A-G’s Darden wins state title
By Jake Keator
The Daily Reflector
Saturday, February 16, 2019
GREENSBORO — After two days of intense competition leading up to Saturday night, Ayden-Grifton senior wrestler Ray Darden brought home the state championship crown at 195 pounds during 2-A action at the Greensboro Coliseum. Darden defeated Will Frady of Smoky Mountain via a 3-2 decision to claim the title. He is the first member of the Chargers’ program to win a state title since Diego Martinez in 2012.
“It feels really good to come out on top,” Darden said. “After cutting weight all season, the tournaments, it all paid off in the end. State champ, it feels pretty good.” Darden quickly took a slim lead to start the match, but neither wrestler could find a way to gain critical points on the other, leading to a scramble in the final round for Darden to shut the door and earn the title. With just 20 seconds remaining, Frady looked to score by pulling a reversal on Darden, but instead he was locked down with little mobility as time expired.
A-G coach Jeff Wooten gave Darden a simple plan heading into the match, leaving Darden’s experience to help him overcome adversity. “Coach told me in the beginning of the match to just get the first takedown and just go from there,” Darden said. Teammates and supporters who made the trip to the western part of the state cheered loudly for Darden as he walked over to celebrate with them. “I’m not alone,” he said. “I have my coach and my guys who help me and train me to be here. It’s an individual sport, but my guys coach me up to be this good.” Darden finished his senior season with a record of 32-1. Rest of the story at http://www.reflector.com/High-Schools/2019/02/16/Wrestling-season-closes-as-Darden-captures-title.html
Title IX creates inequities
Letter to the Editor in the Greenville Daily Reflector
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Title IX has been a positive thing except where men’s programs have been canceled to create slots for women. You can call it Title IX “balance,” but ECU has 11 women’s sports and only nine for men. To create this disparity ECU added women’s lacrosse. Last time I checked, the state of North Carolina had 69 high school girls lacrosse teams and 330 boys wrestling teams. ECU once had nationally-ranked wrestling and dropped the sport. Wrestling at ECU would have been a deserved choice for the thousands of North Carolina high school wrestlers.
Milt Sherman, Greenville
Pitt County Wrestling coaches reflect on season
By Jake Keator, The Daily Refelctor
Sunday, February 17, 2019
GREENSBORO — With the high school wrestling season officially in the books following Saturday night’s state finals, coaches are beginning to reflect on their seasons and plan ahead for next year. The North Pitt Panthers captured a Pitt County championship and 2-A Eastern Plains title, both goals they hope to repeat next season. NP will lose some strong wrestlers in graduating seniors Dalton English at 138 pounds and Dominic Maurizzio (132), but other notable names will return, including Raheem Jones (182) and Alex Espinosa-Johnson (195). “I think our upper weight classes, about 160 and up, will be really strong next year,” North Pitt coach Chris Young said. “Raheem for example, things just clicked with him the last month of the season and he placed in the state finals this year.”
As a whole, Young was proud of the way his team fought through adversity. “In the beginning of the year I had high expectations,” he said. “It was an up-and-down season. I wasn’t sure if we were going to have any impact wrestlers, and we dealt with a lot of injuries. We won the Pitt County championships and the conference tournament, so we had a slow start in the beginning but really picked up in the end.” Ayden-Grifton capped off the season in style with Ray Darden taking home the 2-A state title at 195 pounds Saturday night. Rest of the story at http://www.reflector.com/High-Schools/2019/02/17/Wrestling-coaches-look-ahead-to-2020-season.html
Weighty Decisions
By Brian Jerzak
Lakeville North senior Bryce Benhart didn’t have to wrestle his senior year. A lot of high school athletes that I have talked to in a similar situation decide not to continue to be a multi-sport athlete. They choose to focus on the sport they will be playing in college. What makes Benhart’s story even more interesting is very few high school athletes – while in similar situations – had as much at stake as the Panthers’ senior. Well before the 2018-19 high school wrestling season has started, Benhart knew he had a football scholarship to the University of Nebraska waiting for him. Despite the obvious chances he was taking, the benefits of continuing with wrestling, the opportunity to become a state champion and a brief conversation with one of Minnesota’s most successful high school wrestlers convinced Benhart to decide to get back on the mat for one more season. “I started both wrestling and football in third grade,” Benhart said. Benhart was motivated to be the best football player he could be from an early age.
“I was always a bigger kid and was always on the offensive or defensive line,” Benhart said. “My dad always told me you have the talent – don’t waste it. Do something with your talent. Use that to go somewhere big to play football. Get a college degree out of it.” Part of getting the most out of his talent included becoming the best athlete he could be, but the future wrestling state champion did not dominate on the mat early. With football always on his mind, Benhart’s father helped keep his son on the mat by showing his son how wrestling could help him on the football field. “I got beat on the first couple of years,” Benhart admitted, “but my dad pulled up a list of all the NFL players who wrestled – guys like Ray Lewis, Roddy White and all those guys that wrestled in high school. I knew wrestling would help me with football.” The more he wrestled, the more comfortable he got on the mat. He didn’t just wrestle in the winter; he got involved in freestyle and Greco. “I wanted to keep my wrestling going,” the 6’9″ Benhart said. “I preferred Greco because of all the throwing. When I was younger, I got put on a national team and went to Indiana. I ended my freestyle and Greco career after my sophomore year and being on the Minnesota national team again. After that, I stuck with off-season weight lifting.” Soon his success in Greco translated to folkstyle.
“My first two years in high school I wasn’t the greatest,” Benhart admitted. “Around my sophomore year, I started to get to know what moves worked for me and the technique I need to work on. When I started to learn to use my leverage against other people, I started winning my matches.” He started winning his matches – in part – because he learned to use his frame. “I am good at extending people and making people carry my weight,” the future Cornhusker said. “If I can take them down, they pretty much are not getting out. I was a pinner. I think I had twenty pins my senior year.” “On my feet, I am going to use an under hook to a front headlock,” Benhart continued, “or an under hook to a snatch single.”
Benhart knew big things were coming for him on the football field. “The summer before my junior year I got my first Division I offer. After the first offer, I started to get more colleges contacting me. (Recruiting) took off from there. I started visiting more places and started to get more offers. At some points, it was a stressful process. I know most people don’t get this shot, but I put a lot of pressure on myself to pick the right school and coaches for me.” As a junior, Benhart had a dominating season on the mat against almost everyone – with one notable exception – former Apple Valley four-time state champion and current Minnesota Gophers’ All-American Gable Steveson. Rest of the story at https://theguillotine.com/2019/04/weighty-decisions/?mc_cid=71d49ec247&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Q & A with Emily Shilson, Minnesota’s best female wrestler, who’s finally done wrestling boys
Emily Shilson has been wrestling against boys, and usually winning, for about a decade. But that’s over, now that she has completed her senior season in high school. Shilson looks ahead to wrestling against women at one of the 33 colleges that offer the sport. She hasn’t picked one yet. She will continue to pursue her ultimate goal — the Olympics. Already, she is a 2018 Cadet World Champion and 2017 silver medalist, and a 2018 Youth Olympic Games Champion. Shilson wrestled for Centennial for four seasons and Mounds View her senior year, all at 106 pounds. She qualified for the state tournament the last three years, as a section runner-up and two-time section champion.
She was never able to win a match at state, in three individual tournaments and two team tournaments, but posted a 139-64 career record, including 88-20 the last three. The Shilsons are a wrestling family. Rest of the story at https://www.presspubs.com/shoreview/sports/local/q-a-with-emily-shilson-minnesota-s-best-female-wrestler/article_03c18fbc-608a-11e9-a5c8-939154968f0e.html?mc_cid=71d49ec247&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Top ACTIVE College Division I Coaches in Dual meet wins Top 30 w/ at least 100 wins
ACTIVE Coaches (D-I)– Top 30 (or so) with at least 100 wins
- Gary Taylor (Rider) 442 – retired in 2017
- John Smith (Oklahoma State Univ.) 411
- Tom Borelli (Central Michigan) 329
- Rob Koll (Cornell Univ.) 305
- Duane Goldman (Indiana Univ.) 297 – retired in 2018
- Brian Smith (Missouri/Syracuse) 285
- Tom Ryan (Ohio State/Hofstra) 270
- Mark Manning (Nebraska/Northern Iowa) 267
- Jim Zalesky (Oregon State/Iowa) 266
- Joe McFarland (Michigan/Indiana) 238 – retired in 2018
- Tom Brands (Iowa & Virginia Tech) 235
- Barry Davis (Wisconsin) 234 – retired in 2018
- Tim Flynn (Edinboro State Univ.) 227
- Joel Greenlee (Ohio Univ.) 221
- Roger Reina (Pennsylvania, Un. Of) 219 – returned in 2017
- Pat Santoro (Lehigh University, Maryland) 192
- Cael Sanderson (Penn State, Iowa State) – 184
- Pat Popolizio (North Carolina St., SUNY-Binghampton) – 183
- Jim Andrassy (Kent State Univ.) 180
- Kevin Dresser (Iowa State/Virginia Tech Univ.) 178
- Scott Goodale (Rutgers University) – 173
- Steve Martin (Old Dominion University) – 159
- Steve Garland (Virginia University) 158
- John Stutzman (Buffalo SUNY, Bloomsburg) – 143
- Dan Wirnsberger (Bucknell, Bloomsburg) 142
- Rob Hjerling (The Citadel) – 140
- Jay Weiss (Harvard Univ.) – 136
- Kerry McCoy (Maryland, Stanford) – 131
- Mark Cody (Presbyterian, Oklahoma U., American U.) – 113 – I – returned 2018
- Frank Romano (Kent State) – 99 – I – at a D-II school now
Recent Retired Coaches
Gary Taylor
(Rider) 442
– I retired in 2017
Duane Goldman (Indiana Univ.) 297 – I
– retired in 2018
Joe McFarland (Michigan, Indiana)
238 – I – retired in 2018
Barry Davis (Wisconsin) 234 – I –
retired in 2018
Women’s Wrestling at Center Stage as Tokyo 2020 Announces Detailed Competition Schedule
TOKYO (April 16) – The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) has announced the detailed competition schedule for the sport of wrestling at the 2020 Olympic Games. The two-day competition format will feature women’s wrestling as the final gold medal bout on each day of competition. Japan is the most dominant women’s wrestling nation in the world having won 11 of 18 Olympic gold medals since 2004, the first year the sport was included on the Olympic programme. The island nation has also won 22 world team titles since the first women’s wrestling world championships in 1987, including 11 of the last 13. “The schedule announced by Tokyo 2020 will help wrestling ensure high attendance for each day of the competition,” said United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic. “We saw nice crowds in Brazil and expect that this schedule will help us reach even more fans and create a positive and energetic environment for all our competitors. The stars of women’s wrestling will guarantee that interest-level.” Rest of the story at https://unitedworldwrestling.org/article/womens-wrestling-center-stage-tokyo-2020-announces-detailed-competition-schedule?mc_cid=71d49ec247&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
USA men’s freestyle sweeps all 10 Pan American gold medals in Buenos Aires
By Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling | April 21, 2019,
Photo: David Taylor in the 2019 Pan Am finals. Photo by Lucia Cruz.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The United States men’s freestyle team won all 10 Pan American Championships gold medals over the last two days, collecting eight titles on Sunday evening in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the first time in the history of the event that a team has gone undefeated, winning every weight. Team USA went 34-0 over the weekend in men’s freestyle action and claimed the team title, racking up 250 points. Four-time World champion and 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs won his third overall Pan Am Championships title (fifth including Pan Am Games) on Sunday night, defeating 2015 Pan Am silver medalist Jevon Balfour of Canada in the 74 kg finals. While the score was one-sided, the match featured a lot of action with several exciting scrambles. Burroughs took a 5-0 lead in to the break with a takedown and leg lace and scored one more takedown in the final frame for a 7-0 win.
Winning his second-straight Pan Am title was 2018 World champion David Taylor at 86 kg. Taylor spent minimal time on the mat en route to a dominating 10-0 tech fall over Pedro Ceballo Fuentes of Venezuela. Overall, Taylor finished the day with two pins and two tech falls. Because of his performance, Taylor was recognized as the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler. 2016 Olympic champion and two-time World champion Kyle Snyder picked up his second-career Pan Am championship on Sunday, winning by injury default over two-time World silver medalist Reineris Salas Perez from Cuba.
Though he didn’t have to wrestle his finals match, Snyder still put together a great performance earlier in the day with a pair tech falls. Two-time World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski surrendered only one point the entire day on his way to his second Pan Am title, winning all four bout by tech falls and outscoring his opponents 41-1. In his final, Gwiazdowski put up a 10-0 first-period tech over nine-time Pan American medalist Korey Jarvis of Canada. At 61 kg, 2018 World bronze medalist Joe Colon went 3-0 on the day in round-robin action to win his first Pan American title. Rest of the story and details at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/April/21/USA-mens-freestyle-sweeps-all-10-Pan-American-gold-medals-in-Buenos-Aires?mc_cid=c1aaf85871&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Wilson Fike Demons work to make Wickham’s dream come true
By Paul Durham paul@wilsontimes.com | 265-7808 | Twitter: @PDsports
This story was corrected from an earlier version to indicate that Fike High senior Saulo Rodriguez is making his second trip to the NCHSAA state tournament, not first.
Somewhere, Mike Wickham is smiling. The late Fike High wrestling coach would be elated that five Golden Demons qualified for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3-A tournament this coming weekend in Greensboro. In addition to junior Aaron Bancroft, who repeated as a champion Saturday at the NCHSAA 3-A East Regional tournament at Cleveland High, seniors Joseph Speight and Saulo Rodriguez, junior Jahmez Settles and sophomore Vincent Page will be going to Greensboro. Bancroft, one of the top wrestlers in the state at any classification, will be aiming for a state championship, which would be the first ever for a Fike wrestler. The son of Fike assistant coach George Bancroft, he might be the No. 1 seed in the 3-A 160-pound weight class in Greensboro. While Fike’s other four wrestlers may not reach the state final in their respective classifications, they have achieved a lot just by making it there.
“I’m so excited for these guys because Joseph, Jahmez, Vince and Saulo — they’re exceptional kids as far as their mannerisms,” said Fike head coach Bradley Watson. “I love who they are. I mean, kids are going to be kids but, at the same time, they’re just good-hearted kids. When I started coaching, I knew I would get connected to the kids but I didn’t know how much, how quickly. I’m just drawn in. I just love my guys and am excited to see them succeed that way.” Watson wrestled at Fike but before Wickham was the coach. However, when Wickham’s ongoing bout with cancer made it apparent that he wouldn’t be able to lead the team last season, he reached out to Watson, who embraced the role. Coupled with George Bancroft, whose passion for wrestling is unsurpassed, Watson has been able to continue the job that Wickham, who died on Jan. 1, 2018, started when he took over a dormant Fike program in 2011 and turned it into a perennial 3-A Big East Conference contender that annually produced state tournament qualifiers. Rest of the story and numerous pictures at the following links
http://www.wilsontimes.com/stories/demons-work-to-make-wickhams-dream-come-true,160792?
Top ACTIVE College Coaches in Dual meet wins & level Top 70 w/ at least 130 wins
- Pat Pecora (Pitt-Johnstown) 598 – II
- John Smith (Oklahoma State Univ.) 426– I
- Roger Crebs (Lycoming College) 406 – III
- Tom Borelli (Central Michigan, Lake Superior State) – 375 – I, II
- Mike Denney (Maryville Univ./Nebr.-Omaha) 365 – II
- Don Murray (SUNY-Brockport) 350 – III
- Lonnie Morris (Johnson & Wales) 347 – III
- Bruce Haberli (New York Univ./Manhattan Coll.) 336 – III
- Ron Beaschler (Ohio Northern Univ.) 324 – III
- Rob Koll (Cornell Univ.) 305 – I
- Jim Makovsky (Minn. St.-Mankato/Valley City St.) 302 – II
- David Pacheco (Sacramento City College) 301 – Calf. Jr.
- Brian Smith (Missouri/Syracuse) 285– I
- Dave Mitchell (Luther (IA) 277 – III
- Pat Whitcomb (North Idaho Jr. Coll.) 273 – Juco. – resigned in Jan. ’19
- Tom Ryan (Ohio State/Hofstra) 270 – I
- Steve Costanzo (St. Cloud St. Univ./Dana College) 269 – II
- Mark Manning (Nebraska/Northern Iowa) 267 – I
- Jim Zalesky (Oregon State/Iowa) 266 — I
- Martin Nichols (Ithaca College) 262 – III
- Jon Laudenslager (Wilkes University) – 253 – III
- Tom Brands (Iowa, Va. Tech) – 235 – I
- Jay Jones (Rhode Island College) – 234 – III
- Mike Ritchey (Southern Oregon State) – 231 – NAIA
- John Oostendorp (Coe College) 229 – III
- Tim Flynn (West Virginia Un./Edinboro Univ.) – 227 – I
- Brad Bruhn (SUNY-Cortland) – 223 – III
- Joel Greenlee (Ohio University) – 221 – I
- Roger Reina (Pennsylvania, Univ. of) 219 – returned in 2017 – I
- Bryan Brunk (Messiah College) – 216 – III
- Robert Fisher (Kutztown University) – 209 – II
- Don Henry (Gannon University) – 208 – II
- Mike Machholz (Missouri Valley) – 206 – NAIA
- Drew Black (Wesleyan Univ., Phoenix Coll.) – 205 – III
- Joe Renfro (Northeastern Oklahoma, Labette Jr. Coll.) 204 – JuCo
- Frank Romano (Notre Dame College, Kent State) – 196 – II/NAIA/I
- Johnny Johnson (Wisconsin-Stevens Point) – 194 – III
- Pat Santoro (Lehigh University, Maryland) – 192 – I
- Cael Sanderson (Penn State, Iowa State) – 184 – I
- Dave Malecek (Wisconsin-LaCrosse State) – 184 – III
- Pat Popolizio (North Carolina State, SUNY-Binghampton) – 183 – I
- Jason Reitmeier (Augustana College, S.D.) – 181 – II
- Jim Andrassy (Kent State Univ.) – 180 – I
- Heath Grimm (Upper Iowa Univ.) – 179 – II
- Franky James (Campbellsville Univ. Tennessee-Chattanooga) – 179 – NAIA,I
- Kevin Dresser (Iowa State, Virginia Tech Univ.) 178 – I
- Mike Wehler (Mercyhurst, West Liberty State) – 177 – II
- Scott Goodale (Rutgers University) – 173 – I
- Mike Howard (SUNY-Oswego State) – 171 – III
- Duane Ritter (SUNY Oneonta State) – 168 – III
- James Kisgen (McKendree College) – 163 – NAIA
- Steve Martin (Old Dominion University) – 159 – I
- Steve Garland (Virginia University) – 158 – I
- Luke Moffitt (Iowa Central Community College) – 158 – JuCo
- Sean Gibbs (Baldwin-Wallace, U.N.C.-Pembroke) – 153 – III/II
- Doug Moses (New Mex. Highlands, South. Colo., Col. St.) 150 – II incomplete
- Jon McGovern (Dubuque University) – 144 – III
- John Stutzman (Buffalo SUNY, Bloomsburg) – 143 – I
- Dan Wirnsberger (Bucknell, Bloomsburg) – 142 – I
- Josh Rhoden (Clackamas Comm. College) – 141 – JuCo
- Leo Kocher (University of Chicago) 140 – III incomplete
- Rob Hjerling (The Citadel) – 140 – I
- Dan Garriott (Cerritos College) – 140 – Calif. Jr. Coll.
- Brian Anderson (Wabash College) – 139 – III
- Bruce Shumaker (Apprentice School) – 138 – III retired in 2017
- Jay Weiss (Harvard Univ., Moravian College) – 136 – I/III incomplete
- Craig Thurber (Thiel College) – 134 – III
- Caleb Schaeffer (Providence Univ. was Great Falls Univ.) – 133 – NAIA
- Dave Shutter (Truman State, NE Missouri State) – 133 – II
- Vince Silva (Santa Ana College) – 131 – Calif. Jr. Coll.
- Kerry McCoy (Maryland, Stanford) – 131 – I – resigned in 2019
- Steve Marianetti (Elmhurst College) – 130 – III
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
