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
Bryant Stats Dig: Was 2024 PA’s Junior men’s freestyle team the best ever, or not?
Fargo, North Dakota – It’s no secret how much I love this tournament. Having served a number of roles here over the past 26 years – yes, 26 years – the “when was the last time” question was frequent. That prompted me to research and build a database of the past All-Americans over a decade ago. This is one of the few times of the year where that data and information is alive. Even now, I’m still finding tweaks in the data and correcting misattributed states that were either input incorrectly or copied wrong. As I said, the information is always alive.
So when PA Power Wrestling’s Jim Beach approached me at media table on Wednesday night prior to the finals of the 2024 U.S. Marine Corps Junior and 16U Nationals, he suspected the Junior men’s freestyle performance by Team Pennsylvania was going to be close to record-setting.
Close? Absolutely. Record-breaking? Depends on how you want to frame it.
While Pennsylvania’s 19 All-Americans wasn’t the most by a state in Junior men’s freestyle history, its point total was with 278 points. It sparked a historical dive to search for what have been the most impressive Junior men’s freestyle team performances of the past 53 years. Upon diving in, it’ll be one that’s sure to add more fuel to the fire amongst the coaches and fans when the argument comes up about which state is the best.
So to do this properly, we have to analyze the current team scoring system, which takes the United World Wrestling scoring method, with a few alterations since USA Wrestling doesn’t do a double bronze and double fifth.
Champions get 25 points, runners-up get 20. Then the scoring goes 15 for third, 12 for fourth, 9 for fifth, 7 for sixth, 5 for seventh and 2 points for eighth. This scoring system started in 2021. Prior, it was an 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 point allocation. There’s no limit on how many entries a state can score per weight.
Unlike the NCAA championships, where team scoring was adjusted multiple times to account for the advent of the technical fall, changing the amount of advancement points and later placement points, USA Wrestling’s scoring system is only placement, so you can apply a current scoring method – or a past one – to the same batch of results to get a fair comparison. All team scoring “in Fargo” was unofficial prior to 2006. Any and all team championships citied all-time do include unofficial championships won “by math.” … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2024/july/18/bryant-stats-dig-was-2024-pa-s-junior-men-s-freestyle-team-the-best-ever-nor-not-
Chadron State College Wrestling News
Five wrestlers among Eagles’ Hall of Fame inductees this fall
CHADRON, Neb. — Wrestlers will be leading the way during Chadron State College’s Athletic Hall of Fame inductions this fall. Five of the nine former Eagles are going into the Hall of Fame as wrestlers. They’ll be joined by two football all-stars and two standouts on women’s track and field teams.
The inductions will take place the evening of Saturday, October 5, following the Eagles’ home football game vs. Adams State.
All five of the wrestlers became All-Americans by placing at NCAA National Tournaments at least once. Current Chadron State Head Wrestling Coach Brett Hunter was a national champion in both 2007 and 2009. A native of Rushville, where he won two state titles, Hunter had a 133-32 collegiate record after winning at least 30 matches each year at CSC.
Another of the wrestling honorees, Josh Majerus, also had a distinguished career. He remains Chadron State’s only three-time All-American during the NCAA-era, after placing second, first and fourth at national tournaments his final three seasons.
A graduate of Boone Central High School at Albion, Neb., where he is now the head wrestling coach, Majerus had a 117-42 career record at CSC, second only to Hunter in victories. Both Hunter and Majerus were inducted into the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s Division II Hall of Fame in 2020. The other wrestlers going into the CSC Hall of Fame are Mark Pfeifer of Garden Valley, Calif., Devlon Webb of Omaha and Matt Weingart of Alliance. All five were coached by Dr. Scott Ritzen.
Pfeifer wrestled two years at Sacramento Community College before transferring to Chadron State. He qualified for the NCAA II National Tournament both years he was at CSC, where he had a 63-21 record and placed fifth at 149 pounds as a senior in 2006-07. Webb came to Chadron State after going 36-0 while winning the Class B 112-pound state championship as a senior for the Boys Town Cowboys in 2004. A 125-pounder in college, Webb never had to cut weight while becoming one of just 10 Eagles to qualify for nationals all four years (Hunter is another.}
Webb won at least 20 matches his final three seasons and placed fifth at nationals as a junior in 2007-08 to gain his All-American status. He finished with an 87-65 career record. He sells life and health insurance in the Houston area.
Things never came easily for Weingart, but he persisted. As a CSC senior in 2007-08, he lost his opening match at the national tournament to J.D. Naig of Nebraska-Omaha, who went … more at … https://chadroneagles.com/news/2024/7/3/general-five-wrestlers-among-eagles-hall-of-fame-inductees-this-fall.aspx
And …
Women’s Wrestling wins RMAC Brechler Award
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Chadron State College women’s wrestling team earned the top team grade point average, among the five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women’s wrestling members in 2023-24, earning the inaugural RMAC Brechler Award for the sport. The full list of winners in each sport was released Monday.
CSC women’s wrestling finished the year with a 3.200 GPA in Head Coach Taylor Summer’s first season at the helm. In addition to the team’s academic success, sophomore Shania Wear received the RMAC Summit Award for having the top individual GPA of all athletes who competed at the conference championships.
Grades were used from the 2023-24 academic year. All student-athletes that were on the institution’s NCAA eligibility list were included in the teams’ GPA calculation. The team GPA is calculated by dividing the total quality points for each semester by the total number of credits for each semester.
The award is named after Paul W. Brechler, a former RMAC Commissioner (1976-1990), who along with wife Wanda, were the first inductees into the RMAC Hall of Fame. Brechler is also the former athletic director of the University of Iowa and served as Commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The team will be presented with a plaque … more at … https://chadroneagles.com/news/2024/7/1/womens-wrestling-womens-wrestling-wins-rmac-brechler-award.aspx
Fargo Feature: Wrestling finds a way to tie Guam and Mississippi wrestlers together
FARGO, North Dakota – In 2009, the fledgling state association in Arkansas formally brought its first team to Fargo, taking a school bus 1,000 miles to compete against the nation’s best.
Arkansas’ foray into wrestling in Fargo left just one gap left in the wrestling map – Mississippi. That gap is now filled – and then some.
Despite losing his first two bouts in Junior men’s freestyle on Monday, Bear Bryant Siegal donned a singlet with the word “Mississippi” emblazoned on it, making it the first time the state has had a representative in the 53-year history of the Junior national men’s freestyle tournament. A few hours later, Koa DeLoach did the same thing, but representing the U.S. territory of Guam in the 16U men’s freestyle division.
Wrestling has been sanctioned by the state high school association in Mississippi for decades, but it just didn’t really exist. It wasn’t until 2023 that we saw the formation of a state wrestling tournament at the high school level. “Ever since I first moved to Mississippi in 2010, I’ve been trying to push freestyle and Greco there,” said Andy Siegal, who was cornering his son in Fargo. “(Mississippi’s) only had officially high school wrestling for two years, so this is really the first year freestyle and Greco formed, so it’s a big thing.”
Bear isn’t a Fargo rookie, though. He’d wrestled for Florida the last two years – and he will continue to wrestle high school in Florida at North Bay Haven Charter in Panama City. He got a release from the Florida association to compete for the first Team Mississippi, but following his second loss, he was more worried about improving. … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2024/july/16/fargo-feature-wrestling-finds-a-way-to-tie-guam-and-mississippi-wrestlers-together
NWCA Names Omi Acosta 2024 NAIA Men’s National Coach of the Year
Manheim, PA – The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) is proud to announce that Omi Acosta of Life University is the recipient of the 2024 NAIA Men’s National Coach of the Year award. Selected by his peers, this prestigious award is presented to a coach who has demonstrated outstanding effort throughout the regular season in developing and elevating their program both on campus and within the community. The award will be presented in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, at the NAIA Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, July 26. The banquet is held in conjunction with the NWCA’s Annual Convention. Tickets may be purchased by clicking here. Defense Soap, the official hygiene partner of the NWCA, is the presenting sponsor of the award.
Guy Sako, founder and CEO of Defense Soap expressed his pride in partnering with the NWCA to continue its mission of keeping wrestlers on the mat through hygiene products and educational resources.
Coach Omi Acosta took over as the Head Coach of the Life University Men’s Wrestling Team during the 2016-2017 season. Since then, he has produced ten individual NAIA National Champions, 14 NAIA National finalists, 47 NAIA All-Americans, and 78 NAIA National Qualifiers. This past season, Acosta led the Running Eagles to a second-place finish at the NAIA National Championships, bringing home his fourth NAIA Team Trophy. This year’s squad also won the NWCA National Duals Championship, defeating the #1 ranked Grand View squad and breaking their 162-win streak against NAIA competition. Acosta also guided the Running Eagles to a perfect 23-0 dual record for the first time. … more at … https://nwcaonline.com/news/2024/7/9/national-wrestling-coaches-association-nwca-names-omi-acosta-2024-naia-mens-national-coach-of-the-year.aspx
Women’s Wrestling at Olympics: 20 years strong
PARIS (July 8) — Inside an academy located in the middle of a farm at a village in Haryana, the northern Indian state that’s the country’s wrestling capital, a bunch of teenage girls had scribbled the name of their hero on a wall – Helen MAROULIS (USA).
When women’s wrestling made its Olympic debut, some of these girls were not even born. There were no roads leading up to the academy where they trained until a few years ago — the best way to reach the academy was on foot from the nearest highway exit point roughly a couple of miles away. And internet connectivity was patchy at best.
Yet, the story of Maroulis’s dominance had traveled to this far-flung village and became a part of the folklore. Few stories illustrate better the impact and the reach of women’s wrestling. In less than three weeks, the eyes of the entire sporting – and wider – world will be fixed on Paris when the Olympic Games get underway. On the mat at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Champ de Mars, more stories of inspiration will unfold, paving the way for many young wrestlers to follow in the footsteps of their heroes.
At the Paris Olympics, women’s wrestling will celebrate its 20th year of being at the Games. Back in 2004, when it was included in Athens, there were only four categories. In Paris, as was the case in Tokyo, there will be six — the same as Freestyle and Greco-Roman. The 2024 Games will also be significant for the officials. As many as 11 female referees will be part of the officials. Back in 1988, it was only one. … more at … https://uww.org/article/womens-wrestling-olympics-20-years-strong
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 