Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

NCAA Division I News (2021) – # 9

TDR Editor’s Notes ; Some Wrestler’s of the Week awards from earlier this month in the Big Ten (#1), the MAC (#2 & #6), the ACC (#4) and the PAC 12 (#9) are a few of the articles included below. Another Top 25 teams poll at (#5), a listing of top 10 matches or wrestlers (#3) and teams schedules of matches and live streamed broadcasts (#12). Looking forward to the EIWA conference tourney (#7) which will determine some qualifiers for nationals. Podcasts (#8), Super Bowl wrestlers and Iowa coach out of action (#10) along with news from Oklahoma State (#11) are the rest of the news included here.
E-mail us at the Editor’s office at martinkfleming@gmail.com
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1 } – Awards and Honors: Ragusin Named Season’s First B1G Wrestler of the Week
Big Ten Wrestler of the Week — Freshman Dylan Ragusin was named the season’s first Big Ten Wrestler of the Week after posting a 2-0 record — with two bonus wins — in Michigan’s dual wins at Rutgers (Jan. 8) and Maryland (Jan. 10). Ragusin used a cow catcher to pin the Scarlet Knights’ 20th-ranked Nicolas Aguilar just 61 seconds into his collegiate debut at 125 pounds before rolling to a 9-1 major decision against Terrapin King Sandoval. … story linked at https://mgoblue.com/news/2021/1/13/2020-21-michigan-wrestling-awards-and-honors.aspx?mc_cid=6b4820f7a2&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

2 } – Stencel Earns Weekly National Award
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Central Michigan’s Matt Stencel was named The Open Mat College Wrestler of the Week on Monday. Stencel, wrestling at 285 pounds, earned the honor after defeating two ranked opponents in a double-dual meet last week at Missouri. His first win came over eighth-ranked Zach Elam of Missouri, 4-1; and his second, 7-1, came over Wyoming’s Brian Andrews, who is ranked ninth. Stencel, who is ranked fourth, is a two-time All-American, and the reigning Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Year, is 3-0 on the season. … rest of story at https://cmuchippewas.com/news/2021/1/12/wrestling-stencel-earns-weekly-national-award.aspx?mc_cid=7d0bae3ce9&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND Simon Earns Weekly MAC Award
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Central Michigan’s Dresden Simon has been named the co-Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Week. Simon, a senior from Dansville who wrestles at 141 pounds and is ranked 12th nationally by flowrestling.org, posted three dominant victories last week as he improved to 5-1. Simon had one pin and two tech falls in helping the Chippewas win MAC road duals over Cleveland State, Edinboro and Buffalo. Simon’s pin came in the first period over Buffalo’s Derek Spann, who entered the match ranked 23rd. Simon’s two tech falls came over Cleveland State’s Joseph Caprella, 16-1, in the second period; and over Edinboro’s Ryan Burgos, 16-1, in the first. … rest of story at https://cmuchippewas.com/news/2021/2/10/wrestling-simon-earns-weekly-mac-award.aspx?mc_cid=5e3b2f2de3&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

3 } – Top 10 College Wrestling Performances of the Week – February 1st, 2021
Just like that, the first month of the collegiate wrestling season is in the books. With an abridged 2020-21 schedule, that means we’re halfway through the regular season. Unbelievably enough, right before the midway point of the year, we got to see Penn State for the first time. As one may expect, the young Nittany Lions team was a bit rusty and missed a few key cogs. Still, they managed to pull out wins over Indiana and Northwestern. Another unique challenge in this unprecedented year is that second-ranked Michigan is still on a two-week pause across their entire athletic department. Meanwhile, the top-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes continued to chew up the rest of the Big Ten. Speaking of streaking, NC State extended their winning streak against one of their primary rivals and there was chaos amongst the bottom half of the national dual rankings. We’ve got all that and more in our top-ten performance of the week!
10) Jeffrey Boyd (West Virginia)
The West Virginia Mountaineers improved to 5-2 on the year after a 25-11 win over Northern Colorado on Sunday. Northern Colorado entered the day ranked 22nd in the nation with a 3-0 record. One of the upsets that help swing the dual towards WVU’s side came at 141 lbs when redshirt freshman Jeffrey Boyd took out #24 Chris Sandoval 7-1 in sudden victory. … rest of story at https://news.theopenmat.com/college-wrestling-news/top-10-college-wrestling-performances-of-the-week-february-1st-2021/79947?mc_cid=e1d5a94c45&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

4 } – Howard named ACC Wrestler of the Week
Second Hokie to earn the conference honor this season
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Virginia Tech wrestling’s Dakota Howard has been named ACC Wrestler of the Week after earning a top-10 win Saturday at North Carolina, the conference announced Tuesday. Howard, wrestling at 174 pounds, took down No. 9 Devin Kane late in the third period to pull off the biggest win of his career in an 8-7 decision. The win was the redshirt sophomore’s first of the season and second career ACC dual match win. Tuesday, TrackWrestling listed Howard No. 32 in the country at 174 pounds, it is the first time he’s been ranked in his career. This marks the second time this season that a Hokie wrestler earned the weekly award. Howard joins Sam Latona, who was honored on Jan. 12 after going 3-0 at the West Virginia quad meet. … rest of story at https://hokiesports.com/news/2021/2/2/wrestling-howard-named-acc-wrestler-of-the-week.aspx?mc_cid=e1d5a94c45&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND Latona named ACC Wrestler of the Week
GREENSBORO, N.C. – After his thrilling victory Friday night that won the meet for the Hokies, Virginia Tech wrestling’s Sam Latona has been named the ACC Wrestler of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. With the No. 8 Hokies trailing the No. 3 Wolfpack 16-13 going into the final match at 125 pounds, eighth-ranked Sam Latona met No. 4 Jakob Camacho to decide the dual. … rest of story at https://hokiesports.com/news/2021/2/9/wrestling-latona-named-acc-wrestler-of-the-week.aspx?mc_cid=a084ab7fd9&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

5 } – ACC upset pushes Virginia into Top 25; Clutch upperweights lift Lehigh
Manheim, Pennsylvania – With Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow on Groundhog Day, the lore says we have six more weeks of winter. We’ve also got six more weeks of wrestling season. With the final three weeks of the regular season looming, dual meet action has been consistently solid around the Division I wrestling landscape even in the abbreviated season.
Upset wins by Virginia and Lehigh pushed those teams into the rankings this week as the NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll was released on Tuesday. Virginia topped then-No. 12 Pittsburgh 17-16 in Charlottesville. Heavyweight Quinn Miller’s major decision was the difference as he scored a key bonus point to avoid sending the match to criteria and allowed the Cavaliers to win the dual outright. It’s the first time this season Steve Garland’s squad has been ranked. They last appeared in the rankings on January 7, 2020. Lehigh re-entered the rankings, bolstered by the return of All-American heavyweight Jordan Wood, who saw his first action of the season over the weekend. The Mountain Hawks scored bonus points in the final two matches to rally past then-No. 25 Binghamton 19-16 in Grace Hall. Lehigh also shutout LIU 46-0 to even its record at 2-2. Binghamton slipped out of the Top 25 after jumping in last week. … rest of story at http://www.nwcaonline.com/acc-upset-pushes-virginia-into-top-25-clutch-upperweights-lift-lehigh/?mc_cid=e1d5a94c45&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

6 } – SIUE’s Ervin Named MAC Wrestler of the Week
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Saul Ervin, an SIUE redshirt sophomore from Morganfield, Kentucky, has been named the Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Week. Ervin, a 141-pounder, improved his overall record to 7-2 and 5-1 in the MAC with three victories this past weekend at First Community Arena. Ervin made his Trackwrestling debut at No. 28 nationally after defeating No. 17 Derek Spann (Buffalo) 5-1 as well as Kyle Schickel (Clarion) in a 13-5 major decision and Caleb Brooks (Northern Illinois) 5-2. The win over Schickel avenged his only previous MAC loss. … rest of story at https://siue.prestosports.com/sports/m-wrestl/2020-21/releases/20210203evk3yr?mc_cid=653cd27934&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

7 } – Schedule Updates For Lehigh Wrestling; EIWA Championships Info Announced
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh has announced several updates to its February wrestling schedule. The start time for the Mountain Hawks’ dual with Rider on Sunday, Feb. 7 has been moved up an hour to 1 p.m. In addition, Lehigh has added a match with EIWA rival American, set for Saturday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. This weekend, the Mountain Hawks will wrestle two duals on Saturday, against Army West Point (2 p.m.) and No. 14 North Carolina (5 p.m.) before welcoming Rider at 1 p.m. on Sunday.  Lehigh will close out the dual meet season next weekend with the dual against American on Feb. 13, followed by a 2 p.m. match with Bucknell on Sunday, Feb. 14. … rest of story at https://lehighsports.com/news/2021/2/3/schedule-updates-for-lehigh-wrestling-eiwa-championships-info-announced.aspx?mc_cid=653cd27934&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND 5 takeaways from Lehigh’s up-and-down wrestling weekend
Taking a look back at Lehigh’s up-and-down wrestling weekend, and looking forward …
New Hampshirmonster?
Lehigh fans will fondly remember their last standout wrestler from northern New England well, the two-time national runner-up and three-time All-American Robert Hamlin, who was known as the “Vermonster”. Freshman 141-pounder Connor McGonagle is from one state east, New Hampshire. And while he’s not at Hamlin level yet, McGonagle showed Sunday that he has the goods to become a Grace Hall favorite during his first Lehigh win, 6-1 over Rider’s McKenzie Bell. … rest of the story at https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/2021/02/5-takeaways-from-lehighs-up-and-down-wrestling-weekend.html?mc_cid=82bfd879a8&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

8 } – Always Aggressive Podcast: Season 2, Episode 15
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue wrestling Always Aggressive podcast welcomes special guest Earl Smith of The Open Mat to this week’s show to cover last week’s results at Rutgers, a preview of the Boilermakers’ home tri-dual Sunday and a deeper look at the work that goes into covering wrestling on the national scene at multiple levels.  
A native of Virginia and the editor for The Open Mat since 2018, Smith has been involved in covering wrestling since 2007, and has tried to be a steady influence in the sport. He takes the crew through a bit of his background with the sport and how he came to land in his current position. … rest of story at https://purduesports.com/news/2021/2/3/wrestling-always-aggressive-podcast-season-2-episode-15.aspx?mc_cid=653cd27934&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND The Roarcast – S3, E4 (Hitting the Mats with Columbia Wrestling)
A trio of members of the wrestling program discuss how they’re staying in shape during the pandemic and about the dedication it takes to make weight, and of course, the conversation turned towards food. Check us out on Twitch! Each episode will be streamed live on Monday’s at 10 a.m. Visit www.twitch.tv/gocolumbialions! Also, be sure to subscribe to Columbia Athletics on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. … restof story at https://gocolumbialions.com/podcasts/the-roarcast-s3-e4-hitting-the-mats-with-columbia-wrestling-/3081?mc_cid=82bfd879a8&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

9} – Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week – Feb. 3, 2021
WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: Requir van der Merwe, R-Sr., STANFORD (157, Mountain Lakes, N.J.)
• Went 4-0 on the week, including a pair of wins over ranked opponents.
• On Thursday, posted back-to-back major decisions over Cal Baptist’s Max Hammond (12-1) and Cal Poly’s Brawley Lamer (13-5).
• At the Little Rock Quad Duals, registered a 3-2 decision over No. 15 Cade DeVos of South Dakota State and knocked off No. 9 Justin Thomas of Oklahoma, 5-4.
• As a team, Stanford is now 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the Pac-12. … rest of story at https://pac-12.com/article/2021/02/03/pac-12-wrestler-week-feb-3-2021?mc_cid=653cd27934&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND Stanford’s Jason Borrelli and the fight to #KeepStanfordWrestling
Stanford head wrestling coach Jason Borrelli joins the Short Time Wrestling Podcast to talk about this year’s wrestling situation, the drama that’s not been discussed and how long this saga will go and what it’s been like on his athletes. Before we get to that news, you can make an online donation this week (February 1-7) for Takedown Cancer, check out that information at takedowncancer.org. Division III canceled all winter championships. I’ll go on a rant about what I love about the tournament and why it’s one of my five favorite championships annually IN THE WORLD. .. rest of story and podcast at https://www.mattalkonline.com/podcast/short-time/stanfords-jason-borrelli-and-the-fight-to-keepstanfordwrestling/?mc_cid=fca48e06b8&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

10 } – Wrestling Mailbag: Wrestlers in the Super Bowl, more Hawkeyes, Alex Marinelli, Spencer Lee
It’s Super Bowl week, which means former wrestlers will get a chance to shine on football’s biggest stage. The Kansas City Chiefs have as many as four former wrestlers on their roster: offensive lineman Nick Allegretti, linebacker Dorian O’Daniel, defensive lineman Khalen Saunders and another offensive lineman Stefen Wisniewski.  O’Daniel only wrestled as a youth, but his family is littered with Pennsylvania state medalists. Saunders wrestled for four years at Parkway Central, just outside St. Louis. Wisniewski wrestled for Central Catholic in Pennsylvania and his dad, Leo, won a state title. Allegretti was a four-year starter for Lincoln Way East in Illinois. … rest of story at https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/iowa/wrestling/2021/02/02/wrestling-mailbag-wrestlers-in-super-bowl-hawkeyes-spencer-lee-alex-marinelli-iowa-state-cyclones/4309571001/?mc_cid=653cd27934&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND IOWA HEAD COACH TOM BRANDS TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
 IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head wrestling coach Tom Brands has tested positive for COVID-19. Brands tested positive during his regularly scheduled rapid antigen test Wednesday morning, followed by a PCR test to confirm the diagnosis. Brands is asymptomatic and will remain home until Feb. 13. Wrestlers, coaches, and staff members are tested daily as part of the Big Ten Conference return to play protocols. Iowa wrestles Sunday in West Lafayette, Indiana, against Purdue and Ohio State. “Our guys are preparing for competition just as they always do. We are ready to go,” Brands said. “I will continue to work remotely. We have a good thing going and we are going to keep moving forward. Right now our focus is on Purdue and Ohio State.” The top-ranked Hawkeyes are 3-0 this season with five Big Ten duals remaining on the schedule. The Big Ten Championships are March 6-7. … rest of story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2021/February/04/Iowa-head-coach-Tom-Brands-tests-positive-for-COVID-19?mc_cid=fca48e06b8&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

11 } – Kaid Brock Is ‘Likely’ Done for the Season
This is Brock’s third season-ending injury.
Tough blow for Oklahoma State wrestling as John Smith announced Wednesday that Kaid Brock’s season is “more than likely” over. Smith said Brock suffered an injury in practice a few weeks ago. “Kaid will be out , more than likely his season’s over,” Smith said. “His injury was probably a season-ending injury. Likely we won’t see him for the rest of the season.” Brock was a two-time All-American for the Cowboys and the starter at 141 after defeating Dusty Hone 3-2 in the orange and black match in early January. … rest of story at https://pistolsfiringblog.com/kaid-brock-is-likely-done-for-the-season/?mc_cid=653cd27934&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND Bedlam Wrestling: The Matches You Should be Most Excited About
From 10-1, a list of the best Bedlam matches to watch on Sunday.
Bedlam wrestling is this Sunday afternoon in Norman at 1 p.m. Central time in what should be a very close matchup between the Cowboys and Sooners. I thought I’d make a list of the matches I’m most intrigued by heading into this one, and honestly, almost all of them have a certain have the potential to be good.
10. Travis Wittlake vs. Troy Mantanona (165)
Freshman Troy Mantanona has added a spark to the OU lineup at 165 since being inserted as the starter a few weeks ago. He’s 3-0 and presumably has solidified himself in the No. 1 spot at 165 for the Sooners. Though I think he’ll play a big role moving forward for OU, he’s probably a little outgunned in this one and Wittlake should win fairly comfortably.
9. Dakota Geer vs. Darrien Roberts (184)
Geer dropped one vs. UNI last week and I think will look to shake it off here vs. Roberts. The All-American Geer is currently ranked No. 7 in the country and Roberts is unranked. … rest of lineup at https://pistolsfiringblog.com/bedlam-wrestling-the-matches-you-should-be-most-excited-about/?mc_cid=18c25877f2&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

12 } – THIS WEEK’S NCAA DIV. I SCHEDULE LISTED BY CONFERENCE, PLUS RANKED DUALS AND OTHER NOTES
Here is this week’s Div. I college wrestling schedule, broken up by conference. Please note that we are including the most current NWCA Div. I poll rankings, as published on February 2. There are currently nine dual meets between ranked opponents this weekend. Five are Big Ten matches, two are ACC matches and one is a Big 12 match, with the other a cross-conference match. Due to No. 2 Michigan pausing its program last week, a tri-meet with No. 17 Wisconsin and No. 4 Penn State for this coming weekend was postponed. Penn State was able to reschedule its match with Wisconsin, going directly to Madison after its two matches in Illinois on Jan. 30, instead of heading home. The Nittany Lions beat the Badgers, 34-6 on Tuesday. There is a Big Ten tri-meet at No. 18 Purdue on Sunday, … rest of story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2021/February/04/This-weekends-Div-I-schedule?mc_cid=fca48e06b8&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND Live Stream Schedule for NCAA Division I Wrestling: Feb. 5th – Feb. 7th
54 NCAA Wrestling duals featuring Division I teams are live streaming on the internet this week. Where can you watch? There are many outlets scattered around the web that will provide college wrestling this weekend, some free, some for a fee. Here is the list of all NCAA Division I wrestling events we’ve found streaming starting Wednesday, January 20th through Monday, January 25th. If you spot any streams not listed, let us know by sending an email to support@theopenmat.com Enjoy! (All times listed are eastern). … story and list at https://news.theopenmat.com/college-wrestling-news/live-stream-schedule-for-ncaa-division-i-wrestling-feb-5th-feb-7th/79977?mc_cid=fca48e06b8&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

February 23, 2021 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment