2017 ACC Wrestling Championship Tickets Now on Sale
TDR Editor’s Note; Plan ahead wrestlers, wrestling fans and supporters to see excellent wrestling close by in Raleigh soon after the State Tournament. Just relax and enjoy. Take in the sights and sounds of the renovated Reynolds Coliseum. Review college sports history along on the 2nd floor hallway walls.
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RALEIGH, N.C. – Tickets for the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestling Championship, which will be held at NC State’s Reynolds Coliseum on Saturday, March 4, are now on sale by clicking HERE. The Championships will begin at 11 a.m., with the finals scheduled for 7 p.m.
Tickets are priced at $7 for adults, $5 for youth (ages three to 17); children aged two and under are admitted free of charge. ACC students with valid IDs are admitted free.
NC State, the defending ACC Wrestling Champion, is hosting the ACC Wrestling Championship for the 11th time, but the first since 2010. All matches of the Championship will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra. This year’s championship is the 63rd consecutive for the ACC.
Four of the six ACC schools that will participate in the Championship are nationally ranked, including fifth-ranked Virginia Tech, 10th-ranked NC State, 23rd-ranked Pitt and 24th-ranked Virginia.
Additionally, North Carolina is ranked 19th by InterMat Magazine in its Tournament rankings. In all, 22 of the ACC wrestlers who will participate in the Championship are nationally-ranked this week by InterMat.
2017 ACC Wrestling Championship Schedule of Events
10:00 a.m. – Doors Open
11:00 a.m. – First Round Matches
1:00 p.m. – Semifinals
3:30 p.m. – Consolation Semifinals
5:00 p.m. – Consolation Finals
7:00 p.m. – Finals
Why college wrestling should go bowling (as in football bowls)
TDR EDitor’s Note; An interesting article with some creative ideas for expanding coverage of wrestling and broaden the fan base.
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By Caryn Ward 1/3/2017 from InterMat Wrestling
From cheeseburgers to clothing to shampoo, any brand executive will tell you that to get more people to try your product, you have to get that product in front of more new people. The same goes for college wrestling. If college wresting wants to thrive and grow instead of stagnate and die it needs to increase its fan base. That’s a fact. To do that the sport needs to get fresh eyeballs. The current model is woefully inadequate for that. Right now fans have dual matches streamed live online and sometimes on the Big Ten Network. Fans have the big tournaments streamed live online. If they’re lucky the finals will air on a network, such as the Big Ten does with the Midlands. And fans have the NCAA Championships streamed and aired on an ESPN channel. That might get someone who is channel surfing to check it out, but it’s not going to bring new folks to the sport in the numbers needed. The one event that brought 42-thousand plus fans, many of them not the college wrestling-faithful, was the Grapple on the Gridiron in Iowa City in November of 2015. Iowa and Oklahoma State held a dual meet in Kinnick Stadium that brought in a record number of fans. It was done in conjunction with the Iowa versus Minnesota football game that night. The teams treated tailgaters, who were there anyway and might not ever watch college wrestling, to an exciting match in a unique environment. So to build on that model and take the concept to the next level, let’s have a college wrestling dual as part of college bowl game festivities in a warm weather city or even a domed stadium. Rest of the story at …. http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/17317?mc_cid=485bda824f&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Univ. Great Falls Makes Official Announcement to Add Women’s Wrestling
TDR Editor’s Note; Another new program for next fall. Wrestling offers opportunities for scholastic improvement and additional motivation to continue on in college. We look forward to more school realizing that this sport is great and worth sponsoring.
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University of Great Falls to Add Women’s Wrestling in 2017-18
GREAT FALLS, Mont. – As the first step in President Anthony Aretz’s vision for big, bold, and fast growth for Argo athletics, the University of Great Falls has announced the addition of women’s wrestling to the school’s list of varsity sports for the 2017-18 season. The program will be the first of its kind in the state of Montana and joins a wave of support for women’s wrestling that has made the sport the fastest growing in college athletics. “Over the past five months, the university, and specifically Dave Gantt, have been looking into the best ways that athletics can grow and help the school bring in more new students,” University President, Dr. Anthony Aretz said. “Women’s wrestling is the right beginning to that effort. It is a team that we can add immediately and effectively, and will put us in a position to succeed in a sport with rapidly increasing popularity.” Adding women’s wrestling will be the beginning of an effort to grow the university’s enrollment both through general admissions and through athletics. While all sports are on the table as options for the growth of the athletic department, this particular program proved to be a logical first step due to its logistical and financial feasibility. In its first year, the program plans to draw 20 new students to the UGF campus followed by five in each of the next two years. While adding revenue to the school, the expenses can remain relatively low due to the infrastructure already in place for UGF’s nationally ranked men’s wrestling program. Of Argo wrestling’s 11 dual opponents on the 2016-17 schedule, 6 already have women’s wrestling programs and many of which are regional opponents. The two teams will be able to travel together for most contests, bringing to a minimum the effort and cost of scheduling opponents and making travel arrangements. The university’s recent 5-year lease of an off-campus building as a new wrestling facility will also provide ample practice space for both a men’s and women’s wrestling team. Rest of the story at …. http://www.kfbb.com/story/34230097/ugf-makes-official-announcement-of-adding-a-womens-wrestling-program
Wrestling to return to Oregon’s Umpqua Community College
TDR Editor’s Notes; Another new wrestling program is announced at a Community College in Oregon. They can somehow afford to start new Men’s and Women’s teams. They join at least twelve other schools that have announced a new team for the fall of 2017. Only one of those schools is in Division I. With Division I schools raking in more money than ever why can’t the SEC, Alabama or Clemson afford increasing opportunities for student athletes in wrestling. Look those two poor schools are running back and forth on a field to split up some of the huge piles of TV money.
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Wrestling will be returning to Umpqua Community College this fall, the Oregon-based two-year college announced. Craig Jackson, who took over as UCC’s athletic director in August, confirmed Thursday night that men’s and women’s wrestling — along with men’s and women’s cross country, and men’s and women’s obstacle course racing — will begin competing at the beginning of the 2017-18 academic year. Men’s wrestling was among Umpqua’s intercollegiate sports until the early 1980s, while women’s wrestling will be a completely new offering. Rest of the story at …. http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/17381
Tar Heels Drop ACC Opener To No. 6 Hokies
TDR Editor’s Notes — Carolina returns to the mat Saturday at 7 p.m. against Iowa State. Should attract a big crows for this match against a historic wrestling program.
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CHAPEL HILL — No. 6 Virginia Tech won eight of 10 bouts to take a 28-8 dual match victory over North Carolina Sunday night at Carmichael Arena. Joey Ward and Devin Kane won for the Tar Heels, who fell to 4-3, while the Hokies improved to 7-1 in the ACC opener for both programs. Ward, the No. 5-ranked 141 pounder in the country, pushed his record to 18-2 with his sixth bonus point win of the year. The Cincinnati, Ohio, redshirt senior scored a takedown in the opening 10 seconds against Brendan Ryan and never let up. With a near fall in the final moments of the second period, Ward locked up the 16-0 victory. Rest of the story at …. http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3350&ATCLID=211400494
Huskers Take Second at Midlands Championships
TDR Editor’s Note; In more recent results from the prestigious and long running Midlands Tournament we see that Iowa and Nebraska took the top honors.
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Evanston, Ill. – Eric Montoya (133), TJ Dudley (184) and Aaron Studebaker (197) each won individual championships to lead the No. 7 Nebraska wrestling team to a second-place finish Friday at the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. The Cornhuskers finished with 135.5 team points, just behind No. 3 Iowa’s score of 150.5. In addition to Nebraska’s three individual championships, Tim Lambert (125) and Tyler Berger (157) finished second as the Huskers placed five wrestlers in the finals. Dudley, the third-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds, defeated 10th-ranked Jack Dechow of Old Dominion by a 4-2 decision to win the championship. The victory was the 100th of Dudley’s career, as he became the 25th member of Nebraska’s 100-win club. He advanced to the finals with a 10-6 decision over ninth-ranked Nate Jackson of Indiana in the semifinal. … The Huskers return to action on Sunday, Jan. 8, as they welcome defending national champion Penn State to the Devaney Center. The dual with the Nittany Lions is set to begin at 2 p.m. (CT) and will be streamed on BTN Plus. Rest of the story at …. http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=211384295&DB_OEM_ID=100
Eagles Top Shorter at Coker Duals
TDR Editor’s Notes : Reinhardt University is a first year wrestling program in Georgia. As readers may have noticed by now the TDR Blog focuses on publicizing positive stories of increased wrestling opportunities for students. Often this has been passing along announcements of colleges that add a team or program, changes in college head coaches and sharing news of wrestling history. Some articles are of the awarding of trophies and recognition by the TDR to wrestlers in eastern NC. We will try to be more chronological in the order of posting. We well input from readers.
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Reinhardt’s wrestling team earned a win over Shorter, 30-18, at the Coker Duals Friday, while the Eagles fell to Coker, 25-18, in the first match of the day. Weather forced many of the teams that were going to participate in the event to back out, essentially turning a two-day event into a tri-match involving RU, Coker, and Shorter. Against Coker, RU won decisions in four matches and picked up a forfeit, but a pair of pins helped Coker get the victory. Rest of the story …. http://www.reinhardteagles.com/news/2017/1/7/mens-wrestling-eagles-top-shorter-at-coker-duals.aspx
Students learn to win, even when they lose
TDR Note : Interesting story for wrestlers and coaches to keep in mind.
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Setting the bar high sometimes means you fail, said former Olympic wrestler Jake Herbert. But if you set the bar high enough, you still succeed, he added. Herbert was at Southeast Polk last week to talk to wrestlers across the district both about wrestling and the importance of physical literacy.
Herbert retired from wrestling this year after he failed to make the Olympic team despite having the number one seed at the trials. “I retired from the sport a failure in my eyes,” Herbert said.
Herbert was an eight-time national champion and an Olympic silver medalist, but never won a gold medal nor a global championship. “I just want to show these kids that if they set their goals so high that even if they fail then they succeed,” Herbert said. “Most people don’t look at me as a failure in the sport of wrestling but I view myself that because I set my goals so high I was able to succeed.” Rest of the story at …. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/altoona/2016/12/12/wrestlers-receive-visit-olympian/95358616/?mc_cid=26194040f7&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Cornwell, Vassar Capture Individual Titles At 2016 Cleveland State Open
CLEVELAND – Chris Vassar and Boyce Cornwell each won individual titles in their respective weight classes Saturday and Gardner-Webb had six men finish in the top-8 at the 2016 Cleveland State Open.
Vassar, who picked up a key pin in Friday night’s dual win at Kent State, continued to roll at 149 pounds on Saturday. The redshirt junior went 5-0 and scored bonus points in three of those five bouts.
He started with a pin of Lake Erie’s Zach Ruggles in just 1:19, then took a major decision in the quarterfinals over Ohio’s Nick Vestal. A 4-3 tiebreaker in the semifinals set up a title bout with teammate Cole Graves – with Vassar taking an 8-0 major for the crown. Graves was strong as well, pinning Bucknell’s Seth Hogue in the semifinals (4:22) for his fourth win of the day to set up the All-GWU finals match with Vassar. Cornwell, who clinched Friday’s win over Kent State with a decision in the final weight class, went 4-0 on Saturday with a pair of major decisions starting things off. He took a major over Bucknell’s Rory Bonner (8-0) and followed with a 12-3 major over Virginia’s Tyler Love. The graduate student then pulled out a 3-2 decision over Buffalo’s Nolan Terrance in the semifinals before blanking Bucknell’s Tyler Greene in the championship match. Rest of the story at …. http://www.gwusports.com/sports/wrest/2016-17/releases/20161217yx67z0?mc_cid=11127f4223&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
Big universities should be able to support wrestling
Big universities should be able to support wrestling | Sports Columns | register-herald.com By Wayne Bennett For The Register-Herald Dec 4, 2016
The Southeastern Conference has arguably been the best conference in college football for some time now. The national championship team has come from the SEC eight out of the last 10 years. Even with a conference like the Big 10 claiming more ranked teams than the SEC this year, the title still belongs to the SEC’s Alabama until they lose. Because of the SEC’s success in bowl games, national championships and continuous television coverage, money rolls into these universities at a constant flow. Millions of dollars have made college football a huge business and the SEC is the biggest benefactor. So here’s my beef. Only one school in that conference has a wrestling team. Missouri had wrestling when it came over from the Big 12 and continued to field a team. With the NCAA’s permission, the Tigers participate in the MAC 10 Conference Tournament to ensure qualifiers for the national championships. Actually, the Tigers are quite good and are currently ranked fifth in the nation. All the other SEC schools have had wrestling at one time or another, but dropped the programs with the lame excuse of Title IX. Title IX is the law that loosely requires equality in men’s and women’s sports. Since this law was passed back in the 1970s, many universities have dropped men’s programs like wrestling and track, stating they cannot afford to offer them and a women’s sport of equal participation. The real truth is that they can, easily. Rest of story at …. http://www.register-herald.com/sports/sports_columns/big-universities-should-be-able-to-support-wrestling/article_7cd237ea-3598-56fa-a0f4-14c455e781be.html?mc_cid=478742a681&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b
With numerous NAIA, Junior College and Division II & III schools adding and supporting wrestling programs why can’t the big school??? Baffling.
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
