2024-25 Conference Movement Primer
The world of college athletics is changing by the year – actually, maybe not that slow, maybe by the month or week. It seems like late spring and summer are the times to monitor which schools are changing conferences and which conferences are raiding other smaller leagues.
This offseason proved to be one of the most impactful in college athletics with the Big Ten expanding to the West Coast and a pair of Big 8/12 mainstays heading to the SEC.
Some of these moves don’t directly impact wrestling – others have. There are a few wrestling conferences that have undergone major facelifts and will look much different during the 2024-25 season and beyond. Since it can be difficult to follow all of these changes, we’ve gone conference by conference to see how each has evolved for the 2024-25 season.
ACC: The ACC comes out a winner in this game of musical chairs as they add a very talented Stanford team. Sure, the geography of Stanford being in the Atlantic Coast Conference doesn’t add up, but we’ve had time to come to terms with the fact that these conferences don’t make much sense.
On the mat, Stanford brings a team that will likely enter the season in the top-15 in tournament and dual rankings. The Cardinal boasts a lineup that features three All-Americans, finished 16th in the nation in 2024, and has inked three top-eight recruiting classes in a row.
After years of claiming the ACC is on the rise, the 2025 conference tournament will now feature seven teams and gets that much tougher.
Big Ten: The Big Ten added four schools (Oregon, Southern California, UCLA, and Washington) and none of them currently field a wrestling team. The initial reaction is “Great, maybe one of them will add wrestling,” however, will all of the new financial changes coming to college athletics, you might start to worry whether one or more Big Ten schools will drop in the near future. … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/2024-25-conference-movement-primer-r99569/
Burroughs, Taylor, Arujau, Green make U.S. Senior World Team in men’s freestyle
OMAHA, Neb. – The United States will send an experienced team of men’s freestyle athletes to the 2024 World Championships. The four-man team, which earned their berths at this weekend’s World Team Trials, includes two Olympic champions, three World champions and all four who have won World medals. Combined, these four athletes have won a combined two Olympic gold medals, 10 World gold medals and 16 total World medals. All four athletes swept their best-of-three Championship Series in two straight matches. 2012 Olympic champion and six-time World champion Jordan Burroughs swept his two-match series at 79 kg over 2023 World Team member Chance Marsteller. Burroughs sealed the win in the second match with a 6-3 victory. The key exchange late in the second period had Burroughs score four points on a double leg shot, with Marsteller getting a two-point counter exposure. On Sunday morning, Burroughs shut out Marsteller in the first match.
It was the third time these warriors battled in the finals of a World Team qualifier. Burroughs and Marsteller also wrestled in Final X twice, with Burroughs making the World Team in 2022 and Marsteller earning the spot in 2023. It will be Burroughs 10th Senior World Team. 2020 Olympic champion and three-time World champion David Taylor came through the Challenge Tournament on Saturday, then swept the Championship Series at 92 kg over 2023 World bronze medalist Zahid Valencia. Taylor clinched the win in the second match pin over Valencia at 2:34. After Taylor scored the first two takedowns, he cradled Valencia for a takedown, then turned him again and secured the fall. In the first match, Taylor scored a second period takedown to claim criteria in a 3-3 match.
It was Taylor’s first competition since dropping … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2024/september/15/burroughs-taylor-arujau-green-make-u-s-senior-world-team-in-men-s-freestyle
Davidson Wrestling Adds Local Standout Byers to Staff
DAVIDSON – Head coach Nate Carr Jr. has announced the hiring of Ike Byers to the Davidson College wrestling staff. Byers joins the Wildcats after five seasons as a member of the App State wrestling program. “I am excited to be joining the Davidson College staff and this community,” said Byers. “I’m looking forward to a strong season alongside Coach Carr and Coach Clothier and being able to learn from two great men.”
A local product of Mooresville, Byers joins the ‘Cats from the back-to-back SoCon Champions, App State. Most recently, Byers went 27-17 and finished fourth in the 141-pound division at the SoCon Championships for the Mountaineers. His 27 wins was the second-most on the team highlighted by a 6-1 mark in SoCon duals. He also picked up a dual win to help App State defeat then-No. 21 UNC, 24-14. Byers was also selected as a team captain in 2023-24. “We are extremely excited to add Ike to our staff,” said Carr. “Coach Byers’ positivity and enthusiasm for people and the sport of wrestling is evident, and his presence in our room will allow us to continue to improve as a program.”
Prior to college, Byers was a local standout at Mooresville High School … more at … https://davidsonwildcats.com/news/2024/9/26/wrestling-adds-local-standout-byers-to-staff
The 3 biggest questions heading into the 2024-2025 college wrestling season
There’s no shortage of intrigue heading into this year’s college wrestling season, from new coaches to reloaded lineups to weight class changes. Here are the three biggest questions on our minds as the season nears:
What will it take for Carter Starocci to be the first five-time NCAA champion?
Last year, Penn State’s 174-pounder Carter Starocci and his 197-pound teammate Aaron Brooks made history when they became the sixth and seventh four-time NCAA champions, respectively. They joined their coach, Cael Sanderson, as well as Pat Smith, Kyle Dake, Logan Stieber, and Yianni Diakomihalis in that elite club.
PENN STATE LEGENDS: How Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks won their fourth national titles
Brooks wrapped up his college career in 2024 and continued wrestling on the senior level, winning a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics. Starocci, however, is back for one more year. He looks to become the first (and only) wrestler to ever win five national championships.
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Starocci’s ability to chase five titles stems from his success in 2021, the “free” COVID year. During that season, Starocci’s redshirt freshman year, he finished the regular season 7-1, his lone loss coming against Indiana’s DJ Washington in his varsity debut. He then took second at the Big Ten tournament following a 7-2 loss to Michael Kemerer but reversed that result at the NCAA tournament when he tore through the bracket, notching wins over Victor Marcelli, Hayden Hastings, Andrew McNally, Demetrius Romero and Kemerer to claim his first national championship. ,,, more a … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2024-09-25/3-biggest-questions-heading-2024-2025-college-wrestling-season
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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