Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

Ribustello named the 2025 Lee Carroll Award winner

            Stephen Ribustell0 of Tarboro High School has been named the 2025 Lee Carroll Award winner.  He ended his junior season in sudden victory overtime in the 1-A State Championship match.  It was a successful season as he scored his 100th career win and repeated as a State Runner-Up.  In three seasons he has qualified for the State Championships each year while amassing a scholastic record of 109 wins and just 12 losses. He will receive the 27th Annual Lee Carroll Award for excellence in athletics, academics and sportsmanship in northeastern North Carolina later this year.           
            Lee Carroll started wrestling as a sophomore when Tarboro High School re-started their program in 1992.  Lee won 112 matches in 3 years with the Vikings.  Lee was state runner-up his junior year before becoming a record setting undefeated state champion in 1995 with a (50-0) record.  Lee went on to start four years at North Carolina State qualifying for the Nationals 3 times.  Lee has taught engineering graphics at N.C. State and has his own interactive design agency, Forged Media, in Raleigh.  He is a member of the Tarboro High Athletic Hall of Fame.
Previous award winners include Holton Quincy in 2024, Ryan Mann in 2023, Caleb Beaty of Corinth-Holders (2022), Logan Tortual of Rosewood (2021). Javon Armstrong of Pamlico County (2020), Aaron Bancroft of Wilson-Fike (2019), Timothy and Christian Decatur of Rosewood (2018), Jaqwuez Norman of Farmville Central (2017), Kaleb Taylor of Rosewood (2016), Wilson Smith of Rocky Mount (2015 & 2014), Angel Najar of North Pitt (2013), Alexander Knight and Jacineto Williamson of Rocky Mount in 2012, Chris Fess of Beddingfield and Tamaris Lane of Nash Central in 2011, Chandler Phillips of Rocky Mount (2010), Landon Lucas of SW Edgecombe (2009), Corey Smith (2008) and Eric Sutton (2007) of Tarboro, Zach Shearin and Paul Horner (2006) and Pat Anstead (2004) of Southern Nash, Jimmy McNamara (2005) of Wilson Hunt and Sammi Hadi (2003) of SW Edgecombe.

March 31, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | , | Leave a comment

By The Numbers: The 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships

Breaking down the 2025 NCAAs with numbers and graphs and maps and positive vibes!
The math checks out: three days plus 10 weights plus 330 competitors equals the greatest weekend of the year!
Previous NCAAs By The Numbers: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014
And now, with the 2025 edition of the NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships in the books, it’s time to dive into the numbers! More information about all the Philadelphia qualifiers can be found here. … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/13990118-by-the-numbers-the-2025-ncaa-wrestling-championships

March 31, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wyatt Hendrickson Stuns Gable Steveson In Epic NCAA Heavyweight Title Clash

Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson toppled Olympic champion Gable Steveson 5-4 Saturday in one of the biggest championship match upsets in NCAA history.
Wyatt Hendrickson collapsed to his back. 
Gable Steveson dropped to his knees. 
The aftermath of college wrestling’s biggest national championship match upset in decades — perhaps ever — momentarily left both heavyweight contestants stunned Saturday night in front of 18,826 buzzing spectators.
Fifty-five years after Larry Owings stopped Dan Gable’s bid for a third national title, Hendrickson prevented Gable Dan Steveson from becoming a three-time NCAA champ with a herculean late takedown and a heavy ride for a scintillating 5-4 victory over the Olympic champion.  “My arms have never felt so strong,” said Oklahoma State’s second-seeded Hendrickson, who reeled in Steveson’s right leg, switched off to a double and finished the go-ahead score with 21 seconds remaining. “All I know is I kind of felt when I got that takedown, he kind of gave that little second to relax and I took advantage of that. I don’t know if I had a claw to ride, but I was looking at the clock and I was just squeezing him. 
“I didn’t care if I had to rip my arms off squeezing him, I was like, ‘I am holding this man down and winning this match.’” It had been six years since Steveson’s last college loss. … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/13988950-wyatt-hendrickson-stuns-gable-steveson-in-epic-ncaa-heavyweight-title-clash

March 31, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Penn State Breaks NCAA Tournament Scoring Record For Second Straight Year

One year after breaking the NCAA tournament scoring mark, the Nittany Lions rewrote the record with a strong finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships.
Penn State grabbed the bar for NCAA tournament scoring and raised it even higher Saturday night in Philadelphia. 
One year after toppling a 27-year-old national championship scoring mark, the Nittany Lions rewrote the record with a strong finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships. 
Penn State went 11-1 and piled up 10 bonus points in contested consolation matches Saturday morning inside the Wells Fargo Center. Then the Nittany Lions tacked on a pair of championship-round victories Saturday night to race past their 2024 record. 
Cael Sanderson’s crew finished the tournament with 177 points — 4.5 more than their 2024 record-setting total in Kansas City — as Penn State finished 60 ahead of second-place Nebraska.  “It’s been a great year,” Sanderson said. “We’re just constantly thinking ahead and everything’s preparation for the next thing, so we don’t really kind of stop and reflect a whole lot. Obviously, we’re learning as we go and we’ll continue to do that. That’s the name of the game.”
Led by individual national champions Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) and Carter Starocci (184), Penn State became the first Division I program to have 10 wrestlers place sixth or better at the NCAA Championships.  “We have a guy (Mesenbrink) that’s a sophomore in the NCAA finals and our other finalist (197-pounder Josh Barr) is a freshman,” Starocci said. “That pretty much tells you kind of where the program is going. We have some young guys making noise.” Penn State lost four-time NCAA champ Aaron Brooks and four-time All-American Bernie Truax, who combined to score 39.5 points for the 2024 squad that finished 100 points ahead of second-place Cornell. … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/13988953-penn-state-breaks-ncaa-tournament-scoring-record-for-second-straight-year

March 31, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment