Sesker Slant: Random Thoughts as Winter Approaches
TDR : This posting is from a publication in Iowa and it is an interesting story. We are looking forward to the winter wrestling season.
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By Craig Sesker For The Predicament
It is exciting to see 50 years of The Predicament being celebrated. It brings back an abundance of fond memories for me. My parents bought a subscription to the magazine when I first started wrestling in the late 1970s. I remember battling my two brothers to be the first to read the newest issue when it arrived in our mailbox in Tipton.
Reading The Predicament provided me with plenty of enjoyment and motivation as an athlete. Reading about Iowa prep stars like Jeff Kerber, Greg Randall and Scott Morningstar certainly inspired me.
Congrats to G. Wyatt Schultz, Matt Levins and everyone else who continues to contribute to the long tradition of a publication and website I have a great appreciation for. With the World Championships just completed and the college season about to start, here are a few other random thoughts about the sport:
The Iowa Hawkeyes certainly have the firepower to make a run at an NCAA team title this season. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds with perennial power Penn State looking strong again.
How good will the 2020 Olympic Trials be? With only six Olympic weight classes in freestyle you will see world champions battling for spots on the team. Jordan Burroughs and Kyle Dake are expected to square off with J’den Cox facing either David Taylor or Kyle Snyder. It will be entertaining. It’s too bad there aren’t eight or even 10 weight classes for the Olympics. Six isn’t nearly enough.
Junior world champion David Carr is a superstar in the making. I can’t wait to see how he fares for the Iowa State Cyclones during his redshirt freshman season. He’s a talented and driven young man with a dynamic style.
Who is ready for Spencer Lee to take the mat again? He is halfway to becoming Iowa’s first four-time NCAA champion. Lee also excels in freestyle where he is an age-group world champion. Will we see him at the 2020 Olympic Trials?
Will Wartburg College bounce back after a rough finish in 2019? I wouldn’t bet against the Knights.
Where will Nelson Brands fit into Iowa’s plans this season? He had a strong redshirt season and now he looks ready to challenge for a starting spot.
The U.S. qualified just 4-of-18 weight classes for the Olympics at the World Championships. The Americans had five world champions, but three were in non-Olympic divisions. Seems to me like all the best American wrestlers should be trying to help their country qualify for the Olympics.
I was happy to see Carver-Hawkeye Arena ranked No. 1 for best college wrestling venue. There isn’t a better place in the world to watch wrestling than Carver. The atmosphere is incredible.
Adeline Gray set an American record by winning her fifth world title in women’s wrestling. She needs to be celebrated alongside all of the great champions in this sport’s history. Women’s wrestling is here to stay and it’s remarkable recent growth can be attributed to people like her. Now Gray needs to go win an Olympic gold medal to cap her amazing career.
There isn’t a better person in wrestling than Dan Gable. He is retired, but he really isn’t. The guy is constantly on the go. He still does a tremendous amount for the sport and is always more than willing to help people. He is a generous and gracious man. Wrestling is so fortunate and blessed to have Dan Gable. He’s the best.
Great to see Grand View adding a women’s program. They continue to achieve amazing feats on that highly successful Des Moines campus. Rest of the story at https://www.thepredicament.com/2019/10/sesker-slant/?mc_cid=7570eee4d9&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Every Ranked Wrestler At Super 32
It’s the 20th anniversary of the Super 32 Challenge, and 2019 is shaping up to be the most talent laden competition in event history. Over 100 nationally ranked high schoolers are expected to lay it on the line in Greensboro, NC. You can also expect to see over 200 wrestlers who are listed on a big board (a list ranking the top college recruits in each high school class).
Watch Super 32 LIVE on FloWrestling
Saturday & Sunday, October 12 & 13 | Starting at 8:00AM ET
Yes, it will be a veritable smorgasbord of elite high school wrestling.
Check the complete list, video and other options at https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/6572387-every-ranked-wrestler-at-super-32?mc_cid=79d6a9cbce&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Gardner-Webb Wrestling Releases 2019-20 Schedule
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb wrestling released its 2019-20 schedule Monday afternoon, with five home matches set in Paul Porter Arena. The Runnin’ Bulldogs open the season on the road with a pair of tournaments, kicking off the year on November 3 at the Hokie Open in Blacksburg, Va. before taking part in the Appalachian Invite in Boone, N.C. on November 9.
GWU will then travel across the country to take on Cal Baptist on November 23 in Riverside, Calif., and will compete in the Road Runner Open on November 24 in Bakersfield, Calif. The ‘Dogs remain on the road, facing both George Mason and LIU Post on December 6 in Fairfax, Va. before taking part in the Patriot Open the next afternoon. Gardner-Webb opens its home slate on December 18 with a match against Franklin and Marshall.
GWU returns to action on January 1, taking part in the two-day Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. before returning to Boiling Springs, to open Southern Conference action by hosting Appalachian State on January 9.
Other home SoCon bouts include visits by The Citadel (Jan. 30), Campbell (Jan. 31), and Davidson (Feb. 16). Remaining road conference matchups include trips to Chattanooga (Jan. 12), Presbyterian (Feb. 9), and VMI (Feb. 14). Rest of the story at https://gwusports.com/news/2019/10/7/gardner-webb-wrestling-releases-2019-20-schedule.aspx?mc_cid=79d6a9cbce&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Women’s Wrestling Opens Season With Dual Wins Over Ferrum, Presbyterian
TDR Editor’s Notes ; The first college dual meet results that we have seen this season are from Ferrum, Virginia.
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THE RUNDOWN
- Event: Ferrum Duals | Host: Ferrum (Ferrum, Va.)
- Result: Gannon went 2-0 to open its season.
- The Short Story: Gannon won 15 of 20 bouts to roll to a pair of dual victories to kick off the 2019-20 season Saturday in Virginia.
GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
- Box Scores: Click Here
- Photo Gallery (Courtesy Ferrum Sports Information): Click Here
SCORES
- Gannon 28, Ferrum 21
- Gannon 40, Presbyterian 8
Rest of the details and story at https://gannonsports.com/news/2019/10/6/womens-wrestling-opens-season-with-dual-wins-over-ferrum-presbyterian.aspx?mc_cid=79d6a9cbce&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Preseason Nationals in Iowa already has 35 states represented, with record numbers expected.
BY PRESEASON NATIONALS | OCT. 04, 2019,
There are only a couple more weeks to register the USA Wrestling Preseason Nationals. Registration closes on October 20th at Midnight. This event sold out last year and is expected to sell out again this year. Don’t miss out and register ASAP. Visit www.PreseasonNationals.com to register. The date of the Preseason Nationals is October 25th – 27th in Des Moines, Iowa.
There are already 35 States represented. The following States have wrestlers in the tournament. Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin
There are 11 different age-groups available at the tournament:
High School Freshman / Sophomore Weight Classes: (9th – 10th Grade) 100, 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220, 285
High School Junior / Senior Weight Classes: (11th – 12th Grade) 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220, 285
Middle School Weight Classes: (7th & 8th Grade) Max age is 15 years old 70, 77, 84, 91, 98, 105, 112, 120, 128, 136, 144, 152, 160, 175, 190, 210, 265
Rest of the details and weight classes at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/October/04/Record-numbers-expected-at-Preseason-Nationals?mc_cid=7570eee4d9&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Ohio Wrestling’s Greenlee To Be Inducted Into Ohio Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
ATHENS, Ohio — Ohio wrestling head coach Joel Greenlee will be one of eight individuals inducted into the Ohio Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame this weekend. The 2019 Ohio Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Banquet will be held on Sunday (Oct. 6) at the Embassy Suites in Dublin, Ohio.
Greenlee arrived at Ohio University in 1997-98, being hired as an assistant/interim head coach. He was then named the full-time head coach before the 1998-99 season. Greenlee’s accomplishments during his first season at Ohio earned him the NWCA National Assistant-Coach-of-the-Year award in 1998. His 1997-98 team finished ninth at the NCAA Tournament – the Bobcats’ best finish since 1973 – and won the regular-season MAC title with a 5-0 record in the conference. He coached Dwight Gardner (158) to the school’s first individual national title since 1978 and guided Shawn Enright (134) to a second-place national finish. Greenlee enters his 23rd year as head coach at Ohio in 2019-20. During his time leading the Bobcats, the program has logged 12 All-America honors has won two team conference titles and has accounted for 20 individual conference titles. Greenlee owns a career record of 222-163-5.
Greenlee wrestled at the University of Northern Iowa from 1984-89, posting a collegiate record of 127-16-4 and went undefeated in dual meets. Rest of his biography and story at https://www.ohiobobcats.com/sports/wrest/2019-20/releases/20191003wpc1ot?mc_cid=7570eee4d9&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Looking back at 20 years of the Super 32
It’s a special look back at 20 years of the Super 32 on the Short Time Wrestling Podcast! Back in 2000, I was still in college at Old Dominion. I was working on tracking down results from any and all high school tournaments and after attending my first USA Wrestling Cadet & Junior Nationals the summer prior, I started covering more off-season stuff for the first iteration of Mat Talk Online. This involved fall folkstyle events from USAW and the AAU, spring freestyle and paying attention to out-of-state tournaments where Virginia teams participated. One of those tournaments popped up in 2000, my fourth year in college at ODU and my fourth running Mat Talk Online. It was the Super 32. I first noticed it that fall when a local wrestler in the coverage area of the newspaper I was working at won at 119 pounds. George Dodson was an Eagle Scout from Denbigh High Sc hool who never reached the Group AAA state tournament. Then I saw Drake Dickenson’s name. Drake wrestled at Magna Vista in the Southwest portion of Virginia before crossing the state line to wrestle for Dave Barker at Eden-Morehead. And that’s how it all began for me.
This list is a look back at things that make me go “oh wow,” and is not designed to be an inclusive list. During the 2005-08 years, I ran InterMat for the NWCA, which then owned the site. So my knowledge of high school wrestling from that era was in top form. Prior to 2005, I worked and lived in Virginia, so that’s where the lion’s share of my knowledge existed.
In 2000, the very first champion was at 101.1 pounds and it was host Morehead’s Chris Moore defeating future Virginia four-time state champion Matt Epperly of Christiansburg, Virginia. Epperly went on to wrestle at Virginia Tech and qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships twice.
Current UNC Pembroke coach Othello “O.T.” Johnson claimed a title at 163 pounds, beating Chris Ward of James Madison High School in Virginia. One time in Fargo, Ward got out after curfew. Team Virginia coach Ben Summerlin ran him outside until he puked. In 2001, David Barker cites this as a turning point in the tournament’s second year. Virginia powerhouse Great Bridge shows up and crowns four champions. Daren Burns, who wrestled at UNC Greensboro, was third at 190 pounds. He got better. Rest of this most intriguing story at http://www.mattalkonline.com/podcast/short-time/looking-back-at-20-years-of-the-super-32/?fbclid=IwAR0YxRGR7283ETmga-K1lrK7i5WFeUyWqZG3rI6LdwoP0BhygLxPc3HO2uo
High school stars ready to compete at Flowrestling’s Who’s #1 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena
BY MIKE WILLIS, USA WRESTLING | OCT. 03, 2019
Starting in 2013, Flowrestling has annually held “Who’s #1”, an exhibition between some of the nation’s top-ranked high school wrestlers, in Grace Hall at Lehigh University. On Saturday, for the first time, Who’s #1 will take place at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at the University of Iowa. Like always, the card will feature elite high school wrestlers duking it out for the top spot in the country. Traditionally Who’s #1 features a four-man mini tournament at one weight class. This year, the weight class is 132 pounds, and it will feature No. 1 Jesse Mendez of Indiana vs. No. 4 Ryan Jack of Connecticut and No. 2 Dominick Serrano of Colorado vs. No. 3 Shayne Van Ness of New Jersey. The winners of the preliminary matches will square off in the finals.
Mendez, a sophomore, has had a tremendous 2019, winning the 2019 FloNationals Cadet freestyle tournament, 16U Folkstyle Nationals, and Cadet World Team Trials in men’s freestyle. Internationally, he was a Pan Am champion in men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman and placed 9th at the Cadet World Championships. Mendez is the only underclassman competing at the event. Jack, his opponent, is a senior committed to North Carolina State. He is a 2019 NHSCA champion and a 2018 Super 32 runner-up. Jack is the younger brother of two-time Wolfpack All-American Kevin Jack. At Super 32, Jack defeated both Serrano and Mendez. Serrano is also a senior and committed to the University of Nebraska. He is a two-time Fargo champion and a three-time Colorado state champion. He finished third at Cadet World Team trials this year, only losing to Mendez.
Van Ness is an uncommitted junior. Last season, he won Ironman, Beast of the East and Super 32 while finishing runner-up at the National Prep Championships. He has defeated all three of the other wrestlers in this mini bracket. After the opening bouts at 132, the action will shift to 120, where No. 1 Jesse Ybarra of Arizona will face No. 2 Jakason Burks of Nebraska. Ybarra is a senior committed to the University of Iowa. This year he finished second at Cadet World Team Trials and third at FloNationals in Cadet freestyle. Ybarra defeated Burks, 4-1, in the Cadet World Team Trials semifinals. Burks is a senior and committed to Oklahoma State University. In 2019, he finished third at Cadet World Team Trials, second at Fargo in Junior men’s freestyle and third in Fargo in Junior Greco-Roman. Burks was a 2018 Cadet Greco-Roman World Team member and a Fargo 16U Greco-Roman champion. Rest of the story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/October/03/Whos-number-one?mc_cid=493b0ed634&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
USA sends large men’s freestyle delegation to Continental Cup in Russia, Oct. 11-13
BY TAYLOR MILLER, USA WRESTLING | OCT. 03, 2019
USA Wrestling is sending 17 of the nation’s top men’s freestyle athletes to the 2019 Continental Cup in Khasavjurt, Russia, Oct. 11-13. Of those 17 athletes, four have medaled at a World Championships. Leading the way is 2017 Senior World silver medalist and two-time Senior World Team member Thomas Gilman, who will represent the USA at 57 kg. This will mark Gilman’s first international event since the Dan Kolov Tournament in Ukraine in March, where he finishes outside of the top-10. Prior to that, he won bronze at the prestigious Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in January, and last October, he was fifth at the 2018 World Championships. This season, Gilman is No. 2 on the National Team at 57 kg. 2018 Junior World champion Mekhi Lewis will enter the field at 74 kg. Lewis made his international debut at Junior Worlds in Slovakia, where he stunned the planet with a gold-medal finish. Shortly after, he started his freshman NCAA season for Virginia Tech. In March, he knocked off two-time NCAA champion Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State for the 2019 NCAA title at 165 pounds. In Russia, he will return to the international stage for the first time since 2018 Junior Worlds and only the second time in his career. Wrestling at 86 kg is 2017 Junior World silver medalist Zahid Valencia, who has not competed internationally since that outing. Valencia was a three-time Junior World Team member, representing the U.S. in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Recently he has put his international career on hold in order to pursue NCAA glory. Wrestling for Arizona State, Valencia is a 2018 and 2019 NCAA champion and took third at nationals in 2017. Rest of the story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/October/03/Continental-Cup-preview?mc_cid=493b0ed634&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Jamestown to host NAIA Women’s National Invitational through 2021
KANSAS CITY, M.O. – – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the University of Jamestown have agreed that the NAIA Women’s Wrestling National Invitational will remain in Jamestown through 2021. The NAIA granted women’s wrestling invitational status in the spring of 2018, meaning that efforts toward developing administrative rules for championship status are likely in the spotlight. There are 33 NAIA women’s wrestling programs competing or announced at this time. When that number reaches 40, the sport can apply for championship status.
The University of Jamestown hosted the inaugural event at the Harold Newman Arena in 2019. Winter storms presented significant challenges that consolidated two days of competition into one, but UJ proved highly capable of hosting a true championship experience. There were twenty-one member schools represented by women from thirty-three states and four countries pre-registered. As part of NAIA tradition, the night before featured a red carpet student-athlete experience with guest speakers Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Sandy Stevens and Captain Randow of the United States Marine Corps. The ladies also participated in a Champions of Character service event, packaging meals for the Orphan Grain Train.
Wayland Baptist’s Asia Ray (101-pounds) became the first individual NAIA national champion, and the ladies from Menlo College took home the team title. Get up to speed with an overall look at the 2019 event, here. Rest of the story at https://www.transitionwrestling.com/jamestown-to-host-naia-national-invitational-through-2021/?mc_cid=493b0ed634&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
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
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
