#6 Wolfpack Takes Top-15 Win Over #12 Cornell
ITHACA, N.Y. – Sixth-ranked NC State wrestling edged past 12th-ranked Cornell to close out 2024 with a 20-18 win on Sunday evening.
The Pack came out collecting consecutive statement wins at 197 lbs, 285 lbs, 125 lbs, and 133 lbs to take a 17-0 lead. 29th-ranked Christian Knop returned to the lineup and set the tone for his team when he earned his 5-2 win with a third period buzzer beater takedown over 25th-ranked Mikey Dellagatta.
With the Wolfpack on the board first, fourth-ranked Isaac Trumble carried over Knop’s energy with a technical fall in the second period over Aiden Compton to secure the first set of crucial bonus points. Trumble previously defeated Compton with bonus points at Cliff Keen just a couple of weeks ago. Freshman, Louie Gill made his collegiate dual-match debut at 125 pounds with a key victory in a sudden victory bout to put his team up 11-0 through the first three matches. Gill previously lost to his opponent, Marcello Milani, last month by a 5-6 score at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic.
The 133 matchup also featured a debut, Kai Orine cutting back down to his two-time All-American weight. The Pack veteran came back in the weight class with a bang by posting a pin fall over his opponent and pushing the team score to 17-0. Cornell collected consecutive wins at 141 lbs, 149 lbs, 157 lbs, and 165 lbs to bring the score to 17-15.
20th-ranked Matty Singleton at 174 lbs trailed 0-4 after the first two periods of his match but was able to crawl back with a takedown and two-point near fall in the final minute to put the last points on the board for the Wolfpack. … more at … https://gopack.com/news/2024/12/22/wrestling-6-wolfpack-takes-top-15-win-over-12-cornell
Duke Wrestling News
Blue Devils Collect 22-12 Win Over VMI to Conclude 2024
DURHAM, N.C. — The Duke wrestling team collected its third straight victory on Sunday with a 22-12 victory over VMI inside Cameron Indoor Stadium to close 2024. The Blue Devils (4-6) won seven out 10 matches on the afternoon against the Keydets (4-6).
HOW IT HAPPENED
With a 7-3 decision by Gaetano Console, the Blue Devils took a 15-7 lead with three matches remaining. Console, a tri-captain from Barrington Hills, N.J., led 3-2 heading into the third period, but totaled an escape and takedown to jump out to a 7-2 lead with over a minute remaining in the contest. It marked Console’s second-straight win on the season.
The Blue Devils opened the contest with a solid, 10-4, decision by freshman Riley Rowan against Cody Tanner. The win marked the first collegiate victory by Rowan. A product of Perry, Ohio, Rowan registered a takedown in the first period and led 6-3 heading into the final period. He posted a riding time point along with a takedown at the end to net the decision.
After sophomore Raymond Adams dropped a 4-2 decision to Dyson Dunham at 133, the match was even, 3-3. At 141, Christian Colman trailed, 5-3, going into the final period, but totaled an escape and takedown to come away with a 7-6 decision against Phoenix Alyea.
Duke netted a second-straight win as SP O’Donnell never trailed en route to a 5-3 decision versus Raymond Cmil. Eric Doran of VMI posted a 12-4 major decision against Duke’s Logan Ferrero to cut into the Blue Devil lead, 9-7. Duke sophomore Aidan Wallace continued his solid start to the 2024-25 season with a takedown in the first 17 seconds and went on to total a 9-4 decision versus Ryan Vigil. … more at … https://goduke.com/news/2024/12/22/wrestling-blue-devils-collect-22-12-over-vmi-to-conclude-2024-fall
And …
The Heavyweight: Connor Barket Has Big Plans on and off the Wrestling Mat
By: Meredith Rieder
DURHAM, N.C.– Duke wrestling’s Connor Barket is the total package. On the mat, the redshirt sophomore is all about turning pressure into pleasure. Off the mat, the redshirt sophomore is hoping to take all the life lessons and privileges he and other Duke athletes have garnered through sports and share them with young athletes in the Durham community through his newly founded Rising Athletes Foundation.
Barket is off to a stellar start to the 2024-25 campaign with a 14-2 record and a top 30 ranking for the first time in his career. The 14 wins are two shy of his total last season, his first as Duke’s starting heavyweight. He also is fresh off an inspiring summer service trip to Panama through Duke’s ACE program, leaving him inspired to make a difference off the mat.
Barket took the bumps and bruises both physically and mentally in his first two seasons in a collegiate wrestling room. Now he is back with a firm grasp on his physical strengths, which he plays to well, and a mental edge that has grown exponentially — the perfect formula for success.
“I remember my freshman year,” said Barket. “We had a big heavyweight in Jonah Niesenbaum. He was an exceptional wrestler and also just a gigantic human being. He was probably 6-4 and 260. I stepped on campus at about 200 to 205 pounds, and I was expected to go wrestle him every day. Life was completely miserable to start, to be completely honest. It was no fun at all, especially in the sport of wrestling where if you lose, you get your face beat in by somebody else’s hands. So, going through that every day for months makes you question a lot.” … more at … https://goduke.com/news/2024/12/24/the-heavyweight-connor-barket-has-big-plans-on-and-off-the-wrestling-mat
Utah Valley tops No. 23 Oregon State, 20-14
OREM, Utah – Utah Valley wrestling defeated No. 23 Oregon State, 20-14, on Friday night inside Lockhart Arena. The Wolverines (4-4) won six of the ten bouts, including major decisions by No. 18 Haiden Drury and Smokey McClure in his UVU debut.
“We embodied grit tonight to take down a top 25, nationally ranked team! It was definitely not the prettiest dual. Both teams had guys out, made mistakes, and had hard-fought wins, but we came out on top. I’m excited for our guys to get some well-deserved rest after this weekend and to get ready for some important matchups in January. Go Wolverines!”
Oregon State got out to a 3-0 lead in the team scores when former Wolverine Kekana Fouret picked up an 11-5 decision over Kaden Bennie in his UVU Debut. Bennie trailed going into the third period but scored on a key takedown and added an escape to make it 10-5 before Fouret held on for the win.
The Wolverines won the next three bouts first with 174-pounder Mark Takara upsetting No. 32 Sean Harman. Takara scored five points in the final minute of the opening period on a takedown and a two-point near fall. He would not score again until an escape to open the third period and hold on for the upset. It is the first-ranked win for the redshirt sophomore from Temecula, Calif.
Caleb Uhlenhopp kept the momentum going in UVU’s favor, going up 3-0 in the first period against TJ McDonnell at 184. The lead was pushed out to 6-0 in the second. McDonnell fought back and cut the lead to 6-3 after a takedown, but it was too late to come back.
Kael Bennie gave the Wolverines a 9-3 lead with a 14-7 decision over Riverton native and Bingham alum Mason Christiansen. The high scoring affair favored Bennie, 5-4, before he extended the lead out to 10-7 after two. In the final period, he sealed the match for his seventh win of the season with a takedown.
Leading 9-3, the Beavers found some life with their ranked wrestlers at heavyweight, … more at … https://gouvu.com/news/2024/12/20/wrestling-utah-valley-tops-no-23-oregon-state-20-14.aspx
NDSU Wrestling Tops Campbell at Knockout Christmas Classic
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – North Dakota State wrestling picked up its first win of the season with a 22-16 win over Campbell University on Saturday at the Knockout Christmas Classic held at Silver Spurs Arena. The Bison also fell on a tiebreaker to No. 22 West Virginia, 22-21, and lost to Wisconsin 22-13.
In the opening dual against West Virginia, the Bison picked up five victories, including a tech fall from Kyle Burwick early on. The teams traded the lead early before West Virginia went up by 9 with three straight wins. However, Tayshaun Glover and Drew Blackburn-Forst answered back with wins. Glover won by a decision and then Blackburn-Forst upset No. 29 Michael Wolfgram with a pin to tie the dual at 21-21. The Mountaineers would claim the dual win with a 49-43 difference in match points.
The Bison responded with a strong start against Campbell. In his first career dual, freshman Ezekiel Witt pinned No. 28 Anthony Molton for the Camels to give the Bison an early lead. Burwick followed it up with a win in sudden victory, taking down No. 25 Dom Zaccone.
Following a couple wins from Campbell, Gabriel Schumm, Boeden Greenley, Devin Wasley and Aidan Brenot reeled off four-straight decisions to secure the dual win for the Bison. Greenley secured a 7-1 win over No. 24 Domonic Baker for NDSU’s third upset win over a ranked opponent in the dual.
Wisconsin would jump out to an early lead against the Bison in the final dual, going up 7-0. However, Michael Olson picked up his first dual win, followed by a major decision from No. 29 Gavin Drexler to tie the dual at 7-7. … more at … https://gobison.com/news/2024/12/21/ndsu-wrestling-tops-campbell-at-knockout-christmas-classic.aspx
West Virginia Earns Three Wins at Knockout Christmas Classic
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University wrestling team put on a dominant performance at the Knockout Christmas Classic, defeating three teams on Saturday at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida.
The Mountaineers (6-1, 1-1 Big 12) began the day in a tight battle with the North Dakota State Bison.
Redshirt junior Jace Schafer earned a win by decision against North Dakota State’s Tristan Daughtery in the 125 pound match to get the day started. West Virginia quickly lost momentum as the Bison secured wins to lead, 12-7, early on.
However, fifth-year No. 3 Peyton Hall earned his fifteenth win of the season with a 17-2 technical fall over Boeden Greenley. That was followed by wins from redshirt sophomore No. 29 Brody Conley (174) and redshirt senior No. 26 Dennis Robin (184) to put WVU up, 21-12.
The Bison tied it up at 21 after redshirt senior No. 31 Austin Cooley (197) and fifth-year Michael Wolfgram lost (285). West Virginia earned the win, 22-21, based on a 49-43 difference in match points.
The Mountaineers quickly gained momentum in their match against the Wisconsin … more at … https://wvusports.com/news/2024/12/21/wrestling-west-virginia-earns-three-wins-at-knockout-christmas-classic.aspx
Sooners Score Three Wins at Norman Duals
NORMAN — The No. 21 Oklahoma wrestling team earned an unblemished 3-0 record after defeating Southeast CC, Cal State Bakersfield and Chattanooga in dual action on Saturday. As a team, the Sooners outscored opponents 105-21 on the day.
OU’s first dual was against Southeast CC. A historical milestone for the squad from Lincoln, Neb., Saturday marked the Bobcats’ first dual against a Division I opponent since the inception of the program in 2023. The Sooners had seven wrestlers make their season dual debuts: Beric Jordan, Carter Schmidt, Alex Braun, Hunter Hollingsworth, Anders Thompson, Seth Seago and Ryder Wiese all picked up wins. Elsewhere, KJ Evans, Tate Picklo and Mannix Morgan took care of business as the Sooners routed the Bobcats, 41-0. It marked the first time Oklahoma won all 10 matches in a dual since blanking Little Rock, 37-0, on Nov. 18, 2022.
The Sooners went up against CSU Bakersfield in their second dual of the day. Mosha Schwartz, Willie McDougald, KJ Evans, Mannix Morgan and DJ Parker led the way for Oklahoma as all earned bonus-point wins. Antonio Lorenzo and Picklo added decision victories, while the Roadrunners forfeited the 133-pound bout. The Sooners took eight of the 10 matches to take the 38-7 win.
OU finished out the quad with a dual against Chattanooga. Bradley Hill scored his first dual win since the season opener, racking up three takedowns, an escape and riding time against UTC’s David Harper for an 11-2 major decision. Picklo scored his third win of the day by fall, pinning the Mocs’ Jackson Hurst just one minute into the first period. Lorenzo, Schwartz and Parker contributed with bonus points, capping off a 26-14 win for the Sooners.
OU will enjoy a holiday break before traveling to Chattanooga, Tenn., to participate in the Southern Scuffle on Jan. 4-5, in what is widely considered one of the toughest regular season tournaments in collegiate wrestling. It will mark the second consecutive season Oklahoma will start the year at the event, and the Sooners will look to improve on … more at … https://soonersports.com/news/2024/12/21/wrestling-sooners-score-three-wins-at-norman-duals
WIN Magazine’s Dec. 16 NCAA Division I Rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic
By Mike Finn
NEWTON, Iowa — The holidays are upon the college wrestling world and many of the top teams, listed in WIN Magazine’s Dec. 16 national rankings, will be in action one more weekend before Christmas at neutral-site dual meets.
The biggest event will be happening in Nashville, Tenn., where five teams ranked in WIN’s Dual Team Rankings — No. 1 Penn State, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 10 Iowa State, No. 13 Missouri and No. 19 Little Rock — will compete. This could include a featured meeting between the top-two ranked wrestlers and a pair of national champions at 174 pounds: Missouri’s No. 1 Keegan O’Toole and Penn State’s No. 2-ranked Levi Haines.
Meanwhile, there are also scheduled duals between No. 3 Oklahoma State hosting No. 7 Virginia Tech on Dec. 19 and No. 6 NC State traveling to No. 9 Cornell on Dec. 22.
With most schools taking semester exams last weekend, there was little action and few changes in WIN’s Dec. 16 Rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic. This includes WIN’s Tournament Power Index, where the top five schools are Penn State (138 TPI points), Oklahoma State (78), Iowa (75), Minnesota (64.5) and Virginia Tech (58.5).
WIN’s TPI projects where programs would finish in the 2025 NCAA Division I Championships, which will be held March 20-22 in Philadelphia, if every wrestler finished the season where they are ranked now. The following is a breakdown of those individual TPI points per ranking: 20 for 1st, 16 for 2nd, 13.5 for 3rd, 12.5 for 4th, … more at … https://www.win-magazine.com/2024/12/16/win-magazines-dec-16-ncaa-division-i-rankings-presented-by-cliff-keen-athletic/
Appalachian State Opens SoCon Schedule with Decisive Win at VMI
LEXINGTON, Va. — App State Wrestling started its SoCon schedule in strong fashion, claiming bonus points in seven of its eight victories during a 40-6 dual win at VMI on Thursday night.
The night included the first App State dual victories for three freshmen, with two of those occurring via pins for the Mountaineers, who improved to 1-2 overall after beginning the season with losses to a pair of top-20 opponents in No. 6 NC State and No. 18 West Virginia.
True freshman heavyweight Stephan Monchery won by fall in the third period against fourth-year starter Josh Evans, while redshirt freshman Jeremiah Price needed just 2:33 to record a pin against Eric Doran at 157 pounds. Monchery held a 3-2 lead in the third period when he recorded a takedown and then ended the match with 40 seconds remaining.
Redshirt freshman Bryson Terrell (125 pounds) and redshirt junior Dalton Battle (184 pounds) made their first career dual starts for App State, with Terrell winning via tech fall by a 17-2 count against Cody Tanner.
Riley Edwards opened the dual with a 12-6 decision over Phoenix Alyea at 141 pounds in just his second career dual victory for App State, and the Mountaineers’ remaining wins all involved bonus points.
Luke Uliano won by fall in the first period at 174 pounds, Carson Floyd pitched a shutout in a 16-0 tech fall at 197 pounds, Kaden Keiser had a tech fall by a 20-3 score at 149 pounds and ninth-ranked Will Miller won by a 12-4 major decision … more at … https://appstatesports.com/news/2024/12/12/wrestling-opens-socon-schedule-with-decisive-win-at-vmi.aspx
ACC Friday Night Duals return to ACC Network, ACC wrestling streaming schedule also set
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (TheACC.com) – ESPN and the Atlantic Coast Conference have announced that ACC Friday Night Duals will return this season to ACC Network with five straight weeks of conference matchups, beginning on January 24 when No. 7 Virginia Tech travels to Durham, North Carolina, to take on Duke. Veteran play-by-play announcer Shawn Kenney and analyst Rock Harrison will be on the call for the sixth-straight year.
The Friday night series will also feature the conference’s other ranked teams – No. 6 NC State, No. 15 Stanford, No. 19 Pitt and No. 24 North Carolina, among other top ACC programs.
An additional 20 ACC wrestling events will also stream this season on ACCNX.
ESPN platforms will feature nearly 150 collegiate wrestling events from some of the top conferences in the country throughout the 2024-25 NCAA season, including more than 110 events exclusively on ESPN+, the leading sports streaming service.
Notable ACC dual wrestling meets on ESPN+ in 2024-25 include:
No. 5 Ohio State at No. 19 Pitt (Dec. 13, 7 p.m. ET)
No. 7 Virginia Tech at No. 3 Oklahoma State (Dec. 19, 8 p.m. ET)
No. 6 NC State at No. 12 Cornell (Dec. 22, 4 p.m. ET) … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2024/december/13/acc-friday-night-duals-return-to-acc-network-acc-wrestling-streaming-schedule-also-set
Mt. San Antonio repeats as 3C2A champions, wins four individual titles
Mounties win school’s third state championship in the last four years.
Photo Galleries: John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com | Chris Mora Photos
Lemoore, California – Four years ago, Mt. San Antonio College walked away with its first 3C2A state championship, ending a run of four straight titles won by perennial California power Fresno City College.
On Saturday, head coach David Rivera’s Mounties repeated as team champions and claimed the program’s third state championship in the last four seasons scoring 204 team points and outdistancing second-place Fresno City by 66 points at Golden Eagle Arena on the campus of Lemoore College in Lemoore, California.
Mt. San Antonio placed 11 of its 12 qualified wrestlers and crowned four champions, tying a school record for champions in a season, set last season.
Fresno City had two champions and eight placewinners. Palomar was third with 110 points, Sacramento City was fourth with 90.5 and Cerritos fifth with 79.5 “I was proud of them and how they competed today,” said Rivera. “They stepped up and we continued to wrestle to the best of our abilities.” … more at … https://mattalkonline.substack.com/p/mt-san-antonio-repeats-as-3c2a-champions
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 