Augsburg remains #1 while UW-Eau Claire Jumps from 9th to #3
NWCA Division III Men’s Coaches Poll – Regular Season #1
Manheim, PA – The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) released the first regular season Division III Men’s Coaches rankings. These include the team tournament poll and national and regional individual rankings.
Augsburg (89.5 pts) remains solidly in first place ahead of archrival Wartburg (54.5 pts). UW-Eau Claire is making the massive jump from 9th to #3 (39.5 pts). Completing the Top Five are #4 UW-La Crosse (39 pts) and #5 Alvernia (38 pts), who each slide up one spot.
In the individual rankings, Augsburg leads the country with three top-ranked wrestlers (141, 184, 285). Wartburg has two (174, 197), while Johnson & Wales (125), UW-Eau Claire (133), McDaniel (141), UW-Lacrosse (157), and Alvernia(165) each have a single wrestler at the top of their respective weight class. There is a new number one at 149 in Thomas Monn of McDaniel, with defending national champion Michael Petrella of Baldwin Wallace moving up to 157. Petrella is ranked #2 behind Nolan Hertel, also a defending national champion. Just last week, Hertel won 3-1 in a marathon overtime match (TB2-2) over returning D2 national champion Nick Novak of St. Cloud State in the NWCA All-Star Classic.TOP RANKED INDIVIDUALS | NATIONAL RANKINGS | REGIONAL RANKINGS
125 Joziah Fry, Johnson & Wales
133 Tyler Fleetwood, UW-Eau Claire
141 Sam Stuhl, Augsburg
149 Thomas Monn, McDaniel
157 Nolan Hertel, UW-La Crosse
165 Matt Lackman, Alvernia
174 Zane Mulder, Wartburg
184 Bentley Schwanebeck-Osterman, Augsburg
197 Massoma Endene, Wartburg
285 Tyler Kim, Augsburg … rest of rankings and story at … NWCAonline.com/NCAA-division-3-men-augsburg-remains-1-while-uw-eau-claire-jumps-from-9th
Making history at Morgan State: Q&A with wrestling coach Kenny Monday
In October 2021, Morgan State University announced that its historic wrestling program, one that was cut in the late 1990s, would return after over two decades to become the only Division I historically black college and university (HBCU) in the NCAA. The administration then hired Olympic gold medalist Kenny Monday to lead the program, inspiring even more excitement in the revitalized team.
🤼 MORE COLLEGE WRESTLING 🤼
Flash forward to 2023, the Bears have just nearly completed their first month of competition and will head to the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational this weekend to compete against some of the best teams in the country.
NCAA.com caught up with Monday to talk about the team, the challenges he’s experienced in rebuilding the program and his goals for the future of Morgan State wrestling. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I want to talk about your team, some of your standout athletes and your competitive dual schedule this year, but before I get to all of that, I’d love to go back to when you took this job at Morgan State. What drew you to the program?
I think just the historical opportunity [to bring] the program back after 25 years. In 1996, I was training for the Olympics, and it broke my heart to know that a program was dropping, so when I really thought about it, I just felt like, me being in that position [to be the head coach], I could have a bigger impact than anywhere else.
You’ve coached at a ton of places. What have been some of the biggest challenges in bringing this program back and in starting this program in general?
I think, first of all, just getting the administration and the school up to speed on what wrestling looks like it, what it entails — that was one of the challenges. Then, just the recruiting process, starting from scratch, going out and recruiting student athletes to Morgan State and believing in the journey and believing in the process of starting a program. … rest of story at … NCAA.com/news/Making-history-morgan-state-qa-wrestling-coach-kenny-monday
TDR blog
After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
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