Takedown Report

Women’s Wrestling News # 31

Cody Griswold Tabbed Elmira College’s First Women’s Wrestling Coach
ELMIRA, N.Y. — Elmira College Associate Vice President of Athletics Renee Carlineo is pleased to introduce Cody Griswold as the first head coach of the new EC women’s wrestling team. Griswold will be tasked with building the women’s wrestling program from the ground up, as the Soaring Eagles prepare for their inaugural season in 2020-21. “I am thrilled to add Cody Griswold to our staff as the inaugural head women’s wrestling coach at Elmira College,” Carlineo said. “Cody has hit the ground running by recruiting the first women’s wrestling student-athletes in EC history. Cody’s work ethic, style, and personality will be a fantastic fit for our team.” A former Division III student-athlete and Connecticut high school state champion, Griswold will join the Soaring Eagles after spending five seasons as the head wrestling coach at Williamstown High School in Williamstown, Vermont. During his tenure, Griswold transformed Williamstown from a small club into a formidable varsity program sanctioned under the auspices of the Vermont Principals’ Association. “It’s an incredible honor to be named the first women’s head coach in Elmira College history,” Griswold exclaimed …. https://portal.nwcaonline.com/articles/NWCA_News/Cody-Griswold-Tabbed-Elmira-College-s-24-3-2020

Trine University to Sponsor Women’s Wrestling
ANGOLA, Ind. – Today, Friday, Jan. 17, as girls from across the state travel to the Indiana High School Girls Wrestling (IHSGW) 2020 Finals, Trine University has announced it will start a women’s wrestling program of its own. The program will begin competition in the 2020-21 season. “We are excited to announce another opportunity for women athletes to compete at the collegiate level at Trine University,” said Assistant Vice President for Athletics Matt Land. “Women’s wrestling is a growing sport and we are proud that women across the region will have a new opportunity to compete here at Trine.” …. https://portal.nwcaonline.com/articles/NWCA_News/Trine-University-to-Sponsor-Women-s-17-1-2020

NWCA ANNOUNCES NCAA WOMEN’S NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR WINNER
Manheim, PA – The National Wrestling Coaches Association has announced the 2020 NCAA Women’s Wrestling Coach of the Year Award winner. The award was given following the conclusion of the inaugural Cliff Keen WCWC National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships hosted by Arian College. The award, which is presented to a coach that has demonstrated outstanding effort throughout the season in developing and elevating their program on campus and in the community, is presented by Defense Soap, the official Hygiene partner of the NWCA. … The recipient of this year’s NCAA Women’s National Coach of the Year is Sam Schmitz of McKendree University. Coach Schmitz has served as the head coach since the announcement of the program in 2013. The 2020 campaign was a banner year for the Bearcats as they captured both the NWCA National Duals Championship (NCAA Women) as well as the WCWC National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship title with five athletes winning individual titles. ….. https://portal.nwcaonline.com/articles/NWCA_News/NWCA-ANNOUNCES-NAIA-WOMEN-S-NATIONAL-2-4-2020

WOMEN’S WRESTLING WILL BECOME AUGUSTANA’S 26TH SPORT IN 2021-22
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana will add women’s wrestling to its varsity athletic lineup beginning with the 2021-22 school year, it was announced today by director of athletics Mike Zapolski. The addition of women is wrestling pushes to 26 the number of intercollegiate varsity sports offered by Augustana. This will give the Vikings 13 women’s sports and 13 men’s sports. “Wrestling is becoming an increasingly popular sport for girls nationwide, and our goal is that Augustana will become the small college destination for young women who want to excel at a high level academically and continue to compete,” said Zapolski. “We are perfectly situated geographically to attract quality women’s wrestlers from Illinois, neighboring Midwest states plus other locations such as California and Texas.” This will be the seventh varsity sport added since Zapolski became the director of athletics in June of 2008. Women’s lacrosse and men’s lacrosse were announced in 2010 and added in 2012 while men’s volleyball and women’s bowling started competition in 2018 after the decision was made in 2016 to add them. In February of 2019, Augustana unveiled plans to add women’s water polo and then men’s water polo, both of which will begin play in 2021-22. Tony Willaert, who recently completed his third season as the head coach of the men’s program, has been tabbed to start the women’s program. …. https://portal.nwcaonline.com/articles/NWCA_News/WOMEN-S-WRESTLING-WILL-BECOME-2-4-2020

A wall comes down: Plan to launch Pennsylvania’s first girls’ wrestling team is approved at JP McCaskey
By Dustin Hockensmith | dhockensmith@pennlive.com
Girls’ wrestling in Pennsylvania took its first big step toward toward its hopeful future on Tuesday night as the Lancaster School District approved a proposal to sponsor the state’s first team at JP McCaskey High School. McCaskey athletic director Jon Mitchell proposed a girls’ team at a school board meeting last week, and Tuesday’s vote paved the way for Mitchell to begin that process. Mitchell said his proposal was cost-neutral to the school district in that the cost of travel, hiring a coach, equipment and other expenses would be offset by funding from Beat the Streets Lancaster, a transportation co-op with the Lancaster Police Athletic League, and plans to run a girls’ tournament at the school. Mitchell outlined his timeline for moving forward earlier this month, saying it would line up with the start of a new budget year in June. That is when he expected the head coach position to be posted and for him to start lining up the other pieces to launch the team for the 2020-’21 academic year. …. https://www.pennlive.com/highschoolsports/wrestling/2020/03/a-wall-comes-down-plan-to-launch-pennsylvanias-first-girls-wrestling-team-is-approved-at-jp-mccaskey.html?mc_cid=9e69424014&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

William Penn Lands National Champion Rachel Watters
William Penn University just landed a big home state name. Rachel Watters, a Ballard-Huxley graduate, has accepted a graduate assistant position. “Rachel is exactly what we are looking for in a coach; she has tons of wrestling knowledge and experience, but most importantly she aligns with our values. She understands what it means to develop girls on and off the mat and I’m thrilled to get to coach beside her next year.” William Penn Head Coach Tucker Black on the hire. Watters has been competing on the national level for years. During her high school career, she was a three-time Fargo National Champion and a three-time Junior World Team Member. After graduating, Rachel has been competing for Oklahoma City University where she made two U23 World Teams and wrestled at Final X for a spot on the Senior World Team finishing runner-up. Watters leaves OCU as a four-time WCWA Women’s College All-American with a 2020 WCWA National Championship. The plan was to finish wrestling and become a CPA or go into the marketing field. But, her wrestling passion bled into multiple class projects and she had a light bulb moment with one of her professors. “Wrestling is what I am passionate about. I started to research college coaching jobs and I realized that I could use my business degree and my passion for wrestling in the same job. …. story at https://iawrestle.com/2020/03/19/william-penn-lands-national-champion-rachel-watters/?mc_cid=7b60b45611&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Jasmine Montes overcomes two leg amputations to wrestle at Lathrop
LATHROP — Jasmine Montes felt comfortable wearing her prosthetic legs. So much so, she showed up to her first wrestling practice hoping to wear them during drills. But within minutes of entering the Lathrop mat room, Montes’ coach forced her to remove them. The reason was Montes, a 17-year-old senior, needed to learn how to balance and be in more control of her body on the mat. Montes had only removed them in the confines of her home, in front of familiar faces. She said she barely knew the other kids on the team, some not even their names. Now, she had to reveal that she didn’t have legs. For the last decade Montes searched for an identity. She said she thought wrestling could be the solution. But before she could even start, Montes had to conquer the fear over removing her prosthetics. …. story at https://www.recordnet.com/news/20200320/jasmine-montes-overcomes-two-leg-amputations-to-wrestle-at-lathrop?mc_cid=db245e6947&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

South Dakota to consider adding girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Most people probably don’t realize it, but girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing high school sports in the United States. As a matter of fact, schools across the state are experiencing an uptick in female wrestlers. So much, that South Dakota is one of many states seriously considering sanctioning girls high school wrestling in the near future. Alisha Van Scoy began wrestling when she was five years old. “Well my brother wrestled a lot when I younger so I was already going to the practices,” Rapid City Stevens wrestler Alisha Van Scoy said. “My dad was involved. My uncle and my cousins were involved. So I just decided to show up one day.” Now a senior, Van Scoy was one of six girls on the Rapid City Stevens wrestling team this past season. “It was really neat this year because we were able to provide them some opportunity for some girl versus girl wrestling matches,” Rapid City Stevens wrestling coach Travis King said. “They were super excited about that. Just to have that opportunity. You know wrestling, I love it because it gives them the same opportunities that the boys have. How to grow themselves in all different aspects. We’re super proud. Our boys really respect those girls. One of them is a nationally ranked girl. You don’t hear that.” Since 1994, the number of girls in high school wrestling has soared across the United States from 804 to 21,124 this past season according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Plus, there are currently 21 states that sanction girls wrestling as a high school sport. “We did see our numbers going down slowly you know across the nation,” Rapid City Central wrestling coach Lance Pearson said. “So to bring girls wrestling into it and seeing that take off like it is in our neighboring states, it’s only a matter of time before we’re probably sanctioning girls wrestling here in South Dakota.” …. story at https://www.newscenter1.tv/south-dakota-to-consider-adding-girls-wrestling-as-a-sanctioned-sport/?mc_cid=db245e6947&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 4, 2020 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized