Chung named secretary-rules editor for wrestling
He spent the previous 10 years as coordinator of officials for the Atlantic Coast Conference
Jimmy Chung, coordinator of wrestling officials for the Atlantic Coast Conference for the past 10 seasons, was named the NCAA secretary-rules editor and weight management liaison for wrestling earlier this month.
Chung will begin his new role July 1 and will transition into the position alongside Chuck Barbee, the current NCAA secretary-rules editor, whose eight-year term expires Aug. 31.
A veteran college wrestling official, Chung officiated the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships from 2010-13, as well as 14 Division I conference championships during his career.
After the 2013 season, Chung was hired as the first coordinator of wrestling officials for the Atlantic Coast.
“It was a role where I could help other officials achieve their goals, give back to the conference that afforded me so many opportunities and contribute to the sport I love so much on a larger scale,” Chung said.
During his tenure, Atlantic Coast officials have made a total of 46 trips to the Division I national wrestling championships.
Chung recognizes the critical role the secretary-rules editor plays in college wrestling and thought his experience as both an official and conference coordinator might align well with the position.
One of Chung’s top priorities will be to ensure that officials, student-athletes and coaches are up to date on the rules of the sport.
“The communication of not only the rules, but their correct interpretation and application to all parties, is paramount, particularly in a rules-change year,” … rest of story at … NCAA.org/news/Chung-named-secretary-rules-editor-for-wrestling
Andrew Alirez named Greeley Tribune’s UNC Male Athlete of the Year after historic season
By JADYN WATSON-FISHER | jwatson-fisher@greeleytribune.com | Greeley Tribune
A list of people the Denver Nuggets and their fanbase should thank for the NBA Championship: Nikola Jokić and, apparently, Andrew Alirez.
The University of Northern Colorado wrestling program earned its first national title since 1999, when Scott Hewit won on the Division II level. Alirez beat Iowa’s Real Woods in March.
The Greeley native was in the house for Game 5 of the NBA Finals last week, and he knew it was finally the Nuggets’ opportunity. He’d experienced that glory on a smaller scale with his own championship. He might also know a little something about coincidences.
“I’m a big believer in, ‘History repeats itself.’ The year (2015-16) I won my first state title, the Broncos won the Super Bowl,” Alirez said. “I was on my path (this season), and I was like, ‘Damn. Number one in the country. I don’t see nobody beating me. The Nuggets are doing good. This is probably their year.’
“Then, after I won, I was like ‘Watch, the Nuggets are winning it.’”
Alirez laughed and said he would’ve “bet the house on it” if he could’ve. Maybe once he graduates and has a place of his own. It just felt like all the stars were aligning.
His home state’s team won the first championship in franchise history, and it seemed like everyone finally let out a collective breath. That sort of describes Alirez’s whole career. … rest pf story at … Greeleytribune.com/2023/06/20/northern-colorado-male-athlete-of-year-andrew-alirez
Gable Steveson Intends To Use Final Year Of NCAA Eligibility
Gable Steveson will likely be back on an NCAA wrestling mat next season.
We likely haven’t seen the last of Gable Steveson on a college wrestling mat. The Olympic champion and 2X NCAA champion confirmed with FloWrestling that he wants to return to NCAA competition next year. The Minnesota heavyweight won national titles for the Gophers in 2021 and 2022 before retiring from NCAA and Olympic wrestling. However, after making his return to freestyle wrestling this spring at the US Open and Final X, he wants to come back to NCAA wrestling as well.
Steveson still has to sort out scheduling details with the WWE before his return is official, but if all goes according to plan, he will be back on the NCAA mat next season.
Steveson started his career at Minnesota as a true freshman in the 2018-2019 season. With 2021 not counting toward his eligibility, Steveson has one year of eligibility remaining. … rest of story and video at Flowrestling.org/articles/Gable-steveson-intends-to-use-final-year-of-ncaa-eligibility
BEAT THE STREETS NEW YORK RAISES $1.3 MILLION WITH ANNUAL BENEFIT, FINAL X
A record 8,000-plus fans see 29 athletes make USA World Championship Team.
Beat the Streets New York raised $1.3 million with its 13th Annual Benefit on Saturday at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. BTSNY also set an attendance record for its Annual Benefit and Final X with more than 8,000 fans.
For a second straight year, Final X served as BTSNY’s benefit with 29 athletes claiming a spot on Team USA for the 2023 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, Sept. 16-24.
Among the men’s freestyle winners were 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Snyder (97 kg), and 2020 Olympic champions Gable Steveson (125 kg) and David Taylor (86 kg), and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist and four-time World champion Kyle Dake (74 kg). Two notable upsets occurred as Zane Richards (57 kg) topped 2021 World champion and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Gilman, and Chance Marsteller (79 kg) dethroned 2016 Olympic champion and six-time World champion Jordan Burroughs.
In women’s freestyle, 2020 Olympic silver medalist and six-time World champion Adeline Gray (76 kg) won just 10 months after giving birth to twins. World champions Jacarra Winchester (55 kg), Dominique Parrish (53 kg) and Amit Elor (72 kg) also claimed victories.
Two 2020 Olympians led the 10 Greco-Roman winners, as Ildar Hafizov (60 kg) and Alejandro Sancho (67 kg) emerged victorious.
“Moving our benefit to Prudential Center was a big factor in making this our largest event, with $1.3 million raised,” said Brendan Buckley, Executive Director of Beat the Streets New York. “The funds raised during this event enable our programs to operate year-round and continue to make a lifelong impact through wrestling on New York City student-athletes.” … rest of story at … Teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/BTS-NY-fund-raising=Wrestling+News
From Mat Rat to World Tour: Havelock wrestler Kennedie Snow is living her dream
Never in her wildest imagination did Havelock wrestler Kennedie Snow believe a challenge from her brother six years ago would lead to a world wrestling tour in 2023.
Snow, a rising junior at Havelock High School, remembers being back in 5th grade and her brother took up wrestling, challenging her to do so as well.
“I figured I could do better than him so I accepted the challenge and fell in love with the sport,” said Snow. “Despite my competitive nature, I never wrestled my brother because he outweighed me by 80 pounds.”
While she may have to wait on fulfilling the dream of wrestling her sibling, another one recently came true. Snow was named to the North Carolina National Team….and the USA World Team.
In April, Snow qualified for the North Carolina National Team. The squad is currently wrestling in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the National Duel’s. She also qualified for the Beach USA World Team headed to Mexico City in late June, Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota and she qualified for a World Wrestling competition in Romania on September 9.
“She is a student of the sport, a sponge for information,” said Havelock Coach Chase Holleman. Holleman coincidentally introduced her brother to the sport.
Holleman is also a youth wrestling coach and started coaching Snow as a 6th grader.
“She was a member of our Mat Rats and her work ethic was noticeable from the start,” said Holleman. “Now I have to set a timer to get her off the mat, she’s always working hard to be better, taking care of her body, she is a leader of women”.
Snow posted a 25-9 record last year at Havelock, the first season women’s high school wrestling was sanctioned in North Carolina and the first year Snow didn’t have to wrestle boys. … rest of story at … Newbernsj.com/from-mat-rat-to-world-tour-havelock-wrestler-kennedie-snow-is-living-her-dream
Franklin & Marshall’s 100th Season Comes with Optimism for the Future
The next time the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats take the mat, they will be competing in their 100th collegiate wrestling season. Although impressive, they are still maybe the 4th or 5th oldest program in the conference. This milestone season is not only special due to the triple-digit mark, but this is also the first season the team will be able to offer athletic scholarships to prospective student-athletes. After a recent NCAA legislation was passed that allows smaller (Division III) sized schools to allow athletic scholarships if competing at the D1 level, F&M will be able to join in on the fun. For some background, Division III schools cannot legally offer scholarships, per NCAA regulations. This is why the legislation is a big deal for a handful of schools that participate in higher divisions than what the school is designated in other sports. Franklin & Marshall College, located in the heart of Lancaster, PA only contains roughly 2,200 undergrad students – yet they wrestle at the Division 1 level against large schools that contain a small city’s population of student-athletes. For example, Arizona State’s undergrad enrollment is over 60,000, Penn State has around 40,000, etc. Sure, these are the extremes – but the point remains – not all Division I teams are equal.
To further that last point of “not all Division I teams are equal,” this is especially true in terms of athletic scholarship allotment. This topic can get confusing to the average fan. Some fans assume all teams have equal funding – causing an equal playing field. This is far from the truth. For wrestling, the maximum athletic scholarship one team can distribute amongst athletes is 9.9 full scholarships. I am not sure if it’s truly known how many teams have this maximum allotment. But, I know for a fact that a majority of teams are not fully funded with the 9.9. Many may have 5 scholarships to give and others may have closer to 9.9. It really depends on the athletic departments of each school. Just know, the range is from 0 athletic scholarships to 9.9. It’s also worth noting that Ivy League teams cannot offer athletic scholarships in any sport – but they do offer other types of aid to help offset the costs. That is another story for another time. … rest of story at … Intermatwrestle.com/college/eiwa/franklin-marshalls-100th-season-comes-with-optimism-for-the-future
Stanford’s Bright Future Under Rob Koll
Stanford had a tough season, ending with a 6-7 dual season record, second at Pac-12 Championships and 26th at NCAAs. “Last year was the first losing season in my 33 years as coaching,” Coach Rob Koll said. “We had 17 or 18 kids in the room.”
The Cardinal program has looked to find its rhythm after almost losing its program a few years ago. Although Stanford had its first losing season since the 2012-13 season, they showed some promise in the postseason. The main reason why Stanford has struggled is the lack of recruits and depth. “If you look at it, every other team has four years of recruits and we have three,” Koll said. “It’s massive because 25% of your team is not there and you can’t replace it in one year.”
Since Koll has had less time to recruit, he struggled in certain weight classes. “Nobody was allowed to get hurt last year and we couldn’t rest guys because we didn’t have backups,” Koll said. “It was not ideal.” Stanford took one final loss this offseason when Shane Griffith transferred to Michigan. However, Koll is elated that Griffith is moving forward with his career and Koll looks to give his underclassmen the opportunity to grow. … rest of story at .. Intermatwrestle.com/college/pac-12/stanfords-bright-future-under-rob-koll
USA Wrestling’s Men’s Freestyle Team Has Never Been Deeper
A breakdown of the current depth of Team USA’s men’s freestyle squad
Final X was an incredible display of wrestling across all styles where America’s best wrestlers put on an amazing show at the Prudential Center. The fantastic freestyle wrestling we observed at Final X, and over the past few months, proved an important fact for Team USA – specifically the men’s freestyle team: there’s outstanding depth at every weight. American fans might take that depth for granted and because of that, I’ll dive deep into the landscape of the men’s freestyle team in the below article.
How Many Medals Are We Leaving At Home?
The first point to consider in Team USA’s depth is to recall all of the world medalists who WON’T compete at this year’s world championships because they failed to make the world team. Take a look at a breakdown of all the world medalists not on the world team in the below table: … rest of story at … Flowrestling.org/USA-wrestlings-mens-freestyle-team-has-never-been-deeper
Pa. wrestling legend pins personal demons, defeats Olympic gold medalist to earn World Team spot
By Brian Linder | blinder@pennlive.com
The headlines haven’t always been good for Chance Marsteller which makes the headline coming out of this weekend that much more special. The Pa. native and former Kennard-Dale wrestling standout — he went 166-0 there and won four state titles — took down Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs, 2-1, to secure a spot on the 2023 World Team.
Marsteller led the first match 3-2, but after a challenge from Burroughs’ corner, he received a caution and Burroughs earned a point. Burroughs then went on to win the match. But he rebounded to win the second match 5-4, and with it all on the line, he pulled out the third match, 8-3, to get the win.
Marsteller has had his share of legal troubles, and he has spoken openly about his battle with drugs.
“I was an opioid addict,” he says on one video interview on social media. “I was addicted to fentanyl and staying away from that and making sure my wife and kids have somebody that can look up to, you know, when they say dad or whenever she calls me her husband. “That (stuff) is important to me.”
A FloWrestling video also highlights Marsteller’s journey from getting booted from Oklahoma State and his arrest while he was at Lock Haven to him tweeting that he was done with wrestling seven years ago.
In that video, Marsteller said that he woke every day, “truly believing that I was going to die.” And now he has beaten Burroughs to earn his spot on the 2023 World Team. “I want to let somebody know out there that things are obtainable and you can change your life,” he said after the win. “I don’t know many people who were addicted to the things I was, and go full-circle and turn around and be able to make the World Team after. It’s hard for me to say, hard for to tell the full story, but I don’t know many people that were addicted to Oxy and fentanyl and heroin and go make the World Team.
“I always say, I wish if somebody out there would have been able to share that story, maybe I would have been able to stop sooner,” he added. “Maybe I would have known it was obtainable sooner, change it around sooner. “That being said, I want that for somebody else. … rest of story at … Pa-wrestling-legend-pins-personal-demons-defeats-olympic-gold-medalist-to-earn-world-team-spot
Arujau, Dake Secure US National Team Spots at Final X
NEWARK, N.J. – Cornell NCAA Wrestling National Champions Vito Arujau (2023) and Kyle Dake (four-timer) punched their tickets to Belgrade, Serbia as representatives of the United States National Team. These two Cornelians put up strong performances at Final X, sweeping their opponents in the best-of-three series.
Arujau def. Nahshon Garrett, 2-0 (6-5, 13-10)
Arujau entered his matchup with Nahshon Garrett looking to make his first ever national team. Vito has been regarded as one of the hottest wrestlers in the world right now, and he proved to keep that going. The opening match of the series was a tight battle, with both speedy wrestlers playing it safer than usual and attacking in the perfect moments. It was Arujau’s four point takedown that would prove to be the difference, giving him the 6-5 edge and a 1-0 series lead.
Match two proved to be a the most thrilling match of Final X. Vito executed a major four-point takedown just five-seconds into the bout. Garrett stayed poised and responded, rattling off eight points in a row helping him overtake the lead. It was then Vito who would rattle off seven straight to pull himself back on top. … rest of story at … Cornellbigred.com/news/2023/6/11/wrestling-arujau-dake-secure-us-national-team-spot-at-final-x
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
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