Asheville to host Southern Conference wrestling championship at UNC Asheville in 2025
The Southern Conference wrestling tournament is returning to Asheville in a two-year deal, the conference announced in partnership with Explore Asheville on Monday.
The Explore Asheville SoCon Wrestling Championship will take place at Kimmel Arena on UNC Asheville’s campus on March 7-8, 2025, coinciding with the SoCon basketball tournament that will be taking place from March 6-10, 2025, at Harrah’s Cherokee Center-Asheville. “We are energized and filled with heart to build upon the long-standing relationship between the Southern Conference and our community,” Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority CEO Vic Isley said in a release. “SoCon’s expansion of its event footprint here fires up our community comeback with customers and business momentum in Asheville, as sports fans, athletes and their families join us in 2025.”
Explore Asheville originally planned to host the 2024 Ingles SoCon Volleyball Championship at Harrah’s Cherokee Center–Asheville on Nov. 21–24, the first in a three-year partnership between the city and the conference. The tournament will instead be hosted at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on the same dates.
The wrestling and basketball tournaments will bring sports and tourism back to Western North Carolina in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene. … more at … https://www.citizen-times.com/story/sports/college/2024/11/11/southern-conference-wrestling-tournament-to-be-held-at-unc-asheville-in-2025/76201492007/
Penn State, Iowa begin season ranked atop NWCA Division I Men’s Wrestling Coaches Poll
Manheim, Pennsylvania – For the third straight year, Penn State will start the college wrestling season ranked No. 1 in the country.
The Nittany Lions garnered all 16 first-place votes as the season’s first poll was released by the National Wrestling Coaches Association on Wednesday. Penn State won its third straight national championship and 12th overall last March, setting a new NCAA tournament scoring mark in the process with 172.5 points and outdistancing runner-up Cornell by an unprecedented 100 points.
Coach Cael Sanderson’s team is also riding a dual meet win streak of 55 in a row, which currently sits as the 13th longest all-time in college wrestling history and the sixth-longest in major college history.
Iowa starts the year ranked second after finishing the regular season 12-2 in duals and fifth at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. The Hawkeyes are followed by Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Ohio State in the top five.
Oklahoma State went 14-1 last season and for the first time in nearly 30 years, will be led by a new head coach. World and Olympic champion David Taylor assumed the role over the summer as the Cowboys’ head coach and brings a new feeling of excitement to Stillwater. The Cowboys finished a disappointing 10th at last season’s NCAA championships.
Nebraska went 12-2 in duals and finished ninth at the NCAA championships, while the Buckeyes were 15-2 in duals and finished eighth. The Big Ten, as usual, has an abundance of teams ranked in the Top 25, with eight of the conference’s 14 wrestling schools starting the year in the poll, including four in the top five. Michigan (8-4 in 2023-24) gives the Big Ten a fifth team in the Top 10, coming in at No. 10.
While the Big Ten was unaffected on the wrestling side of things by the continuing world of college realignment, other conferences find themselves with changing membership.
Oklahoma State is one of eight Big 12 teams ranked in the Top 25 to start the season, with newcomer Arizona State adding to the list of usual suspects. Iowa State (13-2) and Missouri (10-4) come in ranked sixth and ninth, respectively.
The ACC boasts five schools ranked – including rivals Virginia Tech (9-4) and NC State (16-2) coming in ranked No. 7 and No. 8 to start the year. Geographical outlier Stanford joins the conference and starts the year ranked No. 21. … more at … https://nwcaonline.com/news/2024/10/30/national-wrestling-coaches-association-penn-state-iowa-begin-season-ranked-atop-nwca-division-i-mens-wrestling-coaches-poll.aspx
South Carolina Colleges Match Results
#14 Lander Grounds Newberry, 31-6, on Deck of USS Yorktown
CHARLESTON, S.C. – With the sun setting on the Charleston Harbor creating a picturesque scene, the 14th-ranked Lander Wrestling team handled business against the Newberry Wolves with a 31-6 win on the deck of the USS Yorktown on Friday evening.
Lander improves to 2-0 overall and in Conference Carolinas action while Newberry drops to 1-1 overall and in conference play. “It was a great and electric environment for wrestling and a great way to show off what the state of South Carolina has to offer in the sport of wrestling,” said head coach R.C. LaHaye. Lander got a quick 6-0 lead with decisions from Will Hamilton and Christian Davis in the first two matches before Isham Peace ignited the Bearcat bench with a third-period pin to double the Blue and Gold’s lead to 12-0.
Reid Noble and Sammy Gerrard added major decisions at 149 and 157 to make it 20-0 Lander at the halfway mark. David Hunsberger got a second-period technical fall set the stage for Nate Buckovich to ice the match with a 10-5 decision over #12 Dayton Fields to make it 28-0, Bearcats.
Newberry got on the board at 184 and 197 with a pair of decisions but Issac Sheeran closed the match on a high note as he got a takedown with under ten seconds left to secure a 6-5 decision and the 25-point victory for Lander. “I’m proud of the team for how they handled the environment. They showed a lot of hustle, grit, and fight and they were rewarded for their efforts,” said LaHaye.
The Bearcats will send a squad to … more at … https://landerbearcats.com/news/2024/11/8/wrestling-14-lander-grounds-newberry-31-6-on-deck-of-uss-yorktown.aspx
And …
Limestone Takes Down Emory & Henry 34-17
Saints looked strong in their dominate win over the Wasps
Emory, VA—Limestone wrestling headed to Emory and Henry to take on the Wasps at the John Rutledge Center. The team dominated by only dropping four of the matches, and came away with a 34-17 win. Limestone moves to (1-0) in the conference and overall. Emory and Henry stand at (0-1) overall and in the conference.
Limestone Wrestlers:
William Finnearty represented Limestone in the 125-pound weight class at Emory and Henry. He managed to grab 6.0 points for the Saints. Here’s a recap of his matches:
- Period 1: Finnearty came out firing earning a 3 point takedown early on at 2:40
- Period 1: He shortly after gained another 3 points for one more takedown at 1:41.
- Period 1: With 40 seconds left in period 1 Finnearty took down Tito Hernandez with a fall.
Richard Patanjo competed in the 133-pound weight class, earning 5.0 team points. Here’s a summary of his match:
He would grab the final four points he needed to win by tech fall over Avery Almany (24-7).
Period 1: Patanjo showed aggression early, he tallied three points just 30 seconds into the match.
Patanjo took another three points a minute later creating a lead of 6-1.
He went on to close out the first period with a lead of 10-5.
Period 2: Patanjo opened with a reversal to grab himself two more points making the score 14-5.
He would grab 3 more points at the end of the second to make things 17-7 heading into the third
Period 3: Patanjo became aggressive out of the gate once again bringing the score to 20-7. … more at … https://golimestonesaints.com/news/2024/11/7/mens-wrestling-wrestling-takes-down-emory-henry-34-17.aspx
Murray State College to Add Wrestling Program, Renovate Armory
Murray State College is proud to announce the addition of men’s and women’s wrestling to its roster of competitive teams starting in Fall 2025. “Wrestling is the fastest growing competitive sport in the United States right now,” said Brandon Bowling, Murray State College Athletic Director. “It’s the perfect time to add a new program for our young men and women as we search for opportunities that add value and give students reasons to choose Murray State.”
The Murray State College Board of Regents recently approved to renovate the historic armory on the Tishomingo campus to serve as a state-of-the-art wrestling facility and the new home of the Murray State College Athletic Hall of Fame. “The armory is a special building on our campus that hasn’t been used since its decommissioning in the 1990s. This is a way to bring the facility back to life in a way that serves our students and the community,” said Adisha Chapman, Murray State College Board Chair. “My family has a long history of participation in the sport of wrestling and I’ve seen first-hand the benefits it provides to the athletes.”
The local economic impact of a single wrestling competition has the potential to reach an estimated $47,000. These events bring teams from across the region that will contribute sales tax dollars in the form of fuel, food and other travel-related expenses. With plans to schedule two youth camps per summer, hosting 100 attendees each, it truly becomes an economic asset. “The addition of men’s and women’s wrestling is good for Murray State, but also for the region,” said Dr. Tim Faltyn, Murray State College President. “A project of this nature reflects our unwavering commitment to not only providing exceptional student opportunities and experiences but also to bolster our local communities.”
This historic announcement comes just one year after the start of the first Cross Country team at Murray State. Enrollment has increased 33% over the last three years and is expected to continue to climb. “The importance of academic and athletic programs at Murray State cannot be underscored,” … more at … https://mscok.edu/news/Wrestling-Ardmory
Jason Moorman Out As King University Women’s Wrestling Coach
Jason Moorman is no longer the King University Women’s Wrestling coach as of October 18, 2024
TDR Editor’s Notes; Moorman is the top Women’s Coach in Career Dual Meet Wins!
Jason Moorman is no longer the head women’s wrestling coach at King. Moorman is arguably the country’s most successful women’s college wrestling coach after serving in the role since the 2009-10 season.
He led the team to a 1-9 record during its inaugural season before building a national powerhouse. The Tornado won four WCWA Championships (2014-17) and has placed in the top three at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships since the tournament began in 2020.
King University, an NCAA Division II school in Bristol, Tennessee, stated about his departure: “As of Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, Jason Moorman is no longer employed with King University. We are grateful for his service and wish him well going forward. “The future remains bright for the Tornado, and we will now begin a formal search process to identify the next proven and qualified candidate to guide our highly respected women’s wrestling program.”
The 2014 King University women’s team was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct 6, 2024. Moorman and several team members, including 2024 Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hildebrandt, attended the weekend festivities. “I know when abrupt changes like this happen in a sport with men coaching female athletes, first assumptions can go straight to some inappropriate incidents causing harm or mistreating student-athletes, and that is not the case whatsoever,” Moorman said. … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/12919987-jason-moorman-out-as-king-university-womens-wrestling-coach
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
Takedown Report 