InterMat Staff

Mark Hall defeated Chance Marsteller in the finals of the UWW Junior World Team Trials (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)In what should come as absolutely no surprise, Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) has maintained his position as the nation's top Class of 2016 wrestler headed into the summer before that group's senior year. Two months ago, Hall was named the InterMat High School Wrestler of the Year for the 2014-15 season. Since then he has added to an already robust resume by winning a strong 74-kilo weight class at the UWW Junior Nationals last month, and then he earned a spot on the UWW Junior World Championships team in freestyle by sweeping Chance Marsteller this past weekend. (Marsteller was the 2014 InterMat High School Wrestler of the Year, and redshirted at Oklahoma State this past season.) The next two wrestlers in the class rankings are a pair of three-time state champions. Nick Suriano (Bergen Catholic, N.J.), who has yet to lose an in-season high school match is ranked second in the class. He is a three-time Beast of the East champion, was a Super 32 Challenge champion in the fall of 2012 before finishing runner-up during the fall of 2013. Iowa verbal commit Alex Marinelli (St. Paris Graham, Ohio) was an undefeated 54-0 this past season, after a pair of seasons with a mark of 49-2; he has appeared in the Walsh Ironman final all three seasons to date, including a championship this past year, and was runner-up at the Super 32 Challenge this fall. A pair of Fargo freestyle champions from last summer round out the top five of this class. Coming in fourth is Isaiah White (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), a Junior National freestyle champion who has won state titles each of the last two seasons. He was undefeated this past high school season, and was also a Cadet National freestyle champion in the summer of 2013. Ranked fifth is Chad Red (New Palestine, Ind.), who is an undefeated 139-0 over three state championship seasons, and a Cadet National freestyle champion. In addition, he bookended Super 32 Challenge and Flo Nationals titles around the 2014-15 high school season. Rounding out the top ten for the incoming senior class are 2014 UWW Cadet World freestyle silver medalist Jordan Wood (Boyertown, Pa.), 2014 UWW Cadet World freestyle champion Mason Manville (Virginia), 2014 Super 32 Challenge champion Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe, Pa.), Flo Nationals champion Nick Reenan (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), along with Samuel Colbray (Hermiston, Ore.), a NHSCA Junior Nationals champion and three-time Fargo Greco-Roman champion. From the standpoint of college recruiting, 10 of the top 25 in this class have committed to colleges, as have 20 of the top 50 and 29 of the top 100 (which includes the football commitment of No. 39 Osawaru Odighizuwa to UCLA as a defensive lineman). The most top 100 commitments to any college is two, for six different schools: Iowa, Lehigh, Cornell, Pittsburgh, Bucknell, and Rutgers. Looking at the high school teams with multiple top 100 recruits at present, Wyoming Seminary, Pa. leads the way with four: Nick Reenan, Chris Weiler, Christian Dietrich, and Trent Olson. Another three squads, all of whom were within the top 15 of the InterMat Fab50 this past season have three ranked wrestlers each: Oak Park River Forest (Ill.), Bergen Catholic (N.J.), and Archer (Ga.). Five other teams had a pair of wrestlers ranked respectively: St. Paris Graham (Ohio), Marmion Academy (Ill.), Greater Latrobe (Pa.), San Marino (Calif.), and Santiago Corona (Calif.) The state of Pennsylvania again has the highest quantity of quality talent, with eleven of the top 50 ranked wrestlers attending a high school in Pennsylvania, and 16 of the top 100 (though three of those are non-residents). Nine wrestlers each from Illinois, New Jersey, and Ohio are the next most. Seven from California, six from Iowa, and five from Minnesota and Wisconsin follow in line. Overall, wrestlers attending high schools in 25 states are represented on the list. Link: Top 100 Seniors

Offseason communication is mandatory to ensure the success of a wrestling program, says Randy Rager, the head coach at Rochester Technical and Community College, an NJCAA program in Rochester, Minnesota. "Many athletes are going home after the school year and you want to make sure that they return," says Rager. "By communicating with athletes throughout the entire year, it lets them know that you are engaged in their life and have taken an interest in their success." When Rager started coaching in the early 2000s, the hot trend in technology was MySpace. The social networking platform was created in 2003 and connected people across the world like never before. Some 12 years later, MySpace is rarely even brought up when today's youth, high school and adults reference or use the top social media platforms. Technology is changing and changing fast. MySpace -- while still out there -- has been replaced by more popular social networking technologies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat, among others. New Web-based applications are evolving, making it even easier to communicate, get team information, stats and wrestling news. It's hard for coaches to keep up. But it is important to stay on top of technology trends for one key reason: The ability to communicate with wrestlers is greater and easier than ever before. "As a coach you have to be flexible with the new technologies and adapt to what the athletes are using," says Rager. "When I first started coaching it was MySpace. I don't think I have anyone with a MySpace account now. It has moved to Facebook and that is getting outdated with snapchat and Instagram." Read complete story on MatBoss ...

Jim Moulsoff (Photo/Augsburg College)Jim Moulsoff guided Augsburg to its 12th national championship in wrestling this past season. He did so as the interim head coach. Moulsoff was honored as the NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year, and finished third in the voting for InterMat Coach of the Year, an award given to the top coach across all divisions of college wrestling. In late Match, the interim tag was removed from Moulsoff's title and he became Augsburg's 10th head wrestling coach. InterMat caught up with Moulsoff and talked to him about the national championship run, expectations, Donny Longendyke, Tony Valek, recruiting and more. Augsburg entered the season ranked seventh in the nation. Did you really believe Augsburg could win a national title before the season started? Moulsoff: Yeah, with the kids we had in the room. With the potential I knew they had, it was a matter of getting them all dialed in to wrestle for a championship. The whole process was getting them to that point. It sounds ridiculous, but yes, we believed we could make a run at it. Going into the national tournament, many viewed the team race in Division III as wide open. What was the difference at the national tournament that allowed Augsburg to win its 12th national title? Moulsoff: Team effort. From the get-go we knew the goal was to have 10 All-Americans. But in doing that we needed to take advantage of opportunities that presented themselves. If you have an opportunity to finish someone off with a pin, you might not get back that back. We knew we could make a run if we took advantage of those opportunities. Donny Longendyke started his collegiate wrestling career at Nebraska before transferring to Augsburg. He compiled a record 44-2 this season and won the heavyweight title in Division III. Why has Augsburg been a good fit for him? Moulsoff: The structure. When Donny came in we talked about how the window to compete collegiately is moving. Once that passes you, what are you going to do? So it was a matter of putting together his goals for his career, and letting him know that this is what we are going to put in place for him as far as support and structure for him to succeed. We let him know that after wrestling is over he will be setting himself up for a very comfortable life, but that we still needed to get that done. That will stay with him forever, but using wrestling as a motivator to stay focused on academics so that he can set himself up for success after college. You coached at the high school level for several years before coming to Augsburg. What brought you to college coaching? Moulsoff: Sam Barber. I was involved in Minnesota/USA Wrestling. Sam had just been named the head coach at Augsburg. I had worked with Sam at a couple J Rob camps. We were out at Western Regionals with the Minnesota team, and I just congratulated him. He asked me if I had ever thought about coaching in college. I told him I had but that window had passed me by. I figured I was too old. Three days later, Sam called me asked if I had thought about what we had talked about. I never even thought about it, but I thought, 'Man, did I say something wrong?' I said, 'No, Sam, I apologize, but I don't know what you're referring to.' Then he mentioned coaching in college. I said, 'Man, I didn't think you were serious.' That was basically it. I called him back two days later and told him that I would be more than honored to come on with him at Augsburg. So that's really how that opportunity presented itself. Jim Moulsoff coaches Minnesota's Cadet team in Fargo (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)The interim tag was removed in late March. How much did it mean to you to become Augsburg's 10th head wrestling coach? Moulsoff: It's a big honor, especially with a program that has had the history and success that Augsburg has had. At times when it was going down it was overwhelming. But when you surround yourself with good people it isn't that overwhelming trying to get things done. All I can say is I feel very honored and privileged to have the opportunity to be the head coach at such a program. Augsburg obviously has a strong wrestling tradition. Expectations are high every year. As the program's head coach, do you feel pressure to succeed? Moulsoff: No. Expectation is never bad. That's just what the program is about. There's nothing wrong with that. If expectation comes without support it's a different animal. But we're pretty fortunate to have such a supportive alumni base here at Augsburg. The expectation is high, but it comes with a lot of support, so that makes it very manageable. Tony Valek, a three-time All-American for Augsburg, is the associate head coach. What does Valek bring to the program? Moulsoff: Tony is just a great young man. He's not only a three-time All-American, but a three-time Scholar All-American. He was an Elite 89 Award winner his senior year. It's a fresh view. It's recent for Tony, so his knowledge of what the kids are feeling is invaluable. He's just a sharp young man. He's just a great guy to work with. He's wise beyond his years. He's just a great resource and a great asset to the program. He just brings a lot of skills, not just wrestling skills, but everything else that goes along with it, like recruiting and being a mentor to these young men. He's just a great example for them to follow. Jim Moulsoff hugs Mike Fuenffinger after Fuenffinger won the 125-pound national title at the NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championships (Photo/Don Stoner, Augsburg College)Former coach Jeff Swenson is the athletic director at Augsburg. How much is he involved with the wrestling program? Moulsoff: He'll always be involved obviously just by the nature of the beast being that he was the coach for so long and an alum. He's not involved in the daily process of it. If you have to bounce an idea off an athletic director, what better resource to have than Coach Swenson. He's good to have around. He's involved, especially on the alumni side. But also he's just good advisor if we do have questions or situations that he probably experienced during his time as coach at Augsburg. So he's not involved in the day-to-day operations of the wrestling program, but is a good resource and adds value to the program. Coming into the season many thought the Augsburg-Wartburg streak of winning every national title since 1995 was in jeopardy. What does that streak mean to you? Moulsoff: It's unique. There are a lot of great coaches out there in Division III, and I know they all want to be that program that knocks off Augsburg or Wartburg. So it makes it very competitive. It just makes wrestling so much better because of the quality of coaching that is going on out there. But it's pretty cool in the sense that it has only been one of those two programs that has won a national title over the last 21 seasons. People thought this was going to be the year the streak snapped, but there's something to be said about tradition, not just the win streak, but the tradition of the two programs. It goes back to expectation and working to win the national title. That is the expectation. St. Cloud State won the NCAA Division II title this year. Do you take pride in seeing another Minnesota collegiate wrestling program win a national title? Moulsoff: Yeah, I think that's awesome. Coach Costanzo is doing such a great job up there. With the work they are doing, I was so happy for them. For them to win their first title it says a lot about the quality of kids that there are in the state of Minnesota. It says a lot about the work that is being done up there. It would have been awesome to hit the trifecta and have Minnesota win a national title in Division I. But it didn't happen. I remember in 2001, Minnesota won it in Division I, NDSU won it in Division II and Augsburg won it in Division III. Out of the 30 wrestlers in those three lineups, I believe 24 were native Minnesota wrestlers. Jim Moulsoff yells instructions during the Auggies' dual meet against Wartburg on Feb. 5 at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis (Photo/Stephen Geffre, Augsburg College)With so many strong collegiate wrestling programs in Minnesota, does that make recruiting a challenge? Moulsoff: Yeah, it makes recruiting a little bit more challenging. But it's neat to see these kids have opportunities to go on and have a good collegiate wrestling experience and get their education. That just makes wrestling strong. But you have to hustle a lot harder than in the past when it comes to recruiting. What type of student-athlete do you look for when recruiting at Augsburg? Moulsoff: We're looking for a young man that is highly motivated, not just on the mat, but also academically. College education isn't cheap. You can't recycle time. You have to take advantage of the time you have right now and not waste your time because you can't get it back. We're looking for someone who has high goals, wants to be competitive in both athletics and academics. We're always looking for a good student-athlete, someone who has a good balance. Over half the lineup from your national championship team graduates, including four All-Americans. What are your expectations for next season? Moulsoff: We still return something like 42 or 43 points from last year's national tournament. We have freshman national tournament qualifier Gable Frandsen returning. I think he's just starting to hit his stride. Eric Hensel is a returning All-American. He won the award for most pins and was a dangerous guy. He put up a lot of points. Plus, we have national champion Donny Longendyke and national qualifier Marcus Hamer returning. They're not the only four in the room. Everybody else in the room wants to be the next guy. They're highly motivated. We're just looking to reload, get everybody back in place, and do the best we can at making another run. This story also appears in the June 12 issue of The Guillotine. The Guillotine has been covering wrestling in Minnesota since 1971. Its mission is to report and promote wrestling at all levels -- from youth and high school wrestling to college and international level wrestling. Subscribe to The Guillotine.

MADISON, Wis. -- With a layoff due to various injuries, it wasn't clear how ready Kyle Dake would fare at the U.S. World Team Trials in Madison. However, Kid Dynamite was firing on all cylinders as he wound up winning the challenge tournament in the weight class (74 kilos) that everyone had been talking about leading up to the event. Dake showed supreme defense in his challenge tournament semifinal win against Andrew Howe and his finals match against longtime rival David Taylor, who he dominated 8-2. "Just because a guy's good at finishing doesn't mean he can't be stopped," Dake said after beating Taylor. In regards to how close he was to one-hundred percent, Dake said, "I can't put a percentage on it. But sometimes breaks are good. I listened to my body, but I feel like I have a lot more to offer." Dake's victories set up a best-of-three finals against Olympic gold medalist and two-time World champion Jordan Burroughs. Dake started off strong, taking a 2-1 lead into the second period. But a four-point move by Burroughs followed by a challenge on the scoring by Dake resulted in Burroughs taking a 6-2 lead. Dake scored on a pushout in the final minute, but could not narrow the gap closer than 6-3. Jordan Burroughs celebrates with his wife Lauren and son Beacon (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)In the second match, Burroughs was Burroughs and scored off a lightning-fast shot in the first second of the match and immediately followed it up with three leglace turns to take an 8-0 lead. Dake responded with a takedown and two pushouts, but a four-point move followed by a final takedown by Burroughs ended the match in a technical fall, 14-4. "He's a beast, dude," Burroughs said of Dake. "In the first match, I got some fortunate calls. But that's the way it is, so I wanted to come out and dominate the second match and I think I did that." Burroughs will look to win his fourth world-level gold medal and his fifth World medal overall this September at the World Championships in Las Vegas. USA's other standing Olympic champion Jake Varner did not fare as well at the Trials on Sunday, winning the challenge tournament, but then dropping two straight matches to U.S. Open champion Kyle Snyder 4-1 and 3-0. Although he defeated Varner at the U.S. Open last month, Snyder was able to take Varner down for the first time at the Trials with a low single leg. "I'm just a low single guy," said Snyder. "I think I can hit it on anybody." While at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs preparing for the Junior World Championships as a high school senior, Snyder was able to work out with Varner. "He helped me technically. He was whipping me bad a few years ago. But I got more mature, got a bit stronger and made some adjustments." By earning the spot on the World Team by beating the standing Olympic champ, Snyder feels ready for Vegas. "I think I'm the best wrestler in the world," he said. "I've got to prove it, obviously." Varner looked sharp in his opening matches, earning a technical fall over former Iowa State teammate David Zabriske 11-0 and then another technical fall over Dustin Kilgore 12-0. In the challenge tournament finals, he beat J.D. Bergman, an opponent he has previously had difficulty with, on criteria 2-2. When asked how he was able to get past Bergman, Varner said "Get the takedown early. That's not how I wanted it to end, but sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do." The two-out-of-three finals at 66 kilos featured U.S. Open champion Brent Metcalf against Jordan Oliver, who won the finals of the challenge tournament over four-time NCAA champion Logan Stieber 8-5. "We have history," Oliver said of Stieber. "I knew I was going to have laser focus and be ready to score at all times." Oliver went into the best-of-three finals against Metcalf with a 1-5 record, most of which had been very close matches. This time, however, Metcalf dominated 9-4 and 7-0. "Pretty good," Metcalf said of his sweep. "Against a guy who historically we've had a whole lot of close matches. And you take away a silly four-point move I gave him in the first match, and I think you have a pretty larger separation than you've had in the past. So you feel pretty good about that." Reece Humphrey defeated Daniel Dennis in two matches (Photo/Larry Slater)Reece Humphrey earned his third trip to the World Championships with a two-match sweep over Daniel Dennis at 61 kilos, 12-1 and 4-1. In the first match, Humphrey was able to rack up points in the second period with a sequence of turns. After winning the spot, Humphrey made it clear that the Worlds would be his last competition at 61 kilos. "It's a really hard cut for me, but I did it with a purpose in mind and that is to be a World champion." The women's freestyle team saw the final four members determined. Just as with the men's team, all four women champion swept their opponents in two matches on Sunday. Of the four champions, only one, Leigh Jaynes-Provisor, had close matches. She beat Jennifer Page 6-5 in the first match and 8-8 on criteria in the second. "I didn't know if I was winning or losing," said Jaynes-Provisor after the victories. "I just knew I needed to score more points." Jaynes-Provisor said she feels prepared to win in Vegas because of the competition she has faced. "Jen Page, Sally Roberts. All those people make me better." At 55 kilos, Helen Maroulis looked especially impressive, beating Sharon Jacobson in the first match 12-2 and then winning by fall in the second match in 38 seconds. Maroulis competed at 58 kilos at the U.S. Open, but made the move down to 55 kilos. "I just wrestled my style," said Maroulis. "I didn't scout anybody. I just really trusted in my coaching and everything he prepared me for. He just kind of told me, 'Go out there, be aggressive and do what you do.' It worked." Alyssa Lampe outscored Victoria Anthony 19-6 in two matches (Photo/Larry Slater)Wisconsin native Alyssa Lampe, a multiple-time World medalist, made her fifth World team by sweeping 2013 World fifth-place finisher Victoria Anthony to win the title at 48 kilos. "Victoria is a really good wrestler," said Lampe. "The top three girls at 48 could place at Worlds. It's definitely a tough weight class. I think I've struggled before because just mentally I wasn't believing in myself." At 69 kilos, Elena Pirozhkova, a World champion and four-time World medalist, dominated Tamyra Mensah 12-2 and 10-0. "I know Tamyra pretty well," said Pirozhkova. "We have trained together at various camps coming up to last year's Worlds. So we know each other pretty well. She did a great job today. But I have to do what I have to do to make the World Team." Men's freestyle finals results 61 kilos: Reece Humphrey def. Daniel Dennis, 2 matches to 0 Humphrey won by tech. fall over Dennis, 12-1 Humphrey dec. Dennis, 4-1 65 kilos: Brent Metcalf def. Jordan Oliver, 2 matches to 0 Metcalf dec. Oliver, 9-4 Metcalf dec. Oliver, 7-0 74 kilos: Jordan Burroughs def. Kyle Dake, 2 matches to 0 Burroughs dec. Dake, 6-3 Burroughs won by tech. fall over Dake, 14-4 97 kilos: Kyle Snyder def. Jake Varner, 2 matches to 0 Snyder dec. Varner, 4-1 Snyder dec. Varner, 3-0 Women's freestyle finals results 48 kilos: Alyssa Lampe def. Victoria Anthony, 2 matches to 0 Lampe dec. Anthony, 9-2 Lampe dec. Anthony, 10-4 55 kilos: Helen Maroulis def. Sharon Jacobson, 2 matches to 0 Maroulis won by tech. fall over Jacobson, 12-2 Maroulis pinned Jacobson, 0:38 60 kilos: Leigh Jaynes-Provisor def. Jennifer Page, 2 matches to 0 Jaynes-Provisor dec. Page, 7-5 Jaynes-Provisor dec. Page, 8-8 69 kilos: Elena Pirozhkova def. Tamyra Mensah, 2 matches to 0 Pirozhkova won by tech. fall over Mensah, 12-2 Pirozhkova won by tech. fall over Mensah, 10-0

MADISON, Wis. -- Two anticipated possible rematches from the U.S. Open finals were scratched from happening before the action even began at the World Team Trials in Madison, Wisconsin. At the finals of the U.S. Open in May, Tony Ramos won a come-from-behind match in the waning seconds against Andrew Hochstrasser in the 57-kilo finals. In the 70-kilo finals, Nick Marable scored four points on a controversial throw which began off of Dustin Schlatter's shot and finished out of bounds. Those were Marable's only points in the match but were enough to win 4-2. Both of these slim wins at the U.S. Open resulted in anticipated rematches at this weekend's U.S. World Team Trials. However, when both Hochstrasser and Marable did not weigh in for the Trials, the seeds needed to be readjusted. At the end of the night four members of the men's freestyle team and four members of the women's freestyle team were decided. All eight will compete in the World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas. The World Championships will be on U.S. soil for the first time since 2003 when New York City hosted the event. The format for the U.S. World Team Trials featured a challenge tournament in the first session, with the winner squaring off against USA's No. 1-ranked athlete in a best-of-three finals in the second session. The No. 1-ranked athlete was either the winner of the U.S. Open in May, or an athlete who won a World medal in last year's World Championships. Since Nick Marable was the U.S. Open champion and scratched at weigh-ins, the challenge tournament finals became the best-of-three finals at 70 kilos. In men's freestyle, Tony Ramos made his second straight World team at 57 kilos, beating Joe Colon 6-0 and 3-1. Colon had made an impressive run in the challenge tournament earlier in the day, rallying from 10-1 against Matt McDonough to win 17-12 in the semifinals and then beating two-time NCAA champion and 2013 World placer Angel Escobedo 11-8 in the finals of the challenge tournament. "I'm training to beat the best guys in the world, " said Ramos. "I'm not training to beat Colon, to beat Escobedo, McDonough, Graff whoever is there in the finals. So I think that's what's going to separate me this year from what I was doing last year just coming off an NCAA tournament and kind of just jumping right into this." At 70 kilos, James Green looked off at the beginning of his first bout against Nazar Kulchytsky and found himself down 6-0. But Green found his rhythm and came back to win 9-7. In the semifinals, Green dominated Kevin LeValley 13-2. (LeValley had beaten him last month on criteria 5-5.) This set up the best-of-three finals against former Minnesota Golden Gopher standout and World team member Dustin Schlatter. Green looked very sharp against Schlatter, winning 5-0 and 4-2. Green finished his collegiate wrestling career as a four-time All-American at Nebraska, but failed to win an NCAA title, which has fueled his fire. "Me taking seventh twice and third twice, it wasn't any improving going to the big tournaments," said Green. "Now I need to wrestle hard no matter what the stage is. Everyone on this level is good." Marable has petitioned to face the Trials champion (Green) at later date. Jake Herbert dominated Ed Ruth in the best-of-three finals at 86 kilos (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)The challenge tournament saw some controversy at 86 kilos where Jon Reader raced out to a 12-4 lead in the first period against 2014 World Team member Ed Ruth. Reader had seemingly exposed Ruth a number of times off of Ruth's shots. However, after a challenge was upheld, the score was changed to 7-6 in favor of Ruth. The rest of the match was equally action-packed and Ruth came out on top of an unusually high scoring match 24-18. A technical fall by Ruth in the challenge tournament finals against Keith Gavin set up a best-of-three finals match against U.S. Open champion Jake Herbert, who defeated Ruth 13-11 in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Herbert was much more dominant this time around winning the first match 13-3 and the second 10-2. "I wanted Ruth because he's a gunslinger," said Herbert. "I want to go out there and just hope that I've got more ammo in my guns. I'm bigger. I'm a little stronger than him. Gavin is hard to score on. Ruth can put up points, but if you don't let him to your legs, it's hard to score." Herbert will now look toward September's World Championships and then next summer's Olympic Games, but he has aspirations that extend beyond what he accomplishes on the mat. "I've got a lot of things I want to do after I win an Olympic gold medal, and I want that to be one of the smallest, least accomplished things I ever want to do," said Herbert. "I want to get back to helping our sport. I want to grow it." Tervel Dlagnev needed three matches to top Zack Rey at 125 kilos (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)The 125-kilo best-of-three series was the only men's freestyle weight class of the night to actually go to three matches. Standing World bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev competed in the U.S. Open last month even though he could have skipped the event and still automatically placed in best of three series for the World Team Trials. He faced the same opponent, Zack Rey, who he defeated 3-1 last month. The first match at the Trials was a bit tighter, with Dlagnev winning 2-1. The second saw Rey make some adjustments and come out on top 4-3. In the third match Dlagnev seemed determined and active, taking shots throughout and scoring in the second period on a low double leg takedown. Dlagnev will seek his third World Medal in September. "Today I obviously didn't do some of my best wrestling, but I feel like I'm in a good place," said Dlagnev. "The Lord is bringing me out of it." In the second session for the women's freestyle competition, perhaps the wildest finals was at 58 kilos where Erin Clodgo came out on top after three matches against Amanda Hendey to make her first U.S. World team. Hendey struck first, winning the first match by fall midway through the second period in match Clodgo was dominating. Clodgo came out on top of a much more tactical bout in the second match, winning 2-1. The final match was all Clodgo as she methodically dominated Hendey and won 10-0 with the final points coming late in the second period. Clodgo is thrilled to be wrestling in the U.S. in her first Worlds. Said Clodgo: "This was the World team that I would love to make, that I wanted to make, wrestling for the U.S. and being in the U.S., having my family getting to come out and support me, it's an awesome feeling, especially for my first one. It feels great." At 53 kilos, Whitney Conder looked impressive against Michaela Hutchison, winning 8-0 and 13-0. "I'm just going out there to win a medal," said Conder. "I want to wrestle. I want to be out there on that mat. I want to win a medal this year more than anything. I'm going to be training my butt off as hard as I possibly can to prepare for this World medal and also for next year." Alli Ragan swept Kelsey Campbell 3-1 and by fall in the second match at 58 kilos. At 75 kilos, standing World champion Adeline Gray dominated Jackie Cataline by fall and technical fall. By doing so, she made the U.S. team for the sixth time and will seek her third World medal in September. Men's freestyle finals results 57 kilos: Tony Ramos def. Joe Colon, 2 matches to 0 Ramos dec. Colon, 6-0 Ramos dec. Colon, 3-1 70 kilos: James Green def. Dustin Schlatter, 2 matches to 0 Green dec. Schlatter, 5-0 Green dec. Schlatter, 4-2 86 kilos: Jake Herbert def. Ed Ruth, 2 matches to 0 Herbert tech. fall Ruth, 13-3 Herbert dec. Ruth, 10-2 125 kilos: Tervel Dlagnev def. Zack Rey, 2 matches to 1 Dlagnev dec. Rey, 2-1 Rey dec. Dlagnev, 4-3 Dlagnev dec. Rey, 3-0 Women's freestyle finals results 53 kilos: Whitney Conder def. Michaela Hutchison, 2 matches to 0 Conder dec. Hutchison, 8-0 Conder tech. fall Hutchison, 13-0 58 kilos: Alli Ragan def. Kelsey Campbell, 2 matches to 0 Ragan dec. Campbell, 3-1 Ragan pinned Campbell, 2:38 63 kilos: Erin Clodgo def. Amanda Hendey, 2 matches to 1 Hendey pinned Clodgo, 5:01 Clodgo dec. Hendey, 2-1 Clodgo won by tech. fall over Hendey, 10-0 75 kilos: Adeline Gray def. Jackie Cataline, 2 matches to 0 Gray pinned Cataline, 2:18 Gray tech. fall Cataline, 10-0

USA Wrestling has released the Trials Tournament seeds set for the second day of competition at the U.S. World Team Trials, which concludes at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis. on Sunday. There are four weight classes in women's freestyle and four weight classes in men's freestyle being contested Sunday. 2015 U.S. Open champions who entered advanced directly to the best-of-three series on Saturday night, except at 74 kilos for men. According to procedures, 2014 World bronze medalist Jordan Burroughs advanced directly to the best-of three series. Winners of this competition will qualify for the U.S. team at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 7-12. The men's freestyle seeds have been set. The women's freestyle seeds will be set later this evening, and will be posted when available. 61 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2015 U.S. Open champion- Reece Humphrey, Columbus, Ohio (New York AC) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Kendric Maple, Norman, Okla. (New York AC) 2. Coleman Scott, Chapel Hill, N.C. (Sunkist Kids) 3. Daniel Dennis, Iowa City, Iowa (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Jon Morrison, Stillwater, Okla. (Titan Mercury WC) 5. Kyle Hutter, Virginia Beach, Va. (Titan Mercury WC) 6. Joey Lazor, Cedar Falls, Iowa (Panther WC RTC) 66 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2015 U.S. Open champion- Brent Metcalf, Iowa City, Iowa (New York AC) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Jordan Oliver, Tempe, Ariz. (Sunkist Kids 2. Kellen Russell, Ann Arbor, Mich. (NYAC) 3. Logan Stieber, Monroeville, Ohio (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Jimmy Kennedy, Ann Arbor, Mich. (New York AC/Cliff Keen WC) 5. Frank Molinaro, State College, Pa. (Nittany Lion WC) 6. Jason Chamberlain, Lincoln, Neb. (Titan Mercury WC) 7. Jayson Ness, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm) 8. Joey McKenna, Towaco, N.J. (Lehigh Valley AC) 74 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2014 World bronze medalist – Jordan Burroughs, Lincoln, Neb. (Sunkist Kids) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. David Taylor, State College, Pa. (Nittany Lion WC) 2. Andrew Howe, Norman, Okla. (New York AC) 3. Kyle Dake, Ithaca, N.Y. (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Anthony Valencia, Pico Rivera, Calif. (Sunkist Kids) 5. Tyler Caldwell, Stillwater, Okla. (Sunkist Kids) 6. Colton Sponseller, Edinboro, Pa. (New York AC) 7. Quinton Godley, Raleigh, N.C. (Titan Mercury WC) 97 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2015 U.S. Open champion- Kyle Snyder, Woodbine, Md. (Titan Mercury WC) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Jake Varner, State College, Pa. (Nittany Lion WC), 2. J.D. Bergman, Columbus, Ohio (New York AC) 3. Cayle Byers, Stillwater, Okla. (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Micah Burak, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Titan Mercury WC/OTC) 5. Dustin Kilgore, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids/OTC) 6. Enock Francois, Ithaca, N.Y. (New York AC) 7. Wynn Michalak, Champaign, Ill. (Titan Mercury WC) 8. David Zabriskie, Bethlehem, Pa. (Lehigh Valley AC)

MADISON, Wis. -- The best-of-three finals for Day 1 of the 2015 U.S. World Team Trials are set. The finals are slated for 5 p.m. CT. Men's freestyle: 57 kilos: Tony Ramos vs. Joe Colon 70 kilos: Dustin Schlatter vs. James Green 84 kilos: Jake Herbert vs. Ed Ruth 120 kilos: Tevel Dlagnev vs. Zack Rey Women's freestyle: 53 kilos: Whitney Conder vs. Michaela Hutchison 58 kilos: Kelsey Campbell vs. Alli Ragan 63 kilos: Erin Clodgo vs. Amanda Hendey 75 kilos: Adeline Gray vs. Jackie Cataline

How does a wrestling coach determine what wrestling camp is the best fit for the individual wrestler within its club or program? Start by focusing on two major areas, says Troy Nickerson, head coach at the University of Northern Colorado and director of Troy Nickerson's Northern Colorado Wrestling Camps. "For younger wrestlers and those who are inexperienced, I highly recommend technique camps," says Nickerson, who was also a five-time New York state high school champion. "At technique camp you will be able to expose yourself to various techniques from a variety of clinicians. The more exposure one has to various clinicians, the more well-rounded one's arsenal of moves will be." First, coaches need to look at each individual wrestler and focus on areas where they need to improve says Nickerson, a four-time NCAA All-American and 125-pound national champion at Cornell University under head coach Rob Koll. If the wrestler is more experienced look into an intensive or competition camp, says Nickerson. "During these camps, one can learn the same techniques that they would in a technique camp, however, these camps tend to move at a much higher pace," says Nickerson. "This is why I typically recommend these camps to the older and more experienced wrestlers. By exposing yourself to other talented workout partners, one will be able to utilize the techniques they learn in practice against a higher quality opponent." Read complete story on MatBoss ...

Link: Results Tweets by @USAWrestling

MADISON, Wis. -- Four UWW Cadet freestyle World champions came to Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday seeking the chance to represent the United States at the Junior World Championships in Recife, Brazil come the middle of August. Three of those four earned spots on the team, while the fourth was beaten by a fellow Cadet World champion. Spencer Lee throws Danny Vega in the finals of the UWW Junior World Team Trials (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional, Pa.) and Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.), who both won UWW Cadet World titles last summer -- and are currently also ranked first in their high school grade level -- earned spots at 50 and 74 kilos respectively. Lee, last summer a Cadet World champion at 50 kilos, came into this tournament seeking a bounce back after suffering a two-match sweep at the hands of Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla.) in the 54-kilo final at the UWW Cadet National championships two weekends ago. He got that bounce back on Friday with four 10-0 technical falls from four matches to earn a Junior World team spot; a pair of those coming in the challenge tournament, and two more to sweep UWW Junior Nationals champion Danny Vega (Ironwood Ridge, Ariz.) Hall, last summer's Cadet World champion at 76 kilos, came into this event on fire after an impressive UWW Junior Nationals tournament at this weight class. That form continued in his finals series against Chance Marsteller (Oklahoma State), which was a battle of the last two wrestlers to win the InterMat High School Wrestler of the Year; Hall this past year, and Marsteller last year. Hall earned a 10-0 technical fall in the first match, and a pin in 3:44 during the second match. Aaron Pico outscored Zain Retherford 11-4 over two matches at 66 kilos (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)The showdown of Cadet World champions came at 66 kilos between Zain Retherford (Penn State) and Aaron Pico (TMWC), a match between the 2012 and 2013 World champions at 63 kilos respectively. It was also the second straight year that the pair of wrestlers met in the UWW Junior World Trials final, and the pair has also battled for the UWW Junior National title in this weight class the last two years. Pico has now won all six meetings against Retherford, today's matches by 5-2 and 6-2 decisions. This follows an 8-5 victory for Pico last month at the UWW Junior Nationals. Last year's match victories for Pico were 7-0 at the Junior Nationals, and then 3-0 and 5-1 at the Junior World Team Trials. Pico moves onto Brazil, where he will seek to improve upon his Junior World silver medal in this weight class from last summer. Other Junior World Team Trials champions on Friday were Stevan Micic (Northwestern) at 55 kilos, Brock Zacherl (Clarion) at 60, Zahid Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif./Arizona State) at 84, Anthony Cassar (Penn State) at 96, and Nathan Butler (Stanford) at 120. The first two emerged through the Challenge Tournament, and beat last month's national champion on Friday afternoon, while the latter three were UWW Junior Natonals champions last month. Stevan Micic defeated Daton Fix in two straight matches at 55 kilos (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Most notable among those World Team Trials titlists was Micic, who avenged a loss from last month's UWW Junior Nationals final to Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla.). It was a 10-0 technical fall for Fix on that occasion, after Fix had beaten two NCAA Division I qualifiers along the way to that final. However, on Friday afternoon, the redshirted freshman from Northwestern came through with a sweep in the two matches. A pair of decisions, 7-4 and 10-4, advance 2013 Cadet World Team member Micic to this summer's Junior World Championships. While Zacherl did win the title today, he will have to face a special wrestle-off against returning Junior World silver medalist Joey McKenna (USOTC/Stanford) for the 60 kilogram spot in Recife. Best-of-three finals results 50 kilos: Spencer Lee (Young Guns) def. Danny Vega (Tucson Cyclones), 2 matches to 0 Lee won by tech. fall over Vega, 10-0 Lee won by tech. fall over Vega, 10-0 55 kilos: Stevan Micic (Chicago RTC) def. Daton Fix (Team Big), 2 matches to 0 Micic dec. Fix, 7-4 Micic dec. Fix, 10-4 60 kilos: Brock Zacherl (Clarion WC) def. Gary Wayne Harding (Cowboy WC), 2 matches to 0 Zacherl won by tech. fall over Harding, 11-0 Zacherl won by tech. fall over Harding, 10-0 66 kilos: Aaron Pico (Titan Mercury WC) def. Zain Retherford (Nittany Lion WC), 2 matches to 0 Pico dec. Retherford, 5-2 Pico dec. Retherford, 6-2 74 kilos: Mark Hall (Minnesota Storm) def. Chance Marsteller (Titan Mercury WC), 2 matches to 0 Hall won by tech. fall over Marsteller, 10-0 Hall pinned Marsteller, 3:44 84 kilos: Zahid Valencia (Sunkist Kids) def. Chandler Rogers (Titan Mercury WC), 2 matches to 0 Valencia won by tech. fall over Rogers, 10-0 Valencia pinned Rogers, 2:49 96 kilos: Anthony Cassar (Nittany Lion WC) def. Jacob Seely (Northern Colorado WC), 2 matches to 0 Cassar won by tech. fall over Seely, 12-2 Cassar won by tech. fall over Seely, 10-0 120 kilos: Nathan Butler (Stanford WC) def. Jake Gunning (Buffalo RTC), 2 matches to 0 Butler won by tech. fall over Gunning, 11-0 Butler won by tech. fall over Gunning, 11-0 Challenge tournament finals results 50 kilos: Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional, Pa.) tech. fall Brandon Courtney (Desert Edge, Ariz.), 10-0 55 kilos: Stevan Micic (Northwestern) tech. fall Jack Mueller (Trinity Christian Academy, Texas), 10-0 60 kilos: Brock Zacherl (Clarion) dec. Mitch McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.), 6-0 66 kilos: Zain Retherford (Penn State) dec. Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pa./Penn State), 5-0 74 kilos: Chance Marsteller (Oklahoma State) dec. Logan Massa (St. Johns, Mich./Michigan), 8-8 84 kilos: Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State) tech. fall Jaeden Bernstein (Navy), 10-0 96 kilos: Jacoby Seely (Fruita, Colo./Northern Colorado) dec. Ben Honis (FLWC), 10-4 120 kilos: Jake Gunning (Buffalo) dec. Garrett Ryan (Columbia), 5-0

USA Wrestling has released the Trials Tournament seeds set for the first day of competition at the U.S. World Team Trials, which begin at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis. on Saturday. There are four weight classes in women's freestyle and four weight classes in men's freestyle being contested Saturday. 2015 U.S. Open champions who entered advanced directly to the best-of-three series on Saturday night. Winners of this competition will qualify for the U.S. team at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 7-12. Women's freestyle 53 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2015 U.S. Open champion - Whitney Conder, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Carlene Sluberski, Fredonia, N.Y. (New York AC) 2. Michaela Hutchison, Lebanon, Ill. (Titan Mercury WC) 3. Amy Fearnside, Morgan Hill, Calif. (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Haley Augello, Lockport, Ill. (NYAC) 5. Deanna Betterman, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids) 6. Jessica Medina, Champaign, Ill. (Sunkist Kids) 7. Samantha Klingel, Kregesville, Pa. (King Univ.) 8. Rachel Archer, Winlock, Wash. (Gator/OKCU Women's 53RTC) 58 kilos: Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Kelsey Campbell, Tempe, Ariz. (Sunkist Kids) 2. Alli Ragan, Colorado Springs, Colo. (NYAC) 3. Teshya Alo, Honolulu, Hawaii (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Trinity Griffin, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids) 5. Maya Nelson, Denver, Colo. (Sunkist Kids) 63 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2015 U.S. Open champion - Erin Clodgo, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Amanda Hendey, Beaumont, Calif. (Titan Mercury WC) 2. Alexis Porter, Ballston Lake, N.Y. (New York AC) 3. Shai Mason, Gardenia, Calif. (Titan Mercury WC) 75 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2015 U.S. Open champion - Adeline Gray, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Jackie Cataline, Eastvale, Calif. (Titan Mercury WC) 2. Victoria Francis, Litchfield, Ill. (Lindenwood Women`s Wrestling) 3. Iris Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Army WCAP) 4. Clarc Walker, Aubrey, Texas (Univ. of the Cumberlands) 5. Tatiana Vazquez, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (Gator OKCU Women's RTC) Men's freestyle 57 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2015 U.S. Open champion- Tony Ramos, Iowa City, Iowa (Titan Mercury WC) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Nick Simmons, Bloomington, Ind. (Sunkist Kids) 2. Joe Colon. Cedar Falls, Iowa (Titan Mercury WC), 3. Matt McDonough, Iowa City, Iowa (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Tyler Graff, Dublin Ohio (NYAC) 5. Angel Escobedo, Ames, Iowa (New York AC) 6. Frank Perrelli, Stillwater, Okla. (Titan Mercury WC) 7. Bradley Pataky, West Point, N.Y. (West Point WC) 70 kilos: Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Dustin Schlatter, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm), 2. James Green, Willingboro, N.J. (Titan Mercury WC) 3. Kevin LeValley, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm) 4. Derek St. John, Fargo, N.D. (Titan Mercury WC) 5. Moza Fay, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) 6. Adam Hall, Raleigh, N.C. (Titan Mercury WC) 7. Nazar Kulchytskyy, Madison, Wis. (Titan Mercury WC) 86 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2015 U.S. Open champion- Jake Herbert, Ann Arbor, Mich. (NYAC) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Keith Gavin, Charlottesville, Va. (Titan Mercury WC), 2. Edward Ruth, Tempe, Ariz. (Sunkist Kids) 3. Deron Winn, Ames, Iowa (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Clayton Foster, Laramie, Wyo. (GRIT Athletics/Cowboy WC) 5. Chris Perry, Stillwater, Okla. (Titan Mercury WC) 6. Jon Reader, Brookings, S.D. (Sunkist Kids) 7. Phil Keddy, Iowa City, Iowa. (Titan Mercury WC) 8. Richard Perry, Washington, D.C. (NYAC) 125 kilos: Final Wrestle-off Qualifier 2014 World bronze medalist - Tervel Dlagnev, Columbus, Ohio (Sunkist Kids/Ohio RTC) Trials Tournament Seeds 1. Zach Rey, Bethlehem, Pa. (Lehigh Valley AC) 2. Dom Bradley, Morgantown, W.Va. (Sunkist Kids WC) 3. Tyrell Fortune, Phoenix, Ariz. (Titan Mercury WC) 4. Nick Gwiazdowski, Delanson, N.Y. (NYAC) 5. Connor Medbery, Madison, Wis. (Titan Mercury WC) 6. Adam Coon, Fowlerville, Mich. (Cliff Keen WC)

CHAPEL HILL --- C.D. Mock has been relieved of his duties as the head wrestling coach at North Carolina, Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham announced Friday. Coleman Scott, who has been at UNC as an assistant since last May, will guide the program as interim head coach. "I made the decision that a coaching change was in the best interest of our wrestling program moving forward," Cunningham said. "I appreciate C.D.'s service to the program over the last 15 years and wish him luck in his future endeavors. I believe a new head coach will re-energize the program and return it to the level of success I expect from all of our teams." Mock led UNC to a 108-105-3 dual record over 12 seasons as the head coach, including a 33-38 mark over the last four years. The Tar Heels won back-to-back ACC titles in 2005 and 2006 but have not finished higher than fourth at the ACC Championships since 2008. A 1982 Carolina graduate, Mock won UNC's first-ever NCAA individual wrestling title as a senior.

Mike McMullan is one of three male finalists at Northwestern for the 2015 Big Ten Medal of Honor, the most prestigious and exclusive award given by the conference each year to a male and female student-athletes from each member institution. The winners will be announced on June 18 at the annual N Club Induction and Senior Recognition Banquet at the Hilton Orrington Hotel in Evanston. The Big Ten Medal of Honor -- the first award of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence -- was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work." Big Ten schools currently feature almost 9,500 student-athletes, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In the 100 years of the Medal of Honor, close to 1,400 student-athletes have earned this distinction. Last year, the Big Ten Medal of Honor turned 100-years-old with Marisa Bast of softball and Raleigh Smith of men's tennis taking home the recognition for Northwestern. To celebrate the next century of the award, NU has begun to name the finalists considered for the honor. Read on to get to know the accomplishments of each of these deserving student-athletes. McMullan concluded his Northwestern career as the 2015 Big Ten heavyweight champion and just the third four-time All-American in school history. He finished in the top three in the nation every year, reaching the NCAA finals as a sophomore in 2013 while winning the third-place match in each of his other three seasons, including in 2015. McMullan's 103-23 career record gives him an .817 career winning percentage, good for ninth in program history. An Academic All-Big Ten honoree in 2015, McMullan graduated with degrees in both journalism and political science, and will be going on to law school.

"He's stalling, ref!" The most famous of wrestler chants might soon become more objective. The NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee this week passed the first iteration of the pushout rule. In this version the referee will determine if a wrestler is being passive on his way out of bounds and should be called for stalling. In summary the referees can now call one of three ways when the wrestlers leave the competition area: They can call stalling on one or both wrestlers for leaving the mat; call stalling for pushing or pulling an opponent out of the competition circle; or not call anything because there is a wrestling action underway. This probably won't be called too often. The reality is that the NCAA coaches and athletes will adapt to the calls, circle in and take a crappy shot on their way out of bounds. Also, NCAA referees are traditionally AWFUL at calling stall calls and unless the referee heads actively prompt their refs to make this call. I have a strong suspicion we won't see this called more than a dozen times in a weekend. I still prefer one point every time no matter the circumstances, but this could be the first step to a more sensible and enforceable rule. To your questions … Q: How can the committee watch a college wrestling match and not say "Gee, this riding time might be an issue. We should look at that." Maybe it's too drastic of a change to include with the rest, but come on. It's an easy fix. Track riding time for the entire match. Keep it as a tiebreaker. But you only award a point for riding time if the wrestler has scored another offensive point (takedown, near fall, or reversal -- no escapes. One can argue that earning a stall call is an offensive move, but I would debate that. Eliminate the matches that end 1-0 and 2-1 on riding time. The other option is to incorporate a "riding clock." Something like, you get one minute to try and turn someone. After that, you go neutral, but no escape point. I just don't get how the committee doesn't see this as an issue. I think the rule change in college might actually help out when the wrestlers get to the senior level. -- Nick D. Foley: You make valid points regarding riding time and the committee's oversight of the larger problem plaguing college wrestling. Riding time was NOT addressed even as it is the largest time consumer in college wrestling … all for ONE point. The committee might have thought that adding a shorter count to gain more points -- four count for four points -- would help generate offense, but that's only the perception of offense. In terms of fan experience, there is almost nothing attractive about back-to-back cheap tilts for four points. In a matter of ten seconds a wrestler can accumulate eight points? For what? What wrestling action is on display that is so difficult as to warrant EIGHT POINTS. When compared to a wrestler earning an inside trip for a takedown and a two count, or a set of two takedowns the action of two cheap tilts is FOUR TIMES as much when factoring in escapes. That's insane. Totally bonkers. Wrestling needs to promote action, not me trying to expose my opponent's back for eight seconds with the same move. Even in Olympic wrestling styles, where continuous gut wrenches have been disallowed in Greco-Roman, there was only ever two points given for the act of an exposure. What we are learning to cheer for is the slightest, almost inconceivable advantages. Hold someone on their back for two counts (1-2 seconds) longer should in no way be worth twice as much as holding them there for a single two count. There is no new action! The wrestling committee botched this rule change. More points will be 'scored' but there will, as seems to be the recent trend, less entertaining wrestling action. To improve they should look at simple solutions to eliminate riding time -- anything more than a distance criteria for judging the winner. Even allowing riding time as a tiebreaker might be too too generous since coaches and athletes may just find a way to eliminate risk and game the system via the ride-time criteria. (This already happens in double overtime.) The NCAA Committee seems to be hopeful that an adapted pushout might help generate action on the feet and keep wrestlers in-bounds, and I commend them for making the effort. However, the NCAA Wrestling Committee needs to find rules that disincentive inactivity on the mat. Doing so will help wrestling action, and hopefully continue to build the sport. Q: What are the chances of the two non-Olympic weight classes being added in the future. New IOC member is wrestling-friendly I thought I read. --@jeffsilveira75 Nenad Lalovic (Photo/T.R. Foley)Foley: Yes, United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic has been nominated as the next new member of the International Olympic Committee. This is a lifetime position and should he be approved at the full meeting of the IOC in Kuala Lumpur he would be the first wrestling federation president to be a member of the IOC. That will mean more influence for wrestling, but I doubt he would wield that power in order to grab six more gold medals in the current styles. I don't know what role Lalovic will assume within the organization, but there is a thought that beach wrestling could be a well-watched, profitable new discipline. Lalovic's most important role will be as someone in the room when it comes time to make a decision about the future of sport and how that might effect wrestling. Lalovic will have the voice of wrestling and that is an enormous advantage the sport has never before enjoyed. Q: According to the new rules, "While officiating the drop-down rule, the referee will immediately begin a five-second count for stalling once the offensive wrestler positions himself with one or both hands below the buttocks of the defensive wrestler." What happens if the top man is using a turk? Or bow-and-arrow to produce "improving" positions from top? Can these no longer be used? Also, according to the rules, "When wrestlers interlock fingers in the neutral position, the referee will stop the action and call it stalemate, and any subsequent offenses would require the referee to call stalling on the wrestler who initiates the interlocking." How is the referee supposed to determine which wrestler "initiates" the interlocking? The first question can be answered. Speaking as a former referee, I have no idea how they are supposed to answer the second question. It is pretty difficult to "force" one's opponent into interlocking fingers. -- Ronald M. Foley: We talk about this all the time on the international scene and the best indicator of who is interlocking fingers seems based on score and momentum. Most of the time cautions have been called for interlocking fingers when one wrestler is trying to maintain their lead late in the match. Other times when a wrestler is pouring it on the defensive wrestler has been cautioned for gripping the fingers. You're right, though. There is almost no way to decipher who is initiating the action. However, the problem was far from rampant this year and I think this type of correction should stop any burgeoning trend from becoming part of the NCAA wrestling aesthetic like it has at the international level. As for turks, the rules state that if the offensive wrestler elevates the turk the count is stopped as it is considered action. Q: Who is your USA World Team in men's freestyle? -- Brian K. Foley: My picks are below. 57 kilos: Tony Ramos 61 kilos: Reece Humphrey 65 kilos: Brent Metcalf 74 kilos: Jordan Burroughs 86 kilos: Ed Ruth (Pulling for Old Man Herbert) 97 kilos: Jake Varner 125 kilos: Tervel Dlagnev

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. -- Ouachita Baptist University athletic director David Sharp announced the departure of head wrestling coach Chris Chionuma. Coach Chionuma is leaving to pursue other options after guiding the Tigers to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships. "Coach Chionuma did a great job in continuing the growth of Ouachita's wrestling program," Coach Sharp said. "We wish him the best."

The U.S. World Team Trials for freestyle get underway this weekend and with more interest in the sport than ever before the event is primed to be the highlight of June's packed wrestling calendar. Atop that pile of interest is a 74-kilo bracket stacked with Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs, four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake and two-time NCAA champions Andrew Howe and David Taylor. Burroughs has never lost to the trio of would-be challengers. Burroughs, who earned bronze at last year's World championships in Tashkent, will await the winner of the challenge tournament and need to win a best-of-three series to ensure his place at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas. There is no longer a requirement that the challenging wrestler also place ahead of Burroughs at an international event. With so much talent in the bracket and opinions on each side as to how and why each could upend Burroughs, here's a look at those top four competitors and what makes them primed for an upset, and what doesn't. Why Andrew Howe will win the Trials Considered the No. 4 wrestler at the weight class, Howe has been wildly underestimated by the general public and possibly this field of opponents. Andrew Howe (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Howe has had a hearty season on the mats, earning a second-place finish at the Ivan Yarygin tournament in January, beating a bevvy of Russians on their home soil. In reality Howe might have won Yarygin had it not been for some questionable calls in the waning seconds of his finals match. Yarygin showed what Howe is capable achieving when he stays aggressive on his feet and keep attacking from a close tie-up. Howe's advantage against the 2105 World Team Trials field is that he can wear down opponents with heavy head pressure and earn pushout points by dictating mat position -- a key for scoring late in matches when opponents want to avoid pushouts. When looking only at the likelihood of earning the 30-second clock against an opponents and scoring on a pushout, Howe would seem to hold an edge over both Burroughs and Taylor. Howe may also have the tank to make it through this grind and still have enough gas to face Burroughs in a three-match finale. Why Andrew Howe won't win the Trials Howe has given up a lot of points on his own offense. When he doesn't feel comfortable to shoot it limits his aggressiveness and takes away the edge he garners from hand fighting. Against Burroughs, a great counter-shot wrestler, there is less of a chance for the Michigan-trained Howe to earn pushout and caution points due to positioning alone. In their last matchup Howe gave up a double leg for four points on the edge -- a scenario that could repeat itself this weekend if Howe isn't attacking or keeping his hands on Burroughs. Also, with a crowded field with competent competitors outside the top four Howe will have to wrestle a near-perfect six periods of wrestling to face Burroughs. A slip-up against Dake or Taylor and he could see himself down four points -- a deficit that is tough for him to make up at this weight class. Why Kyle Dake will win the Trials Kyle Dake (Photo/Juan Garcia)Kyle Dake has a habit of winning and has the confidence to make it past any opponent in any setting. That's an enormous intangible that is ready to carry over to the international scene. Though Dake fell short against Burroughs in 2013 he showed that he can score big moves and slow down Burroughs' double leg attacks with deep underhooks and a defensive style that gives little in the way of angles. Burroughs is a slow starter and if Dake can fire off an early takedown and play defense he has the tools to seal up the position. Dake has been flawless against Taylor, finding creative and dominant ways to make his way past a longtime rival. The mental edge can't be understated and should the pair meet in the challenge tournament, a fresh Dake looks likelier to repeat than Taylor does to upset. Making it past Taylor again and with his history of challenging Burroughs, Dake could create a pair of matches that give him the chance to wrestle in Vegas. Why Kyle Dake won't win the Trials Having only wrestled a handful of times in the past 18 months, Dake might not be tournament-ready in terms of conditioning or gamesmanship. Sneaking into the World Team Trials via the Northeast Regional was the right play since Dake probably understood there was little advantage to enduring a pair of tournaments set so close together. While Dake has the talent and intangibles, his lack of experience on the mat with freestyle rules might have an effect. Taylor, who Dake hasn't lost to in college or at the senior level, may have made the type of wonder-leap in 2014-15 to blow past an idle Dake. Taylor's gamesmanship has only improved, as has his confidence and conditioning. Even if Dake makes it through the grind of the challenge tournament, his lack of conditioning will prove fatal against Burroughs. The two-time World champion and Olympic champion only needs one slip-up to score two (or four) points from his double leg attacks. That's a likelihood and reality too great for Dake to overcome. Why David Taylor will win the Trials David Taylor (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Momentum. David Taylor has a truckload of it heading into the World Team Trials, and there might not be much that Dake, Howe or Burroughs can do to slow him down. Taylor, who gave Burroughs everything he could handle in last year's World Team Trials finals, is coming off a U.S. Open title and a well-wrestled technical fall win against Olympic and World medalist Livan Lopez. Perhaps better than any other wrestler at blending defense with generating heaps of points, Taylor can (and will) score more than five points in every match he wrestles. That's a lot of ground for most competitors to make up. Should Taylor make it past the challenge tournament, the lessons of last year could be enough to carry him past Burroughs in the best-of-three finals. He has length, knows to stay low coming out of failed attacks, and has likely scouted a few new weaknesses in Burroughs' shot defense and over-extension on offensive attacks. With Cael and Casey Cunningham helping to dissect Burroughs, a well-conditioned and peaking Taylor is prepped to be the United States' most surprising 2015 World Team member. Why David Taylor won't win the Trials Taylor will be visiting a tournament filled with reminders of past failures ... the losses to Dake and the last-second loss to Burroughs in last year's finals. The World Team Trials have been unkind to Taylor. That history should be telling of this tournament as there are just too many ghosts to overcome and too much to get right for Taylor to make it onto the stand. Taylor is in shape, technically sound and has wins against some of the best wrestlers in the world. The only thing standing in his way could be the confidence and self-assurance to believe that he deserves to be on the World Team. Why Jordan Burroughs will win the Trials Jordan Burroughs (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Burroughs is among the best wrestlers in the world, and with only two losses at the senior level hasn't fallen victim to too many game plans that can accommodate for his lighting fast counter-shots and attacks. Dake's underhook can slow him down for a period, but not six periods. Taylor can grab a bucket load of points, but it's unlikely he can then hold off Burroughs for the remainder of the match. A "gamer" in the most absolute and prolific way possible, Burroughs has been behind early and had to rally late against dozens of opponents and each time he's found a way to rally for the win. His technical skills are never in question and when men stand across from them they see that it will take willpower, not just wrestling moves, to best the champion. Why Jordan Burroughs won't win the Trials After years of buildup and hype, the collection of world-class American wrestlers at 74 kilos has matured on the mat. They have international experience, big wins and are taught by world-level coaches. Burroughs is sitting atop his throne as the country around him seeks to do only one thing -- take his crown. That much energy and focus from so many angles could eventually stress Burroughs enough to break his dominance. Burroughs has been vulnerable in the past, giving up big moves to Howe, Dake and Taylor in matches that matter, and dropping a ho-hum criteria-based loss to 70-kilo wrestler Nick Marable. Burroughs is as vulnerable now as he will ever be, and with enough wrestlers aiming for his title it's only a matter of time until he crumbles and forfeits his position as the 74-kilo World Team member.

Former Ohio State wrestlers J Jaggers and Perry Martter are among the 14 new members who will be enshrined in the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame. The class will be inducted on Sept. 18 at a dinner and introduced to the public at halftime of the Ohio State home football game against Northern Illinois on Sept. 19. The hall of fame was established in 1977 and has inducted 285 men and 111 women through 2014. Jaggers and Martter are the 15th and 16th Ohio State wrestlers enshrined. J Jaggers (2006-09) J Jaggers led the Ohio State wrestling team to new heights on his way to winning back to back NCAA titles in 2008 and 2009. A three-time All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier, Jaggers was one of the key members of the 2008 and 2009 Buckeye squads that finished second at the NCAA championships. One of just four Ohio State wrestlers in school history to win multiple national titles, Jaggers collected 107 wins over his career and was the 2009 Ohio State Male Athlete of the Year. After winning his first title in 2008, he was honored as the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission Collegiate Athlete of the Year. J Jaggers (Photo/Tech-Fall.com)Entering the 2008 NCAA Tournament as the No. 6 seed at 141 pounds, Jaggers upset the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 seeds on his way to winning the title. His title match was a 5-2 victory over top-seeded and previously undefeated Chad Mendes of Cal Poly. The following year, he cruised past the No. 1 seed in the finals (10-4) and was 28-7 overall on the year. A three-time team captain, Jaggers, from Northfield, Ohio, currently ranks in the Top 20 in career wins (17th, 107), single season points (16th, 132.5, 2008), career points (16th, 281.0) and fastest fall (10th, 25 seconds). In the classroom, Jaggers was a NWCA All-Academic honoree and three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection. He was a volunteer assistant coach for the Buckeyes in 2009-2010 and then was promoted to a full-time assistant prior to the 2010-11 season. With his guidance, Logan Stieber became the sport's fourth four-time NCAA champion and the team won its first national title in 2015. Perry Martter (1921-22) Perry Martter was one of the pioneers of the sport of wrestling at Ohio State, staring on the first varsity team in 1921 and winning conference championships in both 1921 and 1922. As a sophomore in 1921, he won the Big Ten title at 158 pounds and then repeated in 1922, winning the 145-pound weight class. Before an injury derailed the end of his senior season, Martter led the Buckeyes to an undefeated record and conference championship in 1923, just the team's third season in existence. He was also named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Year (the first of five Buckeyes over 94 years to win the award) and finished his career with a 19-1 record (.950), the highest winning percentage until Logan Stieber broke the mark in 2015. Following his graduation in 1923 with a degree in engineering, Martter made the Olympic team and competed in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. At those games, he was joined on the Olympic team by fellow Buckeye and Athletics Hall of Fame member Harry Steele. An excellent student, Martter was admitted to the Bucket and Dipper and Sphinx honor societies. An engineering graduate, Martter was born in Coshocton, Ohio, and graduated from Grandview High School. He passed away June 13, 1954.

The Cadet National Duals start today in York, Pa. The Greco-Roman competition will be conducted today and tomorrow, with freestyle to be wrestled on Friday and Saturday. The opening day of each tournament is four double-elimination brackets (with true second) to determine the tiered pools in which each team will compete on day two. The top two teams in each bracket will compete in the Gold/Silver pool, and compete for the tournament championship. Teams placing third and fourth will compete in the Bronze/Copper pool, and so forth. Within each pool, teams will wrestle three dual meets and then a crossover dual meet for placement. In order for a team to win the national title, they need to finish top two in their first day bracket. Then, they need to be on top of the standings after a three-match round-robin (generally speaking that entails going 3-0), and then win a crossover match against the top team in the other pool. Cadet-eligible wrestlers have 1999 and 2000 birth dates. This means that the eligible pool of wrestlers is virtually all Class of 2018 prospects, along with some prospects from the Class of 2017 and the Class of 2019. Illinois swept the titles at the Cadet Duals last year, when the event was held in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Land of Lincoln squad beat a team from Ohio in Greco-Roman and a group from Pennsylvania in freestyle. With Pennsylvania being the host state, this should assure that they bring a high quality squad. The same can be said for neighboring states of Ohio and New Jersey. That said, all three had high quality rosters for the Cadet Duals last year. Illinois will always bring a relatively strong squad for National Dual meet events. In addition, moving the tournament up one week means the return of Minnesota and Iowa squads to the Cadet Duals, as they had been missing the last few years, with the Northern Plains regional being held the same weekend. Roster information for the Greco-Roman competition is unavailable at the time of compiling the preview. (Track Wrestling had it hidden on Tuesday night.) However, the composition of each day one bracket (at least the one effective at that moment) is available, and the opening round matchups are the following: Pool A: Washington vs. North Carolina Utah vs. Ohio 2 Colorado vs. Kansas 2, Minnesota vs. Maryland Pool B: Illinois vs. South Carolina Texas vs. Michigan 2 Iowa vs. Pennsylvania 2 New Jersey 1 vs. New York Pool C: Kansas 1 vs. Delaware Indiana with a bye Oklahoma vs. California Ohio 1 vs. Virginia Pool D: Pennsylvania 1 vs. New Jersey 2 Georgia with a bye Florida with a bye Missouri vs. Michigan 1 Link: Cadet Duals Greco-Roman Results The Gold/Silver pools to be contested on Thursday consist of the following: *A-1, B-2, C-2, D-1 *A-2, B-1, C-1, D-2 Roster information for the freestyle competition is available on Track Wrestling as of Tuesday evening for the vast majority of teams; only Florida, both Missouri teams slated to compete, and both Pennsylvania teams did not have public roster information. Jason Renteria (Photo/Rob Preston)With all that said, the following grade-level ranked wrestlers (as of mid-April) are slated to compete: Class of 2019+: No. 2 Cohlton Schultz (Colorado), No. 4 Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio) Class of 2018: No. 8 Brandon Whitman (Michigan), No. 9 David Carr (Ohio), No. 12 Jack Jessen (Illinois), No. 17 Shane Griffith (New Jersey), No. 19 Alex Lloyd (Minnesota), No. 20 Nate Jimenez (Illinois), No. 23 Joe Lee (Indiana), No. 24 Ryan Karoly (New Jersey), and No. 25 Brock Hardy (Utah) Class of 2017: No. 17 Jason Renteria (Illinois) Link: Cadet Duals Freestyle Results

Quincy Osborn has resigned as Lakeland College head wrestling coach, Lakeland Interim Director of Athletics April Arvan announced today. Quincy OsbornOsborn is leaving the program after one year as head coach. He led the Muskies to a third-place finish in the Northern Wrestling Association this season and also coached sophomore Mitchell Fucile (Chilton, Wis.), who became Lakeland's first qualifier for the NCAA Division III national wrestling championships in four years. Fucile finished 1-2 at the championships and came up one win shy of attaining All-American status. "We are thankful for Quincy's work with the wrestling program at Lakeland and wish him well in the future," said Arvan. "We are committed to finding the best possible replacement to lead the wrestling program to future success." Osborn's resignation is effective June 30. A search for his successor will begin immediately.

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- University of Iowa redshirt freshman Sam Stoll competes at the UWW Junior World Team Trials on Friday for a chance to represent Team USA at the UWW Junior World Championships in Brazil from Aug. 11-16. Stoll wrestles in the 120 kilos/264-pound bracket Friday at 9 a.m. (CT) in Madison, Wisconsin. He is one of seven Hawkeyes, past or present, competing for a roster spot on Team USA this weekend. Three-time World Team member Brent Metcalf leads a group of six Hawkeye Wrestling Club members competing at the U.S. World Team Trials on Saturday and Sunday at Alliant Energy Center. Daniel Dennis, Phil Keddy, Matt McDonough, Tony Ramos, and Derek St. John join Metcalf in the men's senior freestyle tournament. Champions in each weight class will represent Team USA at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas from Sept. 7-12. Metcalf, a three-time World Team member, and Ramos, a 2014 World Team member, receive automatic berths in the best-of-three finals of their respective weights by virtue of winning the 2015 U.S. Open. Ramos wrestles in the 57 kilos/125.5-pound finals Saturday at 5 p.m. Metcalf wrestles in the 66 kilos/143 lbs. finals Sunday at 5 p.m. McDonough, St. John, and Keddy wrestle in challenge tournaments Saturday at 10 a.m. Dennis wrestles in the 61 kilos/134-pound challenge tournament Sunday at 10 a.m. The winner of each challenge tournament will wrestle in the best-of-three finals at 5 p.m. McDonough placed fifth at 57 kilos/125.5 lbs. at the U.S. Open to qualify for the World Team Trials. If he wins his challenge tournament he faces Ramos for the title. St. John qualified for the Trials with a fifth place finish at 70 kilos/154 lbs. at the U.S. Open. A run through the challenge tournament earns him a shot a U.S. Open champion Nick Marable. Keddy won the Northern Plains Regionals to qualify for the Trials at 86 kilos/189 lbs. Jake Herbert, a 2012 Olympian and reigning U.S. Open champion, waits in the finals. Dennis placed fourth at the U.S. Open to earn a spot in the Trials field. The winner of Dennis' bracket faces two-time World Team member Reece Humphrey in the in finals. Jordan Oliver is the top seed in the 66 kilos/143-pound challenge tournament. Metcalf defeated Oliver at the 2014 Trials and the 2015 U.S. Open finals. Andrew Hochstrasser is the top seed in the 57 kilos/125.5-pound challenge tournament. Ramos defeated Hochstrasser with a late takedown in the finals of the 2015 U.S. Open.

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved Monday the drop-down rule and the neutral-position stalling rule in wrestling, starting with the 2015-16 season. Both rules were used on an experimental basis last season. Both are now permanent rules, though the panel made a few tweaks before approving so referees will have a clearer understanding of how both should be applied. While officiating the drop-down rule, the referee will immediately begin a five-second count for stalling once the offensive wrestler positions himself with one or both hands below the buttocks of the defensive wrestler. The referee will stop the count when the offensive wrestler improves his position, moves his hold above the buttocks of the defensive wrestler or releases the hold. If the referee reaches the fifth count before the offensive wrestler improves his position, moves his hold above the buttocks or releases the hold, the offensive wrestler will be called for stalling. Additionally, if the offensive wrestler lifts the defensive wrestler's leg off the mat and both wrestlers reach the standing position, the referee will stop the five-second count. But if the offensive wrestler does not continue to attempt to return the defensive wrestler to the mat, the referee can call stalling, as in the past, without the five-second count. Another stalling call related to the drop-down rule can be made by the referee if the offensive wrestler applies a hold with his hand or arm around the defensive wrestler's waist while applying the other arm or hand below the buttocks. In that scenario, the five-second count will start and continue until the hold below the buttocks has been released. The neutral-position stalling rule was used experimentally in the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic in November. After watching how it was called in that event, members of the NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee determined that when wrestling is stopped in the neutral standing position for going out of bounds, the referee can make one of the three following calls: Stalling on one or both wrestlers for leaving the wrestling area. Stalling for pushing or pulling the opponent out of bounds. Wrestling action is taking place. (It should be noted that a tie-up, including an under hook with no attempt to initiate an offensive move, is not considered an offensive or defensive attack). Other rules approved by the panel include: Recommending that teams wear contrasting colored singlets at dual meets. Awarding two points for a nearfall if the referee reaches a two-count. Four points would be awarded if the referee reaches a four-count. Experimenting with a rule at the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic that would award three points for a takedown. Separating the "control-of-mat area" and "questioning the referee" penalties in the penalty chart. If a coach leaves the restricted area, the penalty structure will be: a warning on the first offense; loss of a team point in the event standings/score on the second offense; and loss of two team points and ejection on the third offense. When wrestlers interlock fingers in the neutral position, the referee will stop the action and call it stalemate, and any subsequent offenses would require the referee to call stalling on the wrestler who initiates the interlocking. Once the offensive wrestler assumes the correct starting position, the referee will wait a minimum of one second after saying, "set," before sounding the whistle for wrestling to begin.

MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- Bacone College Athletic Director Alan Foster announced that they will build on the current success of the men's wrestling program with the addition of women's wrestling. The program will be under the leadership of current men's wrestling head coach Brett Oleson who begins his eighth season in August 2015. Most recently Oleson sent two wrestlers in Caleb Crump and C.J. Berry to the 58th NAIA Wrestling National Championships in Topeka, Kan. "We're excited about this addition," Oleson said. "I have no doubt that our women's wrestling program will inevitably become just as strong as our men's program." Bacone will start competition in fall 2016; the upcoming 2015-16 season will be used to build the program and athletes will be allowed to participate in open tournaments. "We're always looking to improve what we offer athletically at Bacone College. So when we surveyed the landscape this was a natural progression for our institution," Foster noted. "Women's wrestling is growing sport right now and under the tutelage of Coach (Brett) Oleson I envision us competing at an extremely high level."

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- After finishing second in both styles at the USA Wrestling Schoolboy Duals, Team Illinois was able to get the gold medal in the freestyle competition on Sunday afternoon. The Greco-Roman competition, which concluded earlier in the weekend was won by Pennsylvania, which won last year's freestyle competition. In the Greco-Roman competition, the Pennsylvania squad won all seven matches that they wrestled. In only the championship final against Washington, which they won 41-37, was the outcome of the dual meet in doubt headed to the last match. After an opening match pin by Braxton Mikesell of Washington at 175 pounds, it was three consecutive victories for Pennsylvania (including a forfeit at 265 pounds) to give them a 13-6 lead at the turn. Washington won the four lowest weight classes to jump out to a 21-15 lead after a 12-0 technical fall from Aizayah Yaccapin at 91 pounds. Pennsylvania countered with four successive wins from 98 to 120 pounds to take a 32-22 advantage. Three successive wins for Washington enabled them to regain the lead 36-33 headed into the penultimate and last matches of the dual meet. That included early pins from Franky Almaguer (136) and Adrian St. Germain (144). Pennsylvania would win those last two matches to take home the dual meet: Angel Garcia with a pin in 1:43 at 152 pounds, and then a 6-3 decision victory from Darrien Roberts at 160. During the freestyle competition, Illinois dominated their way to the title, winning at least 10 contested matches in all but one dual meet. In only one dual meet, a championship pool match against Pennsylvania, was the outcome in doubt headed to the last match of the dual; that was also the only dual that the Illinois squad won less than ten matches (9-8 match count). In that initial dual meet of the championship pool, Illinois rallied back from a 22-12 deficit after eight matches, as well as a 31-24 deficit with four matches remaining in the dual meet to beat the Pennsylvania squad. Those last four wins came in a pin from Jacob Kaminski (175), a 12-0 technical fall from Luke Luffman (190), a 9-2 decision from Justin Hull (210), and a pin from Ronald Tucker (265) in a winner take all last match of the dual meet. The Land of Lincoln squad upended Ohio by a 55-23 score in the championship final. Seven teams finished top eight in both styles: Pennsylvania (Greco champs, fourth in freestyle), Washington (runner-up, third), Illinois (fourth, champions), Minnesota (fifth, seventh), Arizona (double sixth), Missouri (seventh, fifth), and Ohio (eighth, runners-up). Among the stars for the Pennsylvania squad in Greco-Roman were Michael Kistler (105) and Beau Bartlett (120), who were undefeated in both styles this weekend. Most notable from the Illinois championship squad in freestyle was Ronald Tucker (265), who went undefeated in both styles. A list of wrestlers who went undefeated in both styles this weekend, having five or more contested matches in each style: 70: Carter Young (Oklahoma) 77: Cullen Schriever (Iowa) 84: Anthony Clark (New Jersey), Caden McCrary (Georgia) 91: Carson Manville (Virginia) 98: Drew Eller (Colorado) 105: Michael Kistler (Pennsylvania) 112: Beau Bartlett (Pennsylvania), Alex Facundo (Michigan) 128: Aaron Bancroft (North Carolina) 136: Zak Phillips (Maryland), Franky Almaguer (Washington) 144: Adrian St. Germain (Washington) 160: Hayden Rockman (Virginia) 175: Braxton Amos (Ohio), Zachary Brown (Virginia) 190: Jaymone Whitaker (Ohio) 210: Jadyn Withrow (Missouri) 265: Ronald Tucker (Illinois)