Spencer Lee’s Begins Quest For An Olympic Gold Medal In Paris
IOWA CITY (KWWL) Tom Brands and Dan Gable both like Spencer Lee’s chances of bring home a Gold Medal from the Paris Olympics.
Gable and Brands should know. They are both Olympic Gold Medal winners for Team USA in wrestling. Gable in 192. Brands in 1996.
While many consider Spencer Lee a favorite to win Gold in the 57 kilogram free style division, Spencer doesn’t see it that way right now. Spencer sees it this way: “I wouldn’t say that I’m the favorite. I mean there’s four world champs in this field, and if the Russian was in there would be 5. So I wouldn’t say I’m the favorite.”
He adds: “I would say, they know of me. There are only 16 guys in the bracket for a reason. You’ve got to qualify. It’s a tough tournament to get into. They are the best guys in the world, so, you know that every match is going to be a tough one, and you prepare for that and I’m ready for that.”
Spencer has done it all. The 25-year old is one of the Hawkeyes all-time greatest All-Americans. He’s won wrestling’s top honor, the Dan Hodge Trophy, twice. He’s a three-time world, national and Big 10 Champion. Lee has also battled through tremendous adversity…requiring surgery on both knees from two torn ACL’s.
Then there was the stunning loss to Purdue’s Matt Ramos in the Big 10 Conference semi-finals in 2023, when Ramos got Lee on his back for the shocking fall.
Hawkeye Head Coach, Tom Brands, adds, “What is means is that he stayed in there. He’s taken everything that’s been thrown at him that’s negative, and he’s always, always rebounded. Always . And, I ‘ll say it again. I’ve said it three or 4 times now. It’s time to perform. The future is upon us for Spencer Lee. Zero hour is upon us.”
Coach Brands notes there is some similarity between Spencer’s stunning loss to Matt Ramos in the Big 10’s and Dan Gable’s loss to Larry Owings in the 1970 NCAA Championship.
University of Washington Sophomore, Larry Owings, pulled the upset of the century in beating Gable. The shocking 13-11 Owings victory ended Dan Gable’s 181-match winning streak, which had started when he wrestled for Waterloo West High School under Coach Bob Siddens, and continued at Iowa State under Coach Harold Nichols.
The loss to Larry Owings proved to be a major motivation for Dan Gable to win the Olympics. Gable once said he “Used the pain of the loss as motivation to dominate my future opposition.” He would go on to win all six matches at Munich, and did not give up a single point to his opposition.
For Coach Tom Brands, who wrestled for Gable at Iowa, it’s like this for Spencer. “Here’s the significance of it. What do you do after you’ve been kicked to the curb? What do you do after you’ve been in a situation where you got your entire guts and heart and spirit ripped out of you? Well, you persevere.”
For Spencer, it’s also significant. “It just meant you’ve got to be better. You can never really be bullet proof, but, you can train harder and smarter, and, do your best to stay healthy. Stay mentally healthy. Stay strong.” When watching Spencer Lee wrestle, the 1972 Olympic Gold Medalist and former Iowa Head Coach says, “I think that’s where Spencer Lee needs to be. … more at … https://www.kwwl.com/news/spencer-lees-quest-for-an-olympic-gold-medal-in-paris/article_94ccbbe2-4bcd-11ef-8a7f-db65b6ebc070.html
Former wrestlers raising funds for legendary Pitt-Johnstown coach Pecora’s family
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – A GoFundMe page to help support the family of University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown wrestling coach Pat Pecora, who has been battling lung cancer in a Pittsburgh hospital for nearly a month, raised almost $15,000 within a few hours of being posted Friday.
The Mountain Cat Wrestling Club, a 501(c)(3) organization, created the online fundraiser for the family. It can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/rally-for-coach-pecora-never-let-go-of-the-rope. For decades, Pecora has encouraged his wrestlers to support each other and “never let go of the rope” that connects them.
During his 48 years as coach of the Mountain Cats, Pecora has created an atmosphere in which he considers his wrestlers “sons” and his student-athletes regularly refer to themselves as “brothers for life.”
That was evident Friday as Isaac Greeley and Mike Corcetti, former All-American wrestlers at Pitt-Johnstown who now serve on the MCWC board, talked about what Pecora has meant to them and many others. “Coach has generations of men and women that he’s affected,” Greeley said. “After my parents, he’s probably the most influential human on my life, and (the same is probably true) for hundreds of other people.”
Corcetti and Greeley discussed financial support for Pecora’s family members, who have been at his side at UPMC Presbyterian’s cardiothoracic intensive care unit. “I said, ‘We need to be there for him like he was there for us,’ ” Corcetti said. “And that ‘us’ is literally thousands of people – from wrestlers to people in the Johnstown community.”
‘Amazing humans’
Corcetti owes a debt of gratitude not only to his legendary mentor, but also to the coach’s wife, Tracy Pecora, as she introduced Corcetti to the woman who would become his wife, Lindsey. “I married the love of my life and have kids because of Tracy Pecora,” Corcetti said. … more at … https://www.tribdem.com/news/former-wrestlers-raising-funds-for-legendary-pitt-johnstown-coachs-family/article_4fd927a2-4b8f-11ef-8012-ef0b08c31c31.html
OSU Wrestling: Details of David Taylor’s Contract Released
Taylor is set to make $1 million in Year 1
By all accounts, the highest-paid college wrestling coach in the country now resides in Stillwater.
PFB obtained details of new Oklahoma State wrestling coach David Taylor’s contract on Friday. Taylor, 33, was hired to replace John Smith, who retired after leading the Cowboys for 33 years. Smith made $500,000 in 2023, according to Tulsa World’s state employee salary database.
According to the six-year contract, which runs through March 31, 2030, Taylor is set to make $1 million the first year, followed by $30,000 raises each year after, putting Taylor’s contract at $1.15 million in the final year of the contract. The deal, which was signed by Taylor and administration this week, is worth $6.45 million total over six years. According to available public records, Taylor is now the highest-paid college wrestling coach in the country and is the first college wrestling coach to have a salary reach the $1 million threshold.
On top of the salary, Taylor will also have the opportunity for performance incentive bonuses. Those include $125,000 for an NCAA championship, $80,000 for a runner-up finish, $60,000 for a third-place finish and $10,000 for every individual NCAA champion. He will also get a one-time payment of $1 million. Benefits also include a golf course membership, four tickets to OSU football games, the use of a luxury suite during wrestling duals, up to 12 tickets to wrestling duals and up to 12 tickets to postseason tournaments. … more at … https://pistolsfiringblog.com/osu-wrestling-details-of-david-taylors-contract-released/
McMillon still leans on wrestling experience in roaming the secondary for Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh safety Donovan McMillon said his experience as a wrestler still impacts how he plays football
By AARON BEARD – Associated Press July 23, 2024
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Donovan McMillon roams Pittsburgh’s secondary thinking about angles to take on a ballcarrier and the eagerness to take him down in a 1-on-1 shot. The safety said his time on a very different stage — the wrestling mat — still influences how he manages those split-second moments. “You’re trying to attack your opponent at his weakest angle, at his blind spot, and trying to get leverage,” McMillon said Tuesday during the Atlantic Coast Conference’s preseason football media days.
The Florida transfer who led the Panthers with 105 tackles — the most by a Pitt defender since 2015 — was a wrestler for his first three years of high school in Pennsylvania. He still thinks like a wrestler, too. “When I see that running back, tight end, receiver, even quarterback in the open, making a move, it really comes down to me seeing where he’s spotting and what I think he’s going to do,” he said. “And I attack that spot.”
McMillon thrived in wrestling as he grew about five inches in a year toward his current 6-foot-2 frame, including being a Class 3-A runner-up at 182 pounds in Pennsylvania in 2020. He said getting in wrestling shape is “by far the hardest shape I think in any sport,” describing a routine of running a few miles and lifting weights before school, not eating because of cutting weight, running some more, having a match, eat a big meal — and then start all over again. “At the end of the day I might not be in that shape I used to be in,” he said, “but that (wrestling) shape is in my head. … I can move and play 70, 80 snaps a game and I’m not worried about anything.” … more at … https://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-news/mcmillon-still-leans-on-wrestling-experience-in-roaming-the-secondary-for-pittsburgh/WQQ3ZY4MTRG55KDRTUDFILCZPA/
More girls playing high school sports in NC than ever before : ‘We’ve come a long way, baby’
After an alarming decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, more girls are participating in high school sports in North Carolina than ever before.
Que Tucker played high school basketball as a student at Stoneville High School in Reidsville in the late 1960s. At the time, it was the only sport girls could play, but it wasn’t the only sport Tucker was interested in. “I look back and I think about what I could have participated in because I wanted to. I mean, I high jumped when I was in high school, but it wasn’t on an organized track team, it was just in a sawdust pit at a field day with four or five schools in Rockingham County,” Tucker said.
Title IX of the Civil Rights Act was not signed into law until 1972, so opportunities for girls in sports were limited. “You know that old saying that we used to see a lot – ‘we’ve come a long way, baby.’ I look back and I think about that now, and we truly have come a long way,” said Tucker. “I think we see that in so many different areas.”
Now the first female commissioner of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, Tucker is seeing the results firsthand. According to data released by the NCHSAA, there have never been more girls playing high school sports in North Carolina than there are today.
During the 2023-2024 school year, the number of girls playing high school sports in the state surpassed 90,000 for the first time ever. Every single sanctioned girls sport saw participation rise, bringing the total number of female participants to 91,111, representing an increase of 6.6% from the prior school year.
The previous all-time high was 89,826 set during the 2016-2017 school year. …
The pandemic effect
After the COVID-19 pandemic, girls sports participation dropped 12.5% in North Carolina to 76,612 athletes. It was the lowest participation rate among girls in two decades. But in just two years, the NCHSAA has seen a full recovery and is now setting participation records.
While it was not shocking participation dropped during and immediately after the pandemic, the drop in female participation was alarming, and significantly higher than the 6.4% decline seen in boys sports. “I just think that perhaps coming out of COVID … perhaps our girls were a little slower to get back into the mix of playing multiple sports, maybe even just playing one sport” said Tucker.
Boys participation returned to pre-pandemic levels during the 2022-2023 school year and grew another 4.5% this past school year to 117,611.
Girls participation has never matched or surpassed boys participation in North Carolina high school sports, but the impact of the pandemic was seen more widely on the girls side. Multiple surveys of athletic directors conducted by HighSchoolOT in 2020 and 2021 showed a high level of concern about girls sports participation.
But now the pandemic may be creating new opportunities.
This past fall, a new record was set for the number of schools offering girls golf and the number of girls participating in the sport statewide. …
New opportunities for girls in sports
This past winter, the NCHSAA officially sanctioned girls wrestling for the first time. A total of 1,432 girls wrestlers from 248 different schools participated in the sport, which culminated in an individual wrestling state championship tournament. It was the product of several years worth of work, which included a non-sanctioned girls wrestling invitational. “We’ve known for a number of years that it has grown, and I think after it was well known and well publicized that the 2023 school year would be the last year of an invitational, and that then the next year it would be standalone, I think we’ve just had a lot more girls participating in that sport in and of itself,” Tucker said.
In fact, the number of girls participating in wrestling grew by 74.4% from 2023 to 2024.
First NCHSAA girls wrestling champions crowned; Lumberton wins team title
“I think it’s very important, if for no other reason, we want to be an inclusive organization. We believe that every student-athlete who goes through the front door of a school should have the opportunity to participate in sports,” said Tucker. “It’s part of our mission. It’s part of what we want to do and what we want to be about, for us to provide those opportunities for females, for anybody who participates or who goes into the front door of our member schools.”
The NCHSAA Board of Directors approved the sanctioning of girls wrestling during the 50th anniversary of Title IX in 2022. “It took us a long time to get to where we were able to sanction wrestling, and our wrestling coaches, to their credit, they worked hard to try to maintain, to try to sustain the interest so that their numbers would be there,” said Tucker.
The hard work of wrestling coaches has not gone unnoticed at the school level either. East said the Millbrook wrestling coaches have done a good job of bringing out new female athletes. “I think our coaches do a good job of working the hallways and trying to find those kids that need some form of connection to the school in some way. I know I can say that a lot about our wrestlers because there are kids that basically don’t do anything else and they’re out there wrestling, which I thought was pretty cool,” he said. … more at … https://www.highschoolot.com/story/we-ve-come-a-long-way-baby-more-girls-playing-high-school-sports-in-nc-than-ever-before/21536255/
The Citadel Accepts Invitation to Compete at Inaugural Throwdown on the Yorktown
Tickets Available Now for Unprecedented Wrestling Duals
CHARLESTON, S.C. – A year removed from an unprecedented 14-win season this past year, The Citadel Wrestling has accepted an invitation to compete at the inaugural Throwdown on the Yorktown on Friday, Nov. 8 as part of the launch of the 2024-25 campaign, helping pioneer the dual-centric tournament hosted on the flight deck aboard the renowned USS Yorktown CV-10 Essex-class aircraft carrier anchored in the Charleston Harbor.
The Bulldogs will headline the event with a pair of matchups against Army and Virginia while six other programs including Gardner-Webb, Lander and Newberry as well as both the women’s squads from Presbyterian and Campbellsville will compete in duals throughout the evening as well.
Tickets for the event are limited to 1,100 spectators and went on sale the morning of Tuesday, July 23. … more at … https://citadelsports.com/news/2024/7/23/the-citadel-wrestling-accepts-invitation-to-compete-at-inaugural-throwdown-on-the-yorktown.aspx
Former UNC Coach Coleman Scott joins Ohio RTC coaching staff
The Ohio Regional Training Center bolstered its staff this week with the addition of 2 high profile coaches: Kollin Moore and Coleman Scott. The Ohio RTC, which provides training opportunities for post-grads vying for World and Olympic spots as well as the club in which all current Buckeye wrestlers are members of, also includes the staff of the Ohio State coaches: Tom Ryan, J Jaggers, Bo Jordan and Logan Stieber.
Ohio State Head Coach and RTC staff member Tom Ryan had this to say about the hirings, “We couldn’t be more excited about the addition of Kollin and Coleman to our RTC staff! Obviously the RTC is so critical for the development and attraction to our college program and vice versa. Throwing 2 new high level wrestling minds in Kollin and Coleman into the mix is going to be fun and I know everyone around the program is very excited.”
Kollin Moore, a Buckeye legend via way of 2 Big Ten Titles and 4 NCAA All-American honors, has spent the last 4 years as an Ohio RTC resident athlete and recently announced his retirement from competing. In a natural move he was the first domino to fall for the Ohio RTC staff enhancement this summer. “We’ve known for a while that keeping Kollin on board would be critical upon his retirement. Guys like him are no brainers really. He was an incredible Buckeye athlete and has gathered so much experience internationally over the past few years. You couple that with his ability to connect with athletes and love for this place and, like I said, it made it priority number 1 for the Ohio RTC this summer.” Said fellow Ohio RTC coach Logan Stieber.
In the more surprising of the 2 new hires comes by the way of Oklahoma. Coleman Scott, an Olympic Bronze Medalist and NCAA Champion from Oklahoma State University, recently served as Oklahoma State Associate Head Coach. Before coaching at Oklahoma State for the 23-24 season he spent 8 years at the helm of the UNC Tar Heels. He will be bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Columbus in his new role as an RTC Coach along with Moore.
Coach J Jaggers had this to say about adding Scott, “I mean…how can the idea of Coleman being here not get you fired up?” It was kind of wild how this came to be. It started as just a loose idea that we kind of thought was a pipe dream but over the past few months, through Coleman getting to know us and this place, along with him taking time off to determine what his next steps were going to be, we were able to work out a deal! I’ve known Coleman for 20 years as we are in same class and we were always wrestling in the same events. He’s someone I’ve always respected and felt was on the same wavelength as I/we were here at Ohio State with his approach to the sport and how to do things the right way. So having the chance to bring him to Columbus and a new dose of creativity/ideas is just super exciting.” … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2024/july/23/ohio-rtc-adds-kollin-moore-and-coleman-scott-to-coaching-staff
North Carolina HSAA participation rises in almost every sport, surpasses 200,000 total student-athletes
The number of athletes competing in the NCHSAA last school year was the third-highest in the association’s more than 100-year history.
For the first time since the 2017-2018 school year, the N.C. High School Athletic Association saw more than 200,000 student-athletes compete in sports last school year.
The NCHSAA released its participation data from the 2023-2024 school year on Monday morning, and it shows a significant amount of growth overall and in most sports year-over-year.
The data, which is reported to the NCHSAA by its member schools each year, shows 208,722 student-athletes competed last school year. That is up from 198,025 during the 2022-2023 school year, and is the highest figure since the 2013-2014 school year when 214,046 student-athletes were participating in high school sports in North Carolina. In fact, the number of athletes competing in the NCHSAA last school year was the third-highest in the association’s more than 100-year history.
Every single sport saw growth in participation last school year with one exception: baseball. Despite five additional schools offering the sport in the spring, there was a decline of 153 student-athletes playing baseball — down from 10,727 in 2023 to 10,574 in 2024. A total of 414 schools played baseball this spring. …
Boys soccer also saw a large increase in participation, adding 1,100 new players and five new schools in the fall. There are now 407 schools offering boys soccer and 12,916 athletes participating in the sport. Comparing numbers for wrestling year-over-year is not exactly comparing apples to apples. For the first time, the NCHSAA separated boys and girls wrestling participation data in the 2023-2024 school year as girls wrestling became a sanctioned sport.
However, in the 2022-2023 school year, the NCHSAA reported 9,988 athletes participating in wrestling across the state. This past winter, there were a total of 11,317 wrestlers participating — an increase of 1,329 wrestlers. According to the NCHSAA data, there were 9,885 boys wrestlers and 1,432 girls wrestlers. There were a total of 436 member schools in the NCHSAA during the 2023-2024 school year. Of all sports, boys basketball was played at more member schools than any other sport. There were 434 boys basketball teams in the NCHSAA. Volleyball was next with 432 schools fielding a team. …
Boys Wrestling: 9,885 participants, 342 schools
Data for wrestling was not separated between boys/girls in 2022-2023
Girls Wrestling: 1,432 participants, 248 schools
Data for wrestling was not separated between boys/girls in 2022-2023 … more at … https://www.highschoolot.com/story/nchsaa-participation-rises-in-almost-every-sport-surpasses-200-000-total-student-athletes/21535731/
Fargo Men’s Freestyle division state highlights, with firsts, records and notable achievements
Fargo, North Dakota – We’re not sure who coined the phrase “records are meant to be broken,” but whoever it was could have been a wrestling fan or just a savant of the legendary Detroit Tigers’ Disco Demolition Night, which took place 45 years ago this week.
And not to sound like a broken record, but entry numbers in Fargo reached new positions on the charts in both age groups in men’s freestyle as the two tournaments came to a close on Wednesday. The final tally was 1,816 in the Junior division and 1,698 in 16U, which topped last year’s mark of 1,596 in Junior and 1,596 in 16U. Here are the hits from 2024.
Alabama: The lone All-American in men’s freestyle came in the form of 150-pounder Daishun Powe in the Junior division. Powe finished sixth and kept the Junior men’s freestyle All-American streak alive at three. Powe was a 6A state champion this past season at 165 pounds for Gardendale High School.
Arizona: With seven Junior men’s freestyle All-Americans, the state set a new record, surpassing its previous high mark of six set last year. Sergio Vega won the state’s 12th championship in the division. The sixth-place finish in the team standings was also the highest in state history. Seven of the eight placewinners across both divisions were returning All-Americans – Junior 106-pounder Daniel Alire finished eighth to pick up his first Fargo medal.
California: The Golden State totaled 17 All-Americans across both age groups, finished third in Junior men’s freestyle and sixth in 16U. Both of the California champions were Juniors as Daniel Zepeda won his first Fargo title after finishing second last year and 215-pound champion Angelo Posada improved significantly from last season where he was eighth at 170 pounds. Zepeda and Moses Mendoza each won their fifth Fargo medals all-time.
Colorado: The state placed four wrestlers in men’s freestyle – two in each age group. 132-pounder Austin Collins finished seventh and earned his second Fargo medal. Collins, a 2A state champion from Wray, was a runner-up in Greco-Roman last year at 120 pounds.
Connecticut: Maximus Konopka and William Henckel both were runners-up in their respective age divisions. It was the second time in state history with two men’s freestyle finalists in the same year. Back in 2013, Zach Murillo (16U) and Angus Cowell (Junior) finished second. Konopka won a Class L state title, the Connecticut All-State championship and the New England championship this past season for Simsbury. Henckel was a National Prep champion at Blair Academy in New Jersey.
Florida: The Sunshine State picked up eight more medals across both age groups in 2024, which was two more than last year. The top placer in men’s freestyle was 132-pounder Jovani Solis, who finished fourth in 16U. Solis is already a two-time Florida 1A state champion, winning titles as a seventh and eighth grader at Somerset Academy. He went 63-0 this past season.
Georgia: Championships by Ariah Mills … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2024/july/19/fargo-men-s-freestyle-division-state-highlights-with-firsts-records-and-notable-achievements
Duke’s Lanham Adds 12 Freshmen for the 2024-25 Campaign
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke wrestling head coach Glen Lanham announced Friday the addition of 12 incoming freshmen for the 2024-25 campaign.
“This is our biggest class since I have been here at Duke,” said Lanham. “It is a well-decorated class with a variety of weights and we are excited to have them joining our program. We felt like we needed get more depth in our weight classes, so we went out and recruited hard and brought in some really good guys. We are excited about what they are able to do. They have been busy this summer training, going to Fargo and national duals. I am super excited with the class coming in and I am looking forward to coaching them.”
In one of the largest classes in Lanham’s tenure with the Blue Devils, the class includes student-athletes from eight different states. Joining the Duke family will be Ben Beckett, Ryan Beirne, Evan Coles, Dash Hort, John King, Noah Kochman, Vincent Lee, Owen McGrory, Eli Murray, Dylan Ross, Riley Rowan and Luke Williams.
“We have a young group with the graduation of a lot of seniority,” … more at … https://goduke.com/news/2024/7/19/wrestling-lanham-adds-12-freshmen-for-the-2024-25-campaign.aspx
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 