Takedown Report

National Wrestling News – Oct. # 3

TDR Editor’s Notes ; The following is an interesting assortment of articles about how wrestling can impact wrestlers as soldiers, as life savers and as teachers to the youth that follows. The wrestlers below are ones we can see as inspiration for us as we meet our own challenges.
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1 } – Colonel Steve Banach: ‘Nobody had done what we did in the history of warfare’
Colonel Steve Banach, a former wrestler at the University of Iowa who was part of the first invasion into Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, describes the horrors of warfare and how sports is nothing to compared to what happens on a battlefield. … rest of story at _{https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPlayer.jsp?TIM=1600311809524&twSessionId=lkjoxxqlsi&videoId=866979135&mc_cid=f697b041da&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

2 } – Is blended male and female wrestling the future of the sport?
Is the future of scholastic wrestling almost too obvious? 
Not if you ask Ken Bigley of the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) in New York City. He hopes the rest of the country will use their blended wrestling model to enhance the entire sport. 
Bigley, a former wrestler and current assistant coach at New York University, serves as the sports coordinator for the PSAL. New York City has two seasons — a girls’ freestyle season in the spring and a boys’ folkstyle season in the winter. 
The PSAL introduced a new league called blended wrestling five years ago. It’s attractive for smaller schools that have trouble filling weight classes. The basic concept is each team has an equal amount of boys and girls weight classes.  New York City’s model has 16 weight classes — eight for boys and eight for girls.
Boys wrestle boys and girls wrestle girls — but they’re scoring points for the same team. If you want to win a New York City championship and your school participates in the blended wrestling league then a coach will have to recruit both males and females. 
Blended wrestling has the opportunity to be a game-changer for growing women’s wrestling. It has already changed the game in New York City for growing participation among girls in the winter. It is also an opening for wrestling to distance itself from other sports. … rest of story at _{https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1600311809524&twSessionId=lkjoxxqlsi&postId=866495135&mc_cid=f697b041da&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

3 } – Steveson Dominates in the Big Apple
Earns 11-0 technical fall against Wisconsin counterpart Trent Hillger in Beat the Streets NYC
Competing for the first time since winning the 2020 Big Ten title last March, Golden Gopher heavyweight Gable Steveson defeated Wisconsin’s Trent Hillger by technical fall at the 2020 Beat the Streets virtual event on Thursday night. Wrestling outdoors in New York City, Steveson raced out to a 4-0 lead with a pair of takedowns in the first minute en route to an 11-0 technical fall in the first period. In the matchup of 2020 first-team All-Americans, Steveson improved to 4-0 all-time against his Badger counterpart. … rest of story at _{https://gophersports.com/news/2020/9/17/wrestling-steveson-dominates-in-the-big-apple.aspx?mc_cid=c6a292a4f2&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

4 } – Gresh Jones wins 2020 Montana AAU Little Sullivan Award
Dickinson, ND- Dickinson State all-American wrestler Gresh Jones has been named the winner of the male 2020 Montana AAU Little Sullivan Award. The Little Sullivan Award was created by the late David and Ella Rivenes of Miles City. David Rivenes served as the national AAU President and held numerous positions within the Montana AAU and Miles City sports communities. The Rivenes created the Little Sullivan Award to honor outstanding male and female athletes in the Treasure State that display qualities of athletic excellence, leadership, character, sportsmanship and ideals of amateurism, according to the Montana Amateur Athletic Union.
Gresh Jones was a four-time national qualifier for the Blue Hawk wrestling team.  During his time as a Blue Hawk he was a two-time NAIA All-American placing third and fourth at the NAIA wrestling national tournament.  Jones was a regional champion for the Heart of America conference and a three-time runner up.  As a Blue Hawk, Jones compiled a college career record of 77-19.  Prior to college, Gresh Jones wrestled for one of the best programs in the state of Montana, Sidney High School. … rest of story at _{http://www.dsubluehawks.com/article/596?mc_cid=1ea990827d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

5 } – Former, current Penn State wrestlers shine in Nittany Lion Wrestling Club event
As some sports continue to return to action during the COVID-19 pandemic, so did wrestling on Saturday night when the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club held its inaugural competition event. Penn State coach Cael Sanderson was the hype man for the event, taking to Twitter numerous times over the past couple of weeks to promote the event.
Let’s just say, Sanderson’s hype didn’t disappoint.
There were a total of 13 freestyle matches, which highlighted some of the nation’s top men’s and women’s wrestlers. Of the 26 competing wrestlers, seven had some sort of connection to the Nittany Lions’ program.
Current Penn State wrestler Greg Kerkvliet along with former Nittany Lions in Zain Retherford, Jason Nolf, Vincenzo Joseph, Bo Nickal, Nick Nevills and Dan Vallimont took part in the event. Joseph and Vallimont squared off in an all-Penn State match midway through the event. … rest of story at _{https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-wrestling/article245867985.html?mc_cid=f6e465b58d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

6 } – The Grappler Fall Classic entry list is loaded with state champs
The annual Grappler Fall Classic is moving to a new location for 2020 and the change of scenery isn’t the only difference this year. The field is deeper than ever with nearly 250 state placewinners and 79 state champions already signed up to compete Oct. 3-4 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The entry list includes Fargo champs Stoney Buell, R.J. Weston and Noah Pettigrew, Fargo finalists Caden Horwath and Manny Rojas, top sophomore Gabe Arnold, California hammer Joey Cruz and five-time Fargo All-American Caden McCrary.  Here’s a look at some of the notable wrestlers already on the entry list: … rest of story at _{https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1600399634961&twSessionId=mgzwzualew&postId=867077135&mc_cid=c6a292a4f2&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

7 } – If prep football can have fewer athletes in a lineup, why not wrestling?
Note: The following column appeared in the September 2020 issue of WIN Magazine. Click here to subscribe to WIN, which will publish its annual College/High School issue on Oct. 2.
By Rob Sherrill
Call it, “The Great Weight Class Debate, Part 2.”
I’ve written frequently about the problems created by the weight classes instituted by the National Federation of State High School Associations in 2011. It’s become clear that putting weights where the wrestlers aren’t has, at a minimum, increased forfeits. Pennsylvania and New York have answered my call. They’ve adopted 13-man weight class set-ups for the upcoming season, and we’ll be writing about those in detail in future issues.
Although this column is also about weight classes, it’s a different side of the argument. What the weight classes actually are is vitally important, but so is how many of them there are. Even after a set of weight classes that accurately reflects the wrestling population has been developed, another question remains: are there simply too many for too many schools to fill?
No line-up in any sport the NFHS sponsors is more difficult to fill than in wrestling. This is not open to debate. … rest of story at _{https://www.win-magazine.com/2020/09/22/if-football-can-have-fewer-athletes-in-a-lineup-why-not-wrestling/?mc_cid=e10bcd29f6&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b#utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=if-football-can-have-fewer-athletes-in-a-lineup-why-not-wrestling}

8 } – Borrelli: This may be a good time to fix college athletics’ ‘broken’ model 
Note: The following column appeared in the September issue of WIN Magazine. Click here to subscribe to WIN, which will publish its annual College and High School Preview issue on Oct. 2.
By Mike Finn
Tom Borrelli will hopefully start his 30th year of coaching this winter at Central Michigan University; a longevity period matched only by John Smith, who also started coaching in 1991 at Oklahoma State, the school with the most national titles in Division I wrestling.
Borrelli, who produced 41 All-Americans and won 14 conference championships, also had his chance to take over bigger schools, but chose to stay in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., population 25,000+, and the home of the Chippewas who compete in the Mid-American Conference.
“I enjoy the quality of life here and I like being the underdog a little bit; having to do more with less,” said Borrelli, who will turn 64 years old this December. Sadly, the entire college athletic world feels like an underdog now as it deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, which cancelled last winter and spring’s national college sports championships, put this year on hold in many states and has many wondering if sports like wrestling will actually survive the virus that also has put college programs in financial holes that may never be filled. “Wrestling has always survived other bad times in the long time that I’ve been in it,” said Borrelli, who also serves as a mentor in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Leadership Academy. “I tell people you control what you can control,” he said. “Put your program in the best light with your university as far as fund-raising, … rest of story at _{https://www.win-magazine.com/2020/09/23/borrelli-this-may-be-a-good-time-to-fix-college-athletics-broken-model/?mc_cid=9754f989b3&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b#utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=borrelli-this-may-be-a-good-time-to-fix-college-athletics-broken-model}

9} – This 10-year-old Wisconsin wrestler is about to reach his goal: 100,000 pushups in a year
MILWAUKEE – Imagine doing 100,000 pushups in a year. That equates to about 274 every day for 365 days. 
Now imagine sticking to that regiment as a 10-year-old. 
That’s what Meyer Schnoor, 10, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, has been working toward since last November, when he was 9. But instead of doing 274 a day, he’s been doing 300.  Meyer, a wrestler, saw a video of one of his favorite wrestlers, Daton Fix, talking about doing 100,000 pushups in a year when he was in third grade. … rest of story at _{https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/21/waukesha-wisconsin-wrestler-close-100-000-pushups-year/5851520002/?mc_cid=9754f989b3&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

10 } – BVU freshman wrestler helps save coworker’s life
Storm Lake, Iowa (Sept. 21, 2020) – Buena Vista University freshman Diego Aguilera will long remember his first day on the job at the Storm Lake Walmart. He helped save a coworker who experienced a heart attack. Aguilera was being trained as an associate in the produce department when he and his coworker took a break around 6:30 p.m. and retired to a back room. That’s when his coworker told Aguilera he didn’t feel well. “He sat down on a box of bananas and began sweating,” Aguilera says. “His skin turned pale, so did his lips. He was out of breath.” The victim tipped his head back and Aguilera began feeling for a pulse, or a heartbeat. “I didn’t feel a heartbeat, so I began doing chest compressions,” says Aguilera, who, as a team captain for the PSJA Memorial High School wrestling team in Pharr, Tex., became certified in CPR. “I did compressions for 30 seconds or so and the heart was beating,” he says. “So, I began talking to him, asking questions about his kids and what he liked to do. I wanted to help keep him conscious by having to answer my questions.” … rest of story at _{https://www.thepredicament.com/2020/09/bvu-freshman-wrestler-helps-save-coworkers-life/?mc_cid=e10bcd29f6&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b}

October 18, 2020 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized