Takedown Report

Cancellation News — 5th & Last group of stories

Past adversity helps Kent State’s Andrew McNally cope with NCAA cancellation
Former Lake state wrestling champion Andrew McNally saw his junior season at Kent State cut short when the NCAA Championships were canceled. His even-keeled ability to handle that news has come, in part, from past situations which he has gone through during his career.
UNIONTOWN The news that ended Andrew McNally’s junior season wrestling at Kent State University didn’t come as a surprise. That didn’t mean he wasn’t disappointed, either. McNally had earned his second consecutive bid to the NCAA Wrestling Championships. It was the second consecutive year both he and his former Lake High School and Eastern Michigan University teammate Zac Carson, now at Ohio University, had qualified for the tournament. However, on March 12, the NCAA announced the tournament would be canceled due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus. Thus McNally, Carson and the other 328 wrestlers saw their season ended in an instant. “I mean, obviously it sucks,” McNally said this week. “It was not the news you want to get. I really saw it coming after they canceled the NBA stuff. Once I heard that, I was like, they’re definitely going to cancel our stuff. It’s just a matter of time.” McNally’s even-keeled approach to handling the news that his chance at earning All-American status had been taken from him may surprise some. Those people, however, may not be familiar with the various hurdles which have sprung up over the course of his wrestling career. Two in particular, McNally believes, have helped to provide perspective even in a situation such as a pandemic. In both cases, they brought the end to at least one chapter of his wrestling career. After winning a Division I state championship as a junior at Lake, McNally’s senior season was ended when he failed a pre-state tournament skin check in 2016. Then, after his redshirt freshman season at Eastern Michigan in 2018, the university announced it was folding the wrestling program, among others, due to budget issues. “I compared this to some other things that have happened in my career,” McNally said. “Like when I didn’t past skin checks at state and when the team got cut at Eastern. It’s not like it’s the worst thing that has happened to me, so far. So, I was able to handle it pretty well, I think.” McNally admits he’s lived his life, especially since the Eastern Michigan situation, to, in his own words, “expect the unexpected.” That’s even if the unexpected turns out to be a worldwide pandemic which had altered life not just for athletes, but virtually everyone in society. What has changed, though, is a certain perspective. Part of that is simply maturation that comes with growing up, but the other part comes through personal experience. “Compared to how I react now compared to then, when I was in high school and it happened, I was like, almost felt like it was the end of the world,” McNally said. “I took it really hard and was really sad about that for a while. But as I’ve gotten older and I realize that things just happen and, when we got cut at Eastern, I was pretty sad about it, but I picked myself up. This time, same thing. I was upset about it for a couple of days, but you just kind of accept it and realize there’s nothing you can do to prevent that.” The natural frustration for McNally comes from the fact he believed he was primed for a podium push when the tournament started March 19. After going 33-11 in his first season at Kent State last year, including a win during his NCAA Championships debut, he had come back this past season to find his groove heading into March. McNally posted a 31-7 record, while finishing second in the Mid-American Conference at 174 pounds. He was seeded 21st in the NCAA Championships, and was slated to open against Oklahoma State’s Joseph Smith. …. story at https://www.cantonrep.com/sports/20200327/past-adversity-helps-kent-statersquos-andrew-mcnally-cope-with-ncaa-cancellation?mc_cid=5dfdb1c828&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Leistikow: Tom Brands still seeking closure for an Iowa wrestling season cut short
Tom Brands, like most of us these days in our new isolated world, is trying to focus on the things he can control. Like housework. “I’ve mopped the floor three or four times at home,” the Iowa wrestling coach says. “I haven’t mopped the floor in 10 years.” Beyond spending more time with wife Jeni in their east-side Iowa City home, Brands has spent the past two weeks coping with and “moving forward” — his commonly used coaching mantra — from the NCAA’s cancellation of all winter and spring sports championships over the global COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps no Division I program in any sport had as much stripped from its grasp than Iowa wrestling. When word of the cancellation hit, the top-ranked Hawkeyes were seven days away from starting what was expected to be a long-awaited title coronation. With three wrestlers seeded No. 1, two more in the top three and another four in the top eight, they were poised to unseat Penn State and win the storied program’s first NCAA wrestling title since 2010. …. story and video at https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/college/columnists/chad-leistikow/2020/03/27/leistikow-tom-brands-still-seeks-closure-his-iowa-wrestlers-covid-19-cancellation/5082224002/?mc_cid=5dfdb1c828&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Replay the winter sports season? The NCAA is wrestling with that question and others
By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Should the NCAA allow seniors on basketball teams, wrestling teams and other winter sports to return next season for another year of eligibility? That’s one of the questions the NCAA will consider when it holds a vote on Monday. The NCAA also will consider extending an extra year of eligibility to those playing spring sports, since those were wiped out by the virus. Cleveland State athletic director Scott Garrett believes the measure to let seniors who planned to play spring sports this year return for another season “make sense” and is likely to pass. Not every player will want to return. Some elite baseball players were expecting to enter the Major League Baseball draft in June. That also assumes MLB has its draft on schedule. That probably will happen, but who knows in this climate of uncertainty. The other element is cost. Spring sports are much cheaper than Division I basketball. As Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said, “We played 30 games, but we didn’t have our conference tournament. We didn’t finish our season, but we had a long season. It’s a hard one to figure out.” Dambrot said some teams such as his were preparing for their conference tournaments. Others had already secured an NCAA berth. Yet for others, the season was over. …. story at https://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/2020/03/replay-the-winter-sports-season-the-ncaa-is-wrestling-with-that-question-and-others.html?mc_cid=5dfdb1c828&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Jordan’s Kelvington battled his entire career
Augustana senior wrestler Ben Kelvington wanted to end his career at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  He was able to do that, just not in the way he dreamed of.  The NCAA Division II wrestling national championships were ready to start last week and Kelvington, who attends Augustana University, was set to compete for a national championship at 174 pounds. But the NCAA canceled all winter national championships due to concerns over the novel coronavirus. Kelvington’s wrestling career was over. “My reaction was pretty much disappointment and sadness,” he said. “Everyone in the arena seemed pretty stunned, and it was eerily quiet on the floor for a few minutes. Most people were in disbelief. I sat down and called first my girlfriend then my dad to let them know what had happened. Teammates, coaches, and administrators came up and gave me hugs.”
Kelvington, a Jordan High School graduate, got his wish to finish his career at the Premier Center because soon after they canceled the tournament, he was awarded the prestigious Elite 90 Award on the center’s floor.  …. story at https://www.swnewsmedia.com/jordan_independent/news/sports/jordan-s-kelvington-battled-his-entire-career/article_9efb8277-a702-5d93-a56b-db3c7cf230c7.html?mc_cid=5dfdb1c828&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Futile trip: Howard, UPJ teammates ‘shocked’ when Division II Championships canceled
Brendan Howard and his University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown teammates had completed two workouts and were ready to take the mat the next day at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships when a startling development occurred. Mountain Cats head coach Pat Pecora had a meeting with his eight national qualifiers and informed them that the championships had been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Obviously, it was a big shock,” Howard said. “I was about a pound-and-a-half off weight and we had two practices in at the facility. We were ready to go, but we had a meeting around 3. We kind of had a feeling of what was going to happen, but we hoped that they would let us compete, even if it was under certain restrictions.” Howard, who is a Jefferson-Morgan graduate, would have competed in his last collegiate wrestling matches in the national tournament, as he was the third seed at 125 pounds, but had to leave the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and fly back home as his career came to an unprecedented end. He finished his senior season at 27-2 and was eighth place in the national tournament last season. Howard transferred to Pitt-Johnstown from Clarion University during the second semester of his sophomore year. “We had gone through an entire season and worked to get to this level, and then, we can’t wrestle the last two days,” Howard said. “You are not able to get closure on your career as a wrestler. It is also tough for the underclassmen that were here because you never know what will happen down the road in their careers.” One of those underclassmen for UPJ was freshman and Hopewell graduate Jacob Ealy, who was the top seed at 141. …. story at https://observer-reporter.com/sports/futile-trip-howard-upj-teammates-shocked-when-division-ii-championships/article_a69e4166-8128-566f-bc95-e776b283c45d.html?mc_cid=1270ffe756&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Leistikow: NCAA needs to do right thing — vote ‘yes’ on eligibility after mass coronavirus cancellations
There’s a seismic vote planned for Monday that could change the near future of college sports. The NCAA’s Division I Council is set to determine whether athletes whose seasons were cut short from concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic should be granted an extra year of collegiate eligibility. The decision, especially for spring sports athletes whose seasons were just getting under way when the NCAA determined to cancel all winter and spring championships, would on the surface seem to be a no-brainer. And the 40 or so administrators who are convening Monday know that, too. But in this case, the right decision is going to be the most difficult decision. Voting yes to an extra year of eligibility would mean signing off on the possibility of millions of extra dollars in scholarship costs to universities already in more precarious cash-flow positions by the cancellation of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament … with the possibility of a washed-out or shortened football season further crippling budgets. …. story at https://amp.hawkcentral.com/amp/2938124001?__twitter_impression=true&mc_cid=1270ffe756&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Mark Johnson empathizes with NCAA athletes’ lost opportunities
Mark Johnson knows what it’s like to seemingly work your whole life for one opportunity — and for that opportunity to be ripped away for reasons outside of your control. Johnson, a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Michigan and two time Big Ten Coach of the Year during his long Illini coaching tenure (1992-2009), was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team — one that never competed due to the United States’ boycott of the games in the Soviet Union. So Johnson immediately empathized with the thousands of collegiate athletes who were robbed of competition earlier this month when the NCAA canceled the winter and spring sports seasons due to the spread of infectious disease COVID-19. “When you’re in the middle of it, it is devastating,” Johnson told Illini Inquirer. “You put everything into it. You’re a student-athlete. I was a good student, so I get that part of it. But when you’re an athlete, that part of kind of takes over during the season. You just feel bad for these guys.” Thousands of NCAA student-athletes were robbed of postseasons or the majority of their regular seasons due to the shutdown of college sports during this pandemic. Many likely missed out on their greatest opportunities for individual and team athletic success. Forty years ago, Johnson experienced the same thing. In total, 65 nations did not participate in the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, many due to the protestation of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The United States and President Jimmy Carter led the effort with about 97 percent of the U.S. Congress approving resolutions for the boycott — a measure with which the United States Olympic Committee complied. …. https://247sports.com/college/illinois/Article/Coronavirus-Illinois-wrestling-Mark-Johnson-1980-Olympic-boycott-145424033/?mc_cid=b9ab82d4d9&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Brands: Hawkeyes deserve more than an asterisk
Tom Brands knows the moment will never be the same, but the Iowa wrestling coach believes the 2019-20 season deserves to be more than an asterisk in a record book. Acknowledging the COVID-19 pandemic is “enemy No. 1” at the moment, Brands said Tuesday he believes the NCAA needs to take a closer look at eligibility relief for winter sports student-athletes who were not awarded an additional year of competition on Monday by the NCAA. Brands, who completes a quarantine today after coming into contact with someone who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, said during a teleconference he believes there should be some sort of appeals process available for competitors who were dealing with extraneous circumstances. He pointed to Hodge Trophy winner Spencer Lee as an example. Unlike a number of his top-tier peers, Lee opted to compete at the college level this past season instead of using an Olympic redshirt year that would have been available to him to train as an Olympic hopeful without using a year of eligibility. Among the reasons Lee opted to do that was to give himself an opportunity to compete for a third consecutive NCAA championship at 125 pounds this year and position himself for the chance as a senior to become the sport’s fifth four-time champ. Brands realizes that any appeals process is something that will take place down the road, adding that experience has taught him to fight that fight at an appropriate time. Lee said on Monday he plans to compete for Iowa again next season, providing time for any sort of eligibility appeal to take place. “Four (championships) is very important to him,” Brands said. “But he has to win three before he can win four, so regardless of how he goes about moving forward to get an opportunity to win four, he’s first got to win three.” …. https://qctimes.com/sports/college/wrestling/brands-hawkeyes-deserve-more-than-an-asterisk/article_71270ca8-6d88-54a4-a238-730c327c946b.html?mc_cid=1f2298c90d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Dunn’s quest for 2nd national title ended abruptly in South Dakota lobby
By Desmond Boyle | For lehighvalleylive.com
Collegiate wrestlers who reach the national tournament often do so, in part, because they have a level of toughness and emotional control that few others possess. When defending NCAA Division II heavyweight champion Andrew Dunn, a Bethlehem Catholic graduate, looked around a hotel lobby in South Dakota, less than 24 hours away from the national tournament, he saw a crack in his fellow wrestlers’ emotional steel. “It just seemed like things were moving quick and then I went to the lobby of my hotel. I just had to get out of my room when I started feeling worked up … I walked with this group of wrestlers to their coach and he basically confirmed that the tournament was called off,” Dunn said. “In that moment a lot of guys, a lot of other athletes competing that weekend in the lobby — big, strong, tough guys — (were) crying and just really upset. This is the weekend you work all year for, and it was just poor timing with the coronavirus.” Poor timing might be an understatement. The coronavirus outbreak forced the NCAA to cancel the Division I, II and III individual wrestling tournaments, after brackets were set and competitors were ready. Forced to cope with the reality that a year’s worth of work wouldn’t culminate in another national championship, Dunn, along his coaches and a few teammates from Kutztown University, decided they didn’t want to stay in Sioux Falls for a second longer after hearing the news. …. story at https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/highschoolsports/2020/04/for-wrestlers-like-andrew-dunn-the-cancelled-ncaa-tourney-leaves-a-cruel-what-if.html?mc_cid=3d6cefac15&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

Tom Ryan adamant about All-American wrestlers being recognized
Many winter sports ended abruptly due to COVID-19, and wrestling was left in a particularly odd place, having yet to announce All-Americans due to the NCAA Tournament getting shelved. Ohio State’s Tom Ryan is not ok with that, and it’s anything but an act of selfishness. He just wants his players recognized for their hard work. A top-five wrestling program in the nation, Ohio State, if Ryan’s concept would have been adopted, would have numerous All-Americans. “There’s a possibility that you simply do like college football did before there was a playoff: whatever you were ranked in the last ranking, that’s where you finish. If you were ranked 1, you finish the season No. 1; if you were ranked 2, you’re No. 2; if you were ranked 7, you’re No. 7,” he noted on The Eleven Dubcast, an Eleven Warriors podcast. For Ohio State, that’s like naming them the third-best team in football, although that really wouldn’t do much given the structure of their All-American selections. Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan, currently on a teleconference with reporters, said he believes wrestlers should be awarded All-American honors based on what their seeds were in the NCAA Tournament since winter sports athletes were not granted any additional eligibility. — Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) April 1, 2020
It would matter greatly for wrestling. If Ryan’s ways were adopted, the program would have three first-team nominations, Luke Pletcher, Kollin Morre and Sammy Sasso. They’d have a second-team and third-team All-American as well in Kaleb Romero and Ethan Smith respectively. “If you were ranked from No. 1 to No. 4, you’re considered first-team All-American,” Ryan continued. “If you’re ranked from No. 5 to No. 8, you’re second-team. And 9 to 12, you were third-team.” …. story at https://buckeyeswire.usatoday.com/2020/04/03/ohio-state-wrestling-tom-ryan-wants-all-americans-recognized/?mc_cid=1f1b7bdc6e&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 13, 2020 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized