name called when No. 1 Iowa (4-0 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) travels to Indiana on Friday and to No. 18 Purdue on Sunday. “We have three guys (at 184 pounds) who could do the job and we’re not down on any of them,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said Tuesday during … Rest of the story at https://hawkeyesports.com/news/2020/1/7/wrestling-brands-competition-is-good.aspx?mc_cid=381ae09669&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Buckeyes’ win over Sun Devils mixes up Top 10 in first poll of 2020
Manheim, Pennsylvania –  Ohio State’s 17-16 triumph over then-No. 4 Arizona State in a rare Monday night dual in Columbus kicked off the new year with a flurry as the first NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll of 2020 was released on Tuesday. Iowa remained a unanimous No. 1 and was idle in dual meet competition over the break, but the Hawkeyes set a tournament record for points in winning the title at the 57th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships to close out 2019.
There were over 30 duals involving ranked teams since the final poll of 2019, but in large, the rankings didn’t see anything major. Up top, Nebraska (5-0) remained second, followed by Penn State (3-1). With Arizona State’s loss, Virginia Tech (5-0) moved up a spot to No. 4. The Hokies picked up a pair of wins over the break, beating Chattanooga at home and then-No. 24 Central Michigan on the road. Ohio State (3-1) leap-frogged Arizona State and NC State to land at No. 5. NC State (7-0) stayed at No. 6, while ASU slid three spots to No. 7. Wisconsin, (7-1), Oklahoma State (4-1) and Pittsburgh (5-1) remained 8-9-10 to close out the Top 10.
Minnesota, Cornell and North Carolina all picked up four wins over the break, although Cornell and Minnesota also lost duals along the way. Lehigh (4-3) swept the South Beach Duals, going 3-0 with wins over Minnesota, Missouri and Duke. Minnesota (5-3) beat Cornell, Duke and Old Dominion at the South Beach Duals and also topped South Dakota State before Christmas. North Carolina spoiled the Division I home debut of Little Rock and then swept the West Point Duals, beating Wyoming, … Rest of the story at http://www.nwcaonline.com/buckeyes-sundevils-rankings/?mc_cid=381ae09669&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

NWCA DIII Team and Individual Rankings
The NWCA has released their latest 2019 – 2020 Division III team dual meet and individual rankings released by the ranking committee on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.
Individual rankings
Rest of the story and team rankings at http://www.nwcaonline.com/nwca-diii-team-and-individual-rankings/?mc_cid=381ae09669&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

3rd season, Column 19: A Glorious 1st Half; An A-W Recap and Look-Ahead; Cue the Local angle, and…wine times 2
The College Wrestling Season put a beautiful bow on the seasons 1st half with 3 big time events spread from Illinois to Tennessee to Florida. As predicted by most and celebrated by many the Iowa Hawkeyes ran roughshod over the 57th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands with 5 champs and a team point total greater than 2nd place Northern Iowa and 3rd place Illinois combined. The Hawkeyes had 7 finalists, continuing the success shown from the combined 130-18 score of their first 4 dual meet wins. Iowas Midlands title was their 7th in a row and 29th overall. It could realistically be said Iowa could have had 2 more placewinners/finalists had 125LB 2X defending National Champ Spencer Lee not chosen to exit the tournament after cruising into the semifinals, and had 174LB Michael Kemerer been entered. The Hawks didn’t lack for a hero, though, as 165LB Alex Marinelli was named Champion of Champions and took home the Gorarrian award, most pins in least amount of time. For Marinelli any and all wrestling accolades earned and awarded are tinged with sorrow. The loss, prior to last season, of his dear friend (and wifes brother) Eli Stickley in a car accident has been documented nationally by the Flowrestling site. Suffice to say it is Marinellis mission to bring home a title for himself, his team and for family present in both body and spirit. Down Ft. Lauderdale, FL, way, the South Beach Duals is the newbie of the Big 3 events in college wrestlings first half conclusion. Just 3 years young, the Duals saw a format shuffle of sorts this year. Also, some teams committed to the event changed plans and chose the Midlands or the Southern Scuffle instead. 8 of the 9 teams at the event competed in 4 duals with only Lehigh having just 3 matches. Interestingly the Mountain Hawks were the only team to win all of their duals. Minnesota and South Dakota State were 3-1, and Cornell lost just once in 5 matches. Missouri and Michigan State went 2-2, while Wyomings retooled team picked up 1 win. Old Dominion and Duke suffered from bad matchups and some less than stellar effort at times and ended up 0-4. It should be noted that Oklahoma, NC State, and North Dakota State all withdrew from the event. O-U instead rested all but one of their starters and sent freshmen and sophomores to the Midlands, while NC St. and NDSU opted for Chattanooga and the Southern Scuffle. That proved to be fortuitous indeed for both the WolfPack and the Bison, who finished a solid 2nd and a most suprising 5th, respectively, behind champion Oklahoma State, in a field of 2 dozen teams. The Bison in particular blew up this sites top 5 Scuffle team prediction. NDSU easily outpaced Big 10 power Rutgers and fellow tough guy teams Rider, Lock Haven, App St. and up and coming host team UTC. The NC State WolfPack, Pitt Panthers and the Stanford Cardinal all did their part in fulfilling this sites Top 5 contenders status. S’OK, Rutgers, you’re the Scribes homeboyz. You want a Mulligan, you GET a Mulligan. The suprise teams of the Scuffle were no doubt the Bison and Big 12 Conference rival Northern Colorado. The Bears were 6th and both squads had real team efforts. NO titlists for either but 3 finalists and 10 placewinners between the 2 squads, and NDSU was without Top 10 ranked 165LB Andrew Fogarty. All in all the 3 events gave us 2 fairly easily predicted champs and a slew of surprises to set the 2nd half stage. Heres some news and notes from squads perhaps less publicized to … Rest of the story at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/3rd-season-column-19-a-glorious-1st-half-an-a-w-recap-and-look-ahead-cue-the-local-angle-and-wine-times-2/?mc_cid=381ae09669&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

January 13, 2020 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment