Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

UNC WRESTLING SIGNS FIVE TO 2022 SIGNING CLASS

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina wrestling signed a class of five to National Letters of Intent during the fall signing period for the class of 2023. 
 
Derek Guanajuato, Cullen Kane, Nolan O’Boyle, Sabino Portella and Marco Tocci all plan to join the Tar Heels in this year’s signing class. 
 
Derek Guanajuato, a projected 133-pounder, will join the Heels from Valiant College Preparatory in Arizona, is ranked No. 117 overall as a recruit and No. 17 in his weight class. Guanajuato was also a 2022 Junior Fargo All American in the 126-pound weight class. 
 
From Alpharetta, Ga., Cullen Kane is projected to compete in the 165-pound weight class after finishing third overall in the Georgia state tournaments in 2021. 
 
Nolan O’Boyle, from Virginia Beach, Va., heads to Chapel Hill projected as a 165-pounder, after winning state championship titles in 2021 and 2022 in his home state. 
 
A New Jersey native and upcoming graduate of Red Bank Catholic, Sabino Portella joins the Tar Heels and is expected to compete at 184 pounds. The No. 68 overall recruit, Portella is No. 6 in his weight class in high school at 170.
 
Rounding out this signing class is Marco Tocci, … rest of story at Goheels.com/news/2022/wrestling-signs-five-to-2022-signing-class

December 3, 2022 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

UPIKE Wrestling Completes Program’s First Ever Competition at Patriot Open

Corbin, Ky. – UPIKE wrestling completed it’s inaugural competition as a program Saturday afternoon, fielding three athletes at the Pepsi Patriot Open.

UPIKE’s Aiden Vega battled his way to a pair of wins in the Freshman/Sophomore 174 weight bracket. Vega opened the meet with a matchup against Indiana Tech’s Matheos Veiga who won 10-2 by major decision. Vega then moved on to the consolation bracket where the freshman won back to back by pin-fall. In the first round, Vega took just 1:13 to pin Brewton Parker’s Booker Colson. In the second round the challenger was Josh Mojica Smith of Montreat College, and Vega once again won by fall in just over a minute. The third round ended Vega’s run, where he was pinned after 1:40 by Dominico Migliori of Lourdes.

Also in the freshman/sophomore 174 bracket was Nate Greene who fell in the opening matchup to Mojica-Smith. Greene went 4:25 with Mojica Smith in the battle but was ultimately defeated by fall. Greene won his first as a Bear in the first round of consolation, falling Brewton-Parker’s Darrell Shields in 6:18. Greene’s final match ended in a tie-break loss to Vega of Indiana Tech. … rest of story at UPIKEbears.com/news/wrestling-completes-programs-first-ever-competition-at-patriot-open

Fairmont State Wrestling wins a Pair at the Pioneer Duals
Wrestling goes 2-2 at the Pioneer Duals starts the year 3-2
Glenville, W.Va. — Wrestling went 2-2 on the day against a tough field of competition at the Pioneer Duals. They started the day with two defeats to very tough opponents. First up was the host school Glenville State who was recently picked to finish second in the MEC. Winning matches were 141 Mikey Jones by fall, 157 Navid Ighani by forfeit and 285 Mason Atkinson by forfeit. The final score for the dual was 33-18. Next up was Super Region 1 foe Seton Hill. The lone winner in that dual was 285 Mason Atkinson by fall. 

To finish up their pool play the Fighting Falcons squared up against MEC foe Notre Dame College. Notre Dame is a perennial D2 power that has won 5 National Championships since 2010. They were picked to finish 3rd in the MEC preseason poll. Starting up the dual was 125 Brandan Myers winning by forfeit and 133 Nate Pelesky followed with a big win, winning by fall to push Fairmont State’s lead to 12-0. 141 Mikey Jones collected a forfeit win to extend the lead to 18-0. A loss by fall at 149 made the score 18-6 Fairmont State. 157 Navid Ighani had a solid win by decision to make the score 21-6. Freshman 165 Jude Childers secured a big win by fall to extend the lead to 27-6. A tough loss at 174 made the score 27-9 but 184 Austin Gibson put an end to Notre Dame’s comeback bid with a big win by fall. After losses at 197 and 285 your Fighting Falcons won by a final score 33-18. … rest of the day at Fightingfalcons.com/news/2022/11/5/wrestling-wins-a-pair-at-the-pioneer-duals

TDR Editor’s Notes; While these colleges are located outside of the Carolinas they are new and we are always glad to see schools adding wrestling opportunities for their students. New college teams in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia are welcome and that news shall be emphasized. It is pathetic that Division I school with big name visibility are slow in following these examples. Only 1/4 of the D-I teams that will participate in football bowl games this year have a current wrestling program. Twice that number of schools USED to have a team. Somehow the cash cow bowl games and football revenues are not enough to fund other worthy programs. We wonder what percentage of the players on the school teams without wrestling benefited from wrestling while in high school. More on this later.

December 3, 2022 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Let’s help get kids on the mats!

Check out the GearUP campaign I’ve joined on with in conjunction with Beat The Streets National. Check out how you can help outfit kids by going to https://www.mattalkonline.com/gearup. Every $50 donated outfits a needy wrestler with $200 worth of gear. Let’s make sure we don’t lose the next Burroughs, Taylor, Maroulis, Gray or Gardner because they can’t afford to get on the mat.

TDR Editor’s Note ; Due to some computer difficulties and a readjustment to a new laptop we have been absent and silent from posting updates. Will strive to improve in the coming days.

December 3, 2022 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment