WIN Pre-Season Rankings Are In!!

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Jon

Yup! It’s that time of year again. WIN has put together their rankings. Take a look below. Be sure to click on read more to see the individual rankings as well. The team rankings are determined by who is wrestling for the team and how they rank; the more ranked wrestlers a team has, the more points it will recieve and the higher it will be ranked.

A couple surprises? I know Cornel finished well last year, but number one is a surprise until you take a look at who they have on their team. Check out the rankings and let us know what you think. WIN will put out more rankings again in October once the coaches announce what weights everyone will be wrestling at officially.

Date Ranked:09/22/2010
Ranked By W.I.N. Magazine

WIN’S 2010-11 PRESEASON NCAA DIVISION I
TOURNAMENT POWER INDEX (TPI)
(September 22, 2010)
Rank School Top 8 TPI
1 Cornell 6 82
2 Boise State 5 73
3 Oklahoma State 6 71.5
4 Minnesota 5 55.5
5 Wisconsin 3 50.5
6 Penn State 5 40
7 Oklahoma 3 39
8 Central Michigan 3 36
9 Illinois 2 33.5
10 Ohio State 3 32
11 Iowa 1 28
12 Missouri 2 26.5
13t Michigan 2 25.5
13t Purdue 2 25.5
15 Edinboro 2 25
16t Arizona State 2 24.5
16t Northwestern 2 24.5
16t Pittsburgh 2 24.5
19 Lehigh 1 22
20 Virginia 1 21.5
21t Binghamton 1 20
21t NC State 1 20
21t Wyoming 1 20
24 Nebraska 1 19.5
25 Kent State 1 18.5
26 Virginia Tech 2 17
27 Penn 1 16.5
28t Iowa State 2 16
28t Cal Poly 1 16
30 Indiana 1 15.5
31 Oregon State 1 15
32 American 1 14.5
33 Maryland 1 14
34 Ohio 1 13.5
35 Stanford 1 12
36 Rutgers 1 11.5
37 West Virginia 1 11
38t Bucknell 1 10
38t No. Colorado 1 10
40 Buffalo 1 9.5
41 Hofstra 0 6.5
42 Utah Valley 0 4.5
43t Cal St. Bakersfield 0 3.5
43t UNC-Greensboro 0 3.5
45 Michigan State 0 3
46 Chattanooga 0 2.5
47t Appalachian State 0 2
47t Navy 0 2
47t North Carolina 0 2
47t Old Dominion 0 2
47t Rider 0 2
52t Boston U. 0 1.5
52t Columbia 0 1.5
52t CS Fullerton 0 1.5
52t Drexel 0 1.5
52t Harvard 0 1.5
52t Lock Haven 0 1.5
52t No. Iowa 0 1.5
59t Citadel 0 1
59t Clarion 0 1
59t Eastern Michigan 0 1
59t George Mason 0 1
59t Liberty 0 1

Continue reading →

Des Moines Iowa the Place to be for 2013 Wrestling Championships

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Jon

The 2013 NCAA wrestling championships will be held at Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines, the NCAA announced this morning.

Des Moines’ selection, with Iowa State as the host school, is one of two sites for the wrestling championships for 2013 and 2014. Oklahoma City was chosen for the 2014 championships.

Matt Homan, general manager of the Iowa Events Center, said that the wrestling tournament is a major step forward in getting Des Moines recognized as a site for athletic events as well as a convention center in the Midwest.

“This is a major achievement for us and those who have worked so hard over the years to make sure we would get it,” Greg Edwards, president of the Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It shows that we always need to keep working to get these kinds of events even when we don’t get it right away.”

“This is a major championship and one that should help us continue to grow in establishing this city as place to visit,” Homan said. “Our partners in this effort have worked very hard and we need to celebrate it, and then make sure we continue to work hard to make sure Des Moines sells itself for the future.”

Both Edwards and Homan said that one change in the bid was that Iowa Events Center officials were able to find additional room to meet a minimum 15,000-seat capacity.

The NCAA’s selection of Des Moines came after the city made an unsuccessful attempt in 2005 to land the popular post-season championship, in competition with major cities throughout the U.S.

“We looked at what we had to deal with and we came up with some extra seating for the early rounds,” Homan said. “Putting down eight mats takes up a lot of space so we had to do some adjusting.”

The tournament is considered one of the biggest events sought by Des Moines officials in their bid to make the city a stop for NCAA events. In 2008, the NCAA held its track and field championships at Drake Stadium.

Wells Fargo also hosted a first and second round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament in 2008.

The NCAA also announced:

– Iowa State has been chosen to host the 2014 regional of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament,

–Upper Iowa has been chosen to host the 2012 NCAA Division II wrestling championships in Cedar Rapids.

–Grinnell has been chosen to the host the 2012 NCAA Division III men’s and women’s indoor track and field championships.

Four-Time All-American Bryan Snyder Returns as Assistant Coach

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Jon

A member of NU's 100-win club, Bryan Snyder will begin his first season as assistant coach

Lincoln - The Nebraska wrestling team has announced the return and addition of one of the most decorated student-athletes in program history, as Bryan Snyder has been named an assistant coach for the Huskers.The only four-time All-American and four-time conference champion in school history, Snyder comes back to the Husker wrestling program in its 100th anniversary season (2010-11). The Easton, Pa., native spent last year as the head assistant coach at Arizona State and helped guide five Sun Devils to the 2010 NCAA Championships in Omaha. Snyder began his coaching experience as an assistant at Harvard in 2002-03, while returning to the Husker wrestling program as a graduate assistant coach for two seasons (2003-04 and 2004-05), as NU went 38-5-1 in duals and finished fifth at the 2004 NCAA Championships.

As a wrestler, Snyder ranks No. 1 on Nebraska’s all-time winning percentage chart (.925), compiling a 136-11 record from 1999-2002. He claimed All-America accolades and a Big 12 championship all four years, while finishing as the NCAA runner-up at 157 pounds in 2001 and 2002. He amassed over 30 wins per season three times, including his 43-3 record as a sophomore that stands as the second-best single-season mark in school history. A four-time NWCA All-Academic selection, Snyder was named the 2002 Nebraska Male Student-Athlete of the Year and graduated with a double major in Sociology and Communication Studies.

Snyder is one of 18 members in Nebraska’s 100-win club. Current NU wrestling strength and conditioning coach Jason Powell is also a part of that impressive group with a 109-24 record. Snyder and Powell were varsity teammates for two seasons (2000-01; 2001-02) and led the Huskers to eighth-place finishes at the NCAA Championships both years.

Prior to Nebraska, Snyder was a three-time state place-winner and a 1997 state champion at Easton (Pa.) High School. He finished with a 112-12 record and was one of the nation’s most highly-regarded recruits.

Snyder and Powell join head coach Mark Manning and assistant coach Tony Ersland to form the nucleus of the NU coaching staff for the 2010-11 season. Manning, the 2009 Dan Gable Coach of the Year, enters his 11th season, while assistant coach Tony Ersland will begin his fifth year.

Bryan Snyder
Assistant Coach
Record at Nebraska: 136-11
All-American: 1999 (4th), 2000 (5th), 2001 (2nd), 2002 (2nd)
Big 12 Champion: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002

Bryan Snyder Athlete Biography

Andrew Long Dismissed from Iowa State Wrestling Team

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Jon

Andrew Long has been dismissed from the Iowa State wrestling team for multiple violations of team rules, Cyclone coach Kevin Jackson announced Wednesday.

“I have met with Andrew and informed him of our decision that he is no longer part of the Iowa State wrestling program,” Jackson said in a statement. “We have had previous discussions and Andrew understood what kind of conduct is expected of an Iowa State student-athlete. I deeply regret that this decision was necessary.”

Long was a redshirt freshman with a 27-7 record at 125 pounds last season and advanced to the NCAA Championship title match in March.

Frayer loses appeal; Metcalf remains on world freestyle team

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Jon

Jared Frayer’s last-gasp attempt to wrestle a spot on the U.S. freestyle team away from Brent Metcalf is apparently dead.
The former Iowa strength and conditioning coach said Tuesday that he won’t take his challenge to a higher level after losing an appeal with USA Wrestling.
“It’s pretty much over and done with,” Frayer said. “It was more of something I had to do. It wasn’t some-thing I really expected to win, I guess, but it was just to set the precedent that it’s (expletive) the way matches are being decided – mine or anybody’s. It’s just ridiculous the way things are being handled by Fila or whoever it may be.”
Metcalf defeated Frayer on June 12 in the best-of-three 145.5-pound championship series at the World Team Trials in Council Bluffs. The two-time NCAA champion from Iowa earned a ticket to September’s World Championships in Moscow when he claimed the decisive point in the series with a rare defensive point out of the leg clinch after both wrestlers had previously been cautioned for improper starts.
Frayer and his coaches immediately protested that Metcalf should have been cautioned again, but the ruling was upheld after a video review. Frayer filed a grievance with USA Wrestling after the tournament.
“Our bylaws call for the executive director to (lead) an investigation and take steps to settle it without delay, which I did.” USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender said. “Through my investigation, I determined it was a field of play decision.”
Bender said United States Olympic Committee bylaws state that under field of play decisions, the final decision of a referee “shall not be reviewable subject to complaint procedures, unless it’s a decision outside of the au-thority of the referee, a product of fraud, corruption, partiality, or any misconduct of the part of the referee.”
“I determined it clearly fell into the category of a field of play decision and notified (Frayer) that the match will stand,” Bender said.
Frayer, a 31-year-old Wisconsin assistant, won the first match 1-0, 1-0. Metcalf came back to even the series with a 3-0, 3-4, 2-1 win in the second bout. They split the first two periods of the decisive bout with Frayer winning the opening period 6-0 and Metcalf taking the second 4-0 before a scoreless third period left the match and the series riding on the outcome of a leg clinch.
Frayer won the right to take the offensive position after a red ball matching his singlet color was pulled out of a matside bag.
Frayer said he’d like to see USA Wrestling get away from the leg clinch in the future in a similar circum-stance and let matches continue until a wrestler scores on his feet.
“It’s not like we weren’t scoring points,” he said. “At some point, there was going to be a point scored. It’s not like we were going to sit there and let it go 20 minutes and somebody wasn’t going to score. And it’s not like the fans didn’t want to see that.”
USA Wrestling has tweaked its rules in the past and gone outside of the guidelines set by Fila, wrestling’s international governing body. At the 2004 Olympic Trials, Dennis Hall and Brandon Paulson wrestled for nearly 17 minutes in the final match of their 121-pound Greco-Roman championship series after USA Wrestling employed a rule at the tournament allowing matches to go to an unlimited sudden death period if all criteria were tied at the end of a three-minute overtime period.
“I don’t know if I could see us getting away from the rules, (but) we have made modifications in the past,” Bender said. “We’ll continue to look at the situation and make the best possible decision we can for what’s best for our team and winning medals at the World Championships.”

Metcalf beats Jenkins in Main Event of Beat the Streets Gala wrestling bout card

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Jon

Brent Metcalf (Davison, Mich./New York AC) won a first-period clinch from defense, then opened up his offense in the second period to score a technical fall over Bubba Jenkins (Virginia Beach, Va./Sunkist Kids) in the Main Event of the seven-match card of wrestling bouts during the 2010 Beat the Streets Gala on Thursday, May 13.

The event will be held outdoors on the flight deck on the USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier which is docked on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. Thousands of wrestling fans packed the area around the mat, with the city skyline in the background.

Each year, the Beat the Streets Gala is held to celebrate wrestling and raise funds for Beat the Streets Wrestling, Inc., the successful program which has provided wrestling opportunities for thousands of middle school and high school students in New York City.

“We have raised over $900,000 tonight,” said Mike Novogratz, organizer of the event and the U.S. Freestyle World Team Leader. “All of the money will go to send kids to camp and to support our coaches.”

Metcalf, from the Univ. of Iowa, met Bubba Jenkins, then at Penn State, four times in college, winning each time. Included was a victory in the 2008 NCAA finals. Metcalf’s college career has ended with two NCAA titles and a runner-up finish. Jenkins will be a senior next year at Arizona State.

It was the first time that Metcalf and Jenkins met in freestyle. Both have great freestyle backgrounds. Metcalf was a 2009 U.S. Open runner-up, and Jenkins was a 2007 Junior World Champion.

The first period was scoreless, and Jenkins won the ball pull and grabbed the leg on the clinch. Jenkins tried to get Metcalf down to the mat, but Metcalf scored a two-point counter crotch lift to win the period, 2-0.

The second period, Metcalf was in control more, scoring a takedown early, earning some exposure points, and winning by a 6-0 technical fall.

It was the final bout of a seven-match card, which included middle school and high school matches featuring New York City youth wrestlers, then also featured all three international styles.

Two members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic freestyle team won matches, Ben Askren (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids) at 74 kg/163 lbs. and Andy Hrovat (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

Askren defeated Moza Fay (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC), 2-0, 9-2. Askren had some amazing counters to come out with the first-period win, then was able to open up his offense in the second period for a technical fall.

Hrovat needed three periods to defeat Kyle Cerminara (Philadelphia, Pa./New York AC), 0-5, 2-1, 7-1. Cerminara won the upperbody positions to dominate the opening period, but Hrovat edged him in the second period to force a deciding third period. Hrovat was able to score exposure points from the mat to score a technical fall to win the match.

Perhaps the wildest match of the night was in Greco-Roman, when Ellis Coleman (Oak Park, Ill./New York AC) edged 2008 Olympian Spenser Mango (St. Louis, Mo./New York AC) in three periods, 5-3, 1-6, 2-1. Coleman won the first period on a five-point throw. Mango won the second period with two three-point throws. With Mango holding the edge in a 1-1 tie late in the third period, Coleman used a gymnastic twist move to score the winning takedown point to beat Mango. The athletes normally compete at different weight classes, with Coleman at 66 kg and Mango at 55 kg.

The women’s freestyle match ended in an exciting manner, when Leigh Jaynes (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) suddenly pinned Kelsey Campbell (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids). Campbell won the first period 1-0, and was in on a shot in the second period when Jaynes countered for exposure and the fall.

The evening began with a pair of folkstyle matches featuring New York City talent. The Middle School match at 135 pounds went to Will Wilson of the Lions WC of Staten Island, who beat Shateek Palmer of Roosevelt Island Middle School in Manhattan. In the High School bout at 150 pounds, Jorge Jimenez of Herbert Lehman High School in the Bronx defeated Andre Antoine of Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.

This is the seventh Beat the Streets Gala event, which have all been successful fundraisers for New York City wrestling. It was the first time that there was a wrestling card included with the event.

BEAT THE STREETS GALA
Battle on the Intrepid
At New York, N.Y., May 13, 2010

Middle School 135 lbs. –Will Wilson dec. Shateek Palmer
High School 150 lbs. – Jorge Jimenez dec. Andre Antoine
Women’s freestyle 59 kg – Leigh Jaynes pin Kelsey Campbell, 0-1, 0:41
Greco-Roman 66 kg –Ellis Coleman dec. Spenser Mango, 5-3, 1-6, 2-1
Men’s freestyle 74 kg – Ben Askren dec. Moza Fay, 2-0, 9-2
Men’s freestyle 96 kg – Andy Hrovat dec. Kyle Cerminara, 0-5, 2-1, 7-1

MAIN EVENT – Men’s freestyle 66 kg – Brent Metcalf dec. Bubba Jenkins, 2-0, 6-0

By Gary Abbott USA Wrestling 05/13/2010

Ironman Has Been Around Longer than 2 Series

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Jon

FRANKLIN, Mass. – In the wake of the recent premier of the movie Iron Man 2, a different kind of Ironman will be back in Massachusetts.

Unlike the super hero blockbuster, which stars Robert Downey, Jr. and boasts a soundtrack full of AC/DC tracks, wrestling will be the focus at Wadsworth Wrestling Club in Franklin at the 7th annual Ironman, set for May 21-23, 2010.

Aaron Polansky, the state chairman of Massachusetts/USA Wrestling, is continually searching for ways to promote wrestling. Officially dubbed Ironman Series Seven, the tournament boasts a slogan stating “You get what you earn,” challenging wrestlers from around the nation to converge on New England and compete for the weekend.

The tournament is not only meant to attract some of the best wrestlers from the Northeast, but also serves as a qualifying for event for Team Massachusetts Cadet and Junior National Teams. These teams will compete in the prestigious USA Wrestling ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals in July in Fargo, North Dakota.

Some wrestlers who have competed in previous Ironmans include former NCAA Division I All-American Dave Shanaman, NCAA Division III National Champion Vin Renault, as well as 2x Division III NCAA Finalist Ryan Malo, as well as Jimmy Hamel of University of Buffalo. Rollie Peterkin, who recently placed eighth at the US Open in men’s freestyle, also competed in the Ironman as a scholastic wrestler.

Not only providing an excellent environment for competition, the Ironman has also been instrumental in providing financial stability for Massachusetts USA Wrestling.

“This initiative was single handedly responsible for bringing Massachusetts USA Wrestling out of the red and into the black seven years ago,” said Polansky.

In the same time, USA Wrestling athlete membership under Polansky’s watch has gone from 340 to nearly 800 wrestlers.

Polansky, the inventor of The WrestlinGame, said, “Over the past seven years, we have had wrestlers travel from as far as Pennsylvania, Illinois, and even California to compete in our Ironman tournament. A lot of our Ironman Champions have gone on to compete at the Division I level. The tournament has grown over the years and provides us with a great opportunity to give back.”

If the competition for all of the champions isn’t already enough, an additional highlight for all champions will be the trophies, which stand close to 5 feet tall.

In addition to the Ironman, Polansky has been busy adding programs and tournaments in Massachusetts to grow wrestling. Through a partnership with Dollamur Sport Surfaces, the Stance in Motion Program has allowed for over 10 wrestling mats to be provided to new programs throughout the state of Massachusetts.

As a way to provide increased benefits for its members, Massachusetts USA Wrestling has also offered many clinics to its athletes.With support from USA Wrestling and the NWCA, Polansky has arranged appearances that have included Henry Cejudo, Kevin Jackson, John Smith, Dan Gable, Cael Sanderson, Zeke Jones, Kerry McCoy, Tommy Rowlands, Jared Frayer, Teague Moore, Rulon Gardner, and Mitch Clark to name a few.

“We’ve had a lot of help from New View, Inc. of Hopkinton, a local booster who has provided us with support to take these guys to some of the premier restaurants around town while they are in Boston for their visits. It’s nice to be able to treat our elite athletes to the best. We are grateful for the support,” he said.

In November, as part of the USA Wrestling Athlete Appearance Program, Massachusetts USA Wrestling was able to bring in 1988 Olympic Bronze Medalist Nate Carr for a clinic. Polansky made it a point to express a serious interest in securing the Brands Brothers for a 2011 Clinic, but understands they are in high demand for the time being. If they’re reading, this is a formal invitation.

As a father of five young daughters, Polansky’s most recent initiative is the proposal to add Girls Wrestling as a formally recognized high school sport in the state of Massachusetts. A proposal is on the agenda for presentation at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Wrestling Committee Meeting scheduled for May 13th of this week. Polansky is optimistic.

“We need to go big or go home when it comes to promoting our sport. Wrestling is life for a lot of us,” he said.

With this being said, thoughts that Ironman Series Seven may have AC/DC providing a live soundtrack in the background may not be too far fetched.

By Tony Black USA Wrestling 05/13/2010

Wrestling is a Numbers Crunching Sport

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Jon

Mike Johnson of Manassas, Virginia has gone way beyond the call of duty. He's put together an incredibly detailed — and fascinating — 18-page analysis of some of the numbers and statistics from the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships which has been posted at the WrestlingReport.com website.

These stats are kept meticulously even in high school. Some wrestlers go crazy for this information, and not just the recruiters. Programs scour the nation for people with large amounts of matches wrestled, massive amounts of pins, technical galore and so much more. Fans automatically are drawn to the wrestlers that have large numbers. Once they’re drawn in, they’ll start researching the numbers. Ask any wrestling fan that avidly follows a wrestler about the persons stats and they’ll be able to tell you how many wins they had, how many losses, how many of those wins were from pins, techs, how long the longest match lasted and how long the shortest match was.

Some people may think that only a mathematician can handle so much numbers and what they mean, but wrestlers, coaches and fans seek them out. They crave them. The championships is no exception. I was able to make it out to Omaha this past year and everyone was talking about Metcalf, Palmer, Ohio, Iowa, Cornell… and their numbers. They talked about Jayson Ness, the 133 pounder from Minnesota who went undefeated the entire season, along with the eight others that came into the three day tournament with an undefeated record. On the way out, they were talking about the five seniors that completed four years as four-time All Americans and the five that became the only ones with an undefeated season.

If you still don’t believe me that wrestlers, fans and coaches are numbers driven, Mike Johnson, of Manassas, Virginia, has compiled an 18 page report of numbers from the NCAA championships in Omaha. I might not be that convincing, but that report will convince almost anyone.

UVU vs Boise St. Upset in Orem

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Jon

Last night unranked Utah Valley University took on 8th in the nation Boise St. And won. UVU pulled ahead in the beginning and never looked back. It was a tough match with the end being the roughest I’ve seen. Casen Eldredge, who normally wrestles at 184 pounds, wrestled up two weight classes Boise State’s heavyweight Sam Zylstra. Going into the match, UVU was up by 5 points, 22-17. Eldredge managed to outlast and out work Zylstra for a bit, but then Zylstra caught him and held on for the win, 7-4. Even though Eldredge lost the match, it gave UVU the win 22-20.

If Eldredge delivered the win, then Freshman 174 lb. Josh Wood set it up. He defeated Levi Holt by decision, 13-8, in the second-to-last match of the dual to increase UVU’s advantage to the 22-17 that made the win possible.

Utah Valley’s Benjamin Kjar opened the dual on a good note for the Wolverines with a 13-4 major decision over Boise State’s Alan Bartelli, who beat Kjar 7-5 earlier in the season at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas invitational. Kjar, ranked 11th in the nation at 125, improved his overall record to 25-6 and his dual record to 9-1. The junior from Centerville, Utah, recorded a takedown and three-point near fall in the opening round to lead 5-1. In the final round he tallied two takedowns, a three-point near fall, an escape and earned one point for riding time en route to the major decision.

But the upset of all upsets in the night came from 174-pound Wolverine Brad Darrington, who recorded a takedown with less than 30 seconds left in the match against No. 11 Nate Lee to win 7-6 to increase UVU’s lead to 19-11.

“It was a great win for our program,” UVU head coach Greg Williams. “First and foremost our guys came in with the mentality to go out and wrestle the best they could. Anytime you go out and beat a team ranked as high as Boise is, it is a huge win for your program.”

UVU travels to Vernal in Eastern Utah today to face #1 ranked Iowa tonight, who is undefeated, at 6:00 pm MST. UVU looks forward to the match. “We will come out against Iowa and wrestle the very best we can,” Coach Williams said. “No matter the outcome, we want to feel like we battled and gave it everything we had.”

You can check out photos of the match in our Facebook page.

Coaches creating good college wrestling programs

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Jon

While coaching plays an integral role in a program that continually marches forward, those coaches can’t do it without a support system in place, such as administrative backing, maximum allowable recruiting numbers and financial support.

Iowa Wrestling Coach Tom Brands

Look at Tom Brands. A fiery wrestler and NCAA champ for Iowa, as well as an assistant coach there for 12 years, left for Virginia Tech in the 2004-05 season. The Hokies went 1-16 that year.

The next season they were 16-4 and won the ACC. But Brands had a chance to return as head coach at Iowa, the mecca of college wrestling, and did so after the conclusion of the 2005-06 season.

He also took three recruits back with him — Brent Metcalf, Dan LeClere and Jay Borschel. Ever heard of them? You should if you follow college wrestling.

Brands’ first year as head coach was a down year by Iowa standards, 14-5 and an NCAA finish of eighth as the aforementioned trio were forced to redshirt. That changed as the Hawkeyes went 21-1 in 2007-08 and 24-0 in 2008-09, winning the NCAA team title both seasons and currently on a winning streak of 38 straight dual meets.

Look to the east and you’ll see similar goings-on. Cornell has established itself as one of the top teams in the East with head coach Rob Koll, a 1984 PIAA champ from State College and 1988 NCAA champ from North Carolina.

He recruits Pennsylvania and New York and while he doesn’t always have the type of lineup to compete with the Iowas and Minnesotas, he has enough stars to ensure high finishes at the NCAA Championships.

Another program is emerging at Maryland. Led by Kerry McCoy, a two-time NCAA champ at Penn State, the Terps last week beat Cornell 18-17 by scoring nine points in the last two bouts for the win.

As a result, Maryland is ranked sixth and Cornell seventh this week by InterMat.
Insert Image of Cael

There’s another change taking place at Penn State. By no means are we comparing the Nittany Lions to any upstart program. State has been a solid program from the get-go, with periodically great teams in each decade.

All but the current decade in which the team hasn’t always lived up to the potential the recruits in the room automatically provided.

Iowa St Wrestling Cael Sanderson

When Olympic champion Cael Sanderson took over in April, he said his plan was to make Penn State into a perennial championship contender. What his followers have to realize is that a plan has to have a beginning, and the beginning of Sanderson’s plan is to redshirt a number of talented wrestlers this season.

Thus far — and it is early — that lineup has yielded four very good wrestlers, three wrestlers with nice potential but aren’t consistently going to win big matches, and three wrestlers who likely won’t be in next season’s lineup.

That said, it’s probably good enough to win 14 or 15 matches, perhaps crown one Big Ten champ and earn a good handful of All-America certificates.

Next season the bar will be raised, expectations will be higher, intensity surrounding the program should regain a feverish pitch, one that probably hasn’t been seen since the 1992-93 and 1997-98 seasons.

The program hasn’t been devoid of talent since then by any means, with six winning seasons, three national champs and some good showings in the Big Ten championships.

Sanderson’s plan can be reduced to simple terminology. Currently, when you think college wrestling, you think Iowa. His goal: when you think college wrestling, you’ll think Penn State.

The plan is in place; the first steps are under way. Plans take time. If this plan succeeds, fans in this wrestling-crazy state will have a good time.

COLLEGE NOTES: Rankings remain the barometer of any sport. It’s no surprise Iowa is ranked No. 1. The Hawkeyes are followed in the InterMat rankings by Iowa State, Ohio State, Minnesota and Oklahoma State. Lehigh is 12th, Penn State 13th, Edinboro 19th and Pitt 25th. In Division II, Pitt-Johnstown is 10th, Mercyhurst 11th, Gannon 17th and Kutztown 20th. In Division III, Wisconsin-LaCrosse is first while Delaware Valley is seventh, Wilkes 18th and Lycoming 22nd.

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