Why Shouldn’t All Girls Have the Opportunity to Benefit From Wrestling?
By Earl Smith
This is a guest column from Shannyn Gillespie
As a former U.S. Olympic Education Center (Marquette, MI) women’s wrestling coach, the author’s charge was to ready & develop female wrestlers for the U.S. Olympic Training Center (Colorado Springs, CO), Jr. World Championships, & the World University Championships. This task was challenging largely because, at the time in 2005, there were only 2 sanctioned high school girls wrestling state championships to recruit from (most recruits were noticed at junior national championships). Fourteen years later, there are 6 sanctioned high school girls wrestling state championships…
To be certain, female wrestling worldwide and in the USA is slowly growing (around 17,000 US high school female participants) even though there are a low number of sanctioned high school girls wrestling state championships (6 as of 2019; 7 to add for 2020) or female only wrestling leagues (38+ college teams included in WCWA & NAIA). Despite this inequity, many females do wrestle and thrive in the sport. This article lists some of those successful female wrestlers who are also pioneers. These pioneers have added their perspective on how and why females deserve their own wrestling leagues plus girls-only wrestling state championships in the USA. Before we dive into the below questions and some veteran female wrestlers opinions, here’s a timeline of the last 30 years of some female wrestling league firsts:
1987 – Sr. World Championships
1988 – Jr. World Champ. (U20)
1988 – Cadet World Champ. (U17) Rest of the story and list at https://news.theopenmat.com/womens-wrestling/why-shouldnt-all-girls-have-the-opportunity-to-benefit-from-wrestling/72509?mc_cid=6106e1abe5&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
TDR Top 12 Wooden Plaques
The annual TDR Top 12 Team award plaque have been mailed and should be arriving at 24 of the 28 schools next week. Keep an eyes out for these packages.
Lejeune’s Vrachnos wins wrestling state title
Senior captured 1-A 152-pound crown
GREENSBORO – This was a dominating performance by Lejeune’s George Vrachnos, coach Jim Gardiner said. Vrachnos defeated Mount Airy’s Austin Tumbarello 10-4 on Saturday night in the 152-pound NCHSAA 1-A wrestling final at the Greensboro Coliseum. “He dominated everybody he wrestled,” Gardiner said. “He’s one of those wrestlers that when he’s on, he’s on. It’s kind of surreal.” Vrachnos led 5-0 after the first period and 8-0 after the second period. The senior finished the season 45-7 while Tumbarello ended 27-6. “It feels great that my hard work paid off,” Vrachnos said. “Coming to practice every day, I wrestled my heart out and trained harder so when I had an actual match, it was almost nothing at all.” And Vrachnos showed that in the final with his lopsided victory. “I know he was from the West, but I had never seen him before,” Rest of the story at https://www.jdnews.com/sports/20190216/lejeunes-vrachnos-wins-wrestling-state-title
Check out renovated Dan Gable Museum without leaving home
By Mark Palmer, InterMat Senior Writer
Eager to see the totally renovated National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum … but not able to make the trip to Waterloo, Iowa right now? Now you can take a look inside the facility which just reopened last week after having been closed since last September for a $1.4 million makeover … thanks to your choice of videos available online.
The long …
For an in-depth look inside the new-look Dan Gable Museum, take a look at the video on Trackwrestling.com, featuring your own personal 17-minute tour conducted by museum director Kyle Klingman and Trackwrestling’s Andy Hamilton. The tour starts just inside the front door, with a new lobby mural featuring images of Dan Gable, Helen Maroulis (first U.S. woman wrestler to win Olympic gold), Dremiel Byers (described as one of the “most prolific” U.S. Greco-Roman grapplers) and Kurt Angle (1996 U.S. Olympic freestyle gold medalist who is about to conclude a 20-year pro wrestling career). “It really sets the tone for the museum,” said Klingman, who then demonstrated one of the museum’s new electronic kiosks which lets visitors access profiles of honorees on easy-to-use touch screens. Another high point of the Trackwrestling video tour is a visit to the Dan Gable area, with displays highlighting his stellar high school, college and Olympic wrestling careers … as well as his success as head coach at the University of Iowa.
Klingman then takes viewers into the new theater which allows visitors to watch their choice of films from NCAA wrestling championships going back to 1937 … using a touch-screen to instantly access specific matches. The Trackwrestling video tour concludes in the Dan Gable Learning Center, the bigger-and-better wrestling practice/training room … providing more opportunities for young wrestlers to practice and receive instruction. Rest of the story and video at https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/21770
JD News All-Coastal 8 1-A/2-A Conference Winter List
The 2019 All-Coastal 8 1-A/2-A Conference winter list as voted on by the league’s coaches or determined by the conference championship events.
WRESTLING
Wrestler of the Year: Tyler Wargo (Richlands)
Coach of the Year: David Perry (Croatan)
106: Stephan Mainz (Lejeune), Logan Pugh (Dixon), Colin Rock (Richlands)
113: Andrew Ocampo (Pender), Ronan Carletta (East Carteret), Elvis Lopez (Trask)
120: Kegan Bolman (Dixon), Luke Walker (Croatan), Cooper Howe (Richlands)
126: Ethan Mills (Dixon), Jadavin Eirich (Richlands), Austin Barkimer (Lejeune)
132: Corbin Pugh (Dixon), Anthony Marello (Croatan), Dominic Szybka (Southwest)
138: Erik Hrudka (Southwest), Rest of the list and story at
https://www.jdnews.com/sports/20190311/all-coastal-8-1-a2-a-conference-winter-list
Getty hangs up whistle as area wrestling official
TDR Editor’s Notes ; Our congratulations and thanks to John Getty for his work as a wrestling official for over 30 years! He was always a positive one to work with and he did well in his job.
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Getty sangs the national anthem before many of the matches he worked. He was known as the “Singing Ref” by area high school wrestling coaches, athletes and fans. And yet there was more to John Getty than just him signing the national anthem before matches. He was a respected official who seemed to draw the biggest matches between fierce rivals. “He was fair down the middle and both competitors knew they would get his best effort,” former Dixon coach and athletic director Homer Spring said … rest of the story and photos at
https://www.jdnews.com/sports/20190321/getty-hangs-up-whistle-as-area-wrestling-official
Women in sports aren’t simply breaking through, they’re soaring
TDR Editor’s Notes; An interesting article from Kansas City worth reading over. You can check it out at https://www.kansascity.com/sports/article229333179.html?mc_cid=71d49ec247&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
2018-19 Sun Journal All-Area Wrestling Team
The 2018-19 wrestling season was the first not to produce a boys’ wrestling state champion from the area in some time but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t still fruitful in other ways. Three young men from the coverage area placed second in the state and a total of 17 qualified to go to Greensboro. One woman, Havelock’s Brooke Hermel, did bring home a state championship in the innaugural state women’s wrestling championships. Those 18 plus one other grappler make up the year’s Sun Journal All-Area Wrestling Team. The members of the team are:
Connor Wrought, senior, New Bern – Wrought placed second in the state at 152 pounds in the 4A division, losing the title match 3-1. He had a record of 56-4 on the year.
Jon Ward, junior, West Craven – Ward had a season of improvement on the mat as he went 33-4 this year. Like Wrought, he placed second in the state, in the 2A division.
Javon Armstrong, junior, Pamlico County – Armstrong, a state champ from a year ago, placed second this year in the 1A division. His record on the year was 23-2.
Josh Crump, senior, West Craven – A staple of the Eagles’ program the past few years, Crump had another nice showing at states with a third place finish in 2A. He was 18-1 for the season.
Cody Rutherford, freshman, Havelock – Qualifying for states in his freshman season, Rutherford went 35-18 for the Rams at 106 pounds.
Brooke Hermel, junior, Havelock – Hermel was a state … rest of the list and story at
https://www.newbernsj.com/sports/20190405/2018-19-sun-journal-all-area-wrestling-team
Bear wrestlers lead way in All-Conference awards
This week, the 3A/4A Eastern Carolina Conference postseason awards were released.
New Bern received most of its honors on the wrestling mat but picked up some basketball and swimming recognition as well. On the mat, New Bern put nine wrestlers on the All-Conference Team: Paul Denoia, Sam Barnett, Jackson Bird, Thau Rocham, Grant Gupton, Wyatt Stevens, Connor Wrought, Jaidon Bennett and Marcus Grist. Rest of the story at
https://www.newbernsj.com/sports/20190326/bear-wrestlers-lead-way-in-all-conference-awards
Daily Advance All-Area Wrestling Team: Area programs boast multiple selections to All-Area team
By Malcolm Shields, Sports Editor, Monday, April 1, 2019
It was another competitive winter of wrestling in the area. Currituck, John A. Holmes, Northeastern and Pasquotank all had wrestlers advance to North Carolina High School Athletic Association individual regional tournaments this winter. Currituck and Northeastern shared the Northeastern Coastal Conference crown, while Edenton won the Albemarle Athletic Conference title.
Highlighting the 2018-2019 All-Area team is Area Wrestler of the Year in Northeastern’s Jonathan Ward. A total of three area wrestlers won regional championships with Northeastern’s Raven Atkins taking third place at the NCHSAA Class 2A individual state championship tournament in his weight class.
Here is more on the All-Area team:
Samuel Hodge, Currituck, So.: Northeastern Coastal Conference champion at 113 pounds, NCHSAA Class 2A East Regional champion at 113 pounds, NCHSAA Class 2A individual state championship qualifier, 38-8 overall record.
Noah Walker, Currituck, So.: Northeastern Coastal Conference runner-up at 126 pounds, NCHSAA Class 2A East Regional qualifier, 31-13 overall record.
Trent Walker, Currituck, Jr.: Northeastern Coastal Conference champion at 160 pounds, third-place finish at 160 pounds at the NCHSAA Class 2A East Regional, NCHSAA Class 2A individual state championship qualifier, 44-7 overall record.
Mark Dutton, Currituck, Sr.: Northeastern Coastal Conference champion at 170 pounds, NCHSAA Class 2A East Regional qualifier, 26-8 overall record.
Riddick White, John A. Holmes, Jr.: NCHSAA Class 1A East Regional qualifier at 113 pounds, 20-13 overall record.
Jordan Huerta, John A. Holmes, So.: NCHSAA Rest of story and details at
http://www.dailyadvance.com/Sports/2019/04/01/Area-programs-boast-multiple-selections-to-All-Area-team.html
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
