Mike Finn named WIN’s Journalist of the Year
By Tristan Warner
Mike Finn’s journalism career spanned 47 years, with over 21 of those years spent as editor of WIN Magazine.
Finn, who dabbled in the sport of wrestling at Columbus High School in Waterloo, Iowa, admittedly, never found success on the mat, but he fell in love with what wrestling taught him. It challenged him as an individual. He took those life lessons and applied them to his professional career, chasing down stories and truth just as wrestlers chase down takedowns and pins.
Now, after retiring from his post in early February, Finn has been recognized as WIN’s 2024-25 Journalist of the Year. “It is kind, and I am honored,” Finn said. “I would like to start by thanking Mike Chapman, the creator of WIN Magazine. Dan Gable, who was a hero to me as a kid, I got to know professionally, spending two hours a month talking about the sport and life.
“Thanks to Bryan Van Kley, who gave me some independence to do what I felt needed to be done, and so many coaches, athletes, and writers who would help me produce WIN Magazine. You need these people. You cannot do it by yourself.”
WIN publisher Bryan Van Kley said, “We’re excited to name Mike as this year’s Journalist of the Year Award winner, as he was a true professional journalist. He really understood the power of a great story, is a really good writer, and worked extremely hard to promote the sport by getting the most interesting stories of wrestling’s athletes and coaches out to the general public.”
Finn took a lot of pride in his role as WIN editor, and he insisted his primary goal was being able to share people’s stories. He believes everyone has a unique one to tell. He never shied away from challenging athletes and coaches with tough questions that drilled down deeper than the surface level. “Wrestlers and coaches will be candid, but they need to be challenged a little bit more,” Finn explained. “Everybody out there who has an opinion now thinks they’re a journalist. A journalist tries to be fair and look at all angles. An opinion writer is different.
“Coaches and athletes hear more from the opinion makers than the journalists asking fair questions. Journalists have got to come together and build up more and be willing to take risks. If someone is going to subscribe and pay for a publication, they want quality. They want to find the story.”
Finn recalls an era where, not just in wrestling but across the board, athletic programs, coaches and the athletes themselves needed journalists to produce content to market and promote them. The new era of technology, in which programs have the capability to do a great deal of promoting themselves, Finn said, has presented challenges for the old-school journalist. “In the newspaper era, journalism challenged people with stories. … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2025/06/06/mike-finn-named-wins-journalist-of-the-year/
Nebraska’s Mark Manning named WIN’s Mike Chapman Impact Award recipient
By Tristan Warner
hen Mark Manning was asked how it felt to be the recipient of WIN’s 2025 Mike Chapman Impact Award, his instinctive reaction was to immediately begin deflecting all credit and attributing his program’s success to everyone other than himself. “It is really nice recognition for my staff, the team, just all the guys that make it happen,” Manning said. “Even though I am the recipient, I feel really blessed and thankful for all the people that invest in our program.
“It starts with the commitment that our guys have to being their very best. I have a great staff around me. (Bryan) Snyder, Tervel (Dlagnev), James (Green), our trainer, our strength coach; it is such a united group.”
In addition to earning his 200th dual-meet victory, Manning’s 2024-25 Huskers claimed a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships after accumulating 117 team points, eight All-Americans and two national champions in Ridge Lovett and Antrell Taylor. Brock Hardy also reached the finals, giving the Huskers three back-to-back-to-back NCAA finalists. The historic finish gave Nebraska two NCAA champions for the first time since 1984, when Jim and Bill Scherr won consecutive titles at 177 and 190, respectively.
As a result, Manning was named the 2025 NWCA NCAA Tournament Coach of the Year. Nebraska also put together an 11-3 dual meet record with a 6-2 mark in Big Ten action this season, which solidified them as a Top-5 program in WIN’s final Top-20 Dual-Team Rankings.
Notably, of the Huskers’ eight AAs, all but one outperformed his seed, with No. 17 Jacob Van Dee, No. 12 Christopher Minto, another No. 12 in Silas Allred, and No. 20 Camden McDanel all landing on the podium.
But as high achieving as Manning’s squad has been on the mats, his impact is more far-reaching for everyone involved in the Husker wrestling program while also sending ripples throughout the collegiate wrestling landscape.
Awarded annually since 1995, in 2008, WIN started to name its Impact Award after WIN founder Mike Chapman, who actually shared the award in 1999 with his wife Bev. Mike has written over 500 columns on wrestling and several books on the sport. “In his long career, Mark has earned many accolades as a competitor, coach and leader, at all levels, and we are delighted to add his name to the long list of Impact winners,” Chapman commented. “This past season marks the high point of a tremendous coaching career and showed the entire wrestling community what dedication and determination are all about.”
Manning always makes it a point of emphasis to take wrestling-related questions and scale his answers to address facets of life that transcend the sport. “Our top goal is to create a high-character person,” Manning said. “We do a lot of investing in developing our student-athletes and our wrestlers from their character standpoint. Your word is important. How you approach your work is important. If you want to max out as a person, you have to develop physically, mentally and spiritually.
“We equip them with a elite-level mindset and an approach to how you treat people. Our team is very respectful to our opponents, they know how to handle themselves and represent the University of Nebraska in a first-class manner. They want to imitate greatness.”
In a new era of NIL deals and seemingly never-ending transfer portal movers and shakers, it is worth noting that just one of Nebraska’s 10 starters from the 2024-25 season, All-American Caleb Smith, did not begin his career in Lincoln (App State).
The loyalty and buy-in from Nebraska’s student-athletes are evident, and Manning believes it starts with the recruiting process that promises to deliver a life-long investment. “We have developed a reputation that we are going to do things the right way,” Manning said. “It is a lifetime commitment. It is not us trying to convince the right kids to come here; it is them choosing us because they know they can do it here. We attract people who want that next level experience.
With the Nebraska Wrestling Training Center already famous for producing the likes of seven-time World and Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2025/05/31/nebraskas-mark-manning-named-wins-mike-chapman-impact-award-recipient/
Northern Iowa’s Doug Schwab named WIN’s Dan Gable Coach of the Year
By Tristan Warner
Since 1997, WIN has annually named its Coach of the Year by Dan Gable.
Gable is arguably the greatest coach the sport has ever produced. As a wrestler, the native of Waterloo compiled a 118-1 record and won two NCAA titles (1969 and 1970) before capturing the 1972 Olympic gold medal in freestyle. As a coach, he led the Iowa program for 21 years (1977-97) and produced 15 team championship, 45 individual titlists and 144 All-Americans.
The 2025 Dan Gable Coach of the Year is Northern Iowa’s Doug Schwab, who is making his mark and impacting the lives of student-athletes in Cedar Falls, just eight miles down the road from Gable’s hometown. “Obviously it is a great honor,” Schwab stated. “I appreciate the recognition. I got to be coached by Gable and an award named after him is pretty cool. I am pretty proud of that.
“People have to understand it is beyond you as the head coach. It is the whole staff. I have a high level of responsibility in being the guy leading the charge, but it doesn’t happen without the assistants and the support staff following up behind you and doing so much of the work.”
The 2024-25 season was a historic one for Schwab’s program, as the Panthers’ ninth-place finish at the 2025 NCAA DI Championships in Philadelphia was the highest since 1962. Parker Keckeisen also became the first-ever five-time All-American in UNI history, registering a runner-up finish at 184 pounds.
Named the 2025 NWCA National Coach of the Year, Schwab’s UNI squad was just one of four schools (Penn State, Cornell and Ohio State) to qualify all 10 wrestlers for the national tournament, a feat which had not occurred at UNI since 1986. Northern Iowa’s other All-American, Cael Happel, registered a fifth-place finish at 141 pounds, the highest finish for a Panther at the weight class since Dylan Long reached the finals in 2003.
The Big 12 runner-up Panthers, who were narrowly edged by Oklahoma State in the tournament’s final match, secured the program’s best Big 12 finish with three conference champions and 149.5 team points. The Panthers’ dual-meet season was equally impressive, as the squad posted a 14-1 record with a 7-1 mark in Big 12 action, only falling to Oklahoma State, 22-14. UNI defeated national contender Nebraska, ranked fourth at the time, 24-9, on Jan. 5 and toppled storied Big 12-rival Iowa State, ranked No. 14 at the time, … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2025/05/30/northern-iowas-doug-schwab-named-wins-dan-gable-coach-of-the-year/
Iowa leads Division I men’s wrestling in home attendance for 18th straight season
New Brighton, Minnesota – The University of Iowa once again led the nation in NCAA Division I men’s wrestling attendance, averaging 13,640 fans per dual across seven home meets, as the National Wrestling Media Association released its annual attendance report on Thursday.
Iowa drew a capacity crowd of 14,897 twice last season, filling Carver-Hawkeye Arena for duals against rivals Iowa State and Oklahoma State.
Penn State ranked second, drawing an average of 9,007 fans, including a season-high 15,998 for its dual with Iowa. That figure ties the indoor attendance record Penn State set in 2018 and matched in 2023 at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Oklahoma State moved up one spot from last season to finish third with an average of 7,597, highlighted by a crowd of 10,740 against Missouri. The David Taylor effect was clearly evident, as this marked the program’s highest home attendance average at Gallagher-Iba Arena since record-keeping began in 2002. The previous high average was in 2019 (5,226.6).
There were 10 duals with over 10,000 fans nationwide, marking the first time in recorded history there were at least 10 duals surpassing five figures. Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena hosted seven duals surpassing 10,000, while Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center hosted two and Oklahoma State’s Gallagher-Iba Arena had one. The previous high for most duals with over 10,000 fans in a season is nine, set in 2023 and tied in 2024.
Of the 127 Division I men’s duals with over 10,000 fans historically, more than half (67) have come in the last 12 college wrestling seasons. There were no attendance records kept for the 2020-21 season.
Iowa State, which ranked third last season, slid to fourth but still drew over 33,000 total fans. The Cyclones averaged 5,533.5, with a high of 9,470 coming against Oklahoma in a co-hosted event with the Iowa State gymnastics team at Hilton Coliseum. Rutgers continued its reputation for lively home duals, jumping from ninth to fifth with an average of 4,228, including 8,097 fans for its home dual against Penn State.
The closure of historic West Gym forced Northern Iowa to move its home duals to the McLeod Center, resulting in an attendance surge that propelled the Panthers into the top 10. UNI leaped from 12th to sixth with a school-record average of 4,222. Ohio State improved slightly from eighth to seventh, averaging 3,975 at the Covelli Center. Nebraska climbed from 11th to eighth, averaging 3,817.5, with a high of 6,661 at the Devaney Center against Iowa.
Note : N.C. State placed 13th with a 2,530 average and North Carolina Univ. placed 21st with an average attendance of 1,652 which is up from being listed 41st the year before. … more at … https://www.nationalwrestlingmedia.com/2025/05/iowa-leads-division-i-mens-wrestling-in-home-attendance-for-18th-straight-season/
Ferrari Denied Admission at North Carolina
This morning, we learned that the University of North Carolina has denied admission to 2021 NCAA champion AJ Ferrari. Last month, an article in the Daily Tar Heel mentioned some of Ferrari’s past legal troubles and this reportedly led the UNC athletic department to reconsider his case.
Ferrari spent the 2024-25 campaign at CSU Bakersfield and finished the year with a 22-1 record and was third in the nation.
Shortly after the NCAA Tournament, Ferrari entered the transfer portal and selected North Carolina as his next destination. Since Ferrari was in the portal this year, there is the thought that he’ll be able to transfer again. The question arises as the portal closed for the year on May 2nd and the only loopholes are if there’s a head coaching change or for a graduate student. … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/acc/ferrari-denied-admission-at-north-carolina-r100284/
Lehigh adds women’s wrestling, making it the sixth Division I school to sponsor the sport
Where does this position NCAA women’s wrestling heading into its first season as an NCAA championship sport?
The release had been worked through, massaged, updated and ready to deploy – the question was the timing.
On Tuesday morning, Lehigh University elevated its successful women’s club wrestling program to varsity status, making it the 26th varsity sport at the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania school. The move makes Lehigh the sixth full Division I school to offer women’s wrestling as a varsity sport, joining Iowa, Sacred Heart, Presbyterian, Lindenwood and Delaware State, which announced the addition in November of 2024.
As of May 27, there are 116 NCAA schools with women’s wrestling as a varsity sport.
With already a strong roster in place and a vibrant head coach already there, the question for Lehigh wasn’t if, but when.
Head coach Brazel Marquez landed some of the top high school talent for the incoming class, recently highlighted in Kyle Klingman’s story on Flowrestling on May 8. … more at …
Transfer Portal Update (5/22/2025)
Since our last update, there weren’t any earth-shattering moves; however, a few teams quietly got better. Most notably, Central Michigan.
The Chippewas have picked up Gianni Maldonado who spent the last year at the Air Force Academy’s Prep School. Just a year ago, Maldonado was deemed a top 150 recruit (#146) coming out of high school in Florida. He put together a 4-2 record at 157 and 165 lbs while competing for the prep school in 2024-25.
CMU also picked up Seth Larson who went 1-7 at 157 lbs for Campbell. All of Larson’s action came in dual meets as a true freshman in 2024-25. The addition of Maldonado gives CMU some depth in the middle weights, so the Central Michigan could redshirt Larson during the upcoming season.
Northern Colorado is a school that has used the portal well, of late. The Bears latest addition is Murphy Menke, a Colorado native, who started for most of the year at Oregon State. Menke began the year at 165 lbs, but moved up and was the postseason entry for Oregon State at 174 lbs. He made the Pac-12 finals and lost to Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) who was later deemed ineligible.
Remember, there are still avenues for a wrestler to enter the transfer portal at this time. Any additional entries will be tied to a coaching change or perhaps from a graduate student.
The first list of wrestlers we’ve listed … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/transfer-portal-update-5222025-r100269/
Canadian Wrestling Championships (Senior, Junior, Cadet) head to Edmonton
OTTAWA— The Canadian Wrestling Championships (Senior, Junior, Cadet) will take place next week, May 29-31, in Edmonton at the Clare Drake Arena on the University of Alberta campus. This premier wrestling event features three age groups of competitors all vying for the title of national champion and a spot on one of Canada’s national teams. “We are absolutely thrilled to be returning to Edmonton for the upcoming Canadian Wrestling Championships (Senior, Junior, Cadet),” said Tamara Medwidsky, CEO of Wrestling Canada Lutte. “Edmonton has always been a passionate and supportive wrestling community, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to once again showcase the best of Canadian wrestling in such a vibrant city. This event plays a critical role by determining our national champions and selecting members of Canada’s national teams—athletes who will go on to represent our country on the international stage. It’s an exciting event for our sport and we can’t wait to witness the incredible talent and determination that define Canadian wrestling.”
“2025 is a very exciting year for the Friends of the World Cup of Wrestling Society. Not only do we get to welcome the wrestling community to Edmonton for the national championships, but we are also celebrating our 35th anniversary, as an organization,” said Kelly Rich, Event Chair / Friends of the World Cup of Wrestling Society. “Our host organizing committee and volunteers are looking forward to hosting the over 600 participants from across the country, … more at … https://wrestling.ca/canadian-wrestling-championships-senior-junior-cadet-head-to-edmonton/
T.J. Jaworsky Looks Back At His Storied Career
he three-time NCAA champ will receive a big honor this weekend.
By: Steve Kirschner
Note: T.J. Jaworsky will be inducted into the North Carolina Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Sunday May 18.
A three-time NCAA champion in perhaps the most physically grueling individual sport there is. Most Outstanding Wrestler in the NCAA Tournament. National Wrestler of the Year. Undefeated senior season.
Given that lofty list of accomplishments, it is undeniably fair to include T.J. Jaworsky, even 30 years after his final collegiate match, as one of the finest to ever compete in any sport at the University of North Carolina.
The state of Oklahoma doesn’t have much of a pipeline to the Tar Heel State and Carolina athletics, but legendary former wrestling coach Bill Lam, basketball standouts Steve Hale and Brady Manek, two-time national champion assistant basketball coach Joe Holladay and Jaworsky, one of the most successful college wrestlers ever, have made the connection rich in history.
Jaworsky began wrestling at age 5 in Enid, moved to Edmond in the sixth grade, won four state high school titles and eventually competed for two years (one as a red-shirt) at Oklahoma State, one of the sport’s historic programs. But Jaworsky needed a change after suffering an upset loss in the 1992 NCAA Tournament and looked east to find a program where he could fulfill his dream of becoming a multi-time national champion.
“I called NC State but Coach (Bob) Guzzo said he had the ACC champion at my weight coming back, Duke said I was too much of a wrestler for them, and everyone in Oklahoma knows about Coach Lam, so Carolina was a great situation for me,” says Jaworsky, who lives in California now, where he co-owns a stone quarry with his step-father.
“In Oklahoma, wrestling is like basketball is in North Carolina. It’s a big sport. Coach Lam’s reputation followed him to UNC, he had a good recruiting class and I had weekly and monthly goals to win championships. He thought those were lofty goals, and I said, ‘Exactly, that’s what I want to do.'”
Jaworsky not only met those goals, but he also likely exceeded them, winning three ACC championships, earning two ACC Tournament MVPs and a spot on the ACC’s 50th Anniversary team, leading Carolina to a pair of top-10 finishes in the NCAA Championships (sixth in 1994 and eighth in 1995) and winning 110 of 115 matches as a Tar Heel.
Three decades later, Jaworsky remains Carolina’s all-time leader in career winning percentage (.957) and wins by fall (50), single-season pins (24) and the single-season record for most wins in a perfect season (38-0-0 in 1994-95).
For those achievements and others, Jaworsky is being inducted in the North Carolina chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. “T.J. had the three characteristics of what it takes to be a champion – heart, talent and work ethic, with heart being the most important,” says Lam. “T.J. had the most unbelievably competitive heart, … more at … https://goheels.com/news/2025/5/16/wrestling-t-j-jaworsky-looks-back-at-his-storied-career
A New Era for the US Men’s Freestyle Team?
In the 1998 hit “Closing Time” by Semisonic, the band sings that “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” That song came to me as I was following the World Team Trials this weekend, particularly from the men’s freestyle avenue of the tournament.
In 2018, UWW expanded its weight class offerings from eight to ten and modified some of the actual weights. Those changes allowed the US men’s freestyle team to get a few more wrestlers that were blocked by returning team members into the mix. What resulted has been a great era of wrestling – one of the best in our storied history.
This golden era has had some consistent central figures. Kyle Snyder has been a part of every world/Olympic team since 2015. Kyle Dake has made all seven world/Olympic teams since 2018. Jordan Burroughs has made five world teams in that time period. David Taylor made six world/Olympic teams during that span. James Green made four. J’den Cox made four, as did Thomas Gilman.
Now, in the spring of 2025, we could be looking at a world team that has none of those central figures! Snyder’s status is up in the air after his recent arrest. Green did not make the finals of the WTT’s. Dake is up a weight class and will have to avenge a US Open loss against Zahid Valencia (with two wins) to make the 2025 squad. Cox, Gilman, and Taylor are all in the coaches chairs. Burroughs did not participate in any of the qualifying events, but has not announced his retirement.
The first year of a new Olympic cycle is traditionally filled with retirements and weight changes, so it’s not unusual to see this type of transition. However, the amount of change that we could see is out of the ordinary.
With Dake’s move up to 86 kg, we’ll have a representative at 74 kg not named Burroughs or Dake for the first time since 2010! … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/international/a-new-era-for-the-us-mens-freestyle-team-r100263/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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
Takedown Report 