Lackawanna College Announces Area’s First Women’s Collegiate Wrestling
Scranton, Pa. – July 9, 2019 – Lackawanna College will add the area’s first and only women’s collegiate wrestling program. The College will compete in the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) with 2019-20 set as its inaugural season. WCWA has partnered with 38 colleges across the U.S. and Canada. Lackawanna’s home matches will take place at the Lackawanna College Student Union.
Kate Fox has been named the first women’s wrestling head coach. Coach Fox has assisted with several programs for over 18 years including Lackawanna’s men’s wrestling program and women’s tennis program. “I’m super excited, wrestling has been a passion for many years. I’m happy to have the opportunity to help young women in their college experience,” said Coach Fox. In addition to women’s wrestling, Lackawanna College recently announced … Rest of the story at https://portal.nwcaonline.com/articles/NWCA_News/Lackawanna-College-Announces-Area-s-12-7-2019
Tocci has been a key contributor to wrestling’s recent growth
TDR EDitor’s Notes; An excellent article from Track Wrestling about an effective booster for our sport… Pat Tocci.
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Spend some time with National Wrestling Coaches Association senior director Pat Tocci and a couple of his driving forces become apparent. Tocci loves wrestling. He wants others to have opportunities to love it, too. Tocci grew up in a wrestling family in the heart of a Pennsylvania mat hotbed — the Lehigh Valley. His father, Pat, was his first coach. His cousin, Pat Santoro, a two-time NCAA champion, is the head coach at Lehigh. Another cousin, Rich, and his uncle, Dick, were both All-Americans at Lehigh. Tocci himself placed third in the state while wrestling for Liberty High School in Bethlehem. He finished third at Junior Nationals, and won an Espoir national title in Greco-Roman before he went on to wrestle at Brown. “Both my mom and dad sacrificed a lot for me, for all their kids,” Tocci said. “They stressed being our best, academically and athletically, but they did whatever they could to support our goals. My sister, Joleen, ended up running for West Virginia University. They sacrificed and were demanding, but were always supportive of us in what we enjoyed.”
Family vacations were dictated by Tocci’s summer competition schedule. “We were often in Lincoln or Cedar Falls, centered around my wrestling,” he said. “Those were our vacations.” After graduating from Brown, Tocci … Rest of the story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1562592115195&twSessionId=wqmwcmnnfc&postId=1669302132&mc_cid=6d22b573bb&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Men’s Wrestling Adds Paul Bradley to Coaching Staff
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Queens University of Charlotte Head Men’s Wrestling Coach Rob Tate has announced the hiring of Paul Bradley as Assistant Men’s Wrestling Coach for the upcoming 2019-2020 campaign, the Royals’ second season in Division II and the program’s third overall. “Paul has competed at the highest level in everything he’s done,” said Tate. “He’s got great passion for both the sport and for teaching kids. He will be an invaluable asset as the program continues to grow, especially in the upper-weight divisions. I’m thrilled to have Paul joining us and I can’t wait to see him work.” Bradley comes to Queens after spending the last 13 years in California as a professional MMA fighter and the owner of USA Ultimate Warrior Wrestling Club. Rest of the story at
Looking back at 20 years in Fargo
TDR Editor’s Notes; A most interesting read from a unique source. Not many can share about so many years attending the largest wrestling tournament in the world. Have only been able to attend once in Fargo in 2001 and once in Iowa in 1989 so I am due to go back soon. A most impressive event in size, energy and intensity. If at all possible all wrestling fans should attend at least one of these annual events.
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The Years
1999 – First Year
Was working at a KFC in the Grafton section of Yorktown, Va. Got a call from Mike Newbern. “Twink, Gary Alcon (ref) can’t make it, do you want to go to Fargo?”
That right there changed it all. Everything.
Stayed in Reed Johnson Hall.
Virginian Christian Smith made the Cadet Freestyle finals at 83.5 pounds. He ended up being a 3x state champion and NCAA qualifier for Duke and Liberty (He took down Nickerson in 2007 to open up the tournament).
There was no Buffalo Wild Wings. There was a Bison Turf, there was a mug and I may or may not have been from Alabama. Or named Kevin.
Shared a dial-up line with Sara Koenig from NCMat.com (you know her now as one of the tournament directors for the Super 32. Rob Sherrill vouched for me for a media credential. Thankfully, I’d met him in Virginia at the Virginia Duals when I was in high school.
Don’t remember much about the competition since I was still pretty new to the national scene. We had the Dream Team Classic in VA that year, so I paid attention to guys like Foley Dowd, Jason Powell,
Clark Forward — and two of those Team USA guys met in the finals, Damion Hahn beat Jason Potter.
2000 – Year 2
Buffalo Wild Wings Opened. Taco Bell re-opened, it was closed the year before for renovations.
Harry Lester vs. Mark Jayne, Junior Greco. Jayne was returning JR. Champ, Lester won cadets the year before. 3-5-3 (BOOM). 132 pounds.
Virginia had two cadet champs – Christian Staylor and Albert Childress (almost bookends)
Kid named Tyler Safratowich of Minnesota won at 83.5 pounds, did a backflip, then he started eating.
Mary Kelly going 2-2 in Cadet Freestyle and Micah Amrozowicz, now the head coach at the Newport News Apprentice School, having to come from behind to beat her 8-7
2001 – Year 3
Started doing freelance work for TheMat.com and wrote features on the Dibbern triplets, Mary Kelly wrestling against the boys in the Juniors. Cerebral Palsy kid J.C. McMaster – his e-mail address was pimp_limpin@ something another dot com. Jeff Courtney, a deaf All-American from West Virginia ? and TRAVIS EFFING LEE.
Lee “leis’ greco gold. Beat Nick Simmons. Stopping Simmons from becoming just the second guy to win 4 JR FS titles. As of right now, it’s only Alan Fried. Rest of the story and podcasts at http://www.mattalkonline.com/podcast/short-time/looking-back-at-20-years-in-fargo/?mc_cid=76f1f6bf24&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
ASK KOLAT: What’s the Best Wrestling Workout?
The All in One Workout
This week, Kolat answers a question he received about strength conditioning workouts for wrestling, “If you only had one workout you could do what would it be?” Kolat reflects back on what he relied on for building cardiovascular endurance, explosive movements, and strength. For Kolat that multi-beneficial workout was swimming. One benefit of swimming is it’s a way to simulate high-altitude or an environment that’s hard to breathe in. This way you train your body to not require as much oxygen and build endurance. Another key benefit of swimming is the low impact on your joints. Kolat would choose swimming over running because of the lesser damage you’re inflicting on the longevity of your knees, ankles, shoulders, etc.
Multi-Beneficial for Wrestling
In wrestling, you’re constantly pulling which is another area swimming will strengthen. Changing up the swimming stroke you’re doing is important to hit muscles in different ways. While swimming you’re strengthing those pulling muscles in your back and arms that are crucial for wrestling. You’re also working all the muscles required for reaching that are overlooked during strength training. Lastly, all the kicks you’ll be doing will work your core and stability. Kolat started swimming 30 minutes every other day and worked up to 45 minutes. Rest of the story and details at https://therudis.com/cary-kolat-the-best-wrestling-workout/?mc_cid=48754c0a77&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Wrestlers can compete in special shorts next season
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved allowing wrestlers to compete in shorts designed for the sport and removing all language in the sport’s rules book regarding the length of a wrestler’s hair. The changes are effective for the 2019-20 academic year.
BRACKETS: The final brackets from the 2019 NCAA championship | Final team scores
NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee members wanted to make the rules for hair less rigid and provide an additional option for the competition uniform. Previously, wrestlers could compete only in traditional singlets with or without full-length tights or form-fitting shirts and shorts. This third uniform option requires the form-fitting shirt but allows teams to pair this top with loose-fitting shorts designed for wrestling. Congrats to the 9 DI wrestling teams receiving APR Public Recognition Awards for outstanding academics: https://t.co/b8r8TAKuXG NCAAWrestling pic.twitter.com/zEq2KwLvUy— NCAA Wrestling (@ncaawrestling) May 1, 2019
Wrestlers’ hair still will be required to be free of oils and/or greasy substances. Hair coverings still will be allowed and considered special equipment. The rule that prohibited a wrestler’s hair from extending below the level of an ordinary shirt collar and the hair on the side of the head from extending below the earlobes has been eliminated. Rest of the rule changes and story and video at https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2019-06-26/wrestlers-can-compete-special-shorts-next-season?mc_cid=48754c0a77&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
WILLIAMS BAPTIST GRECO-ROMAN‘The Williams Word’ With WBC Head Coach Jonathan Drendel — June ’19
It was only two and half years ago when Jonathan Drendel was tabbed as the first-ever head coach for Williams Baptist University’s Greco-Roman program. Though a promising opportunity, there was also much work to be done. Drendel had to start from scratch. Upon its inception, WBU Greco was fortunate enough to inherit several holdovers from the school’s accompanying NAIA folkstyle team. That helped lay down the roster’s foundation. From there, Drendel and former WBU folkstyle coach Kerry Regner (who conceived the program and is now the head at Millersville) went to work recruiting undercover prospects who were willing to bypass traditional college wrestling while embracing a new discipline that is famous for its unforgiving learning curve.
And to be sure, the WBU Greco athletes have taken their share of lumps. The majority of the roster is low on experience, and with the recent dearth of domestic events, gaining match minutes has proven difficult. That said, it has been hard to ignore the progress made by Williams’ Greco wrestlers in a short period of time and Drendel is the man responsible for their rapid improvement. Rest of the story and details at
‘More to look forward to’: Girls welcome chance to wrestle at state level
With the announcement earlier this week that the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association will sponsor the first girls state wrestling tournament this school year, some area girls who compete in the sport are obviously pleased with the progress. Zoe Hussar, who will be a sophomore at Rossford, and Kloe Wulff and Kendall Bostelman, who will be juniors at Napoleon and Liberty Center, respectively, likely will be among the first Ohio girls with an opportunity to compete for state titles. Rest of the story and video at https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/high-school/2019/06/28/state-girls-wrestling-tournament-ohio-opportunity-college-even-level/stories/20190628167?mc_cid=7581364feb&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Timmy McCall Added to N. C. State Wrestling Staff
Joined the Wolfpack Wrestling Club in 2015 after collegiate career at Wisconsin
RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina native Timmy McCall has joined the NC State wrestling program as a volunteer assistant coach, announced by head coach Pat Popolizio. “Timmy brings really good experience that will help elevate our current student-athletes both on and off the mat,” said Popolizio. “The quality of person that he is is exactly what we are looking for to help mentor our guys in every aspect of life. “Our guys are very familiar with him, both with his time at the Wolfpack Wrestling Club and through working with them in NC State’s chapter of Athletes in Action. I’m confident this will be a smooth transition for our program”
While competing for the Wolfpack Wrestling Club since 2015, McCall took first place at the 2017 Henri Deglane Challenge and was a 2016 Bill Farrell International runner-up. This year, he placed second at the 2019 Grand Prix of France/Henri Deglane Challenge and seventh at the 2019 U.S. Open to qualify for the World Team Trials held in Raleigh. During his time at the Wolfpack WC the past five years, McCall has not only trained full-time but works extensively with Athletes in Action on NC State’s campus. McCall competed collegiately at Wisconsin, and was ranked as high as ninth nationally as a senior.
Rest of the story and pictures at https://gopack.com/news/2019/7/2/wrestling-timmy-mccall-added-to-packwrestle-staff.aspx
Nash Hutmacher headed to Huskers: ‘Nebraska just seemed like the right place for me’
Chamberlain defensive lineman and three-star recruit Nash Hutmacher initially planned to wait until later in July to make his college decision. That time frame would give the 6-foot-5, 305-pound senior the opportunity to thoroughly vet his three finalists: Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin. But there’s been a change in plans. A few days ago, Hutmacher “rethought everything” and decided he wasn’t going to wait. He was ready to commit. On Saturday afternoon, the ferocious hitter known as “The Polar Bear” made it official: he’s going to be a Nebraska Cornhusker.
“Nebraska just seemed like the right place for me,” Rest of the story and video at
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
