Takedown Report

College Results/News # 84 – National Championships

List of National Qualifiers for the NJCAA Tournament
Here is the list of Qualifiers for the NJCAA National Tournament in Council Bluffs on March 6-7…. full list at https://www.thepredicament.com/2020/03/list-of-national-qualifiers-for-the-njcaa-tournament/?mc_cid=0e049afe50&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Hall of Fame’s NCAA Fan Fest Exhibit Will
Feature “North Star State Wrestling Legends”

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame announced on Thursday that it will showcase “North Star State Wrestling Legends” on a 15-feet by 8-feet full color banner at the NCAA Wrestling Fan Fest in The Armory in Minneapolis on March 20-21. Held in conjunction with the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Fan Fest is free to the public and is scheduled to be open from 1-6 p.m. on Friday, March 20, and from 12-5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. Click for Complete Fan Fest Schedule “Minnesota has a long and storied wrestling history and we feel that this exhibit helps us honor their wrestling legends,” said Hall of Fame Executive Director Lee Roy Smith. “We are excited to showcase the national honorees, including six Distinguished Members, and more than 125 deserving individuals honored by our Minnesota Chapter since 2003.” …. story at https://nwhof.org/blog/hall-of-fames-ncaa-fan-fest-exhibit-willfeature-north-star-state-wrestling-legends/?mc_cid=0e049afe50&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Lehigh Finishes A Top of NWCA DI Mid-Major Poll
Manheim, Pennsylvania – Going into this weekend’s qualifying tournaments, the National Wrestling Coaches Association released its final Mid-Major Dual Meet Top 20 poll of the season.. Formulated in 2017, the Mid-Major Top 20 concentrates on the programs that fall outside of the traditional “Power 5” conferences. The EIWA conference dominated the top 5 with four of the top five teams led by Lehigh which was ranked first with all first-place votes. Northern Iowa was right behind the Mountain Hawks in the second position with Princeton in third. Princeton won its first Ivy League Championship since 1986 and had a win in November over Lehigh. Rounding out the top five is Cornell in fourth and Army West Point in fifth. The Southern Conference made a big splash in the next five with Campbell reaching their highest Mid-Major Poll ranking ever falling into the 6th spot. Appalachian State was right on their heels falling into the 8th spot. Rider who had a huge win in November over Minnesota finished in 7th with South Dakota State and Central Michigan rounding out the top 10. …. story and complete list at http://www.nwcaonline.com/lehigh-finishes-a-top-of-nwca-di-mid-major-poll/?mc_cid=0e049afe50&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Pairings Announced For NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships
INDIANAPOLIS – Tyler Makosy (149 pounds), Kaleb Warner (165), Brandon Sloop (184) are all scheduled to battle nationally-ranked foes in the opening round with Friday’s release of the pairings for the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships that are set to take place next weekend inside the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.  
Ninth-ranked and eighth-seeded Nick Daggett drew Adams State’s Isaiah De La Cerda in his opening bout of the 125-pound tournament, while Logan Seliga (133) and Nick Kee (197) will both be assigned opponents following preliminary-round action.  
Sloop will be battling top-ranked Heath Gray for the second time this season when the two face each other in the opening round of the 184-pound tournament. Gray registered a 13-4 major decision over the UNCP senior earlier this season at the Midwest Classic. His five teammates will be grappling their opponents for the first time this season.  
First-round action inside the Denny Sanford Premier Center is scheduled to get underway on March 13 at noon ET. The top eight finishers from each of the 10 weight classes will earn all-America status. …. Story at https://uncpbraves.com/news/2020/3/6/pairings-announced-for-ncaa-division-ii-wrestling-championships.aspx?mc_cid=1a400a2613&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Seeking ninth straight, Grand View gets nine semifinalists for big lead at NAIA Nationals in Kansas
PARK CITY, Kansas – By punching nine athletes into the semifinals round, Grand View (Iowa) took a commanding lead after the first day of the NAIA National Championships. Nick Mitchell’s Vikings, seeking a ninth straight NAIA national title, have almost double the points of the next team in the standings. Grand View has 113 points, which second place Reinhardt at 57.5 points. The battle appears to be for second place, as Cumberlands (Ky.) is in third with 52 points, Menlo (Calif.) is in fourth with 47 points and Baker (Kan.) is in fifth with 45 points. Of those nine semifinalists, Grand View has two weight classes where they put two athletes in the semifinals. At 157 pounds, No. 1 seed Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer will battle teammate and No. 4 seed Dalton Jensen in a semifinal match. At 165 pounds, No. 3 Giovanni Bonilla is in a different semifinal than Grand View teammate No. 4 Kyle Caldwell. …. story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/March/06/Grand-View-takes-commanding-lead-in-NAIA-Nationals?mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Returning champion Clackamas punches five into semifinals to lead at NJCAA Nationals after day one
BY GARY ABBOTT, USA WRESTLING | 
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Defending national champion Clackamas CC earned the most semifinalists with five to take a lead in the team race at the NJCAA National Championships on Friday. Three of Coach Josh Rhoden’s No. 1 seeded athletes advanced into the semifinals, Jason Shaner (133), Joel Romero (157) and Tarik Sutkovic (197). The other semifinalists for Clackamas are No. 11 seed Marckis Branford (141) and No. 4 seed Martin Margolis III (149). Clackamas had 84.5 points, five points ahead of second place Rochester with 79.5. The top five teams are bunched pretty tight, with Iowa Western in third with 71.5 points, Western Wyoming in fourth with 68.5 points and Northeast Oklahoma in fifth with 67 points.
Three teams have four semifinalist, Rochester, Northeast Oklahoma and Ellsworth. With three semifinalists are Iowa Western and Western Wyoming. The only returning NJCAA champion in the field was defeated in the quarterfinals, when Clackamas’ Martin Margolis III edged 2019 national champion Cardionte Wilson of Ellsworth, 11-10. …. story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/March/06/Clackamas-takes-lead-at-NJCAA-Nationals?mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Multi-Divisional Insider: Turbulent regionals set the stage for D2 and D3 NCAA Championships
Expect the unexpected.
Nothing seems out of the ordinary when the postseason rolls around in Division III wrestling. A year ago in Roanoke, Va., a defending national champion and a top-seed, both lost within the first hour of the NCAA Division III championships and neither of them were able to wrestle back to find a spot on the podium. Adding to the unexpected, Ryan Budzek of the College of New Jersey won the 149-pound championship as an unseeded wrestler.
It appears the craziness has started a bit sooner in 2020. Last week’s regional tournaments saw six prior All-Americans not make the 180-man field for the championships set to be held March 13-13 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One of those six was Carlos Champagne of Wabash, seventh a year ago, Champagne was ranked No. 1 at 125 in the latest NWCA Coaches’ Poll. Teams seeking a title in Division III also had a mixed bag of results. Defending champion Augsburg (Upper Midwest) and runner-up Loras (Lower Midwest) each qualified a tournament-high eight wrestlers. All four of the Auggies returning national champions advanced, but only sixth-ranked David Flynn at 141 won a regional title. Two-time national champion Ryan Epps lost 7-6 in tiebreakers to returning All-American Grant Zamin in the 157 final. Two-time champion Lucas Jeske was third at 165 and Lance Benick medically forfeited the 197 final to La Crosse’s Issac Lahr. Augsburg, which will be seeking its 14th team title, which would match Wartburg College for most in Division III history, had four regional champs – Flynn, Aaron Wilson at 149, Solomon Nielsen at 174 and Tannar Vassar at 184. Among Loras’ eight qualifiers, the Duhawks return all five of their All-Americans — Clint Lembeck at 141, Brandon Murray at 157, Eddie Smith at 165, Jacob Krakow at 174 and Guy Patron at 197. Only Murray won a regional championship among Loras’ qualifiers, while Danile Ruiz at 149, Smith, Krakow, Patron and Wyatt Wriedt at 285 were runner-ups. Wartburg, which had been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 all season, stumbled at the Lower Midwest regional. The Knights saw only five wrestlers qualifying, the lowest for the program since the early 1990s.
Three ranked Wartburg wrestlers, including returning All-American Brady Fritz did not qualify. The Knights, who finished sixth last year and for the first time since 2002 did not have a finalist, will be led No. 1 Kristian Rumph at 133 and returning All-American Kyle Briggs at 174. Another story to watch with Wartburg will be Jordan Brandon at heavyweight. The transfer from Iowa Lakes who joined the team at the semester is looking to give the Knights a heavyweight All-American for the 22nd consecutive year. Brandon is ranked eighth. Stevens Institute of Technology qualified the third-most wrestlers, seven, and are ….. story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1583556926558&twSessionId=fsyxmbdvww&postId=768208135&mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

March 29, 2020 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized