Takedown Report

Three Returning NCAA Champions Highlight 149 Pounds

Who will emerge from the stacked 149-pound field, featuring three NCAA champions and a returning national finalist?
What’s better than one returning NCAA champion? How about three?
That’s what wrestling fans get at 149 pounds, with Stanford’s Aden Valencia as the returning 2026 champion at 149, Oklahoma State’s Sergio Vega as the returning 2026 champion at 141, and Virginia Tech’s Caleb Henson as the returning 2024 champion at 149. 
Valencia entered nationals as the 10-seed with seven losses, but had a magical run capped by an 8-5 sudden victory win over Penn State’s Shayne Van Ness. Most of Valencia’s losses were close, taking a couple of lopsided setbacks before finding his stride late.  Regarding Van Ness, he may be the best current wrestler across all weights who has yet to win a title. He finished third in 2023 and 2025, before reaching the finals in 2026. He was seeded first and finished the season 26-1. 
Vega moves up from 141, where he won the NCAA Championships as a true freshman without surrendering a takedown. He had close wins during the season, but his stingy defense and his ever-evolving takedown game make him a title threat at a new weight. 
Henson missed last season due to redshirt, but he’s sure to add intrigue to this weight. He can win whatever type of match you want, from a 1-0 war of attrition (2024 NCAA semis against Ridge Lovett) to a 15-7 shootout (2024 NCAA finals against Austin Gomez). Tony Robie, his coach, calls him one of the most mentally tough wrestlers in the game, and he’ll need every bit of it against this field. 
It doesn’t stop there. 
Anthony Echemendia transferred from Iowa State to Nebraska,  … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/16184090-three-returning-ncaa-champions-highlight-149-pounds?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

October 2, 2026 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, sports | Leave a comment

How NCAA Athlete Eligibility Limbo Has Sown ‘Actual Chaos’

As NCAA eligibility remains a moving target, college coaches, GMs, and industry lawyers told Front Office Sports they’re all still trying to sift through the upheaval.
As a college sports coach, it’s almost always reasonable to assume a Friday night in late July will be an off-night. No one is in season since football training camps don’t start until August, rosters and revenue-sharing budgets are set, and there’s no transfer portal window to obsessively track. 
But on Friday, July 31 at about 7 p.m. ET, Colorado district court judge Charlotte Sweeney granted a preliminary injunction in the case Wisne v. NCAA, which upended college sports. The ruling essentially forced the NCAA to immediately allow all players who entered college in 2022, but who had exhausted four years of eligibility, a fifth year to compete. 
Thousands of players immediately became eligible to join an NCAA team in every sport. “I think I found out how everyone else found out—social media. Someone texting me a Twitter link,” one SEC football GM told Front Office Sports, who added that not only were they off duty, but their compliance directors were away on vacation. Another source in the athlete-compensation space told FOS they were “hanging out with coaches” Friday night when “things were afoot.”  
Their once-quiet evenings now turned upside down, coaches in virtually every sport scrambled to determine how the late-night ruling could give them an unprecedented roster opportunity. Agents raced to market players they thought wouldn’t have another shot at NCAA sports. NIL operators sprang into action, brainstorming how to fund extra players. 
The NCAA is using every possible avenue to reverse the ruling. “We are working to restore the status quo as soon as possible, because the status quo represented the considered judgement of the membership about what was best for all student-athletes, including the many thousands already on campus  … more at … https://frontofficesports.com/article/how-ncaa-athlete-eligibility-limbo-has-sown-absolute-chaos/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

October 1, 2026 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, sports | Leave a comment

Most Collegiate Teams’ Historic Wins

Last season Oklahoma State became the first, and so far only, college team to win over 1,200 dual meets. Only six other schools have over 1,000 wins. Springfield College is the only non-division I school in this exclusive group as they surpassed 1,100 wins. The following schools are listed in descending order by the number of wins.
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September 30, 2026 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, sports | Leave a comment

Tampering, impermissible recruiting violations occurred in Iowa State men’s wrestling program

Impermissible contact violations occurred in the Iowa State men’s wrestling program when local regional training center assistant coach Chris Perry had contact with two transfer student-athletes and one of those student-athletes was not yet in the Transfer Portal, according to an agreement released by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel. 
The school and enforcement staff agreed that the violations in this case occurred after the then-head men’s wrestling coach communicated with an exiting men’s wrestling head coach at another university and expressed interest in recruiting two of that coach’s student-athletes. After that exchange, Perry, who worked as an assistant coach at the Cyclone Regional Training Center (where the then-Iowa State head men’s coach also served as head coach of the training center team) contacted the prospective transfers. Perry called one prospect, who was not in the Transfer Portal, on two separate occasions and texted him 14 times, including requesting that individual’s transcripts, providing information about potential revenue-share payments and cost of attendance, and explaining that the prospect should request a “do not contact” tag when his name was entered into the Transfer Portal. Perry also provided a “commitment” graphic to the second prospect to share on social media when he committed to Iowa State. 
Both student-athletes ― who committed to Iowa State on the same day they entered the Transfer Portal ―indicated during interviews with enforcement that Perry was their first point of contact and primary recruiter to the school.
Although Perry was not employed by Iowa State, his work to recruit the student-athletes to Iowa State triggered “booster” status because he was working in an individual capacity to represent the school’s interests in recruiting conversations. As a result, his contact with those prospects constitutes impermissible contact violations,  … more at … https://www.ncaa.org/news/tampering-impermissible-recruiting-violations-occurred-in-iowa-state-mens-wrestling-program/

September 23, 2026 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, sports | Leave a comment

UNC Wrestling Announces 2026-27 Schedule

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Entering year four under the direction of head coach Rob Koll, the North Carolina wrestling program has announced its schedule for the upcoming 2026-27 campaign.
The slate, which features six matchups inside Carmichael Arena, is also highlighted by the 2026 National Duals Invitational on Dec. 12-13 and a neutral-site meeting versus South Dakota State at the Sanford Pentagon on Dec. 18.
Carolina will open the season on Nov. 1 traveling to the Southeast Open, followed by the program’s Blue and White Showcase the following Friday (Nov. 6). To close the opening month of the season, the Tar Heels will compete in the Mountaineer Invitational (Nov. 15) and host Northern Iowa on Nov. 21.
In December, UNC will take part in the two-day National Duals Invitational, a groundbreaking $1 million collegiate wrestling event, sponsored by Paycom. Carolina, one of 16 teams announced for the event, will compete in the two-day event taking place Dec. 12-13 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.
Defending National Duals Invitational champion Ohio State will be joined in the field by Arizona State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Iowa State, Minnesota, Missouri, NC State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Stanford, Virginia Tech and Wyoming. Together, the 16 programs represent some of the most storied traditions in collegiate wrestling, combining for 54 NCAA team titles and over 400 individual titles.
Carolina’s return to the BOK Center will be the first for the program since the 2023 NCAA Championships, when 157-pounder Austin O’Connor claimed his second national championship. With the win, O’Connor joined T.J. Jaworsky as the second Tar Heel to win multiple national championships in their career.
To end 2026, the Tar Heels will face South Dakota State at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Dec. 18, followed by a matchup versus App State on Dec. 20, held at Chapel Hill High School.
Opening the new calendar year, UNC will travel to Coralville, Iowa, for Soldier Salute (Jan. 2-3), a tournament where the Tar Heels finished runner-up a season ago. Carolina will begin the Atlantic Coast Conference portion of the slate on Jan. 8 at Pitt, with a non-conference matchup on the road at West Virginia less than 48 hours later (Jan. 10).
The Tar Heels conclude January with two home duals against Virginia (Jan. 15) and NC State (Jan. 29), with a road dual out west at Stanford in between (Jan. 22).
In the final month of the regular season, Carolina will stay within the Tar Heel State, hosting Virginia Tech (Feb. 5), a road dual at Duke (Feb. 12) and the regular-season finale against Campbell (Feb. 20).
The 2027 ACC Championships is slated for March 6-7 at Victory Heights Arena, hosted by Pitt. The 2027 NCAA Wrestling Championships are set for March 18-20 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Mo.
The Tar Heels enter the upcoming season with four returning NCAA qualifiers from a season ago, including the program welcoming nine newcomers in the offseason, seven freshmen and two transfers. … more at … https://goheels.com/news/2026/9/15/wrestling-announces-2026-27-schedule?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

September 19, 2026 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, sports | Leave a comment

Iowa extends attendance streak to 23 of 24 seasons; Penn State-Ohio State most attended indoor dual in college wrestling history

A look at the 2025-26 Division I men’s wrestling dual meet home attendance numbers.

Home attendance for NCAA Division I wrestling continued its climb in 2025-26, with 25 programs averaging over 1,000 fans per home dual. That’s nearly double the 13 programs that reached that mark a decade earlier in 2015-16, and part of a longer-term rise that saw the 1,000+ group grow from 13 to a high of 27 programs in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Iowa led the nation in home average attendance for the 23rd time in the last 24 seasons, drawing 11,811 fans per dual across five home dates at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It’s Iowa’s fifth consecutive year leading the nation in average attendance, and an extension of a run that includes an earlier 14-year streak from 2006-07 through 2019-20.
Oklahoma State finished second nationally in 2025-26 at 9,259 per dual, its best national placement in 19 years, matching the level it last reached in 2006-07. The average attendance of 9,259 was the program’s highest since the late Denny Diehl began tracking home attendance in the 2001-02 season.
Penn State placed third at 8,943 across seven home dates across Rec Hall and the Bryce Jordan Center.

Program Bests Across the Country

A number of programs posted the best national attendance placements in their history this season:

• Nebraska climbed to No. 5 nationally (4,457 average, 7,891 best single-dual draw), the highest national attendance ranking in program history.
• Michigan rose to No. 6 nationally (4,436 average, 11,483 best single-dual draw), also a best-ever placement for the Wolverines.
• Wyoming reached No. 18 nationally, its best national placement in 11 years.
• Maryland (11 years) and Chattanooga (18 years) each reached their best national placement in over a decade.

Nebraska (4,457) and Michigan (4,436) also set new program records for average home attendance in 2025-26.

A Milestone Night in Happy Valley

Penn State’s 36-5 win over Ohio State on Feb. 13 at Bryce Jordan Center drew 16,006 fans, the third-largest crowd on record for a Division I dual meet, and the largest ever for a dual held indoors. It also stands as a new Penn State program record for single-dual attendance. Only two outdoor stadium … more at … https://mattalkonline.substack.com/

September 8, 2026 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | ncaa, sports | Leave a comment