Takedown Report

College National Championships Results (#86)

Clackamas repeats as NJCAA National champion, led by individual champion Jason Shaner
BY GARY ABBOTT, USA WRESTLING | MARCH 08, 2020, 
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Led by individual champion Josh Shaner (133), two runners-up and seven All-Americans, Clackamas repeated as the NJCAA Nationals champion on Saturday night. Shaner defeated Ladamien Sturdivant of Iowa Western, 5-3 in the finals, giving coach Josh Rhoden his only individual champion of the night. Cougars Martin Margolis III (149) and Joel Romero (157) placed second. It was the second straight year that Romero was NJCAA runner-up. Rhoden was named Coach of the Year for scholarship programs. Clackamas scored 133.5 points, ahead of second place Northeast Oklahoma with 108.5 points and a third-place tie with Iowa Western and Rochester at 104 points. Rochester was the non-scholarship division national champion with its strong finish. Rochester Coach Randy Rager was named Coach of the Year for non-scholarship teams.
Northeast Oklahoma had an individual champion in Blake Gonzalez (141). Iowa Western had a champion in Isaiah Crosby (165). …. story and complete listing of All-Americans at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/March/08/Clackamas-wins-NJCAA-title?mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

No.1 McKendree Women’s Team Wins NCWWC Championship Title
(ADRIAN, Mich. – Mar. 7) – McKendree University No.1 women’s wrestling competed in the inaugural Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) Friday and Saturday afternoon at Adrian College. The Bearcats finished in first place with 191.0 team points and five individual champions. This was the first national-level tournament and championship in the NCAA for affiliated women’s wrestling programs. The Bearcats had five national champions including Pauline Granados (Rialto, CA/Wilmer Amino Carter High School), Alexia Ward (Portland, OR/Westview High School), Emma Bruntil (), Alexandria Glaude (West Sacramento, CA/Christian Brothers High School) and Sydnee Kimber (Sitka, AK/Mt Edgecombe High School). In addition, they had two second-place finishes, one fourth-place finish, one fifth-place finish, one sixth-place finish, two seventh-place finishes and one eighth-place finish. Below are the individual results for the Bearcats: …. rest of the story at https://mckbearcats.com/news/2020/3/7/no-2-womens-wrestling-becomes-wins-first-ever-ncwwc-championship-title.aspx?mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

REED NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPION FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT SEASON; WRESTLING FINISHES IN FIFTH AT CHAMPIONSHIP
PARK CITY, Kan. – Brandon Reed claimed his second straight NAIA National Championship in the heavyweight class as the Lindsey Wilson wrestling team finished in fifth place. The Blue Raiders totaled 76.5 points throughout the two-day championship. Reed (No. 1 at HW) squared off with Tanner Farmer (No. 2 at HW) of Concordia (Neb.) in the championship bout. After a scoreless first period, Farmer managed the first points of the night with an escape after starting the period down. Reed wasted no time responding as he bullied his opponent into a two-point takedown which nearly resulted in near fall points but the pair transitioned out of bounds. Farmer managed a takedown of his own in the third period to take a 3-2 lead with a minute left but Reed was awarded one stalling point with six seconds remaining to force the extra period. Reed made quick work of claiming his second straight national title in the sudden victory period scoring a takedown to win on a 5-3 decision just over 20 seconds in. Reed opened his second day of competition and his championship run with a close 3-2 decision win over Nick Fowler (No. 5 at HW) of Calumet St. Joseph (Ind.). Trevor Lawson wrestled in the championship bracket semifinals where he was pinned by Riley Jaramillo (No. 7 at 184) of Saint Mary (Kan.) to fall to the consolation semifinals. Lawson closed out his championship with two straight wins to take third place. He defeated Colton Gonzalez (No. 4 at 184) 2-1 in the top-bottom overtime one period. Lawson then produced a 2-1 decision win over Antonio Stewart (No. 2 at 184) of Reinhardt (Ga.) to take third place. …. story at http://www.lindseyathletics.com/article/12553.php?mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

NAIA 2020 Women’s Wrestling Invitational Qualifiers Announced
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Qualifiers by Weight Class | Qualifiers by School | Qualifiers by First Name) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA) has officially announced the qualifiers for the 2020 NAIA Women’s Wrestling National Invitational on Wednesday. The Invitational is hosted by University of Jamestown, N.D.
This is the second year of invitational status for NAIA Women’s Wrestling.
Preliminary brackets will be released on Friday, by 5 PM. …. story at https://www.naia.org/sports/wwrest/2019-20/releases/Wwrest-Qualifier?mc_cid=178e8cf0d6&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

NO. 1 GRAND VIEW COLLECTS 9TH-CONSECUTIVE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Wichita, KS – BRACKETS | TEAM SCORES | No. 1 Grand View claimed their ninth consecutive national title tonight while crowning two individual national champions at the 2020 NAIA National Championship at the Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas. Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer (SR/Buffalo, NY) earned his first national title at his respective weight, 157, after defeating Casey Dobson of Providence in sudden victory, 4-2. Evan Hansen (SR/Kimballton, IA) also earned his fourth-consecutive national championship making Grand View history in being the first wrestler to earn four-straight national championships and the eighth wrestler in the NAIA. Hansen made his mark in the championship when he pinned Isaac Bartel of Montana-State in a fall of 6:37. Grand View scored a total of 157 team points to take the 2020 NAIA Team Title. A 72.5 point gap from the second-place team, Menlo, Grand View dominated throughout the tournament. No. 1 Vikings head coach, Nick Mitchell, tied the longest collegiate championship-winning streak alongside Dan Gable at the University of Iowa. Justin Portillo (JR/Clarion, IA) made his first national championship final appearance where he fell to Nick Kunz of Montana-State by decision 4-1. Portillo finishes the 2020 season 25-7. Kendon Lee (JR/Addis, LA) also made his first championship final appearance where he was pinned in the third period at 6:46. Lee recorded a 22-5 record. Tanner Abbas (FR/Kanawha, IA) fell in the third-place match by decision 4-1 from Devin Everk of Menlo. Abbas finished the tournament in fourth. Teammate Dalton Jensen (FR/Downs, IL) finished 6th while earning All-American honors.  ….. story at http://www.gvvikings.com/article/6612?mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Looking at the seven freshmen who won their conference tournaments
BY MIKE WILLIS, USA WRESTLING | MARCH 10, 2020,
Every season there are elite freshmen who come in immediately ready to contend for an NCAA title. Last season only produced one freshman champion, Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech. Lewis had a strong freshman season, only taking two losses and winning his conference title. This year, there are seven freshman conference champions and all of them are having fantastic debut seasons. Will any of these up and comers win an NCAA title? We’ll find out in two weeks, but until then let’s take a look at the contenders.
*Note the EIWA, MAC and SoCon did not have any freshman champions.
ACC – 1 freshman champion
125 pounds Jakob Camacho (NC State)
Camcho was in the midst of a solid, 18-6, freshman campaign and ranked No. 15 in the country by Flowrestling before entering the conference tournament. He didn’t have a signature win and he took a couple questionable losses, including getting pinned by unranked VMI freshman John McGarry at the Southern Scuffle. At the ACC tournament, Camacho got his signature win in stunning fashion in the finals. The freshman took out returning NCAA finalist Jack Mueller of Virginia, 11-4. Mueller, who is a two-time All-American, was undefeated on the season and had beaten Camacho at a dual meet in January, 5-2. While Camacho, who is now ranked ninth, will have monsters like Iowa’s two-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee and Princeton’s undefeated returning All-American Pat Glory in his bracket, he is someone you need to follow at the NCAA tournament. ….. Story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2020/March/10/Looking-at-the-seven-freshmen-who-won-their-conference-tournaments

3rd Season, Column 28: Conference Crunch, please, 2 scoops; and First Hand Forum
Tasty is not the only word to describe the wrestling wonderment of Marchs 1st full weekend, but it’s a good one. Lets get right to the dessert, shall we? ACC-The Absolutely Calamitous Conference jammed more action into about 12 hours than the Swedish Bikini Teams Olympic Tryouts. Host Pitt came This close to upending regular season Champ and heavily favored NC State but the WolfPack, with quality depth and a big upset win at 125, held off the Panthers by just 4 points. That team triumph added ACC tournament title number two in 3 years to the WolfPacks run of three, count em, three, regular season conference crowns in a row. 9 NC State wrestlers made the semi-finals, and 6 wrestled for an ACC title. Good thing, too, because only 125LB Jakob Camacho and 2X AA 157LB Hayden Hidlay earned Gold. Never leave an opening for a Panther, and stylin Pitt Head Coach Keith Gavins crew pounced on the opportunity Or, more correctly, created it. 7 Panthers wrestled their way to NCAA Bids, and 3 won ACC titles. 133LB Micky Phillippi, 165LB Jake Wentzel, and 285LB Demetrius “Meech” Thomas nearly did the thing, too, as the ACC hosts pushed the Wolfpack to the limit. Wentzels Golden effort was an especially impressive 3 match march from the 4th seed to the top of the podium. That’s where 3 Tar Heels ended up as North Carolina earned a Team Bronze. Champs 141LB Zach Sherman, 149LB Austin O’Connor, and 174LB Clay Lautt are all back next season for UNC, who loses only 157LB AC Headlee to graduation. 6 Tar Heels will head to Minneapolis as Coach Coleman Scotts squad is a Top 20 lock. Virginia saw their horses, 125LB Jack Mueller and fellow Top 10 ranked grappler 197LB Jay Aiello, go 1 for 2 in their Championship matches. Aiello locked up a high seed at Nationals with his 27th win, earning his 2nd NCAA trip. Mueller gathered in his 4th visit and he’s looking for his 3rd AA finish. Until the conference finals his last college loss was in last year’s National Championship match to Iowa 2X Champ Spencer Lee. Then Sunday and salty NC st RS freshman Jakob Camacho happened, to the tune of 11-4. No matter. Hoosnation was more than happy to finish ahead of their Commonwealth Cup rivals VA Tech in the ACCs, and with 6 Cavaliers earning automatic bids (1) to the NCAAS, UVA can take square aim at a Top 25 finish. Only 1 starter, Mueller, won’t be back for next season. Though the pride of Dallas, TX and Trinity Christian Academy is a lot to lose, look for smooth moves by the ‘Hoos next season. Yes, he wrote that. Not writing the ACC ending they wanted (even if one was expected) were 5th and 6th place finishers Virginia Tech and Duke. Tech tallied 52 points, Duke a few less. About 50 less, more or less, mostly the latter. Even the wizardry of Duke Coach Glen Lanham can only go so far, and a greatly diminished roster in both quality and quantity greatly diminishes returns. Anywhere, in any endeavor. So, for Duke, wins by 174LB Mason Eaglin and 197LB Vincent Baker, 1 each followed by 2 losses per, probably completed the Blue Devils season. For the Hokies, an 8-0, #3 ranking through the seasons 1st half felt the heavy hand of absence, injuries, and enormous expectations down the stretch. Techs talent and depth hoped to make up the 20+point season starting deficit from the absence of defending National Champ Mekhi Lewis. Lewis and the VT staff committed to an Olympic redshirt year for the über-star. OK, got it, get that medal, Mekhi, and Hokie up everybody! Uh oh, Brent can’t go no mo. As in nasty tough 149LB Brent Moore, who reaggravated a terrible neck injury at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Tournament, ending his mat career. Whoa, 6-12 points missing per match and 30-35 per tourney down the stretch was too big a pill for even a Hokie to choke down. Then, at the ACCs, another Moore went down, 141LB Mitch. This statement from VT BHH HC Tony Robie.. “With the development of an unforeseen medical condition this past weekend, we elected to medically withdraw Mitch from the remainder of the ACC Championship under the advisement of our medical staff in the best interest of his health. We are hopeful that he receives an at large bid from the selection committee for the opportunity to compete in Minneapolis at the NCAA Championships.”
That is Unvarnished Truth, dear reader. Savor it for its honesty even as you feel its sadness. Look, nearly any team in the country would do backflips for a Top 10-15 season finish, and ecstasy would echo around the room of a squad with 8 wrestlers out of 10 NCAA bound. For VPI, that’s BAU. Business as usual.
SOCON-the Deep South bastion of D1 Collegiate wrestling tried to hold an 8 team tournament and a dual meet broke out instead. The Campbell Camels and the Appalachian State Mountaineers combined for 14 out of 20 finals berths and an astonishing 9 out of 10 champions. To say the two squads staged an intervention against conference parity is an undersell. The lone titlist not from Cary Kolats title winning bad boys from Buies Creek or BHH HC JohnMark Bentleys rough n ready mountain men from Boone NC, was VMI 174LB “Nasty” Neal Richards. Richards avenged a last match of the regular season loss with a decisive defeat of App States Thomas Flitz. Folks, it was Campbell v App State, App St v Campbell all afternoon and night. The odd men out in this scenario? The Scribes beloved UTC Mocs, who busted their tails all season long with a Marquis de Sade approved schedule to be fully post season ready. Then, they followed through on the months long struggle by advancing half their team to the finals. Yeah, you see where this is going. ….. rest of the column at https://morewrestlingplease.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/3rd-season-column-28-conference-crunch-please-2-scoops-and-first-hand-forum/?mc_cid=11ed9cb2ed&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

March 30, 2020 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Women’s Wrestling News — # 29

No.1 McKendree Women’s Team Wins NCWWC Championship Title
(ADRIAN, Mich. – Mar. 7) – McKendree University No.1 women’s wrestling competed in the inaugural Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) Friday and Saturday afternoon at Adrian College. The Bearcats finished in first place with 191.0 team points and five individual champions. This was the first national-level tournament and championship in the NCAA for affiliated women’s wrestling programs. The Bearcats had five national champions including Pauline Granados (Rialto, CA/Wilmer Amino Carter High School), Alexia Ward (Portland, OR/Westview High School), Emma Bruntil (), Alexandria Glaude (West Sacramento, CA/Christian Brothers High School) and Sydnee Kimber (Sitka, AK/Mt Edgecombe High School). In addition, they had two second-place finishes, one fourth-place finish, one fifth-place finish, one sixth-place finish, two seventh-place finishes and one eighth-place finish. Below are the individual results for the Bearcats: …. rest of the story at https://mckbearcats.com/news/2020/3/7/no-2-womens-wrestling-becomes-wins-first-ever-ncwwc-championship-title.aspx?mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Semifinal match-ups set for NCWWC, plus other notes from Michigan
Adrian, MI – – Day one of the historic National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships is in the books. It wasn’t really a matter of if, but when. Today was a must, a step forward in the progress toward championship status for women’s wrestling. The sport will be classified an NCAA Emerging Sport on August 1, 2020.  King University Assistant Coach and Wrestle Like A Girl representative, Julia Salata, shared the following in an interview with TrackWrestling: “There was a point when it seemed kind of unfathomable. We knew it was going to get there eventually, but it seemed so far off, and then to be here for this moment . . . I’m really proud to be a part of it.” Her perspective is pretty special—she was part of King’s program in its first year and has been involved with the program since.  …. story at https://www.transitionwrestling.com/semifinal-match-ups-set-for-ncwwc-plus-other-notes-from-michigan/?mc_cid=2240f0215d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

NAIA 2020 Women’s Wrestling Invitational Qualifiers Announced
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Qualifiers by Weight Class | Qualifiers by School | Qualifiers by First Name) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA) has officially announced the qualifiers for the 2020 NAIA Women’s Wrestling National Invitational on Wednesday. The Invitational is hosted by University of Jamestown, N.D.
This is the second year of invitational status for NAIA Women’s Wrestling.
Preliminary brackets will be released on Friday, by 5 PM. …. story at https://www.naia.org/sports/wwrest/2019-20/releases/Wwrest-Qualifier?mc_cid=178e8cf0d6&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

USA Wrestling’s Rich Bender on the explosive growth of women’s wrestling
 USA Wrestling’s Rich Bender on the explosive growth of women’s wrestling
USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender was at the inaugural Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships in Adrian, Michigan, on March 6-7 in an effort to advance women’s wrestling. …. Story and video interview at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPlayer.jsp?TIM=1583806921868&twSessionId=rnlbxcsvxs&videoId=775811135&mc_cid=178e8cf0d6&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

2020 NCAA – WCWC CHAMPIONSHIPS
WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE A PART OF HISTORY
Adrian, Michigan
The pinnacle of every college athletes season is the national tournament.
It’s what you go to bed dreaming about at night, what gets you through grueling pre-season workouts, and why you run that one last sprint. In March, every wrestler wants to go out on top. This year, we saw a dramatic shift in the landscape of women’s college wrestling. What used to be 1 division (the WCWA, Women’s College Wrestling Association), that included all schools with women’s wrestling divisions, was split. Out of this divide, we saw a field more similar to the guys side, with the NAIA and NCAA (Technically the WCWC until NCAA reaches full Championship status) hosting their own tournaments. ….. story at https://www.wreaperwrestling.com/wcwcs-what-it-was-like-to-be-a-part-of-history/?mc_cid=665dd2a84f&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Fan restrictions to hamper NAIA women’s wrestling tourney
This week’s National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Women’s Wrestling Invitational in Jamestown won’t be immune to precautions currently being taken nationwide to help curb the spread of coronavirus. University of Jamestown Athletic Director Sean Johnson said late Wednesday fan restrictions will be put in place for the tournament scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. this Friday at Harold Newman Arena, but he said details of those restrictions won’t be finalized until sometime Thursday (March 12). “There will be fan restrictions this weekend but I don’t know exactly what they will be at this time,” Johnson said. “We will know tomorrow.” The announcement by UJ came shortly after NAIA President and CEO Jim Carr released a letter stating that the NAIA plans to limit fan attendance at all remaining winter championships — including the men’s and women’s Division I basketball championships — due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Both Thursday’s NAIA Champions of Character event and kickoff banquet for the women’s wrestling tournament in Jamestown had already been canceled out of precaution. “As a staff and as an institution, we’ve been talking about this for days and weeks because, obviously, it’s been in the news and we’re all concerned about it,” Johnson said. “I certainly understand why we’re canceling some of the public events, especially Champions of Character because we were going to have elementary school kids that were going to be in close contact with the student-athletes. There’s no way to know if there’s any risk at all, but, again, there’s no sense in taking a risk when you don’t have to.” The Champions of Character event, previously scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. on Thursday at Harold Newman Arena, planned to bring in local elementary school children to interact with the wrestlers. The kickoff banquet, which wasn’t open to the public according to Johnson, was scheduled to take place Thursday between 5-6 p.m. …. story at https://www.jamestownsun.com/sports/wrestling/4994804-Fan-restrictions-to-hamper-NAIA-womens-wrestling-tourney?mc_cid=665dd2a84f&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

March 30, 2020 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment