Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

USA Wrestling announces six recipients of 2026 Women’s College Growth Fund

Sep 22, 2026, 4:52 PM EDT by Zack Chavez, USA Wrestling

USA Wrestling, in partnership with the Greg Strobel Leadership Fund and through a private donation, has announced the six recipients of the newly established Women’s College Growth Fund — a landmark program providing strategic funding to support the growth and sustainability of women’s college wrestling.
This year’s recipients include Alara Boyd of Brown University, Maya Letona of Columbia University, Kendra Ryan of Northwestern University, Kevin Pine of UNLV, Amani Jones of Oklahoma State University and Alejandro Torres of Arizona State University.
“As a recipient, this will make a meaningful impact by giving me the opportunity to grow within wrestling from a different side,” said Amani Jones, assistant coach at Oklahoma State’s Cowgirl Wrestling Club. “I’ve spent most of my life as an athlete, and now I’m able to grow as a coach while giving back to a sport that has given me so much. Being able to help create opportunities for the next generation that weren’t always available to women before is really special to me.”
Each recipient of the Women’s College Growth Fund will receive an annual $5,000 stipend for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 academic years. Because Columbia University will officially add women’s wrestling as a varsity sport … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2026/september/22/usa-wrestling-announces-six-recipients-of-2026-women-s-college-growth-fund?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

September 28, 2026 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Elizabeth City State Vikings inaugural NCWA season has ambitious vision for growth of wrestling at historic HBCU

– – ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Wrestling is returning to Elizabeth City State University as the Vikings prepare for their inaugural season as members of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) and its Mid-Atlantic Conference. The new program grew from a conversation between a group of ECSU aviation students — Kevin Jones, Shawn Fields, Stephen Norwood and Michael Johnson — and Dr. Tim Goodale, an Endowed Professor at ECSU and former NCAA Division I wrestler at Old Dominion University. Seeing Goodale wearing a USA Wrestling jacket in the university’s newly renovated dining hall sparked a conversation that ultimately developed into a plan to bring collegiate wrestling back to the ECSU campus.

With wrestling mats secured and practice space available in historic Williams Hall Gym, that idea has quickly grown into a program with as many as 30 student members. Jones and Fields have played key leadership roles in recruiting students and helping manage the program’s day-to-day development. ECSU previously sponsored NCAA Division II wrestling through 1998, and the return of the sport has also generated enthusiasm among alumni and members of the surrounding wrestling community.

Leading the Vikings will be Dr. Goodale, who competed at Old Dominion University from 1999–2003 under legendary coach Gray Simons and has more than 25 years of coaching experience at the youth and high school levels. He currently oversees Bull Island Grappling, a nonprofit youth wrestling organization in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Local high school coaches Jen Smith and Lorenzo King have also supported the developing ECSU program by opening their wrestling rooms to the team during the offseason and assisting with coaching.

The Vikings enter the NCWA with both immediate competitive goals and a much larger vision. ECSU’s strong aviation program has already attracted several members of the wrestling team, and the program expects academics to become one of its early strengths. With exceptionally affordable tuition and degree opportunities in aviation and other high-demand fields, ECSU Wrestling hopes to become an attractive destination for student-athletes seeking both a quality education and the opportunity to compete at the collegiate level. The long-term objective is to demonstrate how wrestling can positively impact enrollment, retention, academic performance, graduation rates and alumni involvement, creating a pathway for the program to continue growing.

Competition will begin immediately. ECSU plans to wrestle at events hosted by programs including East Carolina University and The Apprentice School, compete in the NCWA Mid-Atlantic postseason and host an invitational on its own campus. Among the wrestlers expected to … more at … https://ncwa.net/news/2026/elizabeth-city-state-university-wrestling-joins-ncwa?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

September 28, 2026 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , | Leave a comment