Wrestling magazines announce 2019 college awards
It’s been a couple months since the college wrestling mats were rolled up and put away for the season. Even though it’s the offseason, now is an unbeatable time for three national wrestling magazines — WIN (Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine), Wrestling USA and Amateur Wrestling News — to reveal their award winners for the 2018-2019 season.
WIN 2019 special award winners
In terms of wrestling awards, WIN magazine may be best known for its Dan Hodge Trophy, given each year to the nation’s top college wrestler a week or so after the conclusion of wrestling season. (This year’s honoree: Bo Nickal of Penn State.) The May 29, 2019 issue of WIN unveiled its choices for its annual collegiate awards beyond the Hodge, including:
Dan Gable Coach of the Year: Rutgers’ Scott Goodale: Goodale, head coach at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, since 2007, was honored with year’s award for guiding the Scarlet Knights to their first top ten finish at the NCAA championships… and for coaching the program’s first national champions in Nick Suriano at 133 pounds, and Anthony Ashnault at 149. “We needed a year like this. Top guys growing up wanting to wrestle at a top-brand school,” the 47-year-old Goodale told WIN Editor Mike Finn. “The elite schools are brand names so it’s been super, super hard to get those guys to believe in what we’re trying to do. I like to think, from a wrestling standpoint, we are making Rutgers a brand name.”
WIN first presented its Coach of the Year award in 1997.
Schalles Award: Penn State’s Bo Nickal: Nickal, who concluded his college mat career with his third NCAA title, the 2019 Hodge Trophy and 2019 InterMat Wrestler of the Year honors, also managed to be the nation’s top pinner for the second straight season… making the Nittany Lion fall guy a natural choice to receive an award named in honor of Wade Schalles, one of the all-time top collegiate pinners in his time at Clarion in the early 1970s.
“Being in the Penn State room and having the amazing partner and coaches that I have, I’ve seen ten times the in practice every situation I’ve been in during a match,” according to Nickal, who also won the Schalles Award in 2018. Rest of the story and photos at https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/21994
Rosewood’s mat magician pins obstacles like he does opponents
By Jared Fialko, WRAL Sports multimedia journalist
Putting in the work tends to frighten some athletes off, but not Timothy Decatur. He fully embraces the grind. “Whenever I want something I get it, I don’t stop until I get it,” says Rosewood senior Timothy Decatur. “If I want to be the best at something, I won’t stop until I’m the best at it.” Win-loss-wise, he’s exactly that. A back-to-back WRAL Invitational Wrestling Tournament Champ, Rosewood’s mat-magician capped his high school career with a 57-1 record and a third individual state title, in the process, becoming the NCHSAA’s all-time leader in victories.
“In all the years I’ve been around sports and wrestling, I’ve never had a kid that’s had the drive and the determination to not just improve but excel in his sport,” says Hal Kilpatrick, Rosewood high school wrestling coach. That one loss, by the way, came when Decatur was bumped up two classes above his natural weight. What the 132 pounder achieves: unprecedented. How he does so: inspirational. Doctors declared Timothy legally blind in his left eye at age six, and diagnosed him on the Autism spectrum. “It doesn’t stop me from being who I can be,” Timothy persists. “I’m not going to let that stop me, nothing’s going to stop me.” “His whole life he’s been doing everything I can do, most of the time better than me,” smiles Decatur’s brother Christian. What some view as his weakness, Timothy says is his strength. Rest of the story at https://www.highschoolot.com/rosewood-s-mat-magician-pins-obstacles-like-he-does-opponents/18208199/
Additional injury time given for head, neck injuries in high school wrestling
INDIANAPOLIS — In an ongoing effort to minimize the risk of injury in high school wrestling, additional time will be given to evaluate head and neck injuries when an appropriate health-care professional is present at a match. In addition to the 1½ minutes of injury time allotted for each wrestler, an appropriate health-care professional will have a maximum of five minutes to evaluate injuries to the head and neck involving the cervical column and/or nervous systems. At that point, the wrestler would have to continue or default the match. This revision in injury time in Rule 8-2-4 is one of 17 rules changes recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Wrestling Rules Committee at its April 3-5 meeting in Indianapolis. All recommendations were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.
A second injury to the head and neck involving cervical column and/or central nervous system in the same match shall require the wrestler to default the match. If an appropriate health-care professional is not present, all injuries to the head and neck would be covered by the same timeframe as other injuries. In the case of a wrestler exhibiting signs of a concussion, the individual would be removed from the match and could not return to competition in the absence of an appropriate health-care professional. Rest of the story at https://www.highschoolot.com/additional-injury-time-given-for-head-neck-injuries-in-high-school-wrestling/18347594/
Wrestling community applauds NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics decision
USA Wrestling, Wrestle Like a Girl, NWCA, NWHOF, NCWA, USOC 6/3/2019
The U.S. wrestling community, including its leading organizations, is celebrating today’s announcement from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) concerning women’s wrestling. The NCAA’s Committee on Women’s Athletics (CWA) has “recommended that all three divisions of the NCAA governance structure add women’s wrestling as an NCAA emerging sport, effective August 1, 2020.” Each NCAA division (Division I, Division II and Division III) will address this recommendation separately, and will determine independently if women’s wrestling is added to the division’s Emerging Sports list.
Beginning in August 2017, a coalition of wrestling organizations, including Wrestle Like A Girl, the National Wrestling Coaches Association, USA Wrestling, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and expanding to include the National Collegiate Wrestling Association, worked together to submit an application to the NCAA CWA for women’s wrestling to attain Emerging Sport Status. All of the national leaders in wrestling have supported this effort and supplied information for the bid that was sent to the NCAA CWA, in compliance with all of the requirements of Emerging Sport Status.
The wrestling community applauds and thanks the NCAA’s Committee on Women’s Athletics for its governance and vision in reviewing the women’s wrestling application and recommending wrestling for NCAA Emerging Sport Status. The wrestling community celebrates the role Title IX has played in developing women’s wrestling opportunities, and pledges to continue to build the sport with that spirit of inclusion until it achieves official Championship status within the NCAA, and thereafter. “This is a great day for wrestling. The recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics could impact the lives of thousands of women student-athlete wrestlers for generations to come. We thank the efforts of all the wrestling organizations who have led the charge seeking Emerging Sport Status. USA Wrestling is fully committed to supporting wrestling for women and girls at all levels and is excited about the future. We are encouraged by today’s decision, and fully expect it to help accelerate the growth of women’s wrestling,” said Rich Bender, Executive Director of USA Wrestling. Rest of this great story at https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/21987
DII All-American Cole Laya will Transfer to West Liberty
West Liberty head coach Danny Irwin has picked up a colossal commitment with the announcement of 125 returning All-American Cole Laya. The sophomore from Fairmont, West Virginia capped off his true freshman campaign with a third-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Division II Men’s Wrestling Tournament. I asked the four-time West Virginia state finalist about the process making a decision to leave Wheeling Jesuit and follow Irwin to West Liberty University. “Well, the decision was extremely tough. Leaving WJU was hard for the fact that I was leaving a family and a tradition I had learned to love.”
Cole Laya stays in the state where he won three titles and travels just 20 miles up the highway. A journey home will still take a little over an hour and that means he can wrestle in front of friends and family and be with the wrestling coach who kept him in state and helped him to become the only true freshman All-American last season. It was not an easy decision and Cole had this to say about the process. Rest of the story at https://news.theopenmat.com/college-wrestling-news/dii-all-american-cole-laya-will-transfer-to-west-liberty/73232?mc_cid=36249f2efd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Final X: Rutgers women’s freestyle championship series preview
BY GARY ABBOTT, USA WRESTLING | JUNE 03, 2019,
Final X: Rutgers will feature five women’s freestyle championship series, two in the 12:00 noon session and three in the 6:00 p.m. session. Seven of the 10 women wrestlers competing in Rutgers on Saturday are past Senior World Team members, including two Senior World medalists. All 10 of the women have competed on at least one U.S. age-group World Team, with a combined nine age-group World medals from this group. There is a rematch from Final X last year, the 50 kg battle between Whitney Conder and Victoria Anthony. Conder won the 2018 Final X series, needing three matches to get past Anthony. Four of these pairings feature a rematch from the 2019 U.S. Open, which means most of these wrestlers have competed against each other recently. All of them have wrestled against each other during the past year. We provide a preview for each of the women’s freestyle matchups below for Final X: Rutgers.
Session One – 12:00 noon
Bout 2: Women’s FS 72 kg – U.S. Olympic champion Alyvia Fiske (Napa, Calif./Titan Mercury WC) vs. World Team Trials Challenge Tournament champion Victoria Francis (Litchfield, Ill./Titan Mercury WC)
This battle features one of the fastest rising young stars in women’s wrestling, Alyvia Fiske, against a veteran talent and past Senior World team member Victoria Francis, who did not compete last year and has been rounding into top form this season. This is a rematch of the U.S. Open finals, won by Fiske, 5-4. Rest of the matches in the story at
Minnesota votes down double-elimination wrestling
The Minnesota State High School League made some big decisions on Monday, including voting down the proposal of a shot clock for all classes of boys’ and girls’ basketball. The league’s board of directors voted 13-5 against a 35-second shot clock that has wide support among the state’s coaches but little among athletic directors and region committees. …. Wrestling had three proposals, including a change to the state tournament that would make the individual portion a full double-elimination. It was not brought to a vote. Voted on and approved are changes that allow two wrestlers from the same team in the same weight bracket at a regular season individual tournament if there are byes, and allowing a team with fewer than 20 wrestlers to participate in two scrimmages per week to help with training. Rest of the story at
Friday in Stillwater: A bucket list event for wrestling fans
TDR Ed.; I hope to go to this event some year, hopefully within the next 5. Looking to go again to the HOF again to continue research on the history of college wrestling teams.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Honors Weekend is one of the most important days of the year in wrestling. That Friday, the plaques are unveiled and the award winners are introduced to the public. An informal gathering, Friday is one of those days every wrestling fan should experience.
Episode 511 talks to a dozen individuals who were involved or attending Honors Weekend. We’ll kick things off with the Director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Lee Roy Smith, to get his take on the importance of the event as well as how much of the year builds towards this weekend.On this show: Order of Merit recipient Dave “Doc” Bennett, Distinguished Member Rick Tucci, Maryland inductee and announcer Natanya Levioff, Medal of Courage recipient Joe Russell, Chairman of the NWHOF Board of Governors Tom Slowey, Distinguished Member Dan Gable, former Board of Governors member Stan Zeamer, Distinguished Member John Smith, New York inductee and USA Wrestling Director of Communications Gary Abbott, Order of Merit recipient Nancy Schultz Vitangeli and Millersville head coach Kerry Regner. Rest of the story and links at http://www.mattalkonline.com/podcast/short-time/friday-in-stillwater-a-bucket-list-event-for-wrestling-fans/?mc_cid=36249f2efd&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Military and Wrestling Have Extensive History
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum is grateful to our veterans. As we celebrate Military Appreciation Month, we want to say thank you, and encourage you to thank them, for their service and for all that they have sacrificed. The relationship between the Armed Forces and the sport of wrestling dates back thousands of years. From the early days of mankind to the modern soldier, wrestling, also known as combative arms by the military, has been a big part of battle and modern-day training.
From President Theodore Roosevelt, who helped bring wrestling to the military academies; to David “Buddy” Arndt, who won NCAA championships before and after World War II; to Major General Kenneth C. Leuer, the father of the modern US Army Rangers; to Doug Zembiec, the “Lion of Fallujah,” wrestling has influenced and helped our military. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame has 57 Distinguished Members, 14 Outstanding Americans, and two Medal of Courage recipients who have wrestled and served their country. Our Board of Governors made it a priority in the renovation of the museum to include Glory Beyond the Sport – Wrestling and the Military which recognizes the contributions of wrestlers in the military. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame produced “Glory Beyond the Sport: Wrestling and the Military” in 2009, a book that chronicled some of our nation’s greatest military leaders who made their mark on mankind’s oldest and greatest sport. Rest of the story at https://nwhof.org/blog/17072/?mc_cid=44b1067232&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Look for Las Vegas to become a prime NCAA championship event destination
For nearly 40 years Pat Christenson has developed and recruited events to Las Vegas and for nearly 40 years the NCAA has basically told Christenson not to bother with them. During that time the NCAA prohibited their championship competitions from being held in states that allowed single-game sports betting. It was a policy that affected only Nevada and handcuffed Christenson, who couldn’t even bid to host an NCAA wresting championship, which he wanted to do. The handcuffs were finally removed Thursday when the NCAA announced it had rescinded the policy. It was another milestone moment for a city that has gone from taboo to transformative for sports leagues. Over the past three years Las Vegas went from a city that had never been the home of a major professional sports team to being the home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces and next year the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. They opened the $375 million T-Mobile Arena to accommodate the NHL and NBA and next year will open the $1.8 billion Las Vegas Stadium to be the home of the Raiders and UNLV.
Christenson, who is the president of Las Vegas Events and spent over 20 years at UNLV, smiled from his office Friday as he got ready to bid on a series of events Las Vegas has never hosted before. “It’s a relief,” Christenson said. “For as long as I can remember we have not had the opportunity to compete for these major championship events. Now, with both the policy being rescinded and these new facilities we have in a destination city like Las Vegas, everything is falling into place for us.” The next available NCAA championships open for bidding begin with the 2022-23 academic year. Rest of the story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-las-vegas-ncaa-championships-20190504-story.html?mc_cid=a1fc873b83&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
