Takedown Report

Hokies host first ever Mat on the Mound

Virginia Tech takes its match vs. Northwestern outside to English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park
BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech wrestling announces that for the first time in its history the Hokies will hold a meet outside on English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park. The Hokies welcome Northwestern Nov. 10 for the first Mat on the Mound at 1 p.m. “As a program we are always looking for new ways to improve the experience for both our student-athletes and our fans,” said Tech wrestling head coach Tony Robie. “Much like wrestling at the Moss Arts Center, I think that English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park offers a very unique opportunity for us to do something different and continue to be creative in how to showcase wrestling at Virginia Tech. 

“I want to thank Coach John Szefc [Tech baseball head coach] for his willingness to work with us on this.  I think that Atlantic Union Bank Park is the ideal outdoor venue for this type of event.  We need the Hokie Nation to come out and pack the park on Nov. 10.”  The wrestling mat will be placed in the infield between the pitching mound and the backstop. Admission will be free for the historic event. This won’t be the first time Hokies wrestling holds a match in a unique venue.  Rest of the story and links at https://hokiesports.com/news/2019/10/15/wrestling-hokies-host-first-ever-mat-on-the-mound.aspx?mc_cid=69e6c039f5&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 22, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

These are 5 college wrestling storylines that have our attention right now

With the start of every wrestling season comes fresh faces, new stars and breakout athletes to watch. What can you expect in 2019-2020? These are five storylines to know heading into this year’s wrestling season. 

1. Seth Gross returns, this time for Wisconsin

Seth Gross has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows as a college wrestler, but his collegiate journey will come to an end this year in March; the question is, can he end up on top? A sixth-year senior who started his career at Iowa, Gross is now ready to finish his final year with a second national title, now representing Wisconsin.
INSIDE THE MIND OF A CHAMPION: Q&A with Seth Gross after his 2018 NCAA title
In 2018, two years after transferring from Iowa City, Gross became the first wrestler in South Dakota State history to win an NCAA wrestling championship trophy when he topped Stevan Micic in the national finals. Following the tournament, Gross’ coach, Chris Bono, accepted the head coaching job at the University of Wisconsin and left Brookings to coach the Badgers. His star athlete, on the other hand, struggled with back problems back in South Dakota and sat out the following year while rehabilitating his injury. Rest of the stories in this article at https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2019-10-15/these-are-5-college-wrestling-storylines-have-our-attention-right?mc_cid=69e6c039f5&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 22, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Southern Scuffle Tickets on Sale Now

Tickets are on sale now for the 2020 Southern Scuffle, presented by Compound Sportswear.  Fans can purchase two-day and single-day passes, along with the option to add a Hospitality Pass per ticket. Billed as one of the top in-season collegiate wrestling events in the nation, the Southern Scuffle takes place Jan. 1-2 at the McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn. 

Oklahoma State, Rutgers, Iowa State, Lock Haven and a host of other top programs continue the tradition of excellence at the Scuffle. Representatives from seven teams who finished in the top 25 at last year’s NCAA Tournament are making their way to Chattanooga for the New Year’s event.  The Cowboys, who finished third at last year’s NCAAs, lead this group that includes Rutgers (9), Virginia Tech (11), Iowa State (16), Lock Haven (18), North Carolina (19) and Oregon State (20).  The Tar Heels and Hokies are all sending partial teams to this year’s Scuffle, while Stanford, Navy and Oregon State are other notables attending the tournament.  A full list of teams participating is available here.

This annual event features national champions, All-Americans and dozens of student-athletes who qualified for last year’s NCAA Tournament. Rest of the details and story at https://gomocs.com/news/2019/10/15/southern-scuffle-tickets-on-sale-now.aspx?mc_cid=69e6c039f5&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 20, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Championship Wrestling Coaches – NAIA

The NAIA National Championships were first held in 1958.  In the 62 years there have been 63 championship teams. In 1994 two teams tied for the title.  Several of the championship teams have left the NAIA for an affiliation with the NCAA.  These departures decreased the number of NAIA schools with wrestling from 50-60 teams in the late 1950s to a low of 20 by the end of the century.  Since then the number of teams have tripled. The NAIA have also started a women’s division championship last season.  Previous articles discussed the championship coaches in the NCAA Division I (D-I), Division II (D-II) and Division III (D-III) levels.  This list completes a review of all four-year college and university programs.
Current defending championship team coach Nick Mitchell of Grand View University leads all coaches with eight championship titles.  His teams have dominated the NAIA in recent years as these titles have been consecutive.  This year’s championship brought Grand View to tie with Central State of Oklahoma and Adams State of Colorado for the most team titles.  Grand View is heavily favored to continue their string of titles this season.
Coaches tied for 2^nd place are David James of Central State of Oklahoma, in the 1980s, and Joe Parsi of Lindenwood University with five titles each.  Lindenwood won five titles in eight seasons in the first decade after 2000. Central State has moved on into the NCAA D-II afflation while Lindenwood still seeks further NAIA titles.  David Ray of Montana State-Northern led his teams to four titles to claim 4^th place in team championships.
Coaches tied for 5^th place with a trio of titles each are Richard Ulrich of Adams State, Russ Houck of Bloomsburg State, Eddie Griffin of Central State and Mike Machholz of Missouri Valley College.  Bloomsburg won their titles in the 1960s before moving to D-I. 
Nine coaches are tied for 9^th place with a pair of titles each.  Robert “Rummy” Macias led Mankato State to the very first two titles in the late 1950s.  Former Olympian and wrestling legend Gray Simmons won two consecutive titles with Lock Haven.  Frank Powell followed up for the next two titles with Adams State College in the late 1960s.  Eric Beardsley won two non-consecutive titles in the early 1970s with Central Washington. Bob Riehm and Mike Ritchey each won two titles for Southern Oregon State in a span from 1978 to 2001. Jason Liles coached Montana State-Northern (MS-N) to a pair of titles in the early 1990s while Mike Jones brought Simon Fraser University a title before and after MS-N won their titles.  Simon Fraser also has the most individual titles, (38), won before transitioning to D-II. Coach Frank Romano brought Notre Dame College in Ohio two consecutive titles at the start of this decade before moving on to win a championship with the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) as they transitioned to the NCAA Division II.  Once there he led his teams to two more titles and two runner-up finishes.
Eleven coaches won one title each to tie for 18^th place on the list.  Gene Moses, Louie Long and Rodger Jehlicka each won a championship for Adams State.  Hubert Jack and Charles Ridenour each won a title for Lock Haven in the early 1960s before Gray Simmons’ reign.  Six coaches won the only title ever for their school. Bill Garland won a title for Minnesota State at Moorehead before they moved to NCAA D-II affiliation.  Don Benning won Nebraska-Omaha’s solo title in the NAIA before the school moved on to seven championships in the NCAA D-II division.  Curt Byrnes won Eastern Washington’s title in 1977 when they hosted the championship tournament!  Sadly Eastern Washington has dropped wrestling since that time.  T.J. Nelson coached Western Montana to a title shared or tied in 1994.  The following year John Jeffire led Findlay University to their title.  Findlay has moved on to compete in the D-II affiliation.  Dana College won their only title in 2006.  It will be their only title as the school closed in 2010.  Coach Steve Costanza won that title and then continued his success with four more at St. Cloud State in the NCAA D-II.  
The coaches that have guided their teams to National Championships are commendable and worth recognition.  Our next articles will look at coaches of championship wrestling teams in the National Junior College Division.  The number of dual meets won will be the focus of the next series of articles.
All-Time Individual Champs (by school): 1. Simon Fraser (39), 2. Southern Oregon (36), 3. Montana State-Northern (32),  4.(tie) Adams State, Grand View, Lindenwood (28),
7. Lock Haven (26),  8. Cent. Oklahoma (24),  9. Missouri Valley (17),  10. Central Wash. (15),  11. Mary (N.D.) (14),  12.(tie) Bloomsburg, Nebr.-Omaha (12),  14. (tie) Minn. St.-Moorhead, St. Cloud State, Wisconsin-Parkside (10),  17.(tie) Dickinson State, Findlay (9), 19. Color. St.-Pueblo, Cumberlands, Embry-Riddle, Menlo, West. Montana (8).

(I) = school now competes on the Division I level

(II) = school now competes on the Division II level
(cl) = the school has closed
            ** = school no longer has a team
            * = teams tied for the titles
             # = active coach

Championships by schools 1^st ; Grand View University, Adams State College, Central State Univ. (Ok.) … 8 each
4^th;  Montana State-Northern … 6                  5^th;  Lindenwood University … 5
6^th;  Southern Oregon State, Lock Haven State … 4 each
8^th;  Missouri Valley College,  Bloomsburg State …  3 each
10^th;  Notre Dame Coll. (Oh.), Simon Fraser, Central Washington, Minn. St. – Mankato… 2 ea.
14^th;  Dana College, Eastern Washington, Findlay University,  Minnesota State-Moorehead, Nebraska-Omaha, Western Montana …  1 each

We welcome input about college wrestling history.  We are compiling a historical record of each year a college has had a wrestling team, their dual meet win-loss record and the name of the head coaches.   

Martin K. Fleming, Editor
E-mail us at martinkfleming@gmail.com or takedownreport@gmail.com

October 19, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

2019-20 WIN High School Preseason Rankings

By Mike Finn Updated: October 14, 2019
Presented by EZ Flex, the following are WIN Magazine’s 2019-20 Preseason High School Rankings. They’re subject to change once wrestlers determine what weight they will wrestle this winter. College commitments are provided by IntermatWrestle.com. Team rankings will be announced in WIN’s November rankings.

106 pounds

Rest of the rankings and story at https://www.win-magazine.com/2019/10/2019-20-win-high-school-preseason-rankings/?mc_cid=1b73119620&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 19, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Corey’s Stories: How wrestling and a pair of positive mentors reshaped the life of a troubled teen

Josh Chapman is eager to get his final high school wrestling season started. He’s excited to compete and ready to show his gratitude to those who helped him reach this point.  He’ll savor his senior year at Taylor High School in Cleves, Ohio, a village nestled in the state’s southwest corner. He’ll enjoy the euphoric triumphs and he’ll appreciate the lessons learned from the setbacks, too. He knows how to navigate around setbacks.  High school seniors tend to pause and reflect about where they’ve been and where they’re headed.
Unlike most, however, Chapman will think of struggles — struggles he prays are behind him. He’ll think of his parents. He’ll think of the example he wants to be for his younger brother and sister.  And he’ll think of a coach, a cop and a community he wants to make proud. Chapman was arrested as a freshman. A police officer told him to retrieve a water bottle Josh had thrown at a football game. Chapman refused and then violently resisted. “He went crazy,” Sgt. Dave Bingle said. “But that’s how he was then. We were ready with the pepper spray and taser. It was that bad.”
Officers eventually got the flailing freshman into the back of a police cruiser and Chapman was booked into the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center. “Josh lost it, but I knew his story,” Bingle said. “I knew the family background.” Like many small villages, Cleves is a proud, tight-knit community, but one not exempt from epidemics invading other American towns. 
“Most of our calls are drug-related — (things) related to addiction of some sort,” Bingle said.  At the time, Chapman’s parents were struggling. “I wasn’t a good mom then,” Amanda Chapman said. “As long as I knew my kids were breathing, I did my thing. That’s how bad it was. “Josh’s behavior was a result of how bad things were at home.” Rest of this encouraging story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1571024718492&twSessionId=kiohdqrisq&postId=1689991132&mc_cid=5f8d57f429&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 18, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Amos wins third Super 32 Challenge title

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The 20th anniversary edition of the Super 32 Challenge came to its conclusion on Sunday afternoon in Greensboro, N.C. It was also the 10th year of it being held as a two-day event on Saturday and Sunday. Milestone events throughout the finals program from the beginning to the end.
Nine wrestlers still competing in high school came into 2019-20 having already won a title at this prestigious tournament. However, just one was entered in the tournament. Braxton Amos (Parkersburg South, W.Va.), the No. 2 overall wrestler in the Class of 2020, entered the weekend as the clear anchor figure in the 220-pound weight class. He would also leave the weekend in such position, after winning a third consecutive Super 32 title at this weight. The University of Wisconsin commit did not give up an offensive point over five bouts, which included an 8-2 finals victory over No. 36 overall Class of 2022 wrestler Chase Horne (West Laurens, Ga.). Rest of the story at http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/22414?mc_cid=5f8d57f429&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 18, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Record-breaking wrestling coverage on BTN in 2019-20

CHICAGO, Ill. — With the Big Ten seeking its 14th consecutive wrestling national championship, BTN will bring fans along for the ride with the most wrestling coverage in network history — a 40% increase from last season.

BTN’s schedule begins with a non-conference matchup as No. 17 Virginia Tech heads to Columbus on Nov. 17 at noon ET to face the No. 4 Buckeyes and includes the Big Ten Championships, a Super Saturday dual between Rutgers and No. 7 Michigan from Madison Square Garden, a battle of last year’s top-two team finishers at the NCAA tournament in No. 1 Penn State and Ohio State and a primetime matchup between the top-ranked Nittany Lions and No. 2 Iowa on Friday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m. ET. Jim Gibbons, Tim Johnson and Shane Sparks will once again anchor BTN’s coverage.
“The Big Ten is home to the most dominant wrestling programs in the country and that distinction has made wrestling the fourth most-watched sport on BTN,” said BTN President François McGillicuddy. “Our goal is to continue to showcase and amplify Big Ten Wrestling, including an increase in our live event broadcasts, a commitment to original storytelling and an investment in on-campus digital content.”
BTN will debut a new wrestling-centric episode of The B1G Story, a documentary-style program produced by the Emmy-nominated BTN Originals team.  Rest of the story at http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/22425?fbclid=IwAR0v6chBvJ2YRJbpuIcAMdA4XLbeyiiPjbMR_qqjzAXyGCdEwaz7zQa3q7Y

October 17, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

NCAA women’s wrestling: Understanding recent milestones

WOMEN’S WRESTLING is not recognized by the NCAA as a championship sport, yet.
Like minded individuals and organizations have laid the foundation—Wrestle Like A Girl, the National Wrestling Coaches Association, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, USA Wrestling, the National Collegiate Wrestling Association and other key stakeholders. These organizations have synced up and continue to collaborate on the multifaceted initiative of bringing women’s wrestling into the NCAA.
The distinction of being named a championship sport under the NCAA umbrella supports the growth of the sport and expands opportunities for women wrestlers.
Sally Roberts, Founder and Executive Director of Wrestle Like A Girl, has largely spearheaded and coordinated the NCAA efforts in conjunction with efforts to sanction girls wrestling at the interscholastic level—two vastly different initiatives with great reliance upon one another.
This article takes a 10,000-foot view of the details behind the recent steps toward championship status, the development of the NCWWC tournament and the steps required to obtain championship status. Rest of the details and story at https://www.transitionwrestling.com/ncaa-womens-wrestling-understanding-recent-milestones/?mc_cid=348e5c372c&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

October 17, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

FloSports Partners With GroWrestling

GroWrestling is excited to announce a streaming partnership with FloSports that will include live coverage of six of the eight 2019-2020 events.  With a headquarters in Kansas City Missouri, GroWrestling is focused on hosting competitive events for all levels that provide an experience that wrestling deserves.  Several of the events will take place at the recently renovated HY VEE arena.  Home of the 2003 NCAA Championships.  
The first live event in the series, The Blue Chip Fall Brawl, … Get all th details on this chance for more wrestling coverage at https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/6572882-flosports-partners-with-growrestling

October 16, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment