Takedown Report

National College Awards

NCAA wrestling award standings update for the 2025 season
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA has released updated standings for the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Awards that will be awarded in March at the respective Division I, II and III Wrestling Championships.  The inaugural NCAA Wrestling Awards were presented at the 2012 wrestling championships. The three awards, given in each division, honor the Most Dominant Wrestler as well as the student-athletes that have accumulated the most falls and the most technical falls throughout the course of the regular and postseasons. 
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For results to be counted for the awards, they must come against opponents in the same division (i.e., Division II vs. Division II). Ties in the falls and tech falls categories are broken based on the aggregate time. This week features the third standings of the Most Dominant Wrestler award, which features a 16-match minimum to qualify for the standings. The Most Dominant Wrestler standings … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2025-02-19/ncaa-wrestling-award-standings-update-2025-season
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NCAA DI Rankings Updated (2/18/2025)
You had to know that the final few weeks of the collegiate season were going to be eventful! There were just too many good matchups for the status quo to run into March. On the second to last Friday of the regular season, we saw another #1 fall from the ranks of the unbeaten. For the second straight year, Beau Bartlett knocked off Jesse Mendez in a dual meet. The two would meet in the Big Ten and NCAA finals. Time will tell if that’s the case again.  With Mendez’s loss, we had to make some changes at the top of 141 lbs. Bartlett remains unbeaten and rose from number three to number one. Mendez has a win over Bartlett in the All-Star Classic and has the Vegas title, wins over four others in the top ten and three others in the top 15. Not that we really use it as a metric in these rankings, but Mendez had the best RPI in this weight and it’s easy to see why. He gets the number two and Andrew Alirez slides down to three. Though he’s unbeaten, Alirez’s only matches against top 16 opponents are #9 CJ Composto and #16 Josh Edmond.  A similar adjustment was made at 197 lbs. Josh Barr and Jacob Cardenas … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/ncaa-di-rankings-updated-2182025-r100023/
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Penn State runs win streak to 70; Iowa, Oklahoma State to meet in final dual of regular season
Manheim, Pennsylvania – The final week of dual meet action will feature a clash between two of wrestling’s powerhouses, while the nation’s top-ranked team looks to extend its historic win streak.
Penn State improved to 14-0 with weekend victories over No. 8 Ohio State (27-13) and No. 13 Illinois (39-9), pushing its win streak to 70 straight duals, a new Big Ten record. The Nittany Lions, who also secured the Big Ten regular-season title, will conclude their regular season against American University on Friday at Rec Hall. Second-ranked Oklahoma State (13-0) heads north to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a showdown with third-ranked Iowa (13-1) in what will be the final dual meet of the Division I men’s wrestling regular season. Iowa swept a pair of weekend opponents, defeating No. 6 Minnesota (23-11) and Northwestern (37-3). The top 10 teams remained unchanged heading into the final week. Fourth-ranked Northern Iowa set a McLeod Center attendance record in a spirited 26-10 win over then-No. 14 Iowa State on Sunday. The 7,348 fans in attendance marked the largest crowd in the venue’s history, surpassing the 7,332 who watched UNI’s men’s basketball team host Illinois State 15 years ago.
Iowa State did pick up one ranked win over the weekend. The Cyclones beat then-No. 11 South Dakota State 20-15 on Friday. Fifth-ranked Nebraska (10-3) dominated then-No. 21 Indiana (39-2), while No. 7 NC State defeated No. 17 Stanford (27-13) to set up a season-ending dual against rival Virginia Tech. The 10th-ranked Hokies (9-2) rolled to a 28-9 win over No. 18 Pittsburgh. Ninth-ranked Cornell (10-1) capped off a successful western swing with a 25-12 victory over Arizona State. … more at … https://nwcaonline.com/news/2025/2/18/ncaa-division-1-men-penn-state-runs-win-streak-to-70-iowa-oklahoma-state-to-meet-in-final-dual-of-regular-season.aspx
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Feb. 18 ASICS Race for the 2025 Hodge Trophy Update
This March, WIN Magazine, Culture House and ASICS will announce the winner of the prestigious 2025 Dan Hodge Trophy that will be presented to the nation’s top NCAA Division I wrestler, a week after the March 20-22 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia.
Between now and then, WIN Magazine will provide a weekly update at WIN-Magazine.com on this year’s race for the Hodge, which was created in 1994 by former WIN Publisher Mike Chapman and named after Dan Hodge, the late three-time NCAA champion (1955-57) from the University of Oklahoma.
In addition to former Hodge Trophy winners, a retired coach from each region, national media members and a representative of each national wrestling organization, wrestling fans can once again be part of the voting as well. The week following the NCAAs, fans will be able to vote online at WIN-Magazine.com with the winner earning five first-place votes. The criteria for winning the award are record, dominance/bonus-point percentage, quality of competition and sportsmanship.
Statistical Look at Notable 2025 Hodge Trophy Candidates
The following list shows wrestlers ranked within the top 10 (as of WIN’s Feb. 17 rankings) who are currently undefeated. … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2025/02/18/feb-18-asics-race-for-the-hodge-trophy-update/
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Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame of Iowa Class of 2025 Announced
The Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame of Iowa’s Class of 2025 features 11 individual state championships, 42 NCAA All-Americans, 12 NCAA champions, an NCAA championship team, and one of the state of Iowa’s top wrestling contributors. 
Kevin Darkus, Daniel Dennis, Felicity Taylor, Joe Zuspann and the 1985-86 University of Iowa wrestling team will be inducted into the GBHOF while the Ballweg Family will be recognized with the Bowlsby Family Legacy Award, Michael Doyle will receive the Bob Siddens High School Coaching Excellence Award and Johnnie Johnson will be presented with the Russ Smith Community Impact Award. 
Located inside the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa and named in honor of 1948 Olympic gold medalist Glen Brand from Clarion, Iowa, the GBHOF was established in 2002 to honor native-born Iowans and those who wrestled or coached for an Iowa school who have made an impact on wrestling on a national level or who have done extraordinary work in Iowa. 
A banquet honoring the Class of 2025 will be held at … more at … https://nwhof.org/news/glen-brand-wrestling-hall-of-fame-of-iowa-class-of-2025-announced
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Five storylines to watch in No.10 Virginia Tech wrestling’s dual vs. No. 7 NC State
One of the most underrated rivalries in college wrestling takes center stage on Friday night when the No. 7 NC State Wolfpack descend into Cassell Coliseum to take on the No. 10 Virginia Tech Hokies.
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Here are the five most interesting storylines to follow as these ACC rivals round out their dual season in this epic matchup: The dual will show which team has the edge heading into the ACC tournament Virginia Tech and NC State have combined for the last nine ACC tournament titles, with NC State winning it every year during that period with the exception of 2017 and 2018.
The duals between these two teams, however, have been more evenly split. Here’s the score history for the last nine meetings: 
2024: 20-12, NC State
2023: 16-14, Virginia Tech
2022: 21-10, NC State
2021: 17-16, Virginia Tech
2020: 21-18, NC State
2019: 17-16, NC State
2018: 19-15, NC State
2017: 20-14, Virginia Tech
2016: 19-14, Virginia Tech 
Both teams will bring nine ranked wrestlers into the match … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2025-02-19/five-storylines-watch-no-10-virginia-tech-wrestlings-dual-vs-no-7-nc-state

February 25, 2025 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, sports