Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

High School News (2021) – # 8

TDR Editor’s Notes ; The regular season and the following state championships conclude usually in February and March at different dates depending on the state. This year that is even more so as some states will not start competing until later in the spring. Yet, wrestlers will work to compete and will get through thistrying year. Keep on wrestling!
E-mail us at the Editor’s office at martinkfleming@gmail.com
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1 } – Nationally-ranked hammers hit the mat this week in Georgia, Wisconsin state tournaments
High school state tournament season cranks up this week on Trackwrestling with championship events in Georgia and Wisconsin, a pair of states that boast more than a dozen nationally-ranked competitors, including seven who currently sit inside the top 10 of their respective weight classes.  Georgia’s rising talent pool has been on display on the national level in recent years and was documented in a recent feature story by Trackwrestling’s Kyle Klingman. The state performed well at USA Wrestling age-group dual events and several of the top athletes from the state turned in impressive performances at the Super 32, where Caden McCrary and Caleb Henson took home title belts and Matthew Singleton and Chase Horne reached the finals.  Similarly, Wisconsin has been producing talent at a greater clip lately, as well. … rest of story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1613023053724&twSessionId=tfgpaxutte&postId=1053129135&mc_cid=5e3b2f2de3&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

2 } – (Wisconsin) WIAA state wrestling preview: Scaled-down, split-up tourney field still features deep well of area talent
THE BASICS
What: The 76th annual WIAA state individual wrestling tournament.
When: Saturday.
Where: Division 1 at Kaukauna High School; Division 2 at Adams-Friendship High School; Division 3 at Wausau East High School.
Schedule: 10 a.m. session (9 a.m. at Wausau East) — Quarterfinals, followed by semifinals, consolation semifinals and wrestlebacks, with a 15-minute pause between rounds. 5 p.m. session — Championship, third-place and fifth-place matches.
Tickets: Tickets, at $11 per session, are only available through member schools with competitors qualifying for the state tournament, with a limit of two tickets per qualifier. No general admission tickets will be sold at the venues.
COVID-19 concerns: Due to COVID-19 protocols, only eight wrestlers qualified for state in each divisional weight class. COVID-19 protocols will be strictly followed for participants, officials, workers and attendees at all three sites. … rest of story at https://madison.com/wsj/sports/high-school/wrestling/wiaa-state-wrestling-preview-scaled-down-split-up-tourney-field-still-features-deep-well-of/article_bc8b71c1-e81d-50d1-9db2-33dae72f33ad.html?mc_cid=5e3b2f2de3&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

3 } – (Pennsylvania) Waynesburg, Burrell cruise into WPIAL team wrestling finals
There will be two rematches in Saturday’s WPIAL team wrestling tournament finals, which will be held at Canon-McMillan High School, as the top two seeds in each class earned a return trip to the finals.
Class 3A
• Top-seed Waynesburg (12-0), the defending champion in Class 3A and a prohibitive favorite to repeat, earned its 10th trip to the WPIAL finals with a convincing 51-9 victory over No. 5 ranked North Allegheny (13-3) in a semifinal match held at Waynesburg. Waynesburg jumped out to a 42-3 lead with pins by Luca Augustine (172), Noah Tustin (215), Ryan Howard (285) and Joseph Simon (113). Cole Homet’s pin at 138 closed out the match. North Allegheny’s only wins came at 160, when Collin McCorkle beat Nate Stephenson 3-1 in overtime, and a forfeit win at 126.
• No. 2 Seneca Valley (20-1) earned its third consecutive trip to the finals with a 42-24 semifinal win at home over No. 7 Connellsville (7-4). … rest of story at https://http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/highschool/2021/02/10/Waynesburg-Burrell-cruise-into-WPIAL-team-wrestling-finals-Dylan-Chappell-broke-Seneca-Valleys-career-pin-record/stories/202102100188?mc_cid=5e3b2f2de3&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

