Takedown Report

The college wrestling fan’s guide to the 2023 Senior World Championships

The news is out: Minnesota two-time NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson will not be competing in the 2023 World Championships next week. Instead, Team USA will send Michigan alum and 2023 Hodge Trophy winner Mason Parris in his place, giving Parris his first senior world championship experience. 
HODGE TROPHY: Read more about this historic award in NCAA wrestling 

While wrestling fans may be disappointed with the Steveson news, Parris is a strong replacement on an already stellar roster. Parris’ world team peers include Olympic gold medalists Helen Maroulis, David Taylor and Kyle Synder at 57kg, 86kg and 97kg in men’s and women’s freestyle, as well as Olympic silver medalist Adeline Gray who will represent the US in women’s freestyle at 76kg. Olympic bronze medalists Sarah Hildebrandt and Kyle Dake will also wrestle at 50kg and 74kg alongside a slate of other returning and new world team members for the U.S. across all three styles. This is a squad capable of having serious success when the tournament kicks off on September 16. 
The U.S. senior world team also has a number of high-profile collegiate connections, so those who follow NCAA wrestling but may be new to the freestyle or Greco scene will likely recognize some of the names on this year’s team. The style of competition may change, but the excitement will not. 

See the table below for a full list of the 2023 senior world team members, as well as their collegiate affiliations.  … rest of story at … NCAA.com/news/wrestling/article/2023-09-07/college-wrestling-fans-guide-2023-senior-world-championships

September 10, 2023 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Who Should Stanford Hire?

Last week, the University of North Carolina officially announced that they had hired Rob Koll as their next head wrestling coach. Just over two years ago, Koll shocked the wrestling world by leaving Cornell, a school that he built from a good EIWA team into a consistent national power, for Stanford. 

Now, we’re left to wonder, “Who replaces Koll at Stanford.” Even though it’s extremely late in the game (or really early) for coaching changes, there should be plenty of interest in the job. Stanford has a young, talented roster that starts the preseason ranked #24 in duals by InterMat and features six ranked wrestlers. Koll and his staff were able to ink back-to-back top-eight classes (#8 in 2022; #5 in 2021) and have an impressive list of high school seniors that have given the Cardinal program verbals. In addition, Koll’s efforts have led to the possibility of an increase in funding from the athletic department. 

Also, with conference realignment front and center, Stanford will have some stability as they head to the ACC. While it doesn’t make sense geographically, the Cardinal will now compete in a league that features four ranked teams and plenty of talented individuals. That should lead to more at-large opportunities for any Stanford wrestlers who don’t automatically qualify at the ACC Tournament. 

With a brief bit of background information out of the way, let’s focus on coaches that InterMat has identified as quality candidates for the opening. … rest of story at … Intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/pac-12/who-should-stanford-hire

September 10, 2023 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment