USA Wrestling breaks its total membership record and athlete member record with almost five months left in the season
By Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling | April 05, 2019,
On Thursday night, April 4, USA Wrestling set a new total membership record, when the combined total for USA Wrestling’s membership categories reached 237,573. This total includes Athlete and Wrestling Leader members (which includes coach and/or officials. The record was set at 9:07 p.m. on Thursday. The member who registered and broke the record was an athlete, a seven-year-old girl from Shawnee, Okla., Keylee Schreiner.
The previous record was achieved within the 2017-18 membership year, at 237,572.
USA Wrestling still has almost five months left in the 2018-19 season, which concludes on August 31, 2019, to add to its record membership total. Also, on the morning of Friday, April 5, USA Wrestling’s athlete membership record was also broken when the athlete member total reached 202,020. This broke the athlete member record set in 2017-18 membership year at 202,019. The athlete member who signed up and broke the old record was Devin Grisby of Madera, Calif., who is 14 years old.
“We are incredibly encouraged by the faith the wrestling community has shown in the USA Wrestling program. We are grateful for the tireless efforts of our state chapters and their volunteers who work hard every day to provide the opportunity for athletes to experience our great sport,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender. Rest of the story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/April/05/USA-Wrestling-sets-total-membership-record-and-athete-member-record?mc_cid=ffe9ad1883&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
NSAA sanctioning of girls wrestling comes up one vote short
LINCOLN, Neb. — In a 29-21 vote, the NSAA came up one vote shy of officially sanctioning girls wrestling as a winter sports for the 2019-20 school year. To approve a sports, 60% of the 50 voting members of the NSAA need to cast their vote for the measure. In today’s vote in Lincoln, the votes to approve girls wrestling totaled 29. Also falling short of becoming a sanctioned high school sport is bowling. The sports garnered 23 votes for the sanctioning of it, while 27 voting members voted against the move. Rest of the story at https://www.ksnblocal4.com/content/news/NSAA-sanctioning-of-girls-wrestling-comes-up-one-vote-short-508195331.html?mc_cid=ffe9ad1883&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Michael Stokes Award goes to Darden of Ayden-Grifton and Todd of Rosewood
The 2019 Annual Michael Stokes Award for the top senior wrestler in the northern Tri-River area will be shared by two state champions. Both seniors Ray Darden of Ayden-Grifton (195 lbs.) and Jordan Todd of Rosewood (145) had successful seasons with only one loss and winning all of the rest of their matches including for the gold at the state tournament. The times and dates of the presentations of the trophies has yet to be determined but will be announced later.
California’s Simpson adds women’s wrestling, hires Zhang as coach
Simpson University will be adding women’s intercollegiate wrestling to its sports roster and has named Fan Zhang as head coach, the northern California school announced Friday.
Zhang brings a diverse wrestling and coaching experience to the new women’s program at Simpson University. This past year, he served as head women’s wrestling coach at Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, Wash. Before heading to the Pacific Northwest, Zhang spent three years as an assistant coach for the storied men’s NCAA Division III wrestling program at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa where the Knights have won eight national titles in the past decade, with four of those with Zhang as a coach (one of those as a volunteer assistant while he was earning his Master’s degree in Leisure, Youth and Human Services at University of Northern Iowa.) While in Iowa, Zhang also coached the Iowa Girls State Team, leading several junior and cadet female wrestlers to Junior Folkstyle National Champions and ASICS All-American achievements from 2012-18. As a wrestler, Zhang was a seven-time national champion in his native China and was named one of the Top 10 Outstanding Athletes in Beijing, a metro city of over 13 million people, in 1997.
Rest of the story and details at
https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/21785
Eddins Tabbed NWCA Super Region I Wrestler of the Year; Biddle Named Freshman of the Year
Pitt-Johnstown junior wrestler Chris Eddins, the 2018 NCAA Division II National Champion at 141 lbs. and the 2019 National Champion at 149 lbs., was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) 2018-19 Super Region I Wrestler of the Year on Thursday. In addition, red-shirt freshman Brock Biddle (184 lbs.) was selected the Super Region I Freshman Wrestler of the Year as voted on by the Division II National Rankings Committee. Eddins will now be placed on the ballot for voting for Division II Wrestler of the Year honors.
Eddins closed out his junior season with a perfect posted a 24-0 overall record and a 17-0 dual meet record on his way to winning Super Region I title and claiming his second consecutive Division II National Championship at 157 lbs. with a 7-2 decision over Tiffin’s Trey Grine in the championship bout. Rest of the story and details at https://pittjohnstownathletics.com/news/2019/4/4/wrestling-eddins-tabbed-nwca-super-region-i-wrestler-of-the-year-biddle-named-freshman-of-the-year.aspx?mc_cid=cddd2f8a2c&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Cunningham is winner of 2018 Terry McCann Award as USA Wrestling Men’s Freestyle Coach of the Year
Casey Cunningham (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC) has been named the winner of the 2018 Terry McCann Men’s Freestyle Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling. This is the first time that Cunningham has won this prestigious award. Cunningham has been the Assistant Coach at Penn State University for 10 years, which has won four NCAA team titles in a row, and eight of the last nine NCAA team titles.
He is a coach with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, which is the Regional Training Center affiliated with Penn State. The Nittany Lion WC is among the most successful RTCs in the nation, producing successful freestyle wrestlers on the Senior and age-group levels. Cunningham was one of the personal coaches of David Taylor, who won a 2018 World gold medal at 86 kg. Taylor was named the 2018 United World Wrestling International Freestyle Wrestler of the Year, as well as the 2018 USA Wrestling Freestyle Wrestler of the Year. The Nittany Lion WC has produced a number of Senior Freestyle National Team members during Cunningham’s years there. Included was 2012 Olympic champion Jake Varner and past World Team members Zain Retherford and Les Sigman. Rest of the story and details at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/April/04/Casey-Cunningham-named-USA-Wrestling-Freestyle-Coach-of-the-Year?mc_cid=cddd2f8a2c&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Schedule announced for World Championships
CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland — The schedule for the 2019 Senior Wrestling World Championships was finalized this week with competition set to begin Sept. 14 at the Barys Arena in Nur-Sultan. Nur-Sultan is Kazakhstan’s capital city and was previously named “Astana” before being changed late last month in recognition of the country’s longtime president Nursultan NAZARBAYEV who recently resigned his office. The world championships will start with Greco-Roman, move to women’s wrestling, and conclude with freestyle. The tournament will once again close on the 97kg final, which could feature a third straight finals appearance by the sport’s biggest rivals, Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) and Kyle SNYDER (USA). The popular competitors have split results in the previous two world championship finals with Sadulaev winning by 2018 championships in Budapest by fall. Rest of the story in case one is looking to go at
https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/21782
Rosewood State Champion Christian Decatur named to Roy Heverly Award
The Roy Heverly Award, sponsored by The TakeDown Report, is given to the top underclassmen wrestler in eastern North Carolina. The 18th Annual Award will be presented later this spring to undefeated junior Christian Decatur who repeated as state champion and is a 3 time state finalist. The award is named in honor of the former 4 time state medalist, state champion and college All-American at UNC-Pembroke. The presentation will be at a later date to be announced.
Troy Steiner named 2018 USA Wrestling Women’s Coach of the Year
By Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Troy Steiner (Fresno, Calif./Valley RTC) has been named 2018 Women’s Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling. It is the second time that Steiner has won this prestigious award, after winning the honor in 2007. Steiner received the award at the Kickoff Party, organized by Jordan and Lauren Burroughs, in Pittsburgh, Pa. on March 20. Steiner serves as the head men’s wrestling coach at Fresno State University, in his second season of competition there after Fresno State reinstated its program.
He is a coach with the Valley Regional Training Center, which trains athletes on the Senior and age-group levels. One of his Valley RTC athletes in men’s freestyle, Joe Colon, won a 2018 World bronze medal for the USA.
Steiner has been active as a coach in women’s wrestling for many years. In 2018, Steiner hosted the U.S. Women’s National Team in Fresno for one of its training camps prior to the World Championships. The U.S. Women’s World Team went on to place third at the 2018 World Championships, led by four medalists. Steiner was a World Team coach for the 2007 Women’s World Team which competed in Baku, Azerbaijan and featured three individual medalists. He was also a Women’s World Team coach in 2003 and 2015. He has coached a number of U.S. women’s teams in international events. He also coached the 2003 USA Junior World Team in men’s freestyle. Prior to taking the Fresno State head coaching job, Steiner coached 10 years as an assistant coach at Oregon State. He also had assistant coaching positions at Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Rest of the story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/April/03/Troy-Steiner-named-USA-Wrestling-Womens-Coach-of-the-Year?mc_cid=6cd9b9e806&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
MAC Announces Wrestling Postseason Awards
Cleveland, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference announced today three wrestling postseason awards for the 2019 season. Buffalo’s John Stutzman was named MAC Coach of the Year, while Missouri’s Jaydin Eierman was selected as MAC Wrestler of the Year for the second consecutive year and teammate Brock Mauller was named MAC Freshman of the Year. All three awards were voted on by the conference’s head wrestling coaches following the conclusion of the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Tournament.
Buffalo head coach John Stutzman completed his sixth season in leading the Bulls wrestling program and finished with a 12-5 overall record, 5-2 in the MAC. Stutzman enjoyed his finest year as he led the Bulls to 12 dual wins in 2018-19, tying the school record for most dual wins in a season since returning to the Division I ranks in 1998. Buffalo won a school-record five MAC duals and placed second at the MAC Championships, its highest ever finish. Two Bulls won individual titles at the 2019 MAC Championships, including Troy Keller (165) and Brett Perry (197). Buffalo had six national qualifiers this year, its most since 2011. Rest of the story at https://getsomemaction.com/news/2019/4/2/mac-announces-wrestling-postseason-awards.aspx?mc_cid=6cd9b9e806&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
