The 5 best places to watch college wrestling, according to fans
Wrestling fans are passionate and their energy drives the sport. They show up to big matches and they show up in numbers. The 2019 NCAA wrestling tournament drew more than 100,000 spectators who packed PPG Paints Arena to the brim for all six sessions. The excitement isn’t just limited to the national tournament. The Iowa Hawkeyes have led the country for the last 13 years in dual-meet attendance, averaging more than 8,500 fans in 2019 and totaling 59,684 supporters in Carver-Hawkeye Arena last season.
Session 6 Attendance: 18,950
All Session Attendance: 109,405#NCAAWrestling pic.twitter.com/t4kg5ijHtE— NCAA Wrestling (@ncaawrestling) March 24, 2019
The defending champion Penn State Nittany Lions also draw famous crowds to Rec Hall, and Cael Sanderson’s team attracted a total of 55,222 fans to State College in the 2018-2019 season to finish second nationally for home attendance. Penn State also fills the Bryce Jordan Center once a year for a big dual that welcomes more than 16,000 fans.
GREATEST OF ALL TIME: Looking back at the best teams in college wrestling history
Rec Hall and Carver-Hawkeye Arena are two of the most well-known arenas in college wrestling. It’s also worth noting the unique places duals have occurred, including Fresno State’s Battle of Midway tournament which will be held again in 2019 on the flight deck of the famed aircraft carrier. Duals have also occurred in Yankee Stadium, on football fields, on college quads and in theaters. Rest of the story and videos at https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2019-09-30/5-best-places-watch-college-wrestling-according-fans
CAROLINA WRESTLING ANNOUNCES 2019-20 SCHEDULE
CHAPEL HILL — The University of North Carolina wrestling team will host seven home duals in Carmichael Arena this season and will face six teams that finished within the top 20 of last year’s NCAA Championships. The 2019-20 schedule, which was announced Tuesday, boasts a series of strong non-conference opponents to kick off the season before beginning ACC competition in late January. UNC will open the season at the Hokie Open tournament on November 3. This continues the tradition of traveling to Virginia to kick off the season, which the Tar Heels have done every year in the Coleman Scott era.
Carolina will open up its dual-meet schedule on November 8, traveling to Ann Arbor to take on the University of Michigan. This will be the first meeting between the Tar Heels and Wolverines since the 1993-94 season. Last year, Michigan posted a fifth-place finish at NCAAs. The next weekend, UNC will make a trip out west to visit Stanford. Last season, the Cardinal put two wrestlers in the Round of 12 after posting a 9-4 dual meet record and knocking off four teams ranked within the top-20. Rest of the story at https://goheels.com/news/2019/10/1/carolina-announces-2019-20-wrestling-schedule.aspx?mc_cid=5ee3104c62&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
LITTLE ROCK UNVEILS INAUGURAL 2019-20 SCHEDULE
TDR Editor’s Notes ; Wonderful to see the start up of a NEW Division I program. We hope that this will become more common in the hear future.
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LITTLE ROCK – After a year and a half of waiting and preparation, the inaugural schedule for Little Rock wrestling has been released by head coach Neil Erisman. The inaugural slate includes nine dual meets, including five at the Jack Stephens Center, and three open tournaments, all leading up to the Pac 12 Conference Championships in March.
2019-20 Little Rock Wrestling Schedule
“We are very excited to announce our inaugural schedule,” Erisman said. “Coach Maldonado and I feel we have a solid line up of competitions. Our team will see some great competitors across the country that will hopefully help prepare them for the NCAA Championships, which is the ultimate goal.”
The 2019-20 season for Little Rock begins November 9 when the Trojans compete in their first open tournament of the year, participating in the Oklahoma City Open. That leads into Little Rock’s historic first home dual, which will be a Natural State showdown as the Trojans welcome University of the Ozarks to the Jack Stephens Center on Sunday, November 24. Another open tournament awaits Little Rock as the calendar turns to December, making the first of two trips to Edwardsville, Illinois on the year. The Trojans will compete in the SIU Edwardsville Cougar Clash on Saturday, December 7. The Trojans then return home for a pair of competitive home duals, beginning with the first “Sun Belt Championship” match against Appalachian State on Wednesday, December 18, pitting the two Sun Belt programs that sponsor wrestling against each other. Erisman then welcomes some familiar faces to Little Rock as the Trojans will host North Carolina on Friday, December 20th. Erisman spent four seasons as an assistant with the Tar Heels, who finished the 2018-19 season ranked 12th nationally.
After the new year, Little Rock opens 2020 with the Southern Scuffle January 1-2 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, an event that draws some of the nation’s top teams every year. Rest of the story at https://lrtrojans.com/news/2019/9/30/wrestling-little-rock-unveils-inaugural-2019-20-schedule.aspx?mc_cid=5ee3104c62&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
USA Wrestling’s Girls Folkstyle Nationals coming to Colorado Springs, March 26-29
BY GARY ABBOTT, USA WRESTLING | SEPT. 27
The largest girls wrestling tournament in the United States, USA Wrestling’s Girls Folkstyle National Championships, will move to Olympic City USA in 2020. The event will be held at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., March 26-29.
Sponsoring organizations for the event include the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, the Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Broadmoor World Arena’s Youth and Community partnership. The competition features girls from across the country competing in six different age groups: 8U, 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U and Junior (grades 9-12). The Girls Junior Folkstyle National Duals, featuring state-level dual meet teams, will also be held as part of the event.
A record 1,093 competitors entered the tournament in 2019, with growth in all age divisions, plus an additional 326 entries in the Girls Junior Folkstyle Duals. Folkstyle (also called Scholastic style) is the style of wrestling contested in U.S. high schools and middle schools. Girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States.
The number of high school girls participating in wrestling has grown for 29 straight years. The number of high school girls wrestlers in the USA in 2018-19, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations was 21,124, an increase of 27.5% from the year before. Currently 18 states have official state-association approved girls high school wrestling state competitions. USA Wrestling’s women’s membership, which includes female wrestlers of all ages, has also increased for 11 straight years. Colorado Springs becomes only the second city to host this event, which was founded in 2008 in Oklahoma City, Okla. and held there for the past 12 years. Rest of the story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/September/27/Girls-Folkstyle-Nationals-going-to-Colorado-Springs-in-2020?mc_cid=88c2202b2b&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Saints Add Olympic Medalist to Women’s Wrestling Staff
TDR Editor’s Notes ; From our neighboring state to the south.
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GAFFNEY, S.C. – The Limestone College Athletics Department and head coach Brandy Green have announced the addition of 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist Randi Miller as an assistant coach for the Women’s Wrestling program, effective immediately. Miller joins the Saints after spending time with the United States Army National Guard as a member of their World Class Athlete Program and as a Water Treatment Specialist. The WCAP is a program specifically designed to allow top-ranked Soldier-athletes to perform at the international level while also serving their country in the military.
During her time with the WCAP, Miller served as an assistant wrestling coach at MacMurray College. While there she worked intensively with the athletes teaching various techniques and skills while giving them critical feedback. She also routinely sparred with the athletes to increase their abilities and skills. Perhaps the largest section of Miller’s resume was devoted to her time as a professional athlete with U.S.A. Wrestling. In addition to her bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics, Miller was the 2008 and 2014 U.S. Senior National Champion at the 69 kg weight class. She was also the 2014 Military World Champion as well as a member of the U.S. World Team the same year. She was also a senior level American athlete for ten-years. Rest of the story at https://golimestonesaints.com/news/2019/9/27/saints-add-olympic-medalist-to-womens-wrestling-staff.aspx?mc_cid=88c2202b2b&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Fresno City Captures Sac City Invitational
The Fresno City College Rams started the 2019 season with a tournament championship in Sacramento. The Rams easily outdistanced the host Panthers. Lassen College showed promise with a strong third place finish.
Sac City Invitational Brackets
Photos from the Sac City InvitationalMost Outstanding Wrestler – Raul Ortiz, Sac City 141.Most Falls Least Amount of Time – Logan Garcia, Lassen 149. 3 falls, 5:33
Team Scores
1. Fresno City College 170
2. Sacramento City College 91
3. Lassen College 77
Rest of the teams and story at https://caccwrestling.wordpress.com/2019/09/23/fresno-city-captures-sac-city-invitational/?mc_cid=782ee73f35&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Local coaches excited about addition of wrestling at Shenandoah University
WINCHESTER — Sherando wrestling coach Brian Kibler fondly remembers his father taking him to several James Madison University wrestling matches in Harrisonburg when he was a kid. The 2002 Strasburg High School graduate went on to wrestle for JMU in college, but the young children who watched him compete never had the chance to wrestle for the Dukes like he did. A year after his JMU career ended in 2006, the school announced it was shutting down the program. Starting next year though, a lot more kids in the Shenandoah Valley will have the chance to wrestle collegiately nearby like Kibler did.
Shenandoah University announced that it will make wrestling its 22nd intercollegiate sport starting with the 2020-21 school year in a news conference on Monday at the James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletics & Events Center. “Those kinds of things stick in the heads of kids,” said Kibler of what it meant to him to attend local college matches. “The more you see it, the more you’re around it, and the higher level you’re around, the better it is for your area.” Naturally, local high school coaches couldn’t be happier that SU is adding a wrestling program. Most colleges elect not to sponsor teams in the predominantly male sport mainly because of Title IX requirements. According to the NCAA, in 2018 only 22 percent of all colleges fielded wrestling programs.
More schools are adding wrestling in recent years, as there were only 217 in 2010. But that’s a far cry from the 1980s. In 1982 (the first year available for NCAA sponsorship date), 48 percent of colleges fielded wrestling teams, and in 1985 8,572 people participated. Wrestling teams are larger now than they were in the 1980s, and wrestling participation has increased steadily since 2005, when there were 5,939 competitors. Last year’s total of 7,239 participants is still less than the 1985 total, though. Rest of the story at https://www.winchesterstar.com/nvdaily/local-coaches-excited-about-addition-of-wrestling-at-shenandoah-university/article_00fea89f-f96c-5cea-ad18-f4b701c7b04e.html?mc_cid=782ee73f35&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
N.C. State Wolf Pack Wrestling Announces 2019-20 Schedule
LISTEN: Popolizio breaks down schedule on #PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast
2019-20 Wrestling Schedule | Purchase Season Tickets | Upgrade Your Seats
RALEIGH, N.C. – NC State head coach Pat Popolizio has announced Wolfpack Wrestling’s 2019-20 schedule. The Pack will host five duals inside Reynolds Coliseum this upcoming season. NC State ranked 20th last season in attendance, averaging over 1,300 fans per home dual. NC State went 16-3 overall in 2018-19, and tied atop the ACC standings with a 4-1 mark. The Pack then followed up its regular season trophy with the ACC Championship Trophy, earning both trophies in the same season for the first time since 2004. Last season was the fourth straight top-10 finish in the NWCA Coaches’ Poll at #10, and NC State has been ranked in the top-10 in 57 straight polls over the previous four seasons. Dating back over those last four seasons, NC State has won 67 of its 75 duals (89.3 percent) overall. Rest of the story and schedule at https://gopack.com/schedule.aspx?path=wrestling
Seven Minutes with J Robinson
Seven Minutes is a series of interviews with top wrestling coaches and athletes. Most of the question-and-answer sessions last roughly seven minutes. Hence the name. J Robinson coached the University of Minnesota to three NCAA championships, including the 2001 team that had 10 All-Americans. The former Army Ranger was a 1972 Olympian in Greco-Roman and is the founder of J Robinson Camps.
If you could take what you know now and have a conversation with yourself at the age of 15, what advice would you give yourself?
I would give myself the advice of trying to find a philosophy that I could buy into that would help me get to the level I wanted to get into. Having someone give me a path and say this is what you need to get there so I had a clear way to get to where I wanted to go.
Let’s go back to when you were in high school. What do you remember about the recruiting process, if there was any, and why did you pick Oklahoma State being from California?
I graduated in 1964 so there wasn’t any recruiting per se in the state of California. I got a couple letters from California schools that asked me to come there and wrestle. My high school coach was Ned Blass who was a two-time NCAA champion for Oklahoma State. He came in my senior year and he’s one of those people who opens your eyes and will say, ‘The world is bigger than California and it’s bigger than San Diego.’ He basically said you’re good enough to go here and he basically sent me to Oklahoma State. Rest of the story and audio located at https://theguillotine.com/2019/09/seven-minutes-with-j-robinson/
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
