North Carolina’s Spencer Moore Tabbed ACC Wrestler of the Week
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – North Carolina’s Spencer Moore was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestler of the Week following his 3-0 performance over the first weekend of the season, November 1-3.
Wrestling at 125 pounds, Moore won the championship for his weight class in the Open Division at the Southeast Open in Salem, Virginia, the first of his collegiate career.
Ranked No. 27 in the InterMat Individual Rankings at 125 pounds entering the season, Moore went 3-0 in dominant fashion, outscoring his opponents 37-6 for the tournament.
In his first match, Moore controlled the bout from start to finish in a 21-4 technical fall win over Jace Schafer of West Virginia. The redshirt junior then shut out Jeff Jacome of Gardner-Webb with a 5-0 decision to advance to the finals where he scored an 11-2 major decision win over No. 14 Jett Strickenberger of West Virginia.
Moore was one of seven Tar Heels to finish atop the podium … more at … https://theacc.com/news/2024/11/6/wrestling-north-carolinas-spencer-moore-tabbed-acc-wrestler-of-the-week.aspx
UNC-Pembroke Takes Down Montevallo In Conference Carolinas Opener
PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke wrestling team found themselves trailing after two matches, but three-straight bonus-point victories stemmed the tide and propelled the Braves to a 31-9 win over Montevallo in the Black & Gold’s Conference Carolinas dual match opener Wednesday night at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
The Braves (1-0, 1-0 CC) earned the victory in their first-ever meeting with the Falcons (1-1, 1-1 CC).
Facing a 6-0 deficit after the opening two matches, Avery Buonocore got the Braves on the board with an 11-1 major decision at 141 pounds, before ninth-ranked 149-pounder Jake Piccirilli and second-ranked 157-pounder Keegan Roberson each recorded second-period pins to give UNCP a 16-6 lead.
Will Lowery (165 pounds) and Logan Hoffman (174) would each follow with 11-6 decision victories, while Jose Zambrano Canuto put the Falcons out of reach with a 21-4 tech. fall win at 184 pounds. After a Falcon win in the 197-pound bout, Oggie Atwood closed the night with an 11-1 major decision in the heavyweight match to put a bow on the victory. … more at … https://uncpbraves.com/news/2024/11/6/wrestling-takes-down-montevallo-in-conference-carolinas-opener.aspx
And …
Buonocore Tabbed Conference Carolinas Wrestler Of The Week
GREENVILLE, S.C. – 141-pounder Avery Buonocore started his sophomore campaign with a bang, as he was named Conference Carolinas Wrestler of the Week, the league announced Tuesday afternoon.
The Wilmington native posted a 4-0 record at the season-opening PJ Smith Pembroke Classic to take home first place, logging two tech. falls to go along with a title-winning pin in the championship bout. The selection marks the second career weekly award for Buonocore. … more … https://uncpbraves.com/news/2024/11/4/wrestling-buonocore-tabbed-conference-carolinas-wrestler-of-the-week.aspx
This Week in Women’s Collegiate Wrestling (11/5/2024)
Top 4 Takeaways
1. Open Tournaments create exciting multi-division matchups
The collegiate women’s wrestling season started off with a slew of open tournaments where these athletes got some immediate competition both inside and outside their own conferences. Some tournaments included were the Luther Hill Open, Pointer Open, Maverick Open, Trojan Open, Tiffin Open, and SFU Open on Saturday, followed by the East Stroudsburg Open, Princeton Open, Menlo Open, and McMaster Open on Sunday. With so many tournaments for schools to choose from, we did not see some of the matchups we will see at later tournaments in the season where they almost act as a post-season preview, but there was still some awesome action nonetheless.
#6 Campbellsville showed out at the Tiffin Open with 4 first-place finishes and 5 finishing in second. The competition included wrestlers from host school Tiffin University, (#7) Indiana Tech, and Adrian College among others.
Fans saw former King wrestler and 2x All-American (#5) Tiffani Baublitz make her East Stroudsburg debut by dominating the competition at her new school’s Open. After two pins in under 2 minutes in her first matchups, she won a close 4-1 decision against Olivia Pizano of Lehigh and a 12-1 tech fall in her semis match against (#6) Skylah Chakouian of Elmira. In the finals, Baublitz put a stamp on the day with a pin just past the 2-minute mark against Emily Sindoni also from Elmira.
Southern Oregon’s top competitors showed their impact at the Menlo Open with returning 3x NAIA champion (#1) Carolina Moreno secured first place at 131 pounds with 3 tech falls. Teammate (#3) Emma Baerlein also won in dominant fashion with 2 pins followed by a 9-4 decision against returning All-American Kayla McKinley-Johnson.
Iowa started their second season off with a bang at the Luther Hill Open with 6 title wins, including 3 weights with Iowa vs Iowa finals. Both Naomi Simon at 180 lbs and Kennedy Blades at 160 pounds made their Iowa wrestling debut at this tournament and both walked away with championship titles. Simon racked up 3 consecutive pins followed by a tech fall in the finals over LIndenwood’s Alana Duggan. Kennedy Blades had a predictably dominant showing as well with a 40-second pin and two tech falls to get her to the finals where she took down teammate Rose Cassipoppi with a 10-0 tech fall victory.
The Luther Hill Open also saw one of the most exciting matchups between NAIA #1 Kelani Corbett of Missouri Valley vs NCAA #1 Jaycee Foeller of Iowa. Corbett had a narrow lead of 2-1 heading into the second period, but a 4-point move with just under a minute left secured her the 6-3 victory. It is always awesome to see top competition from NAIA and NCAA come together at tournaments to demonstrate the top talent in both conferences at programs across the country.
2. College stars shine at Senior Worlds
Iowa wrestlers Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker both left Senior World Championships in Albania with some hardware after Bronze medal finishes at 65kg and 72kg respectively. Kilty’s bronze match was an electrifying come-from-behind win where Kilty scored 16 uncontested points after being down 5-0 early for the tech fall win. Welker’s 5-2 bronze win is a bit deceptive … more at … https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/women/this-week-in-womens-collegiate-wrestling-1152024-r99697/
Breaking down the fireworks, upsets and epic matches from first weekend of college wrestling
College wrestling season is officially back, and the first weekend of the season brought plenty of fireworks, upsets and epic matches. Here are some of the most notable results and takeaways from the opening few days of the year:
Wyoming and Campbell raise the bar for elite college duals
As mentioned in my weekend preview, one of the biggest stories heading into the first weekend of college wrestling was the Wyoming vs. Campbell dual in a rodeo venue. This match delivered.
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Not only did Wyoming and Campbell put forward an incredible evening that highlighted the ‘fun’ of college wrestling, but they also created ten stellar matches, highlighted elite sportsmanship and a vision for what the future of college wrestling could look like. These are two teams pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the sport and making headlines doing it.
From a wrestling standpoint, Stockton O’Brien of Wyoming earned “Wrestler of the Dual” honors for his pin against Campbell’s No. 18 Domenic Zaccone, but the entire dual featured great action. … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2024-11-04/breaking-down-first-weekend-college-wrestling
What we learned from the 2024 senior world wrestling championships
The 2024 senior world championships in Albania marked the end of a three-month world championship event series for Team USA that included the Olympics in August to the U20 world championships in September to the U23 world championships in late October to the senior world championships.
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The U23 and U20 world championships featured 10 weight classes for men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco, while the Olympics featured six, and the senior world championships included four weights, the four remaining non-Olympic weights. The U.S. brought home a total of 35 medals across these events, with Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor’s senior world bronze medal and his formal retirement serving as an emotional capper to the freestyle championship season.
Here’s what we learned about Team USA in this final event of the freestyle year and what kind of impact the athletes on this senior world championship team could have on their teammates and their programs moving forward.
Taylor’s bronze medal models success, perseverance for young Oklahoma State squad
One of the biggest storylines heading into the 2024 senior world championships was Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor. Despite being on a stacked team with Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs, 2023 senior world champion Vito Arujau and two-time world medalist James Green, much of the focus centered on how Taylor would compete in what he declared to be the final competition of his career. DAVID TAYLOR: History, college records set by the Olympic gold medalist
The hype wasn’t forced either. Taylor entered a bracket with one of the best Russian athletes in the sport — Abdulrashid Bulachevich Sadulaev — and two-time World champion Iranian wrestler Kardos … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2024-11-04/what-we-learned-2024-senior-world-wrestling-championships
Purdue Opens Season Strong With Win at Gardner-Webb
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Purdue Wrestling took a decisive 34-10 victory in its season-opening dual at Gardner-Webb on Friday night. Thanks to six bonus point wins, the Boilermakers (1-0, 0-0 B1G) got the year started on the right foot. No. 5 Matt Ramos, No. 31 Brody Baumann and James Rowley all earned their first pins of the 2024-25 season.
Now in his redshirt-senior season, Ramos kicked off the night by scoring his 15th career fall 4:51 into the match against Gardner-Webb’s (0-1, 0-0 SoCon) Tyson Lane. He notched four takedowns and a 4-point nearfall to have a 16-3 advantage before landing the pin. Isaac Ruble picked up where Ramos left off after the Runnin’ Bulldogs scored back-to-back match wins over Dustin Norris and No. 23 Greyson Clark. Ruble trailed Joseph Giordano late into the third period, but ultimately took his opponent down with less than 20 seconds remaining to take the 7-6 comeback win. A lengthy review process that took nearly 10 minutes ultimately confirmed his match-altering takedown, thanks to a challenge from head coach Tony Ersland. No. 15 Joey Blaze scored the only technical fall of the evening by notching a dominant 20-4 win in the 157-pound bout. He set the tone early by slamming Drew Pepin to the mat just 22 seconds into the match.
Blaze’s six takedowns matched his career high, which he first set against Lindenwood’s Luke Kemper last year. On the latter half of the card, Stoney Buell (15-5) and Hayden Filipovich (10-0) capitalized with major decisions, the eighth and second of their careers, respectively.
Baumann scored the fastest fall of the night, defeating Andrew Wilson at 4:17. Baumann had a 12-3 lead prior to the pin. … more at … https://purduesports.com/news/2024/11/1/wrestling-purdue-opens-season-strong-with-win-at-gardner-webb
Wolverines defeat #23 CSUB, fall to #12 Stanford in season-opening duals
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Utah Valley wrestling started the Adam Hall era with a 25-15 victory over No. 23 CSU Bakersfield, but fell later to No. 12 Stanford, 29-19. UVU (1-1) ranked wrestlers No. 7 Terrell Barraclough and No. 32 Haiden Drury both picked up two wins on the night in their season debuts. First-year head coach Adam Hall earned his first dual victory at UVU. “I’m really encouraged about the future of our team. Although we lost our last dual against Stanford, we showed heart and fight. I’m excited for Terrell to get a top three nationally-ranked win! I wanted to see effort and urgency, and it helped us win a few matches. We have a group of fighters, and it will be demonstrated each week that we are blessed to compete. Our staff is very dedicated to making this team better, and it will show as the season goes on,” said UVU head coach Adam Hall.
The Wolverines fell in the first two bouts of the evening but got on the board and took the lead with back-to-back technical falls, first from Kase Mauger at 133, who scored 12 first-period points to set the tone for his first victory of the season. No. 32 Drury followed up with a takedown in the first period and then poured it on in the second and third periods, outscoring CSUB’s Hayden Zinkin 13-1.
The Wolverines led 10-7 when freshman Ryker Fullmer took the mat and picked up UVU’s third bonus point win of the night and his first collegiate victory with a 9-1 major decision, as they won four straight bouts. No. 7 Barraclough scored three takedowns over Guillermo Escobedo to pick up an 11-1 major. They continue to add on with 174-pounder Mark Takara and 184-pounder Caleb Uhlenhopp, each picking up wins on the night.
In the nightcap against Stanford, Eli Stafford made his regular season debut and led after the first period after scoring on a takedown and an escape. The match was tied at six heading to the third period when Jackson Mankowski pulled away for a 13-9 decision. … more at … https://gouvu.com/news/2024/11/1/wrestling-wolverines-defeat-23-csub-fall-to-12-stanford-in-season-opening-duals.aspx
Legendary Wrestling Head Coach Grady Peninger Passes Away at 97
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Legendary Michigan State head wrestling coach Grady Peninger passed away on Thursday, October 31 at 97 years old (1927-2024).
Peninger’s name will forever be linked with greatness, becoming the first coach in Big Ten history to win seven consecutive conference titles in any sport (1966-72) and the first Big Ten wrestling program to win a national title in 1967. His 1967 Spartans were the only team outside the states of Oklahoma or Iowa to win a national championship in wrestling over a 33-year span from 1954 to 1987. Additionally, Peninger was the first coach to take a team to Oklahoma, wrestle both the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Oklahoma Sooners, and go home undefeated. “Grady Peninger is one of the all-time great coaches in our sport,” said Michigan State head wrestling coach Roger Chandler. “The impact he had on Michigan State and Michigan State wrestling is second to none and he will forever be etched in our history books.”
MSU won the 1967 National Championship with 74 team points, 11 ahead of runner-up Michigan.
“Before this year no team except one of the big three ever dreamed of winning the National Championship, but now it doesn’t look as impossible as it used to,” said Peninger to SI.
During his tenure from 1963-1986, Michigan State was a mainstay on the national scene placing in the top five at the NCAA Championships on six occasions. As head coach, his wrestlers earned 10 NCAA titles, 40 Big Ten titles and All-America honors 54 times. Peninger was inducted in the U.S. Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1987, the State of Michigan Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007. He also served as President of the National Wrestling Coaches Association and while a member of the NCAA rules committee, was instrumental in expanding the tournament consolation format in 1986 to include more wrestlers.
Peninger coached a slew of Michigan State wrestlers … more at … https://msuspartans.com/news/2024/11/1/legendary-wrestling-head-coach-grady-peninger-passes-away-at-97.aspx and …
Peninger and the 1967 Spartans were the subjects of an article published in the April 3, 1967 issue of Sports Illustrated.
Lineup Shuffle In The Works For NC State Wrestling
ACC champs Ryan Jack and Jackson Arrington are expected to redshirt this season while Pat Popolizio tries to balance NC State’s short- and long-term needs.
You could make the argument college wrestling is unlike any other sport. You have 10 weight classes, room for 10 starters for your postseason roster. There is no use of a sub at the conference championships or NCAAs, so you must establish your 10 and that is who you roll with striving for a team trophy.
Many programs will see a log jam at a weight class or two each season, making for some tough decisions on who gets that singlet for postseason action.
NC State found itself in that situation as the 2024-25 campaign has gotten underway and has decided to redshirt a pair of 2024 ACC champions this upcoming season in Ryan Jack and Jackson Arrington.
Those lineup decisions were not easy, as Jack was ranked #5 in the preseason at 141 pounds after earning All-American honors last year while Arrington slotted in at #6 at 149 pounds coming off of his sophomore campaign.
“There were a lot of variables that went into those decisions,” said NC State head coach Pat Popoilizio who enters his 13th season at the helm of the program. “You must look at who is returning (on your team), possible weight classes different guys can go, and I think these decisions just opened the door for some talent that we have waiting in the wings to get their opportunity to make a name for themselves.
“In both the short-term and the long-term, to be able to redshirt those two guys is the best thing for NC State Wrestling.” … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/12979084-lineup-shuffle-in-the-works-for-nc-state-wrestling
USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender receives ACES Stephen D. Ducoff Leadership Award
USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender has received the respected Stephen D. Ducoff Leadership Award as presented by ACES, the Association of Chief Executives of Sport.
The Stephen D. Ducoff Leadership Award is given periodically to an ACES Member who has made significant contributions to the organization and its members over time. The award is in honor of Ducoff, the ACES co-founder, who served as CEO of ACES from 2007 until his passing in 2017.
Rich Bender has been Executive Director of USA Wrestling since 2000, leading one of the most successful National Governing Bodies of Olympic sport through six Olympic quadrenniums, with a focus on the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics . He is one of the longest serving CEOs in the history of the Olympic family, and is the longest serving Executive Director in USA Wrestling history.
From 2010-2016, Bender was elected chairman of U.S. Olympic Committee’s National Governing Body Council, representing over 13,000,000 members from all of the NGBs affiliated with the U.S. Olympic movement. Bender was also elected in 2019 to serve as a USOPC Board Member representing the NGB Council, a position he still holds.
Bender received the award during the ACES Conference in Huntsville, Alabama on October 15.
“It was my honor to present the 2024 award to Rich Bender at the ACES Conference, on behalf of the ACES Board and our members. His wide-ranging positive impact on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement and the sport of … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2024/october/30/usa-wrestling-executive-director-rich-bender-receives-aces-stephen-d-ducoff-leadership-award
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 