4 } – Empey brothers, Nicolar Rivera lead Stoughton wrestling into WIAA Division 1 state meet
From the time they were young boys, Stoughton brothers Brooks Empey and Griffin Empey came to the wrestling room. They watched and learned as wrestlers of varied talent and experience perfected their technique and enhanced their conditioning. And through the years they improved their own skills after entering the sport in which their dad, Bob Empey, was a coach and other friends were teammates. Brooks started prior to kindergarten, slightly earlier than when his younger brother began participating. “I’ve grown up with Stoughton wrestling,” said 260-pound Griffin Empey, a sophomore who wrestles in the 285-pound division. “I’ve seen the high years and the low years. After school (when younger), we’d go to the high school wrestling practices and sit there and watch and do our homework. We grew up with it. It’s a part of us and will never go away.” … rest of story at https://madison.com/wsj/sports/high-school/wrestling/empey-brothers-nicolar-rivera-lead-stoughton-wrestling-contingent-into-wiaa-division-1-state-meet/article_2e352a0b-f1ac-5a78-8d45-c1daafd39ff5.html?mc_cid=b6bf9ab19d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

5 } – (Tennessee) State Wrestling: TSSAA postpones championships due to weather
The TSSAA State Wrestling Championship scheduled for later this week in Chattanooga has been postponed until next week due to the ongoing rugged weather conditions plaguing most of the state and region. The TSSAA announced the move Monday afternoon. “A significant portion of our state has been impacted by snow and ice making travel extremely hazardous and, in some cases, impossible,” The TSSAA said. The tournament, which was to begin Thursday at the Chattanooga Convention Center, has been shifted to next week. Wrestlers will converge in Chattanooga Wednesday through Friday, Feb 24-26, at the same tournament site instead of this week. “Temperatures in Middle and West Tennessee are not expected to reach freezing over the next couple of days so it is unlikely that conditions will improve this week,” the TSSAA indicated. “Additional ice and snow is in the forecast for these areas on Wednesday and Thursday, which makes it very likely that many participating schools would not be able to attend the TSSAA Wrestling State Championships.” …rest of story at http://www.williamsonherald.com/sports/state-wrestling-tssaa-postpones-championships-due-to-weather/article_d50cb268-6fd8-11eb-a12c-7b84ec57cb50.html?mc_cid=9e45a80a12&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
AND (Iowa) Pinning Combination: Iowa pauses, UNI-ISU preview, high school districts and more
Less than a month after the start of a delayed season, the Iowa wrestling team is sidelined again. The top-ranked Hawkeyes wrestled Purdue and Ohio State on Sunday, then were shut down due to COVID-19 precautions the next day. The Gazette’s K.J. Pilcher, The Predicament’s G. Wyatt Schultz and former coach Dick Briggs discuss Iowa’s situation on this week’s episode of the Pinning Combination.
Also on this week’s show:
• Iowa State and Northern Iowa are still wrestling and will meet this Sunday in Ames, along with Arizona State.
• American Rivers Conference competition continues, but the NCAA Division III Championships have been canceled, leaving wrestlers and coaches heartbroken for the second straight year.
• Recapping Saturday’s Class 1A and 2A sectional tournaments and Tuesday’s regional duals
• Previewing Saturday’s Iowa high school district tournaments … rest of story at https://www.thegazette.com/subject/podcast/pinning-combination-podcast/pinning-combination-iowa-pauses-uni-isu-preview-high-school-districts-and-more-20210211?mc_cid=b6bf9ab19d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

6 } – (Ohio) Regis Sr. finally receives formal HoF induction
It may have taken longer than expected, but Jack Regis Sr. is finally a member of the Ohio Wrestling Officials Hall of Fame, which is sponsored by the Ohio Wrestling Officials Association. Regis, 71, a lifelong Martins Ferry resident is in his 29th season of officiating high school wrestling in both Ohio and West Virginia. The honor is usually bestowed upon an individual during the state tournament in Columbus in March. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic just starting last year, the ceremony was delayed. He was presented with his plaque during the recent Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association Division II State Duals last weekend in Steubenville.
“It’s nice to finally receive this award,” Regis said. “It’s very nice to be honored by your peers.”
Dr. Randy Wrobel was also inducted.
Congratulations
Danny Irwin continues his magic on the hilltop as West Liberty rolled to the Mountain East Conference wrestling tournament title last weekend inside the ASRC. The youthful West Liberty head coach, who was the 2019 NCAA Division II Coach of the Year when he led then-Wheeling Jesuit University to a national tournament runnerup finish, has turned things around on Route 88. He was hired in April of 2019 and hit the mat grappling. … rest of story at https://www.timesleaderonline.com/sports/local-sports/2021/02/regis-sr-finally-receives-formal-hof-induction/?mc_cid=b6bf9ab19d&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

7 } – (New York) Putnam Valley’s Will Carano commits to powerhouse Iowa
When Will Carano was a sophomore at Putnam Valley, his college destination was the least of his worries and it was still too soon to give it any thought. However, a trip to the University of Iowa for a week-and-a-half long wrestling camp completely changed his perspective. From that point on, Carano knew that’s where he wanted to be. “I’d been to a bunch of other camps all over and no camp was even close to how great that camp was,” Carano said. “All the coaches are awesome, the facilities are awesome, and the whole Iowa City is awesome. It was kind of a mixture of everything — the competition and how the mentality of the coaches fed into everyone else in the room so everybody worked harder.” The experience motivated Carano, who has now made his dream come true as a senior. After graduating, the Putnam Valley standout will be spending the next four years wrestling for the Hawkeyes. … rest of story at https://www.lohud.com/story/sports/high-school/wrestling/2021/01/05/wrestling-putnam-valley-will-carano-commits-iowa/6551535002/?mc_cid=afb669e366&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

8 } – (Virginia) From Day One of Blackhawk to senior leader, undefeated regular season with Powhatan wrestling
Hayden Fitzsimmons chronicles growth of both the wrestling program and himself through the Blackhawk Powhatan youth wrestling club and the standard set by Coach Mike Walter
The match took place nearly a year ago. Hayden Fitzsimmons recalled it like it had happened yesterday. The Powhatan High School wrestler, then a junior, was facing King George County’s Mettres Murrill in the consolation quarterfinals of last year’s Class 4, Region B tournament. Murrill, a defending regional champion, put Fitzsimmons to his back in the second period. Fitzsimmons fought off the three-point pin attempt for what he said was like a minute before he got out of the jam. He stayed on top of Murrill through the majority of the third and final period of regulation, but he was still behind in points, trailing Murrill 3-1. Nine seconds remained.
But Fitzsimmons remembered how, the week before, his dad – Powhatan assistant wrestling coach and Blackhawk Powhatan youth wrestling club co-founder Richard Fitzsimmons – was showing him a last-desperation turn move. It was an all-or-nothing-type move that could either put your opponent on their back, or leave yourself in a position to get pinned. … rest of story at https://richmond.com/community/powhatan-today/from-day-one-of-blackhawk-to-senior-leader-undefeated-regular-season-with-powhatan-wrestling/article_397424d8-6576-11eb-b1e1-3f21d3a27e28.html?mc_cid=e1d5a94c45&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

9} – WRESTLING: Beaver Dam’s Kyler Neuberger, dad Jason enjoying ride to state together
Competing at one of the lighter weights over the years, Kyler Neuberger has never had much of an advantage when it comes to size on his peers — much less his dad. That didn’t stop the junior on Beaver Dam’s prep wrestling team from trying to beat the old man, though. “One time when I was younger I pinned him, and he made me this nice hat with a big pin on it. Obviously he wasn’t trying,” Kyler recounted of when he was 8 years old. Now the two are on a little bit more even playing field, albeit dad Jason still has the edge. “I think I’ve taken him down once this whole season. That’s it. He’s pretty good,” Kyler said. “I think this is the closest I’ve been to beating him, and I’ve taken him down once.”
Fortunately for Kyler, he’s not competing against his dad when the matches count on his record. In fact, they’re competing together, on the same team. And they’re enjoying one heck of a ride, too. … rest of story at https://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/sports/high-school/wrestling/wrestling-beaver-dams-kyler-neuberger-dad-jason-enjoying-ride-to-state-together/article_2f75784a-e46d-585f-9a5d-c88d70d2051f.html?mc_cid=a6cfb4b322&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

10 } – (Michigan) From bite to taking flight: ‘Sky’s the limit’ for Ira Jenkins, top-ranked wrestler and D-I prospect
WHITEHALL – Long before Ira Jenkins became a top-ranked high school wrestler in Michigan and Division I prospect, he was a bit of a “gumpy kid,” according to his father. The Whitehall junior sure has come a long way since his grade-school days, when he was getting dominated on the mat by then-stranger and now close friend and teammate Max Brown. Now, the “sky is the limit” for Jenkins, according to people who train and coach him. Makes total sense, given that the student with the weighted cumulative GPA of 4.037 aspires to one day become a fighter pilot or astronaut.
Since he was a boy, Jenkins has been fascinated by outer space and flight. “I think of what’s out there (in space) and how big it is and it goes on for a really long time. We’re just so small in this universe and it’s, like, crazy to think about that stuff,” he said. “I mean, years from now, who knows where we’re going to be. We’re doing stuff with Mars, working to get there. I really like all that stuff and it would be really cool to be a part of.” Jenkins is 17 years old now. At 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, he looks like a grown man, especially if you watch him on the wrestling mat or football field. He has much more depth to him than the stereotypical “jock.” He’s class president and model student-athlete, and he continues to reach for the stars. … rest of story at https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2021/02/from-bite-to-taking-flight-skys-the-limit-for-ira-jenkins-top-ranked-wrestler-and-d-i-prospect.html?mc_cid=a6cfb4b322&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

11 } – (Indiana) 2021 State Finals by the Numbers
We are closing in on another state finals in what has been an extraordinary year all around. However, with all the uncertainly around us, there is one thing that remains the same. That is the IndianaMat rankings are always top notch. This year Mike Reiser has upped the ante by getting 186 out of 224 qualifiers in the last set of rankings. Just a quick reminder that we lock the rankings before the first whistle at sectional and let them ride. We saw top wrestlers missing weight or getting hit with COVID quarantines, yet the rankings still held serve. There is only one match in the whole first round that puts two wrestlers that were not in the rankings against each other. Mike is still working on a perfect bracket of all ranked wrestlers making the state finals. This year 106, 132, and 170 all had 15 of 16 qualifiers in the rankings.
As always we have created brackets with our rankings on them for you to download and use for all your pick’em purposes. This year we have two sets, one with just state rankings and one with both semi-state and state rankings. I would hold off printing any of these out as your official copies as there may be a couple more surprises added to the brackets this week. … rest of story at https://indianamat.com/index.php?/articles.html/high-school-news/tournament-previews/2021-state-finals-by-the-numbers-r1046/&mc_cid=c18c111026&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

12 } – (Wisconsin) Bianchi Reacts to Achieving History at State Wrestling Tournament
There were many eyes on Matt Bianchi Saturday and the Two Rivers High School senior wrestler did not disappoint. The Raiders athlete who entered the State Division-2 meet at Adams-Friendship with a 147-10 career record accomplished what he set out to do: win a 4th State Wrestling title. Entering the 3rd period of the 145 lb championship match against Lodi sophomore Zach Licht & needing a takedown to win it, wrestling correspondent Terry Stake called the final seconds of the match via live streaming when Bianchi earned the match-sealing takedown, did a backflip, and became the 19th wrestler in Wisconsin high school history to win four state titles in his career. After capturing the 4-peat, Matti said it “feels so amazing and just like a little stress relief.  It feels awesome to accomplish it.” … rest of story at https://www.seehafernews.com/2021/02/15/bianchi-reacts-to-achieving-history-at-state-wrestling-tournament/?mc_cid=9e45a80a12&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

February 27, 2021 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment