InterMat Staff

With the high school wrestling season's start nearing, InterMat is taking readers across the United States of America on a tour of scholastic wrestling. From mid-August until mid-November, InterMat is introducing readers to the top high school senior wrestlers in the 49 states with scholastic wrestling. Matt Smith and Tim Brown look at the top senior wrestlers in New Hampshire. The 2013-2014 wrestling season in New Hampshire ended much like the previous 15 seasons, with Timberlane Regional High School of Plaistow on top of the podium. That's correct, the Owls of Timberlane have won their 15th straight New Hampshire State Championship, a New Hampshire record 21 state titles, and a New England record 10 regional championships. The Lancers of Londonderry capped off their best season in years with a runner-up finish in the state meet, led by undefeated New England champion Jean Luc Lemieux. Jean Luc is now a three-time state champion, twice with Pinkerton Academy, and most recently with Londonderry High School. Perennially strong concord finished out the top three. Here is a look at how the top competitors stack up against the rest of the state. Jean-Luc Lemieux1. Jean-Luc Lemieux (Londonderry) Projected High School Weight Class: 132 Projected College Weight Class: 133 College Choices: Navy and Stanford Analysis: Lemiuex capped an undefeated junior campaign (50-0) with a dominating run to his New England championship. Lemieux is a terror on the mat. He went on to finish fourth at NHSCA Junior Nationals, and will be looking to repeat this season and become a two-time New England champion, as well as a four-time state champ. He has a career record of 124-9. Lemieux carries a 3.3 GPA. 2. Derek Bohle (Timberlane) Projected High School Weight Class: 138 Projected College Weight Class: 133 Analysis: Bohle, who attends Timberlane, was the New Hampshire feel-good story of the year. A two-year backup for the Owls, Bohle burst onto the scene with a monster season that saw him only lose to nemesis Lemiuex in the postseason. A runner-up in the New England Championships, Bohle's unorthodox mat wrestling will look to have him vying for the New England title. He maintains a 3.86 GPA. 3. Richard Bilodeau (Londonderry) Projected High School Weight Class: 195 Projected College Weight Class: 197 Analysis: Another standout for the Lancers of Londonderry, Bilodeau had a tremendous end to his junior season. A strong run in the postseason saw Bilodeau tear through the consolation bracket and storm back for fourth place at New Englands. He won 44 matches as a junior. A judo master, Bilodeau and Lemieux will be looking to dethrone the Owls at the end of the year. 4. Nick Widmann (John Stark) Projected High School Weight Class: 138 Projected College Weight Class: 141 College Choices: WPI and Wesleyan Analysis: Widmann, one of the small school standouts in New Hampshire, had another bracket to hold at the end of the season. A two-time Division 3 champ from John Stark High School, Widmann placed fifth at the New England Championships. He finished his junior season with a 52-8 record to bring his career record to 120-26. A stellar student as well, he is ranked No. 1 overall in his class and carries a GPA of 4.6. 5. Brandon Levesque (Bishop Guertin) Projected High School Weight Class: 152 Projected College Weight Class: 149 College Choices: Roger Williams, Sacred Heart, Western New England and Lutheran Analysis: Levesque, a former All State champ, finished second at this year's state meet, and placed sixth in the New England Regional in 2013. A standout as a running back for the Cardinals of Bishop Guertin, Levesque will look to become a two-time state champion to propel him forward into his college career. He has a career mark of 114-28. Cam Bennett6. Cam Bennett (Nashua North) Projected High School Weight Class: 132 Projected College Weight Class: 133 College Choices: Wesleyan, Daniel Webster and Plymouth State Analysis: Bennett will be a four-year varsity starter for the Titans of Nashua North and is looking to improve upon his runner-up finish from the last two seasons. A lanky 126-pounder from last season, his college weight class projects at 133 pounds. Bennett is also a three-time state placer as well. He has a career record of 120-26. 7. Jake Nault (Goffstown) Projected High School Weight Class: 126 Projected College Weight Class: 125 Analysis: Nault is a three-time New Hampshire Division 2 state champion from Goffstown High School, and will look to become one of only a few four-time champs this season. He has a tenacious wrestling attack and does not stop until the final whistle. Nault is also a tremendous student with a 3.57 GPA. He brings a 95-28 career record into his senior year. 8. Dan Scalzo (Timberlane) Projected High School Weight Class: 152 Projected College Weight Class: 149 Analysis: A three-year starter for the Owls, Scalzo gathered Division 1 Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament award by defeating his undefeated nemesis from Manchester Central. A three-time state placer, Scalzo can scramble from any position and is a pinner from top. He will help lead the Timberlane squad. He has a career record of 107-32. 9. Richie Mills (Winnisquam) Projected High School Weight Class: 182 Projected College Weight Class: 184 College Choices: Sacred Heart, Scranton, College of New Jersey, Rhode Island College, Buffalo and York Analysis: Another small school standout, Mills of Winnisquam repeated as the NH Division 3 Champ this past season. A 3 year starter for the Bears, Mills can pin from any position. One of the All-Time winningest wrestlers from Winnisquam (115-22 career record), he boasts a 3.5 GPA as well. Brian Lonergan10. Brian Lonergan (Timberlane) Projected High School Weight Class: 182 Projected College Weight Class: 184 Analysis: Lonergan, a returning starter for the Owls came on with a strong junior campaign that saw him finish runner-up in the state meet and compile a 41-12 record. A standout guard for the football team, Lonergan will look to challenge for the top spot at the end of the season and lead the Owls to another state title.

Over recent years, the Super 32 Challenge has served as a key measuring stick for the high-end high school wrestler. In the 2014 NCAA Division I tournament, seven of the finalists participated in this event during their high school career. That includes five of the ten NCAA champions: three-time champion Ed Ruth (Penn State), two-time champion and two-time Hodge Trophy recipient David Taylor (Penn State), Tony Ramos (Iowa), Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern), and Nick Gwiazdowski (North Carolina State). Furthermore, of the 330 qualifiers, over one-quarter were past Super 32 Challenge participants; while 23 of the 80 All-Americans had participated in this tournament during their scholastic career. This coming year's event should be no exception. The talent level among the approximately 1,500 wrestlers registered to compete is extraordinarily high. More than one-third of the nation's top 100 Class of 2015 wrestlers, according to InterMat, are in the field; while approximately half of the top 50 in the Class of 2016 and Class of 2017, and a similar amount of the top 25 in the Class of 2018 are slated to be in the event as well. Four of the five underclassman wrestlers that ended the 2013-14 season ranked number one in their weight class populate this field: Yianni Diakomihalis (Hilton, N.Y.), Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional, Pa.), Nick Piccininni (Ward Mellville, N.Y.), and Zahid Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif.). Two wrestlers ranked first regardless of weight class in their respective graduating class are in this field -- freshman Cade Olivas (St. John Bosco, Calif.), along with sophomore Spencer Lee. Sam KrivusThe 2014 Super 32 Challenge field also features 40 wrestlers that placed in the 2013 edition of this event, including five defending champions: Yianni Diakomihalis, Spencer Lee, Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe, Pa.), Sam Krivus (Hempfield Area, Pa.), and Jordan Wood (Boyertown, Pa.); Krivus is after a third consecutive title in this event. Also in this field are two other wrestlers with a past Super 32 high school division title: 2011 champion Michael Kemerer (Franklin Regional, Pa.) and 2012 champion Nick Suriano (Bergen Catholic, N.J.) Wrestling will start at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. At the end of Saturday's competition, 16 wrestlers (8 quarterfinalists, 8 in consolation) will remain in each weight class. Competition then resumes on Sunday at 8:00 a.m. to determine a champion and the other seven placers in each weight class. Held in conjunction with the high school division on Sunday will be a middle school tournament, as well as the debut year for two divisions of elementary school competition. The following is an overview of the highlight wrestlers in each weight class based on entrants as of the evening of October 27. 106: Youth tends to be served in the opening weight class, and this year should be no exception with four of the nation's top 25 Class of 2018 prospects in this field -- No. 1 Cade Olivas, No. 3 Gavin Teasdale (Jefferson Morgan, Pa.), No. 17 Anthony Madrigal (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), and No. 24 Roderick Mosley, Jr. (Heritage Hall, Okla.). Both Olivas and Teasdale are among the seven FILA Cadet freestyle world team members from this summer in this field, while Madrigal is one of six 2014 Fargo freestyle All-Americans in the field. Others include Drew Mattin (Delta, Ohio), Matt Parker (Pennridge, Pa.), Ryan Chauvin (Pine Creek, Colo.), and Elijah Varona (South Dade, Fla.) from the Cadet level; while Jonathan Tropea (St. Joseph Montvale, N.J.) finished third in Juniors. Additional wrestlers to watch include state champions Dane Heberlein (Alexander, N.Y.) and Joseph Silva (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), as well as state runners-up Justin Portillo (Claridon-Goldfield, Iowa) and Jonathan Gomez (Locust Valley, N.Y.) Predicted finals match: Olivas over Teasdale, in a rematch of the Who's Number One match from two weekends ago. 113: Returning champion Spencer Lee, who also was a FILA Cadet World freestyle champion this summer, is the headline wrestler in this field. He is joined by five other graduating class ranked wrestlers: Devin Brown (Franklin Regional, Pa.), ranked No. 96 in the Class of 2015; Jason Renteria (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.) and Kaden Gfeller (Heritage Hall, Okla.), ranked No. 22 and 39 in the Class of 2017; Mitch Moore (St. Paris Graham, Ohio), ranked No. 9 in the Class of 2018; and Nick Raimo (Hanover Park, N.J.), ranked No. 3 among Junior High wrestlers. Among the other wrestlers to watch are state champion Noah Baughman (Wadsworth, Ohio), Junior Triple Crown winner Danny Vega (Ironwood Ridge, Ariz.), returning Super 32 Challenge place-winners Kennedy Monday (Arlington Martin, Tex.) and Brandon Cray (Hamilton East, N.J.), Cadet National freestyle champion Paul Konrath (Mt. Vernon, Ind.), FILA Cadet Greco-Roman world team member Drew West (Highland, Iowa), NHSCA Sophomore Nationals champion Sebastian Rivera (Christian Brothers Academy, N.J.), along with Junior National freestyle All-Americans in Garrett Pepple (East Noble, Ind.) and Drew Hildebrandt (Mishawaka Penn, Ind.) Predicted finals match: Lee over Brown, in a battle of Franklin Regional teammates. That said, the second finalist spot is anyone's guess; while Lee is the prohibitive favorite. 120: Two wrestlers ranked No. 4 overall in their respective grade level are among the field, junior Nick Suriano and sophomore Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla.); Suriano is a two-time state champion and two-time Super 32 finalist, while Fix was a FILA Cadet freestyle world team member this summer. Ten other wrestlers in this weight class are ranked in their respective grade level -- returning Super 32 placers Christian Moody (Collinsville, Okla.) and Eli Stickley (St. Paris Graham, Ohio) are ranked No. 80 and 86 in the senior class; returning Super 32 placer Kyle Norstrem (Brandon, Fla.) and Alex Mackall (Walsh Jesuit, Ohio) are No. 16 and 28 in the junior class; Yianni Diakomihalis, FloNationals runner-up Vitali Arujau (Syosset, N.Y.), Cadet freestyle runner-up Ben Freeman (Walled Lake Central, Mich.), Cadet Greco-Roman champion Coltan Williams (Trinity Christian Academy, Tex.), and Cadet double All-American Bryce West (Highland, Iowa) hold positions No. 5, 11, 19, 30, and 42 in the sophomore class; while Aaron Brooks (North Hagerstown, Md.) is No. 25 in the freshman class. Three additional wrestlers in this weight class placed in the Super 32 last year, all doing so at 106 pounds: Gage Curry (North Hills, Pa.), Tyler Warner (Claymont, Ohio), and Luke Karam (Bethlehem Catholic, Pa.). Another trio of wrestlers have been Junior National freestyle All-Americans: Doyle Trout (Centennial, Neb.), Michael Cullen (Cary Grove, Ill.), and Benny Gomez (Holt, Mich.). Other wrestlers to note in this field include Flo Nationals runner-up Rudy Yates (Carl Sandburg, Ill.), NHSCA Junior Nationals runner-up Steven Simpson (St. Mary's Ryken, Md.), and two-time FILA Cadet freestyle All-American Ian Parker (St. Johns, Mich.) Predicted finals match: Suriano over Fix in a rematch of their marathon meeting at Who's Number One two weekends ago. The pair of wrestlers also met over Memorial Day weekend in the FILA Cadet National freestyle final, though Fix won that meeting. 126: A pair of wrestlers with major "sticker value" credentials lead this weight class -- Luke Pletcher and Nick Piccininni. Pletcher is ranked No. 3 overall in the junior class, and won the Super 32 Challenge last year at 120 pounds; while Piccininni is ranked No. 9 in the senior class, and ended the 2013-14 season No. 1 nationally at 120 pounds after earning a Flo Nationals title. Three other top 100 seniors are present in this weight class: two-time Super 32 Challenge placer Jose Rodriguez (Massillon Perry, Ohio), two-time Junior freestyle All-American Lincoln Olson (Davison, Mich.), and two-time state champion Markus Simmons (Broken Arrow, Okla.). Also in this weight class are two additional top 50 juniors: Cadet National freestyle runner-up Chad Red (New Palestine, Ind.) and Junior double All-American Ryan Deakin (Legacy, Colo.). Four other grade-level ranked wrestlers reside in this field: Francisco Valdes (Miami Southwest, Fla.), No. 31 in the sophomore class; while Bill Janzer (Delsea Regional, N.J.), Grant Aronoff (St. Thomas Aquinas, Fla.) and Joe Lee (Evansville Mater Dei, Ind.) are positioned No. 13, 14, and 19 in the freshman class. Two additional wrestlers in this weight class were also Junior freestyle All-Americans this summer, Peter Lipari (Bergen Catholic, N.J.) and Jonathan Gabriel (Bedford, Pa.). Additional wrestlers to watch in this field include returning Super 32 Challenge placer Evan Cheek (Milan Edison, Ohio), three-time state placer Eli Seipel (St. Paris Graham, Ohio), three-time National Prep placer Ryan Friedman (St. Paul's, Md.), FILA Cadet Greco-Roman world team member Jake Spiess (Delta, Ohio), along with a trio of two-time New Jersey state placers in Mike Russo (Jackson Liberty), Patrick D'Arcy (Holy Spirit), and Ryan Pomrinca (North Hunterdon, N.J.) Predicted finals match: Piccininni over Pletcher in a rematch of their Flo Nationals championship match meeting from early April. 132: Eleven wrestlers in this weight class are ranked among the overall best in their respective grade level, including four top 100 seniors: two-time state champion Jared Prince (Palm Harbor University, Fla.), three-time state finalist Cameron Kelly (Bellbrook, Ohio), 2013 Junior freestyle All-American Brandon James (Perry Meridian, Ind.), and NHSCA Junior Nationals runner-up Mike D'Angelo (Commack, N.Y.); Prince, Jeffries, and James have placed in the Super 32 before. Within the junior class rankings, returning Super 32 runner-up George Phillippi (Derry Area, Pa.) is ranked No. 13, while Junior National freestyle champion Mitch McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.) is No. 19. Two-time FILA Cadet freestyle runner-up Nick Lee (Evansville Mater Dei) is ranked No. 2 in the sophomore class, and is joined by three others in the rankings: returning Super 32 placer Eric Hong (Georgetown Prep, Md.), Cadet double All-American Corey Shie (LaSalle, Ohio), and Flo Nationals placer Todd Lane (Southern Columbia, Pa.). Finally, Justin Ruffin (Union Grove, Ga.) is ranked No. 20 in the freshman class. Other wrestlers to watch include Flo Nationals runner-up Robert Lee (Kaukauna, Wis.); two-time state champions Jarred Ganger (Covington, Ohio), Marty Margolis (La Plata, Md.), Hunter Washburn (Alburnett, Iowa), and Alius DeLaRosa (Post Falls, Idaho); along with Cadet Greco-Roman champion Jake Allar (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.) Predicted finals match: Prince, who placed in 2012, bounces back from last year's DNP; while Phillippi finishes runner-up for a second straight year in this tournament. 138: Sam Krivus, ranked No. 26 overall in the senior class, seeks to become only the sixth wrestler to ever win three Super 32 Challenge titles -- but just the second to win those three titles since the event has moved to Greensboro in 2005. Fourteen other wrestlers in this field are ranked in their respective grade levels, including four fellow seniors: No. 31 Nate Limmex (Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Mich.), No. 38 Jaydin Clayton (Father Tolton Catholic, Mo.), No. 50 Davion Jeffries (Broken Arrow, Okla.), and No. 95 Craig de la Cruz (Summit, N.J.). Two juniors are nationally ranked -- Flo Nationals champion Brent Moore (St. Paris Graham, Ohio) and two-time state runner-up Kyle Bierdumpfel (Don Bosco Prep, N.J.). There are five nationally ranked sophomores: state champion Cameron Coy (Penn Trafford, Pa.), FILA Cadet freestyle world team member Jared Verkleeren (Belle Vernon, Pa.), FILA Cadet Greco-Roman world team member Domenick Demas (Dublin Coffman, Ohio), Cadet double All-American Devin Bahr (West Salem, Wis.), and Cadet Greco All-American Hunter Bolen (Christiansburg, Va.). Rounding out the grade ranked wrestlers is a trio of freshmen: No. 7 Frankie Gissendanner (Penfield, N.Y.), No. 10 Josiah Rider (Grand Junction, Colo.), and No. 15 David Carr (Dayton Christian, Ohio). Also in this field are Cadet Nationals double champion Will Karsten (Platte County, Mo.), NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Will Clark (Cary, N.C.), state champions Nate Hagan (Toledo Central Catholic, Ohio) and Richard Screptock (Oregon Clay, Ohio), three-time state placer Josh Wenger (Cedar Rapids Prairie, Iowa), two-time state placer Connor Burkert (St. Peter's Prep, N.J.), and NHSCA Sophomore Nationals champion Mark McCormick (Camden Catholic, N.J.). Predicted finals match: Krivus gets his third straight title at the Super 32, upending Limmex in the final. However, this is an extremely deep weight class, with the number of plausible finalists creeping towards double digits. 145: Three-time Super 32 finalist Michael Kemerer is one of three top 100 seniors in this field, joined by NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Max Thomsen (Union, Iowa) and NHSCA Junior Nationals runner-up Patricio Lugo (South Dade, Fla.). Joining Kemerer and Thomsen in this weight class as returning Super 32 placers are Kyle Lawson (St. Paris Graham, Ohio), who is ranked No. 6 in the sophomore class, and Thomas Dutton (Rocky Point, N.Y.). This is a relatively shallow weight class, with the lone other grade-level ranked wrestler being No. 27 overall junior, Hayden Hidlay (Mifflin County, Pa.) Others to note in this weight class include state runner-up Ryan Burkert (St. Peter's Prep, N.J.), two-time state placer Zac Carson (Uniontown Lake, Ohio), two-time Flo Nationals placer Kent Lane (Southern Columbia, Pa.), NHSCA Sophomore Nationals champion Kevin Budock (Good Counsel, Md.), two-time state champions Jake Adcock (Pope, Ga.) and Christian Villani (Bellevue, Wash.), along with two-time state finalists Logan Lacure (Dayton Christian, Ohio), Griffin Parriott (New Prague, Minn.), and Brock Cooper (Bremen, Ga.). Predicted finals match: Like Joey Dance did in 2012, coincidentally beating Kemerer in that final, look for the future Hawkeye Kemerer to bookend his high school career with Super 32 titles; his projected opponent in the final will be a potential in-state college rival Thomsen, who has committed to Northern Iowa. 152: Returning Super 32 runner-up Zach Kelly, who placed third in Junior freestyle in 2013, leads the field in what is a rather deep -- if not overly top-heavy -- weight class. He is joined by four top 100 seniors and seven top 50 juniors. Nationally ranked seniors include returning Super 32 placer Tommy Forte (Mishawaka, Ind.), Junior freestyle All-Americans Josh Maruca (Franklin Regional, Pa.) and Myles Amine (Detroit Catholic Central, Mich.), along with NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Neal Richards (Matoaca, Va.). Ranked juniors include No. 25 Kaleb Young (Punxsatawney, Pa.), No. 31 Drew Hughes (Lowell, Ind.), No. 32 Justin Thomas (Santiago Corona, Calif.), No. 34 Jake Wentzel (South Park, Pa.), No. 38 Chris Mauriello (Haupppauge, N.Y.), No. 42 Thomas Bullard (Archer, Ga.), and No. 44 Austin Kraisser (Centennial, Md). The other grade-level ranked wrestler in this field is sophomore A.J. Pedro (Phillips Exeter, N.H.), who placed third at National Preps. Other wrestlers to note in this field include NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Sean Glasgow (Bound Brook, N.J.); returning Super 32 placer Isaiah Crosby (South Dade, Fla.); Flo Nationals placer Adam Martz (Mountain Ridge, Md.); 2013 state champion Dewey Krueger (Oconto Falls, Wis.); along with a pair of NHSCA Junior All-Americans in Gavin Murray (Cranford, N.J.) and Anthony Bell (Fairport, N.Y.) Predicted finals match: Kelly wins the belt in his second Super 32 finals appearance, knocking off Forte in the Sunday mid-afternoon showdown. 160: Two-time Super 32 placer Fox Baldwin (Osceola, Fla.) is one of seven top 100 seniors populating the field in this weight class. Those other ranked Class of 2015 prospects include Flo Nationals runner-up Josh Ugalde (Bound Brook, N.J.), Junior National double All-American Brett Bye (Vermillion, S.D.), Super 32 placer Dayton Racer (Bettendorf, Iowa), three-time state placer Paden Bailey (Broken Arrow, Okla.), NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Ben Schram (Bellbrook, Ohio), and three-time state placer Cole Walter (Mifflinburg, Pa.). There is also a pair of top 50 ranked juniors and a ranked sophomore in this weight class: the juniors include Alex Marinelli (St. Paris Graham, Ohio), ranked No. 9 in the Class of 2016, and FILA Cadet freestyle runner-up Trace Carello (Marmion Academy, Ill.); while Flo Nationals placer Louie Deprez (Hilton, N.Y.) is No. 29 in the Class of 2017. Additional wrestlers to note in this field include three-time New England placer Cody Hughes (Marshwood, Maine); two-time state champion Carver James (Dakota, Ill.); Cadet Greco-Roman champion Owen Webster (Shakopee, Minn.); Junior Greco All-American Joey Gunther (Libertyville, Ill.); two-time state finalist Corbin Allen (Hanover, Va.); NHSCA Sophomore Nationals champion Thomas Bullard (Archer, Ga.); along with Flo Nationals placers D.J. Hollingshead (Altoona, Pa.) and Tony Palumbo (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pa.) Predicted finals match: In a battle of top ten wrestlers in their respective grades, look for Baldwin to upend Marinelli. 170: Two top 100 seniors, and potential in-state college rivals, are featured in this weight class: Taylor Lujan (Carrollton, Ga.), a Northern Iowa commit, finished runner-up at the Super 32 and Flo Nationals during 2013-14; while two-time state champion Colston DiBlasi (Park Hill, Mo.) is an Iowa State commit. Other notable wrestlers in this field include returning Super 32 placer Zach Hertling (Ocean Township, N.J.); NHSCA Junior Nationals runner-up Juan Garcia (Danbury, Ct.); Flo Nationals placer Brett Donner (Wall, N.J.); NHSCA Junior Nationals placers Sean Kennedy (Riverdale, Tenn.) and Fritz Hoehn (North Andover, Mass.); along with state champions Trevor Allard (Mexico, N.Y.) and Caleb Little (Jefferson, Ga.) Predicted finals match: Look for Lujan to improve upon last year's runner-up finish, and win what is arguably the tournament's weakest weight class outside of heavyweight. It's open season for runner-up honors, though DiBlasi might be a fractional favorite for that position. 182: Two top 100 seniors anchor the proceedings in this weight class, No. 5 Zahid Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif.) and No. 41 Dylan Wisman (Millbrook, Va.); Valencia is a three-time Walsh Ironman champion, while Wisman won titles at the NHSCA Junior Nationals and Flo Nationals this spring. Three other wrestlers in this weight class are among the top 50 juniors nationally: Nathan Traxler (Marmion Academy, Ill.), an All-American in both Junior freestyle and FILA Cadet freestyle; state runner-up Jack Harris (Urbana, Ohio), also a FILA Cadet freestyle All-American; and state runner-up Blake Rypel (Indianapolis Cathedral, Ind.), also a NHSCA Sophomore Nationals champion. Others to watch in this weight class include 2013 state champion Evan Hansen (Exira, Iowa); two-time state runners-up Kollin Moore (Norwayne, Ohio) and Chance Cooper (Timberland, Mo.); Flo Nationals placers Dakota Geer (Franklin, Pa.) and Willie Bivens (Eastern Guilford, N.C.); state runner-up Ben Darmstadt (Elyria, Ohio); along with NHSCA Junior Nationals All-Americans in Corey Hazel (Penns Valley, Pa.), Dontae McGee (Farragut Academy, Fla.), and Chris Morgan (West Orange, N.J.) Predicted finals match: Even up six weight classes from where he competed during the 2013-14 high school season, Valencia will be the man in this weight class, key word being "man". Fellow top 100 senior Wisman is the projected runner-up. 195: Two wrestlers in this weight carry a grade-level ranking into the tournament, FILA Cadet freestyle champion Hunter Ritter (John Carroll, Md.) is No. 35 in the senior class, while returning Super 32 placer Drew Phipps (Norwin, Pa.) is No. 50 in the junior class. Additional wrestlers to note in this field include Junior freestyle All-American Kevin Mulligan (Bergen Catholic, N.J.), NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Jeff Velez (David Brearley, N.J.), returning Flo Nationals placers Jacob Cooper (Springport, Mich.) and Drew Kasper (Lexington, Ohio), two-time state placers Dylan Reynolds (Saegertown, Pa.) and Jacob Worthington (Milan Edison, Ohio), along with state third place finishers Gabriel Rangel (Davenport Assumption, Iowa) and Steve Allen (Broken Arrow, Okla.) Predicted finals match: Ritter over Phipps. 220: A pair of nationally ranked juniors and FILA Cadet world team participants is among the lead figures in this weight class. No. 5 Jordan Wood was a world silver medalist in freestyle, while No. 33 Ethan Andersen (Southeast Polk, Iowa) as the world team participant in Greco-Roman. The other pair of lead figures placed at the NHSCA Junior Nationals in this weight class during the spring: Austin Myers (Campbell County, Ky.) was runner-up, and is ranked No. 20 in the senior class, while Patrick Grayson (Colonial Forge, Va.) placed third. Others to watch include returning Super 32 placer Vincent Feola (Walt Whitman, N.Y.), Flo Nationals runner-up and Junior freestyle All-American Yousef Hemida (Mamaroneck, N.Y.), National Prep placer Michael Smith (McDonogh, Md.), two-time state qualifier Christian Colucci (St. Peter's Prep, N.J.), Flo Nationals placer Reynold Maines (West Branch, Pa.), state champions John Kramer (Wilson Central, Tenn.) and Jacob Plaster (Northside, Va.), along with Cadet freestyle runner-up Luke Ready (Brighton, Mich.) Predicted finals match: Given the general nature of this weight class during preseason tournaments, there resides an extreme amount of depth in this weight class. That said, it's a pretty clear two-man final between Wood and Myers, with Wood the pick to repeat as champion in what would be one of the more intriguing finals matchups. 285: Two returning Super 32 placers are among those featured in this field, two-time state placer Andrew Dunn (Bethlehem Catholic, Pa.) and two-time New England finalist Ian Butterbrodt (St. John's Prep, Mass.). Additional wrestlers to watch in this weight include Junior National double All-American Michael Rogers (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.); a trio were NHSCA Junior Nationals All-Americans in Adam Olsen (High Point Central, N.C.), Zack Mauldin (Lexington, N.C.), and Bucky Dennis (Port Charlotte, Fla.); state placer Alan Beattie (Burrell, Pa.); as well as state runner-up Dane Drimmer (Chaparral, Colo.) Predicted finals match: Rogers moves up a pair of weight classes from the 2013-14 season to win the title over Dunn, who placed fourth last year here in this weight class.

Related: NCAA Division II Individual Rankings | NCAA Division II Team Rankings Maryville coach Mike DenneyEDMOND, Okla. -- Maryville (Mo.) earned its first-ever No. 1 ranking in the NCAA Division II wrestling poll Monday as the Saints earned the favorite’s tag for the 2015 national championship, according to the pre-season rankings released by the Division II Wrestling Coaches Association. Maryville, a fourth-year program that will serve as host institution for the 2015 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships in St. Louis next March, received five first-place votes and finished with 151 points in balloting of head coaches from around the country. The Saints return five All-Americans from last year’s third-place team in addition to an All-American from the season before and all six wrestlers are in the pre-season individual rankings. Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) is second in the poll with 142 points, while Nebraska-Kearney earned two first-place votes and came in third with 134 points. Defending national champion Notre Dame (Ohio) received the remaining first-place vote and is fourth with 122 points, one ahead of St. Cloud State (Minn.). Rounding out the top 10 is McKendree (Ill.), Mercyhurst (Pa.), Western State (Colo.), Central Oklahoma and Lindenwood (Mo.). UNK is the only team with more than one top-ranked individual as133-pounder Daniel DeShazer and 197-pounder Romero Cotton topped their respective weights.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- After rolling through pool play yesterday, the top-ranked King University women's wrestling team didn't let up on Saturday as they repeated as champions of the Cliff Keen Duals. The Tornado started the day with a 28-15 victory over No. 10 University of the Cumberlands before topping No. 6 Simon Fraser University 33-10 in the semifinals. King then faced No. 2 Oklahoma City University in the finals for the second consecutive tournament, topping the Stars 27-20. Forrest Molinari and Amanda Hendey got the Tornado off to a great start against No. 10 Cumberlands as Molinari took a 10-0 technical fall victory over Angelica Hernandez at 136 pounds and Hendey earned a win by fall in 0:38 over Kristin Yamasaki at 143 pounds. Julia Salata extended the King lead with a 10-0 technical fall victory at 170 pounds before Cumberlands earned back-to-back victories. However, Ashley Iliff (109) and Haley Augello (116) teamed up for consecutive wins. Iliff earned a win by fall in 2:52 over Angelo Enos before Augello topped Alex Campbell 10-0 on a technical fall. Jessi Kee capped the 28-15 victory with a win by fall in 1:29 over Ashley Talaro-Potter at 130 pounds. Hendey continued the roll as she started the match against sixth-ranked Simon Fraser with a win by fall in 3:36 over Francesca Giorgio at 143 pounds. Salata again took a 10-0 technical fall win at 170 pounds, this time defeating Monika Podgorski, before the Clan took the second victory of the dual. Following that win, the Tornado rolled off six straight victories to take the match 33-10. Marina Doi earned a 3-0 win at 101 pounds while Breonnah Neal took an 8-2 decision at 109 pounds. Augello, Sarah Hildebrandt and Kee all took 10-0 technical fall wins to move King into the championship bout. Salata got King off to a good start, defeating Sherese Thomas on a fall in 1:21 at 170 to put the Tornado ahead of No. 2 Oklahoma City, but the Stars bounced back with three straight wins to take a 13-7 lead in the match. However, Augello brought momentum back to the Tornado side of the mat as she took a 10-0 technical fall win over Shelby Morris at 116 pounds. Hildebrandt followed with a 10-0 technical fall win at 123 pounds over Rachel Archer to put King ahead 15-13. At 130 pounds, Kee followed with a 10-0 technical fall win before Molinari topped Rachel Young 12-1 on a technical fall at 136 pounds to give the Tornado a commanding lead. Hendey capped King's scoring with a 12-2 technical fall victory at 155 pounds over Hailey Garcia. The Stars took the final bout on a fall to make the final score 27-20 in favor of the Tornado. King will be in action again on November 8 when they travel to the NYAC Open in New York City.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State wrestling team kicked off the 2014-15 season on Saturday as it hosted its annual Maroon & Gold Intrasquad at the Riches Wrestling Complex. The Sun Devils opened the day with 21 preliminary matches, followed by eight more matches during the afternoon session. “It was a good opportunity for me to see everyone wrestle for the first time in a competitive environment, with a singlet, at weight, and under stress,” head coach Zeke Jones said. “That’s really when you find out what kind of wrestler you have. I think right now we are on track. I’ve seen improvements since the first day we got here, and I like what we see so far.” Returning NCAA qualifier Blake Stauffer picked up an 8-4 decision win over redshirt senior Kevin Radford in ASU’s only match between 184-pounders, and junior Ray Waters returned at 174-pounds with 12-1 major decision win over Matt Schneider. Sophomore transfer Dalton Brady made his debut with ASU at 133 pounds, winning a tech fall over senior Tyree Owens, 19-4, before scoring a 15-5 major decision over junior Cord Coronado that afternoon. Fellow sophomore transfer Judson Preskitt also picked up a bonus point victory, defeating freshman Mikel Perales, 14-2, at 125 pounds. Preskitt also held off a comeback try from freshman Hayden Lee, edging him out, 7-6. Five Sun Devils pinned their teammates, starting with sophomore transfer Christian Pagdalio’s fall over sophomore Ryan Nantuna in 1:17 in one of the eight matches that occurred between 149-poundsers. Junior Matt Kraus, who started every bout at 141 pounds a season ago, pinned sophomore Josh Beam in 2:00 in his first bout at 149 pounds. ASU’s fourth sophomore transfer, Oliver Pierce, pinned teammate Pablo Moreno in 2:08 in one of the 157-pound contests, while Lee picked up a win in his first match of the day when he pinned Perales in 1:39. Sophomore Wes Moore picked up the final pin of the day, taking down freshman Sullivan Cauley in 1:09 in one of the 197-pound matches. At 141, sophomore Mech Spraggins opened the day with a 13-4 major decision over freshman Koby Reyes, and then defeated Jesse Calderon in a 5-1 decision in the afternoon session. Redshirt junior Josh DaSilveira won both his matches on the afternoon, defeating Cauley in a 4-1 decision before edging Moore in overtime, 3-2. ASU’s last match of the day came at 157-pounds, with Pierce edging out redshirt senior Joel Smith with a late takedown, 3-1. “We saw a lot of strength from our experienced guys on the team, and then we saw a lot of the newcomers emerging into their roles,” Jones said. “We had a very nice blend, and those younger guys, the newcomers, the transfers, are really showing that they want to take a spot in the lineup and be the top Sun Devil. It’s very promising to see going into our first season together.” The Sun Devils will open the 2014-15 season on Sunday, Nov. 2 at the Daktronics Open in Brookings, S.D. ASU’s first home match is on Friday, No. 21 against Utah Valley at 7 p.m. MT at Wells Fargo Arena. Results: 149: Ryan Nantuna dec. Matthew Hogue, 8-7 157: Pablo Moreno dec. Matt Holm, 3-1 165: Matt Schneider dec. Anthony Anderson, 6-4 SV 125: Judson Preskitt maj. dec. Mikel Perales, 14-2 133: Cord Coronado dec. Tyree Owens, 6-1 141: Koby Reyes dec. Jesse Calderon, 4-3 197: Josh DaSilveira dec. Sullivan Cauley, 4-1 149: Christian Pagdalio pinned Ryan Nantuna, 1:17 149: Hans Rasmusson dec. Michael Oramas, 7-5 149: Matt Kraus pinned Josh Beam, 2:00 149: Preston McCalmon dec. Nicolas Gaspari, 8-1 157: Oliver Pierce pinned Pablo Moreno, 2:08 157: Joel Smith tech. fall Kaylon Sencio, 19-4 165: Jacen Petersen dec. Matt Schneider, 6-1 125: Hayden Lee pinned Mikel Perales, 1:38 133: Dalton Brady tech. fall Tyree Owens, 19-4 141: Mech Spraggins maj. dec. Koby Reyes, 13-4 197: Wes Moore pinned Sullivan Cauley, 1:09 149: Christian Pagdalio dec. Hans Rasmusson, 11-4 149: Matt Kraus dec. Preston McCalmon, 3-2 165: Jacen Petersen dec. Anthony Anderson, 9-6 125: Judson Preskitt dec. Hayden Lee, 7-6 133: Dalton Brady maj. dec. Cord Coronado, 15-5 141: Mech Spraggins dec. Jesse Calderon, 5-1 174: Ray Waters maj. dec. Matt Schneider, 12-1 184: Blake Stauffer dec. Kevin Radford, 8-4 197: Josh DaSilveira dec. Wes Moore, 3-2 OT 149: Christian Pagdalio dec. Matt Kraus, 4-2 157: Oliver Pierce dec. Joel Smith, 3-1

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Connor Kim and Colton Schilling recorded first-period falls to highlight the Cal Poly wrestling team’s Green vs. Gold Intrasquad Meet on Friday night in the Mott Athletics Center. Kim, a walk-on redshirt freshman, pinned true freshman Jason DelaCruz in 2 minutes, 36 seconds, to win the 133-pound weight class while Schilling, also a redshirt freshman, needed just 19 seconds to pin true freshman James Claitor at 141 pounds. Nick Fiegener posted a 17-2 technical fall against Johnny Beltran in a 184-pound matchup of true freshmen, recording eight near-fall points and 5:22 in riding time. A pair of 12-4 major decisions were recorded by freshman Yoshito Funakoshi at 125 pounds and sophomore Travis Berridge at 165 pounds. Funakoshi notched five takedowns for his victory while Berridge earned a trio of takedowns and a three-point first-period near fall en route to his triumph. Senior Dominic Kastl, a Pac-12 champion at 165 pounds in 2012, earned an 11-2 major decision against redshirt freshman Joe Applegate at 174 pounds, compiling four takedowns and a reversal. Sophomore Colt Shorts raced to a 9-2 lead in the first period on his way to a 9-4 triumph over true freshman Joe Granger at 157 pounds. Wins by Funakoshi, Schilling, Shorts and Berridge powered the Gold team to a 17-15 victory over the Green squad. Cal Poly officially opens the 2014-15 season Nov. 2 at the Clarion Open. The Mustangs host Cal Baptist and San Francisco State for non-conference dual meets Nov. 8, starting at 2 p.m. Gold 17, Green 15: 125: Yoshito Funakoshi (Gold) maj. dec. Isaac Blackburn (Green) 12-4 133: Connor Kim (Green) pinned Jason DelaCruz (Gold) 2:36 141: Colton Schilling (Gold) pinned James Claitor (Green) 0:19 157: Colt Shorts (Gold) dec. Joe Granger (Green) 9-4 165: Travis Berridge (Gold) maj. dec. Clay Teixeira (Green) 12-4 174: Dominic Kastl (Green) maj. dec. Joe Applegate (Green) 11-2 184: Nick Fiegener (Green) tech. fall Johnny Beltran (Gold) 17-2, 7:00

MANHEIM, Pa. -- Sometimes injuries in the preseason happen. A second wrestler has been swapped out due to injury, but the main event still contains 20 collegiate All-Americans. Due to an injury to Cornell All-American Nahshon Garrett at 125 pounds, Missouri’s Alan Waters has been selected to compete at the 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic presented by the United States Marine Corps and the Wrestlers in Business Network hosted by Penn and WIBN-Philadelphia on November 1 at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Waters, a Kansas City, Missouri native, redshirted last season and was a 2013 All-American, taking fourth place at 125 pounds. Waters comes into his senior season with a career record of 101-13. He went 33-2 in 2012-13. The third-ranked Waters will face fourth-ranked Joey Dance of Virginia Tech. The two have never met in collegiate competition. The addition of Waters will give Missouri coach Brian Smith two wrestlers in the event. “We’re extremely pleased Brian Smith and Alan Waters have quickly accepted the invitation to wrestle at the NWCA All-Star Classic,” said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. “It shows their willingness to showcase the sport of wrestling, even on short notice.” To purchase tickets to the event, click here for the Penn Athletic Ticket Office. The event will be streamed live by the NWCA’s live streaming partner Flowrestling. Fox College Sports will air the event on television via tape-delay no less than 10 times during the season, starting two weeks after the event has completed. These broadcasts are paid for by Rothschild, a leading global financial advisory based in New York City with offices in Washington, Los Angeles and Houston. Hibiclens and Resilite will again support the event as associate sponsors. The Rothman Institute and the United Association (UA) Group will also make 1,500 tickets available for local students (K-12) throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. These tickets will be distributed to regional schools by representatives of the United States Marine Corps. Follow on Social Media! For more information on the All-Star Classic, visit www.theallstarclassic.com and follow the NWCA on Facebook and Twitter. Fans can join the discussion with the #NWCAClassic hashtag. Fans should keep an eye on the discussion as there will be contests and interactive discussions about the event via Twitter and Facebook!

For the first time since the Save Olympic Wrestling movement the wrestling world has reached something resembling a consensus. What to thank for this collective head nodding? A 32-minute off-season high school wrestling match. Without being drug into the details of who was playing defense and who was attacking, wrestlers Daton Fix and Nick Suriano engaged in a 32-minute 1-1 overtime match last weekend. The match mercifully ended when Suriano found a takedown off a scramble, ending what was by most accounts a very long 30-plus minutes of not-that-much actual wrestling. So what was the wrestling community's big consensus? Elimination of overtime? Capped overtime? No. The establishment of an out-of-bounds that makes sense, pushes action and awards aggression. Better known by the colloquialism "pushout." When the pushout rule was first introduced in the Olympic styles many wrestling fans feared that the sport would become a shoving match. The more simplified anti-pushout arguments called it sumo.* The old rules were ridiculous so the pushout sometimes was the deciding factor in matches. However, with the new international rules in place the pushout rule has helped contain action, quicken the pace of matches and has created exciting spats of offense. In analyzing the 32-minute match many of wrestling's better minds turned to Twitter to dissect the fallout. In general most agreed that the current problem with collegiate wrestling (scholastic, folkstyle, etc.) is the lack of an absolute out of bounds enforced by penalty. Though not stated in 140 characters, one of the main gripes seems to be that the edge of the mat becomes an enormous void of action -- a retreat where wrestlers can force a restart to bad positions, or hang out to avoid the encroachments of more physical opponents. Where the edge of the mats starts, and what is the punishment for fleeing are both items that become highly subjective, and often misappropriated. NCAA wrestling is lagging behind freestyle in terms of excitement. Way behind. The main reason is the collegiate styles inability to establish a perimeter and incentivize wrestlers to perform offensive maneuvers. I am a fan of scrambling and I love the creativity of the triple overtime snore-ride (no, not really), but adding an edge that is on fire will prompt action, and for a sport that wants to bully its way onto television and make a larger social impact, more scoring and shorter matches will be a necessity. And now, almost everyone agrees. *I was in Tokyo last month and watched a lot of sumo. The sport of sumo is simple, incredible, athletic, attractive and a multi-billion dollar sport in Japan. So maybe being more like sumo is a good thing. Also, those wrestlers are some of the best technical wrestlers I've ever seen. No, I'm not kidding.) To your questions ... Q: I have been super impressed with Yoel Romero in his UFC fights. He's a freak! I think with a little more seasoning he can beat Chris Weidman and become the UFC middleweight champion. Am I crazy? -- Mike C. Yoel Romero is undefeated (5-0) in the UFCFoley: Yes, you are nutty. Yoel Romero, while unique in his talents as a freestyle wrestler, has reached the top of his potential in MMA. His win over teary-eyed whiner Tim Kennedy showed that while Romero can strike and wrestle, he has a tough time with cardio. Against a guy like Weidman who is an technical striker and NCAA All-American but also has a gas tank, Romero would be picked apart. Weidman also has the advantage of strategy, being coached by John Danaher, who engineered both of the Hofstra's wrestler's victories over Anderson Silva. Romero is excellent -- he's a beast, really -- but he's no match for the more technical, and more "heroic" Weidman. Q: Is Nico Megaludis redshirting this season? -- Mike C. Foley: Yes! Jordan Conaway is entering Penn State's lineup. I'd expect a low All-American finish from him. He'll be well-coached and tuned up on a consistent basis Q: I'm sure you caught Flo's WNO last weekend. Obviously, there was some great wrestling. Mark Hall is a force to be reckoned with. I don't think anyone saw that coming besides Mark. It seemed to me that Flo has really stepped up their game as far as production goes. Also, do you think that the choice to use the fight shorts and compression gear (or not shirt at all) will start some more conversation about changing the uniforms at any level, which level would be first to make the change? -- Sean M. Foley: Agreed that Flo's production value was top-notch. Interesting to note as well that most, if not all, of the online attention has gone to the high school matches. Without something greater on the line (Olympic development) wrestling fans didn't seem too interested in the Premier League match. The rules might also have been a factor. The uniform change is coming. First to the recreational wrestling leagues (if such things even exists anymore) and then to middle school and high school wrestling teams. There is a ton of potential in changing the uniforms and even after one event public opinion seems to be shifting. Shirts off? Eh. Not a big fan. Too much sweat, too much blubber, and for the little kids it's WAY too much skin. MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME Exemplary sumo match Interview with retired sumo wrestler Asashoryu, who is the current president of the Mongolian Wrestling Federation. #WillPower Link: The race to nowhere in youth sports Link: Kyle Dake via USA Wrestling discussing another reason Americans struggle on the international stage ... "It's tough trying to split time between coaching and wrestling," he said. "I want to do everything great, but you can't split time and be great at both. I have to focus completely on wrestling right now if I'm going to reach my goals. Rob Koll and the other coaches understand that and they agreed it was the best thing for the program. I am still in the room and still around the team. I am still helping out where I can." Q: Grayshirt. Good or bad? -- @ShogunOfSonoma? Foley: I know of two grayshirts: Post high school fifth years and Ivy league redshirts. For high school fifth years it depends on the talent level and preparedness for college. For an Ivy league wrestler the grayshirt is more often a positive, if also tricky, solution to help them adjust to collegiate life and Division I wrestling. From my experience, Ivy wrestlers are faced with more academic challenges than many of their competitors. Also with tough academic loads and a collegiate life that can more often resemble Hogwarts than Spring Break, a semester away can allow them time to focus on school or an internship. I've seen that time create a positive difference in on-the-mat and off-the-mat success. But as always it's an individual-by-individual based decision. Q: Which semester would you prefer to see NCAA wrestling season? Fall: NO WAY ... Spring: Possible. I'm a huge fan of both football and wrestling. I love my tailgating Saturdays in Happy Valley. I don't think I could "afford" to do back-to-back days. (Hotels are two-night minimum at outrageous prices.) I like the idea of moving it to spring -- first and foremost -- get away from the hoops season! Second, I tend to lose focus of high school wrestling in PA as there is too much going on at any one moment. Plus traveling to the Big Tens/NCAAs would be much simpler without the worry of inclement weather! -- Adrian S. Foley: Spring is the only option. Though wrestlers would still be practicing over Christmas, the change of the season to a mid-January or early February start would allow for a better student-athlete experience and provide more opportunity to the NCAA in selling major events. Right now the season drags on and much of the wrestling matters little to the final outcome. When something doesn't impact the final result it fails to be appealing, and the majority of the NCAA season is meaningless to the number of All-Americans and national champions produced by a school. Time to shorten the season, provide fans better opportunities to engage with the product and make each event matter towards something at the end of the season. COMMENT OF THE WEEK By John G. I watched the White-McFadden match that was streamed on Flowrestling, and I was interested in hearing your views on the match. I'm not referring to McFadden's rather obvious stalling. I'm talking about the whole approach taken by Flo in the event. Wrestling shirtless. Calling the mats the snake pit. Letting the boys wrestle until someone won in overtime. I kept thinking about how I would feel if that had been my son wrestling out there. And, I don't think I would have approved of it. I understand that we need to promote wrestling and present it in new ways that invoke MMA. I'm OK with no singlets. But these are high school students. Or I think they are. And the comments posted on Flo about McFadden were rough. I mean, I'm trying not to be too sensitive here. I know we need to put on our big boy pants, but these are kids.

Related: NAIA Individual Rankings | NAIA Team Rankings KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Three-time defending national champion Grand View (Iowa) garners the No. 1 ranking in the NAIA Wrestling Coaches' Preseason Top 20 Poll, the national office announced Wednesday. The Vikings received 154.5 points en route to their 17th-consecutive top billing. Grand View's Christian Mays celebrates after his victory at the national tournament (Photo/Doug Wells)Grand View boasts a poll-best 11 ranked wrestlers, including three top-ranked individuals -- Ryak Finch (125 pounds), Brandon Wright (141 pounds) and Christian Mays (184 pounds). Finch and Wright both enter the 2014-15 season looking to defend their 2014 national titles. Mays earned All-America status with a fifth-place finish at the 2014 NAIA Wrestling National Championships. Perennial powerhouse Southern Oregon checks in at No. 2 with 101.5 points. The Raiders boast nine ranked individuals, highlighted by three-time defending national champion Brock Gutches at 174 pounds. Gutches, who was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at last year’s national championships, will represent the NAIA at the 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic’s main event on Nov. 1. He will take on two-time NCAA Division I All-American Robert Kokesh of Nebraska. The appearance by Gutches is a first for NAIA wrestling in 10 years. No. 3 Great Falls (Mont.) with 86 points, No. 4 Missouri Valley with 71.5 points and No. 5 Montana State-Northern with 69 points. Of the trio, Missouri Valley showcases two top-ranked individuals – Jake Ekster (149 pounds) and Gabi Musallam (285 pounds) – while Montana-State Northern has one – Ethan Hinebauch (165 pounds). Great Falls is the only team in the top five to not have a No. 1 individual. Bryce Shoemaker (133 pounds) of Baker (Kan.), Joe Cozart (157 pounds) of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Stephen Loosbrook (197 pounds) of Benedictine (Kan.) are the only No. 1 individuals not associated with a top-five program. Shoemaker and Cozart both won their first national title last season, while Loosbrook finished runner-up to Jesse Hellinger of Dickinson State (N.D.). With seven returning All-Americans, the 157-pound weight class is the most decorated of the ten levels. The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the four Qualifying Groups. For the complete look at the 2014-15 NAIA Wrestling Coaches’ Top 20 Poll calendar, click here. The first regular-season poll will be announced No. 19. Notes (all information dates back to 2000-01 season): Grand View’s (Iowa) No. 1 ranking is its 22nd all-time, which ranks second of all programs since 2000-01 … The Vikings have held the top spot in 17-straight polls … Former member Lindenwood (Mo.) boasts the most all-time No. 1 rankings with 39, while Notre Dame is third with 14 … Nine programs have appeared in the Top 20 for at least 20-consecutive polls, led by No. 6 Campbellsville’s (Ky.) and No. 3 Great Falls’ (Mont.) current run of 72-straight polls, dating back to 2005-06 … No. 4 Montana State-Northern is the only other school with at least 50-straight appearances (63) … Grand View (2013-14), Notre Dame (2010-11) and Lindenwood (2006-07) are the only programs to spend an entire season ranked No. 1.

UFC 179 is here. If you look at Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes separately, a rematch sounds like a fun idea. Unfortunately, Aldo has a pretty big huge advantage on paper. He did in their first bout and nothing has really changed since then for the featherweight champion and pound for pound star. What has changed is Phil Davis's status in the light heavyweight division, and his co-main event match with Glover Teixeira suddenly seems a lot more daunting than it would've two years ago. No reason to tease the rest of the card here (it's pretty bad) so enjoy the show. Do you want to listen to a past episode? Access archives.

Austin Gomez was a Cadet National double champion in Fargo (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com) Now in its seventh year, the Cliff Keen USA Wrestling Preseason Nationals serve as an excellent showcase for high school aged wrestlers -- and also those below high school age -- prior to the start of the regular scholastic season. As of October 22, about 1500 wrestlers from a plethora of states are slated to compete in two different high school divisions this coming Saturday. Sunday will feature the high school girls division as well as the below high school divisions (1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, 5th/6th, and 7th/8th grades). 2014 marks the second year for the presence of two different divisions for high school competitors. Wrestlers in 9th and 10th grade will be in one division, while those in 11th and 12th grade will be in another. One underrated aspect of this format structure is the ability for freshmen and sophomores to emerge as stars among their peer group in a high school setting -- instead of having to wait until the spring/summer in many cases for such a chance. Below represents a weight-by-weight outlook across the competition. 9th/10th Division 100: Three Cadet National double All-Americans from Fargo this past summer are among the key competitors in this weight class. That group is led by Peter Ogunsanya (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), who finished third in both styles at 94 pounds after a runner-up finish in both styles at 92 pounds in the FILA Cadet Nationals. The other two doublers are Billy Simpson (Cushing, Okla.) and Patrick McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.). Additional wrestlers to watch in this weight class are Cadet folkstyle champion Cody Phippen (Basheor-Linwood, Kan.), Cadet freestyle champion Malik Heinselman (Colorado), Cadet folkstyle runner-up Kyle Biscoglia (Waukee, Iowa), and Cadet freestyle fourth place finisher Rhett Golowenski (Tuttle, Okla.) 106: Leading the way in this weight class is Cadet freestyle All-American Anthony Madrigal (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), who is ranked No. 17 overall among incoming freshmen. Other wrestlers to watch in this weight class include Iowa state placer Adam Brown (Southeast Polk), FILA Cadet double All-American Holden Heller (Illinois), Cadet folkstyle third place finisher Michael Millage (Iowa), and Cadet Greco-Roman All-American Nathan Lendt (Southeast Polk, Iowa). 113: Three of the nation’s elite sophomores lead the way in this weight class. Austin Gomez (Glenbard North, Ill.) is No. 15 overall in the grade level, and was a Cadet double national champion at 113 pounds this summer; Jason Renteria (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.) was a state runner-up this past scholastic season, and is ranked No. 22 overall in the Class of 2017; while Ian Timmins (Wooster, Nev.) is No. 46 in the sophomore class, and was a Cadet National double finalist at 106 pounds this summer, including a title in Greco-Roman. Other wrestlers to watch include FILA Cadet Greco-Roman world team member Dack Punke (Washington, Ill.), Cadet Greco-Roman runner-up Dom Lajoie (Gaylord, Mich.), and state fourth place finisher Tristan Lara (Fort Dodge, Iowa). 120: Ben Freeman (Walled Lake Central, Mich.) is a defending Preseason Nationals champion in the freshman/sophomore division. In addition, he is ranked No. 19 overall in the sophomore class, was a Cadet National double All-American, and a FILA Cadet freestyle runner-up during this past offseason. Other wrestlers to watch in this weight class include Junior Greco-Roman runner-up Corbin Nirschl (Basheor-Linwood, Kan.); formidable freshman Jon Trowbridge (Basheor-Linwood, Kan.), a FILA Cadet Greco-Roman All-American this spring; along with state placers Derek Holschlag (Union, Iowa) and Jason Crary (Munster, Ind.) 126: A pair of grade-ranked wrestlers lead the way in this weight class, Alec Hagan (Eureka, Mo.) and Alex Lloyd (Shakopee, Minn.). The sophomore Hagan is No. 44 overall in the Class of 2017 after a state runner-up finish this past high school season, and a Cadet folkstyle runner-up finish this spring; while incoming freshman Lloyd is No. 12 in his grade level after a double All-American finish this summer at the Cadet Nationals in Fargo, and a third place finish in Minnesota Class AAA during eighth grade. Other wrestlers to watch include state champion Eli King (Father Ryan, Tenn.); impact freshman Jacob Greenwood (Colorado), a FILA Cadet Greco-Roman All-American; along with state champion Tanner Litterell (Tuttle, Okla.) 132: Two sophomores stand out ahead of the rest of the field in this weight class, Francisco Valdes (Miami Southwest, Fla.) and Jimmy McAuliffe (Mt. Carmel, Ill.). Valdes is ranked No. 31 overall in the Class of 2017, and is already a two-time state champion along with finishing second at the NHSCA Freshman Nationals this spring; while McAuliffe placed fifth in Illinois Class 3A as a freshman. 138: The clear favorite in this weight class is Devin Bahr (West Salem, Wis.), the No. 27 overall wrestler in the Class of 2017. The state champion this past scholastic season was a Cadet National double All-American this summer. Another wrestler to watch in this weight class is freshman John Manning, a native of Utah. 145: In what is a wide open weight class, here are a few names to keep an eye on. Incoming freshman Braeden Redlin (Allen, Texas) was third in Cadet Greco-Roman this summer, fellow incoming freshman Kenny O’Neil (Prior Lake, Minn.) was a state qualifier in high school during his eighth grade year, as well as talented sophomore Tervell Timmons (Lockport, Ill.) 160: Another wide open weight class comes at 160 pounds. A couple of wrestlers here have strong sibling “lineage” -- Nate Jimenez (Marmion Academy, Ill.) and Isaac Bartel (Mason City, Iowa). 170: The clear favorite in this weight class is freshman Jack Jessen (Illinois), who is ranked No. 6 overall in the Class of 2017, and placed third in both styles this summer at the Cadet Nationals in Fargo. 182-285: As is the case many times with underclassmen in the upperweights, the key names have yet to emerge this early in the year. That is the case here with the 152-pound weight class, as well as the back four (182 to 285) weight classes. 11th/12th Division 106: Three wrestlers stand out as the head of the class in this field: Iowa natives Justin Portillo (Claridon-Goldfield) and Tristan Birt (Dubuque Wahlert), along with Illinois native Louie Hayes. Portillo was a state runner-up this past season, while Birt won a state title; Hayes was third in both styles at 100 pounds in the Junior Nationals this summer. Another notable wrestler in this weight class is Cadet National Greco-Roman champion Trey Keeley (Washington, Ill.) 113: Four state champions lead the way in this weight class: Brady Wilsie (Byron, Ill.), Howard Smith (Allen, Texas), Jack Wagner (Bettendorf, Iowa), and Joshua Portillo (Claridon-Goldfield, Iowa); also note that Smith placed fifth in junior freestyle this summer. Two additional wrestlers to watch are state runner-up Connor Cleveland (New Hampton, Iowa) and state third place finisher Noah McQuigg (Tuttle, Okla.) 120: This is an extremely balanced weight class, with multiple competitors that could emerge with the title. Even though Montorie Bridges (Altus, Okla.) has yet to win a state title, he has placed third and second at state during his two high school seasons, and placed fourth in Junior freestyle this summer. The other wrestler to earn All-American honors in Fargo this past summer was Travis Piotrowski (Prairie Ridge, Ill.), now a two-time Cadet freestyle All-American, who also placed third at state in 2013. Other wrestlers to note in this weight class are two-time Iowa state finalists Henry Pohlmeyer (Johnston) and Jacob Schwarm (Bettendorf), two-time state champion Chandler Fohey (Hannibal, Mo.), state champion Cody Minnick (Coal City, Ill.), FILA Cadet freestyle All-American and 2013 state champion Dalton Duffield (Westmoore, Okla.), along with three-time state placer Tanner Rohweder (Iowa City West, Iowa). 126: Three nationally ranked juniors are among the lead contenders in this weight class: No. 20 Taylor LaMont (Maple Mountain, Utah), No. 37 Dylan Duncan (Montini Catholic, Ill.), and No. 46 Ryan Deakin (Legacy, Colo.). LaMont is a two-time state champion, who is now a two-time All-American in both Junior Greco-Roman and Cadet freestyle; winning Junior Greco this summer and Cadet freestyle last summer. Duncan won state during the past scholastic season, and was a Cadet freestyle champion this summer. Deakin also won state this past scholastic season, and he was a Junior double All-American in Fargo. Two notable seniors in this weight class are multi-time state champion Cameron Sykora (Border West, Minn.) and two-time state third place finisher Nolan Hellickson (Southeast Polk, Iowa). Other notable juniors in this weight class are two-time state champion Michael Prieto (Garden City, Kan.) and state placer Gabe Townsell (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), a FILA Cadet double All-American this past spring. 132: A pair of grade-level ranked wrestlers lead the way in this weight class, Sean Cannon (Green Valley, Nev.) and Corey Shie (LaSalle, Ohio). Cannon, ranked No. 69 overall in the Class of 2015, is a two-time state champion and won the Junior folkstyle tournament this past spring; while Shie is ranked No. 23 overall in the Class of 2017, and was a double All-American at both the Cadet Nationals and FILA Cadet tournaments. Other wrestlers to watch include two-time state champions Austin Anderly (LeSeur-Henderson, Minn.) and Nick Noel (Pulaski Academy, Ark.), three-time state placer Grant Sutton (Richmond-Burton, Ill.), state runner-up Paul Glynn (Bettendorf, Iowa), along with state placers Reiley Brown (Whitehall, Mich.) and Dylan Thurston (Wheaton North, Ill.) 138: A pair of top 100 Class of 2015 prospects leads the way in this weight class, No. 38 Jaydin Clayton (Father Tolton Catholic, Mo.) and No. 99 Vincent Turk (Montini Catholic, Ill.). Four additional multi-time state champions are among the primary challengers: Alex Rich (Crescent Valley, Ore.), Hunter Washburn (Alburnett, Iowa), Isaac Deloa (Millard South, Neb.), and Louie Sanders (Lake Crystal, Minn.). Two other state champions are also among the contenders, Beau Guffey (Tuttle, Okla.) and Chase Piperato (Jefferson, Ga.). Other wrestlers to watch include two-time state placers Alexander Butler (Boylan Catholic, Ill.) and Dan Kelly (Cedar Falls, Iowa); state third place finishers Bobby Alexander (Conant, Ill.) and Keegan Shaw (Southeast Polk); along with Colin Clingenpeel (Council Bluffs Jefferson, Iowa), a Cadet freestyle All-American who won Preseason Nationals last year in the freshman/sophomore division. 145: Leading the way in this weight class three-time state champion Max Thomsen (Union, Iowa), who ranks No. 40 overall in the Class of 2015. Five other state champions -- Dakota Wall (Centennial, Idaho), Dylanger Potter (Arlington Martin, Texas), Jeren Glosser (Eddyville/Blakesburg-Fremont, Iowa), J.J. Wolfe (Dakota, Ill.), and Rudy Guillen (Buford, Ga.) -- are among the challengers to Thomsen. Additional contenders include Junior Greco-Roman runner-up Logan Gruszka (Schaumburg, Ill.), state runner-up Aaron Meyer (Southeast Polk, Iowa), state placer Jake Tucker (Mt. Carmel, Ill.), along with two-time state placers Alec Wyatt (Arvada West, Colo.) and Tristan Finch (Davenport Assumption, Iowa). 152: Junior freestyle All-American Luke Fortuna (Montini Catholic, Ill.), a state runner-up this past season, leads the way in this weight class. Challengers include two-time state champion Jake Adcock (Pope, Ga.), 2013 state champion and three-time state placer Jacob Woodard (Bettendorf, Iowa), state champions Jose Taylor (Arlington Martin, Texas) and Payton Tawater (Arvada West, Colo.), state runners-up Carlson Brolsma (Osseo, Minn.) and Kasey Caelwerts (Pulaski, Wis.), along with state placer Dayton Garrett (Tuttle, Okla.) 160: A pair of top 100 seniors from Iowa leads the way in this weight class, No. 45 Bryce Steiert (Waverly-Shell Rock) and No. 68 Dayton Racer (Bettendorf); state champion -- and three-time state placer -- Steiert finished fourth in Junior freestyle this past summer, while 2013 state champion Racer placed fourth at Flo Nationals this past spring. Other wrestlers to watch include two-time state champion Cameron Loving (Altus, Okla.), Junior National Greco All-American Joey Gunther (Libertyville, Ill.), two-time state placer Canten Marriott (Park Hill, Mo.), state placer Matt Rowland (Willowbrook, Ill.), state champion Adam Blees (Bismarck, N.D.), and Cadet double All-American Jeremiah Moody (Cambridge, Wis.) 170: Three top 100 seniors lead the way in this weight class -- No. 27 Xavier Montalvo (Montini Catholic, Ill.), No. 59 Brett Bye (Vermillion, S.D.), and No. 85 Colston DiBlasi (Park Hill, Mo.). Two-time state champion Montalvo won this event last fall down at 160 pounds, and was a Flo Nationals champion this past spring; Bye was a Junior double All-American in Fargo; while DiBlasi is also a two-time state champion. Other wrestlers to watch include Jacob Warner (Washington, Ill.), a Cadet double All-American who is ranked No. 24 overall in the Class of 2017; Cadet folkstyle champion Oscar Ramos (Kenosha Bradford, Wis.); 2013 state placer Dillon Chase (Clinton, Iowa); Garrett Miller (Allen, Texas), a state placer and Junior Greco-Roman All-American; along with state champion Jacob Holschag (Union, Iowa). 182: Four wrestlers stand out as primary contenders in this weight class: state champion Austin Cook (Lindsburg Smoky Valley, Kan.), two-time state runner-up Chance Cooper (Timberland, Mo.), 2013 state champion Evan Hansen (Exira, Iowa), and state champion Raekwon Reggler (Somerset Academy, Fla.) 195: Four wrestlers stand out as primary contenders in this weight class: state placers Dru Worker (Mt. Carmel, Ill.) and Gabriel Rangel (Davenport Assumption, Iowa), state champion Hunter Brown (Centennial, Nev.), and Cadet National double runner-up Wyatt Koelling (Davis, Utah). 220: Three wrestlers that were Preseason Nationals runners-up last year headline the field in this weight class. Senior Dustin Mason (Tuttle, Okla.) finished second at 285 pounds in the junior/senior division, and is a two-time state champion. Gannon Gremmel (Hempstead Dubuque, Iowa) is ranked No. 47 overall in the junior class, and was second at 220 pounds in the freshman/sophomore division last year; the two-time state placer also won titles in Cadet folkstyle and freestyle during the most recent off-season. Rounding out the trio is Nick Graziano (Oak Forest, Ill.), a state qualifier who took second at 195 pounds in the freshman/sophomore division last fall. 285: The clear favorite in this weight class is state champion Dan Stibral (Bon Homme Scotland), a state champion who placed fifth in Junior freestyle this summer.

MANHEIM, Pa. -- In conjunction with the National Wrestling Coaches Association and the Wrestlers in Business Network, USA Wrestling will host a special Google+ Hangout On Air on Friday, October 24 at 2 p.m. Eastern featuring five athletes who will compete in the 49th edition of the NWCA All-Star Classic. The 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic is presented by the United States Marine Corps and the Wrestlers in Business Network and is hosted by Penn and WIBN-Philadelphia. The event will take place on November 1 at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The Hangout will be streamed live and archived via USA Wrestling's YouTube channel and on TheMat.com, the official website of USA Wrestling. NCAA Division I champions Logan Stieber of Ohio State, Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State and Nick Gwiazdowski of N.C. State headline the call. Stieber is wrestling in the event for the second straight year and aims for his fourth NCAA championship, while Dieringer and Gwiazdowski, both juniors, look for their second straight title. It'll be the first time the two compete in the event. A pair of Pennsylvania natives will also join the Hangout as NCAA finalist Josh Kindig of Oklahoma State and Lehigh All-American Mason Beckman will participate. Beckman will be competing in his second straight All-Star Classic. Richard Immel, Coordinator of Broadcasting, Social Media and Grassroots Marketing for USA Wrestling will facilitate the Hangout and will also be joined by Jason Bryant, representing the NWCA. This will be the first Google Hangout of the season for USA Wrestling. Fans and media can RSVP for the live event by clicking this link: https://plus.google.com/b/113615705500360692997/events/c9qekd3l03viohasas844l12lc4 "This Google Hangout is just another way wrestling has been embracing the new technologies people use every day," said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. "We're appreciative and gracious for USA Wrestling to host this live streaming event and it's not only a way to drum up support for the All-Star Classic, but a chance to hear from the athletes themselves in a roundtable discussion." Fans can also ask questions via Twitter by using the #NWCAClassic hashtag. To purchase tickets to the event, visit the Penn Athletic Ticket Office website. The event will be streamed live by the NWCA's live streaming partner Flowrestling. Fox College Sports will air the event on television via tape-delay no less than 10 times during the season, starting two weeks after the event has completed. These broadcasts are paid for by Rothschild, a leading global financial advisory based in New York City with offices in Washington, Los Angeles and Houston. Hibiclens and Resilite will again support the event as associate sponsors. The Rothman Institute and the United Association (UA) Group will also make 1,500 tickets available for local students (K-12) throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. These tickets will be distributed to regional schools by representatives of the United States Marine Corps.

Ten years ago this month, at a studio in Los Angeles, 70 wrestlers, a number of coaches, and hundreds of fans participated in the filming of Season One of Real Pro Wrestling, a new venture designed to provide former college wrestlers an opportunity to continue to compete in the sport they love, on TV, and earn money doing it. What happened in that LA studio on October 7-9, 2004 was later shown on cable TV the following spring, over the course of eight weeks. The Real Pro Wrestling telecasts from March to May 2005 generated considerable buzz within the amateur wrestling community, and decent ratings. RPW planned a Season Two, and, in fact, conducted some preliminary qualifying events ... but then the enterprise seemed to vanish without a trace -- not even a press release. (Later, sportswriter Matt Krumrie conducted a two-part interview with the two principals. More on that later.) So, why write about Real Pro Wrestling now? Beyond the fact Real Pro Wrestling telecasts were filmed almost exactly a decade ago, there are other reasons why InterMat is looking back at RPW. For starters, RPW featured highly accomplished amateur wrestlers -- most coming off impressive college mat careers, or freestyle and Greco-Roman experience. At least a trio of RPW participants went on to make a name for themselves in mixed martial arts. Others have gone on to become coaches at major college wrestling programs. There's another timing issue: Earlier this month, the amateur wrestling website Flowrestling.com announced it was launching Flo Premier League, a professional wrestling venture featuring former college athletes which will have a handful of events to coincide with the 2014-15 college wrestling season. Flowrestling.com caught the attention of wrestling fans by announcing the first Flo Premier League match would feature recent collegians Chris Perry, a two-time NCAA champ for Oklahoma State, taking on Robert Hamlin, a two-time NCAA finalist for Lehigh at its Who's Number One showcase for top high school mat talent on October 18 ... and that the commissioner and matchmaker for FPL would be none other than Ben Askren, two-time NCAA champ for Missouri, 2008 Olympian, and undefeated MMA fighter who recently won the ONE FC welterweight crown. For those reasons -- and more -- the time seems right to look back at Real Pro Wrestling. A very quick history of pro wrestling Real Pro Wrestling wasn't the first attempt at professional wrestling without the scripted outcomes, soap opera-ish storylines and other showbiz elements that seem to be as much a part of today's pro wrestling as wrestling rings and trunks. And, it isn't the last. For those whose understanding of pro wrestling is limited to today's WWE, there was a time when athletes climbed into a wrestling ring without costumes, managers or a backstory, and used holds and moves that any amateur wrestling fan would immediately recognize today. One wrestler would come out the winner through honest competition, not what was written in a script. (See for yourself; check out silent films of a couple pro matches from a century ago -- a 1920 Madison Square Garden bout between Earl Caddock of Iowa and Nebraska native Joe Stecher, and a 1913 match featuring Gustav Fristensky and Josef Smejkal in Prague that is believed to be the oldest existing film of professional wrestling.) A hundred years ago, pro wrestling was viewed as legitimate sport, covered by major newspapers in the same way as baseball or boxing or other significant sporting events of the time. The two world championship matches between George "the Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt and Frank "the Iowa Plowboy" Gotch in Chicago in 1908 and 1911 received extensive front-page coverage akin to today's Super Bowl or World Series. At some point, however, pro wrestling changed into something more familiar to today's fans. Historians who study professional wrestling can't seem to agree on when this changeover took place. Some contend that pro wrestling always had predetermined outcomes; however, a number of historians believe most matches were legitimate until the 1920s, when theatrical aspects started to take hold with the introduction of clearly identified "bad guys" and time-limited matches, among other developments. These changes accelerated in the 1940s and 50s with the advent of TV coverage that turned up the theatrical aspect a few notches, with flamboyant costumes and personalities, and more acrobatics. Even as pro wrestling started to become more theatrical and look less like what takes place on college mats, a number of collegiate wrestling champs found fame and fortune in the pro ring, starting with Columbia's Nat Pendleton, Oklahoma State's Earl McCready and Michigan's Ed Don George in the 1920s and 30s ... Minnesota's Verne Gagne and Oklahoma State's Dick Hutton in the 1950s ... and Oklahoma's Dan Hodge and Oklahoma State's Jack Brisco in the 1960s. In the past decade or so, we've seen collegians like Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin, and Jake Hager (now Jack Swagger) enter the WWE. As pro wrestling became less about actual wrestling, the past couple decades have seen the rise of new ventures featuring former amateur wrestlers, competing in a way that looked more like amateur wrestling, and getting paid for it. Twenty-five years ago, there was the National Wrestling League. This venture, launched in 1989 by Chicago businessman and former high school wrestling coach Wayne Gerenstein, failed because investors didn't come through as promised, so wrestlers -- some of the biggest names in college and Olympic style wrestling of the 1980s -- could not be paid as originally promised, according to Matt Krumrie in his 2006 feature about NWL for TheWrestlingMall.com. Fifteen years after NWL, Season One of Real Pro Wrestling was recorded in that LA studio. In the decade since RPW came and went, there have been other similar ventures. During the 2013-14 amateur wrestling season, at least three new ventures came to life: Agon Wrestling Championships (which held four events at various locations around the country) ... a test event for Tour ACW (Association of Career Wrestlers) in Pittsburgh last October ... and, in November 2013, Victory Wrestling Challenge in Omaha. And, just a few weeks ago, the announcement that Flowrestling.com was entering the new pro wrestling arena with its Flo Premier League. What was Real Pro Wrestling? First, it might make sense to describe what Real Pro Wrestling wasn't. RPW did not have the showbiz elements that are a hallmark of WWE and other brands of pro wrestling: no roped-off ring, no costumes, no managers or valets, no soap-opera storylines ... and, perhaps most importantly, no scripted, predetermined outcomes. What's more, no one was hit over the head with a chair ... nor did anyone from the audience interfere with the action. In a 2009 article for the online news service Examiner.com, I described Real Pro Wrestling as "amateur-style wrestling where the athletes were paid." It was a venture launched by two former Northwestern University wrestlers, Toby Willis and Matt Case. A premiere event -- essentially a pilot TV show, to attract sponsors and be used to pitch the venture to networks that might be interested in showing Real Pro Wrestling -- was filmed in 2002. With some changes, that 2002 pilot served as the template for what was called Season One of Real Pro Wrestling which was filmed in October 2004 and shown on two cable TV networks -- Fox Sports, and PAX-TV (now ION) -- in the spring of 2005 over the course of eight consecutive weeks. A look at the arena for RPW's pilot event in 2002Both the 2002 pilot and 2005's Season One were filmed on a set that looked something like a Roman gladiator arena. Here's how the original Real Pro Wrestling website described the setup: "In RPW, classic meets the future as the matches are conducted in a specially designed coliseum which showcases a raised circular mat to facilitate better camera angles and to afford the live audience a better viewing experience. The circular mat allows for 360 degree camera angles and aids in covering the close quarters that wrestlers frequently find themselves in as they maneuver for position." Fans sat in stands which surrounded a raised, round wrestling mat where the action took place. Beyond the edge of the mat, there were padded sides that sloped down approximately four feet to the studio floor, with the space between the mat and the audience serving much like a dry moat. The wrestlers' coaches were situated in the "moat" during the actual wrestling action; they came up onto the mat to provide instruction and encouragement during the downtime between the two three-minute periods. The rules were a hybrid of folkstyle (the style used in high school and college wrestling), freestyle, and Greco-Roman; Wikipedia's description of Real Pro Wrestling said, "The rules were similar to freestyle wrestling but were modified to encourage risk and intensity." A couple aspects of RPW's rules were new to amateur wrestling of a decade ago. A wrestler who pushed his opponent out-of-bounds (off the mat and perhaps down into the moat) earned one point. There was a bonus for a wrestler who managed to stay in the center of the mat and remain active, as measured by a "bonus meter" -- the aggressive wrestler would assume a special position that allowed him to earn additional points by throwing his opponent. What's more, there was a TV Challenge -- one per wrestler -- to officially question any call by having it reviewed by off-the-mat officials, somewhat like today's video review process. As for the format ... the 2002 pilot could be described as a dual meet between the Red Team and the Black Team. The 2005 edition of Real Pro Wrestling was conducted more like a tournament, with eight teams of wrestlers, each with seven team members, one for each of the weight classes -- 121, 132, 145, 163, 184, 211 and 264 pounds. Each week's episode featured competition for one weight class in an eight-man bracket, with the eight competitors "seeded" for a preliminary-round match. The four winners advanced to a semifinals round ... with the two winners of that round later competing for his weight-class title on a finals program shown during the eighth week. Wrestlers were not only competing for individual glory; they were also earning points for their team. Not to mention a $25,000 prize for the champ in each weight class. Teams and Participants In Season One of Real Pro Wrestling, there were eight teams, each with seven wrestlers, one per weight class. While the teams had geographical names, it wasn't as if all the wrestlers on a particular team had actual ties to that particular state or city. Here are the competitors, listed by weight class, in alphabetical order by team name: 55 kilos/121 pounds: Matt Azevedo, California Claw ... Lindsey Durlacher, Chicago Groove ... Mike Mena, Iowa Stalkers ... Tim Dernlan, Minnesota Freeze ... Jeff Prescott, New York Outrage ... Teague Moore, Oklahoma Slam ... Sammie Henson, Pennsylvania Hammer ... Eric Akin, Texas Shooters. 60 kilos/132 pounds: Dennis Hall, California Claw ... Scott Schatzman, Chicago Groove ... Zach Roberson, Iowa Stalkers ... Ryan Lewis, Minnesota Freeze ... Tony DeAnda, New York Outrage ... Joe Warren, Oklahoma Slam ... Jim Gruenwald, Pennsylvania Hammer ... Danny Felix, Texas Shooters. 66 kilos/145 pounds: Tony Davis, California Claw ... Chris Bono, Chicago Groove ... Doug Schwab, Iowa Stalkers ... Jared Lawrence, Minnesota Freeze ... Jesse Jantzen, New York Outrage ... Jared Frayer, Oklahoma Slam ... Mike Ellsworth, Pennsylvania Hammer ... Eric Larkin, Texas Shooters. 74 kilos/163 pounds: Darryl Christian, California Claw ... Joe Williams, Chicago Groove ... Joe Heskett, Iowa Stalkers ... TC Dantzler, Minnesota Freeze ... Ramico Blackmon, New York Outrage ... Tyrone Lewis, Oklahoma Slam ... Donny Pritzlaff, Pennsylvania Hammer ... Sean Harrington, Texas Shooters. 84 kilos/185 pounds: Markus Mollica, California Claw ... Andy Hrovat, Chicago Groove ... Lee Fullhart, Iowa Stalkers ... Brandon Eggum, Minnesota Freeze ... Brad Vering, New York Outrage ... Mo Lawal, Oklahoma Slam ... Quincey Clark, Pennsylvania Hammer ... Aaron Simpson, Texas Shooters. 96 kilos/211 pounds: Garrett Lowney, California Claw ... Dawid Rechul, Chicago Groove ... Chad Lamer, Iowa Stalkers ... Damion Hahn, Minnesota Freeze ... Tommy Rowlands, New York Outrage ... Daniel Cormier, Oklahoma Slam ... Nick Preston, Pennsylvania Hammer ... Ryan Tobin, Texas Shooters. 120 kilos/264 pounds: Tolly Thompson, California Claw ... Kevin Hoy, Chicago Groove ... Wes Hand, Iowa Stalkers ... Khoren Papoyan, Minnesota Freeze ... Angelo Borzio, New York Outrage ... Brian Keck, Oklahoma Slam ... Pat Cummins, Pennsylvania Hammer ... Kellan Fluckiger, Texas Shooters.Real Pro Wrestling participants had amateur wrestling backgrounds and were already out of college. Most were NCAA All-Americans, some were national collegiate champs, and at least one -- former University of Minnesota heavyweight Garrett Lowney -- was an Olympic medalist, having earned a bronze medal in Greco-Roman competition at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Other Real Pro Wrestling participants went on compete for the U.S. at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, including Doug Schwab, T.C. Dantzler, Daniel Cormier, and Brad Vering. At least three RPW competitors -- Cormier, Mo Lawal, and Patrick Cummins -- have gone on to successful pro MMA careers. What did the Real Pro Wrestling participants wear into combat? In the 2002 pilot, there were two uniform styles -- singlets, or trunks, without shirts. Within in a particular match, the two wrestlers agreed to wear the same type of uniform -- in other words, it was singlet vs. singlet, or trunks vs. trunks -- based on the preferences of the individual wrestlers. For the 2005 edition, all wrestlers within the first six weight classes wore fight shorts with their team colors and logo, without shirts ... while heavyweights in the 264-pound class wore singlets. ("If I remember correctly, some of the heavyweights were actually disappointed that their weight class was assigned singlets and they couldn't don the fighter shorts like the other weights," according to Danielle Hobeika, respected wrestling photographer hired for Real Pro Wrestling.) All but one of the 70 wrestlers competed without headgear; Jesse Jantzen, 2004 NCAA champ for Harvard who went on to serve as wrestling trainer and choreographer for the movie "Foxcatcher", wore earguards. The one-hour episodes of Real Pro Wrestling shown in the spring of 2005 were fast-paced, with what I would describe as engaging, professional-quality production values, including clear graphics, excellent camera work, and an announcing crew consisting of Tim Johnson -- who provided play-by-play -- along with 2000 Olympic gold medalist and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Rulon Gardner and 1988 Olympic bronze medalist Nate Carr providing commentary, analysis and opinions. A typical episode provided a lightning-fast review of the previous week's action and results, followed by an equally quick introduction to the eight wrestlers featured that week. The show then provided a highly edited version each of the four preliminary-round matches, followed by the two semifinals matches shown in their entirety. These semi bouts were preceded by two-minute profiles for each of the four wrestlers, usually incorporating workout footage, actual college or international match action, and fun "slice-of-life" footage that provided a bit more of a portrait of each of the competitors at home with their families or engaged in their favorite off-the-mat activities ... all with voice-over commentary from that particular athlete. You may be wondering ... because the Season One matches for Real Pro Wrestling were filmed in October 2004, and not shown on TV until spring, 2005, so ... didn't the fans in the stands at the filming divulge the match outcomes? Amazingly, the fans were incredibly tight-lipped. On the various online wrestling forums -- including one at the official Real Pro Wrestling website -- I never saw any posts hinting at match outcomes. To my knowledge, no scores were revealed. (At their website during the course of the 2005 broadcasts, RPW founders Matt Case and Toby Willis repeatedly thanked those who had been at the filming for keeping results a secret.) A friend of mine who was lucky enough to be in the studio audience a decade ago told me immediately afterwards how exciting the event was ... without disclosing any results or other inside information, other than to comment that he was surprised at the "spare tire" one of the wrestlers was sporting. (We won't name any names here.) A wrestler and a photographer remember RPW Getting the call One of the 70 contestants at Season One of Real Pro Wrestling was Teague Moore, who was a three-time NCAA All-American for Oklahoma State, winning the 118-pound title at the 1998 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. The Pennsylvania native was also a two-time Big 12 conference champ. Moore is now head wrestling coach at American University in Washington, D.C. In addition, he is the founder of Tour ACW, one of the newer pro wrestling ventures which had a test event in October 2013. A decade ago, as a participant in Real Pro Wrestling, Moore competed for the Oklahoma Slam at 55 kilos/121 pounds, where he made it to the finals. When asked how he got involved in Real Pro Wrestling, Moore said, "I got a phone call about the opportunity from one of the owners. He asked if I would be interested and I said yes. It sounded like a unique situation. At the time I was recovering from knee surgery sustained at the '04 (Olympic) Trials and RPW gave me something to train for." Moore said there was no tryout or audition, saying, "They said I would be competing in LA so I assumed I would be able to take part without having to prove my worth." Getting started with promotional photos and videos "I remember being in LA for a few days," Moore recalled. "We were scheduled for a photo and video shoot followed by a long interview session on camera. It was a lot of fun and it felt good to be a part of something new." "We filmed the whole production in an LA studio," the former Cowboy mat champ continued. "We were allowed to see the video shoots so that we could get action movements that we liked and that the director thought would work well for the final cut. The photos were set in a weight training and wrestling environment. Something that could be used to promote us individually. " Danielle HobeikaDanielle Hobeika was one of the photographers who captured images for Real Pro Wrestling, working on promotional shots like those described by Teague Moore which were used at the RPW website and on the telecasts, as well as the actual matches. Experienced in various types of photography, Hobeika has made a name for herself as a photographer of amateur wrestling and mixed martial arts events, especially for the website AmateurWrestlingPhotos.com. In fact, from Hobeika recalled, that was how RPW founder Toby Willis was aware of her photography when he contacted her as he was assembling a team of photographers to cover the event, as well as to shoot some artistic images a couple days beforehand. "The artistic images were shot by myself as well as the other three photographers," according to Hobeika. "We traveled to Los Angeles two days ahead of the actual event -- the first day was dedicated to photographing the lighter weights, while the second day was dedicated to the heavier weights. These images were shot in a studio in downtown LA adjacent to the studio where the actual competition took place." "There were two types of artistic images that Toby wanted us to capture," Hobeika continued. "The first type of pictures were posed portraits which were taken on a set that was configured to look like a locker room/weight room. To be honest, these photographs came out a bit cheesier than we had wanted, partially because they were so posed, and partially because I think we went a little overboard with some of the special effects we had at our disposal. Note: smoke machines might seem like a really good idea at the time, but don't come out quite as well as planned." Chad Lamer in an action shot (Photo/Danielle Hobeika) "The second type of pictures were choreographed action shots which were photographed in a dark room with a black backdrop and on a black mat. The only lighting in the room was pointed directly on the wrestlers for a dramatic effect. The wrestlers would partner up with someone from their weight class and would drill dynamic throws and take downs. We encouraged them to use the types of moves that would look amazing when captured on film, but to be mindful that no one got injured. These shots came out much better than the first type of pictures." "Some of the wrestlers really got into the pre-event photo shoots," Hobeika recalled. "The most memorable was a duo who worked as assistant coaches at the same university. They had been assigned by RPW as partners for the choreographed action shots segment of the photo shoot, and really enjoyed coming up with new, exciting ideas of how to toss each other around. As they repeatedly threw each other on their heads, the clock was fast approaching midnight, and we had to kick them out so we could get out of there and prepare for another day of shooting. But it made for some really great pictures!" Geared up for action From what this writer recalls from a decade ago, the initial reaction of the amateur wrestling community as the Real Pro Wrestling matches filmed in October 2004 were shown in spring 2005 was mostly positive, in terms of TV ratings, and in comments posted in various online wrestling forums, including the one at the official RPW website. Beyond some negative reactions to specific incidents during the matches, the one issue that seemed to rankle more than a few fans was the gear worn by the contestants -- trunks without shirts for all but the heavyweights, who wore singlets. Some of the comments said the RPW gear looked too much like what WWE pro wrestlers wear ... while a good number of posts used words like "queer" and "gay" to describe the RPW uniforms. Tommy Rowlands battled Daniel Cormier in Real Pro Wrestling (Photo/Danielle Hobeika)This reaction may seem strange now, given that trunks/fight shorts worn without shirts is the standard gear for the vast majority of MMA competitors. (Then again, maybe not, having seem negative comments about the fight shorts/no shirt gear worn at Flo Premier League and Who's Number One high school showcase this month.) However, realize that a decade ago, MMA was just coming into its own as a popular sports activity, in the process of being legalized in more and more states, and overcoming a widely-held perception of being bloody and barbaric. Years ago, Sen. John McCain, himself a wrestler in high school and at the US Naval Academy, described MMA as being "human cockfighting." In fact, UFC -- Ultimate Fighting Championships -- which had been in existence for about a decade before Real Pro Wrestling, at one time seemed to play on that perception with its slogan "There are no rules!" Fans who disapproved of Real Pro Wrestling's trunks/no shirt look may not have realized that this was what wrestlers at a number of Midwest and western college programs wore up until about 50 years ago. Thumb through old college yearbooks from University of Iowa, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or other schools -- or watch old films such as the 1962 NCAA finals on YouTube, for instance -- and there's not a singlet to be seen. (Singlets started making their appearance in high school and college wrestling in the late 1960s.) Because the wrestler uniforms was a major sticking point with some Real Pro Wrestling fans a decade ago, InterMat had to ask about the wrestler reactions. "I remember most of the guys being happy to lose the singlet," according to Teague Moore. "Most of us trained in spandex shorts every day. Training for freestyle also had many of us lose the shirt while in practice so it wasn't much of a change for us." "I don't recall anyone having an issue with no shirts and for the most part everyone liked the idea of competing without a singlet. We did it every day in practice." Photographer Danielle Hobeika weighed in with a concurring opinion, saying, "The wrestlers actually seemed to prefer wearing shorts as opposed to singlets while competing." RPW: A training ground for MMA? At least three of the competitors in Season One of Real Pro Wrestling have gone on to successful MMA careers: Daniel Cormier, Mo Lawal, and Patrick Cummins. InterMat asked if there might have been something about RPW that helped prepare these guys for that success. Mo Lawal dances before competing (Photo/Danielle Hobeika)"Some wrestlers really embraced the entertainment value of what RPW was doing," according to Danielle Hobeika. "I remember Mo Lawal dancing up high on his platform before making his grand entrance and descending onto the wrestling mat. (For those that don't remember, wrestlers entered from above via a long ramp to a raised mat area.) But I suppose 'King Mo' is the consummate entertainer, seeing that he has made a name for himself in the MMA world, and always has very unforgettable entrances. " Teague Moore agreed, saying, "Daniel and Mo were wanting to blow up their 'characters'. They had an idea of taking RPW into an almost 'pro wrestling/WWE' setting. They were sure that fans wanted more than a boring wrestler persona. In those days, Daniel and Mo entertained most of us with their everyday stories and banter. Sometimes they would start telling stories or picking on someone who had a bad practice and everybody in the room or van would be laughing, including the guy getting picked on. Rarely was it done in bad taste. They could always lighten the mood!" Behind-the-scenes perspective Both Moore and Hobeika have positive memories of their experience working on Real Pro Wrestling a decade ago. For the most part, the wrestlers were really enjoying themselves behind the scenes," said Hobeika. "Toby (Willis) waned to ensure they were treated like celebrities -- he had made accommodations for them in a luxury hotel, the wrestlers arrived to the finals in a limo and walked a red carpet, and were given a lot of benefits that many professional athletes are used to having, but wrestlers usually never have the luxury of experiencing." "I suppose this is true of most sporting events, but watching RPW in person definitely had a much more profound effect on its audience than watching it on TV," the photographer continued. "It was an amazing product -- the lighting, the atmosphere, the excitement -- it was the complete package that any sports junkie could ask for, and I thought it was destined for success. Unfortunately, I don't think the televised episodes had the exact same impact after production, but I was spoiled by seeing the live event, so my reactions might not have the same magnitude as someone experiencing RPW for the first time." What happened to RPW? As mentioned earlier in this article, what was called Season One of Real Pro Wrestling was aired on two cable networks in spring 2005. A Season Two was in the works, with discussions of using a dual-meet format rather than the weight-by-weight tournament format that was a hallmark of RPW's first official season. Preliminary qualifying events were held in various locations around the country, again featuring recent college grads as well as some freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers. Then RPW seemed to vanish, without any formal explanation. The official website remained operational for a time, with a message that hinted that Season Two was still in the works. So ... what happened? Matt Krumrie of TheWrestlingMall.com conducted interviews with the founders in 2009, putting that question to Matt Case, who responded, "RPW had to shut down for two reasons. For one, there was a specific deal that went bad just before Season Two was supposed to launch. One of our salesmen decided he wanted to do his own league, and consequently decided to lead our probable sponsor and investor money away so he could finance his own venture. But on a macro level, and a second reason, was that RPW was simply too much for just a few creative guys to handle. It really takes a team of businessmen in addition to creative people to see something like this launched. I think we got very close, but there was just too much for us to get done. Just like wrestlers, we wanted to take on the world." Tony Davis poses for a photo (Photo/Danielle Hobeika)When asked by Krumrie why Real Pro Wrestling didn't offer an official explanation for why they shut down operations, "Well, we continued to hold out hope that our business deal would come through for Season Two. We'd already launched a preseason qualifier series where we had four separate qualifying events. These would have led to the creation of the new teams for that second season. So, we prolonged any sort of final decision until we knew the outcome of our potential sponsorship, which took four months of waiting (December 2006 - March 2007). Case continued, "Needless to say, the guy working the sponsorship side of things couldn't close the deals (or wouldn't close), and so instead of closing up shop then, Toby and I continued to fight for possible ways to keep RPW running, until we just had no more energy left in the tank. In hindsight, maybe we should have formally made an announcement. However, we continued to hope that we'd find more interested parties to help us, even until this day." RPW: A roadmap for other pro wrestling ventures? In the course of their separate interviews about Real Pro Wrestling, both Teague Moore and Danielle Hobeika mentioned specific new professional wrestling opportunities for former college wrestlers. Teague Moore, who now serves as head wrestling coach at American University, competed in Real Pro Wrestling (Photo/Danielle Hobeika)Moore, who developed Tour ACW (Association of Career Wrestlers) which had a test event one year ago in a Pittsburgh airport hotel ballroom, said, "RPW taught me a number of things about the concept of wrestling. It allowed me to think of wrestling outside of the collegiate or Olympic mindset. It has always been my opinion that our rules system in college and Olympic style has actually held the action back. RPW really proved to me that with some creative thinking and some dedicated people, wrestling could be presented in a new way. "I appreciate my experience with RPW because it gave me the inspiration and confidence to try and implement a new set of rules and scoring for Tour ACW which we call 'First2Ten'," Moore continued. "The team concept was good but I'm not sure wrestling would survive in a dual meeting setting for RPW. Its appeal was in the mixture of talent and personalities that seem to come out better in the tournament format. Had RPW tried dual meets, I believe it would have faltered like the IFL (International Fight League). "RPW has its place in wrestling history and if the timing were different, it could have taken off." "I recently learned about the Flo Premier League, and it seems to be quite a hot topic," said Hobeika. "I recently had conversations with a couple of wrestling's prominent coaches and leaders who are very excited about this endeavor, and think it has a great chance of success." "I believe that one of the main reasons why RPW didn't achieve as much success as we hoped was due to timing. It launched at nearly the same time as the first season of the UFC's 'The Ultimate Fighter' reality TV series, which catapulted the UFC's resurgence, and provided direct competition for the target demographic," Hobeika continued. "Had RPW launched a year earlier, it might have captured this audience first, and could possibly still be on air today." "Currently MMA is very popular, but almost to the point of over-saturation. The UFC has bought out most of its competition, and while they used to put on one amazing fight card per month that would kill yourself if you missed, they now hold events nearly every week, and most of them lack the appeal and firepower of the more stacked cards of days past. Perhaps it's the perfect time to re-introduce a professional wrestling league, and if Flo's Premier League lives up to expectation and delivers a lot of excitement, it might be able to convert many MMA fans who are unhappy with recent lackluster fight cards to wrestling fans." "Should the Flo league succeed, it will provide wrestlers with a financially viable option to continue wrestling at a professional level instead of turning to MMA after their college careers are over," concluded Hobeika. "All around, it sounds like a winning idea for everyone involved in the sport wrestling, so let's do what we can to help it succeed." Back in 2009, despite the collapse of Real Pro Wrestling, Matt Case still thought that there was a place for a professional wrestling venture such as RPW, telling TheWrestlingMall.com's Matt Krumrie, "Toby (Willis) and I both still believe a league can succeed. In today's age of TV and media, there's a possibility that anything can succeed with the right ingredients. However, it takes a ton of work and more specifically the right contacts. RPW looked great. We packaged the best of what wrestling has to offer. However, if you don't convince the right people, it doesn't matter how good it looks." More Real Pro Wrestling photos can be found on Danielle Hobeika's website.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Virginia wrestling team will conduct its Saturday practice (Oct. 25) outside on the grassy area next to the Observatory Hill Dining Hall (O-Hill). The Cavaliers' outdoor practice will start at approximately 3:45 following the conclusion of the Virginia-North Carolina football game and run until 5 p.m. It is free of charge and open to the student body and general public. Coaches and players will be available to meet with the public and sign autographs throughout the event. Virginia returns 25 letterwinners from its 2013-14 squad, including two-time All-American Nick Sulzer, who placed fourth at 165 pounds at the 2014 NCAA Championships, and ACC champions Blaise Butler and George DiCamillo. Ranked No. 13 in the InterMat preseason dual-meet rankings, the Cavaliers have a strong home schedule upcoming in 2014-15, featuring nine home duals. The home schedule highlighted by matches against No. 2 Ohio State (Nov. 24 at John Paul Jones Arena), No. 15 Pitt (Jan. 25 at Mem Gym) and No. 22 North Dakota State (Nov. 15 at Mem Gym).

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- The Hofstra Wrestling team will conduct their first wrestle-off under first-year coach Dennis Papadatos on Wednesday, October 22 at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. The first match is slated for 7 p.m. Admission is free The Pride team will be split into two squads with assistant coaches Dan Vallimont (Blue team) and Jake Patacsil (Gold team) directing the two teams. In addition, Hofstra Wrestling alumni Neil Duncan, ’72 will serve as the honorary coach for the Blue team while Nick Gallo, ’77, the Pride’s only NCAA national champion, will serve as honorary coach for the Gold team. While Papadatos is anxious to see his grapplers competing for a possible starting position, he is quick to state that the wrestle-offs are just a small part in the process of selecting starters for Hofstra’s season opener against Lock Haven on Sunday, November 2 at 2:30 p.m. “I want to see how our guys compete in the match situation,” Papadatos said. “I will take into consideration everything that is done during the preseason and select the starters who I feel we have the best chance of winning with. We will be constantly evaluating everyone’s progress throughout the year as well.” The tentative match-ups for the wrestle-offs are as follows: Match 1 - 184 – Jermaine John and Cory Damiana Match 2 - 125 – Bryan Damon and Travis Passaro Match 3 - 133 – Kyle Krasavage and Maverick Passaro Match 4 - 141 – Jamel Hudson and Connor Muli Match 5 - 149 – Aaron Hartman and Cody Ruggirello Match 6 - 157 – Bobby Fehr and Cory Goshkagarian Match 7 - 165 – Jay Lysne and Nick Terdick Match 8 - 197 – Mike Oxley and DJ Zissimos Match 9 - EXB – 174 Frank Affronti vs Loser of Match 1 - Jermaine John/Cory Damiana

MANHEIM, Pa. -- Three Philadelphia-based athletes and a pair of world medalists highlight five showcase matches at the 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic presented by the United States Marine Corps and the Wrestlers in Business Network hosted by Penn and WIBN-Philadelphia on November 1 at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Host Penn will have All-American Lorenzo Thomas and senior C.J. Cobb competing, while Drexel's Kevin Devoy will represent the Dragons one of the showcase matches. New Jersey schools Rider and Princeton will also have local participation as Rider's Clint Morrison and Princeton's Jordan Laster will also take to the mat. 2014 World bronze medalists Helen Maroulis (Tempe, Ariz./Sunkist Kids) and Jillian Gallays of Canada will compete in a women's freestyle match. Maroulis won her 2014 World bronze medal at 55 kg/121 lbs., while Gallays was a 2014 World bronze medalist at 53 kg/116.5 pounds. In the final UWW World rankings this season, Maroulis is ranked No. 3 in the world at 55 kg while Gallays is ranked No. 4 in the world at 53 kg. Maroulis, 23, is a two-time World medalist, with a 2012 World silver medal on her resume. Maroulis has been on five U.S. Senior World Teams, also placing fifth in 2011, seventh in 2013 and eighth in 2008. She was a 2011 Pan American Games champion and a three-time Junior World medalist. A native of Rockville, Md., Maroulis won four WCWA women's college national titles competing for Simon Fraser University in Canada. Gallays, 28, has been on three Canadian Senior World Teams, placing eighth at the 2010 World Championships and also competing at the 2013 World Championships. She was a 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist. She won international titles in 2014 at the Canada Cup, the Austrian Ladies Open and the Grand Prix of Germany. Gallays was fifth at the 2006 Junior World Championships. Their last meeting was at the 2014 Klippan Lady Open in Sweden in March, where Maroulis defeated Gallays 10-4 at 55 kg. It is the second straight year Maroulis has competed in a match as part of the NWCA All-Star Classic. In 2013, Maroulis scored an 8-0 first-period technical fall victory over Marcia Andrades of Venezuela. Penn's Lorenzo Thomas, a senior from Pittsburgh, went 30-11 last year en route to a sixth-place finish at the 2014 NCAA Division I Championships last year in Oklahoma City at 184 pounds. Thomas was the runner-up at the EIWA championships and entered last year's national championship as the 11th seed. Thomas beat Iowa's Ethen Lofthouse, Michigan State's John Rizqallah and Arizona State's Blake Stauffer in the consolation rounds to earn All-American honors and topped Brown All-American Ophir Bernstein to reach the consolation semifinals. Rider's Clint Morrison, from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, went 1-2 at the NCAA championships at 184 pounds and went 19-6 during the 2013-14 season. Morrison's father Tim, an All-American for Rider during his career, participated in the All-Star Classic back in 1982. Clint Morrison and Thomas have not met collegiately. Penn's C.J. Cobb is returning to the Penn lineup after sitting out of competition last season. In 2012-13, Cobb was an NCAA qualifier, going 25-9 at 141 pounds. The Williamstown, New Jersey native enters the season ranked 20th at 149. He'll face Virginia Tech's Devin Carter, the returning runner-up from 141 pounds, who like Cobb, is moving up to 149 pounds. Carter competed in the main event last year, falling to eventual NCAA champion Tony Ramos of Iowa in overtime. Drexel's Kevin Devoy, a sophomore from Burlington, New Jersey, moved up to 133 pounds midway through last season and worked his way into the finals of the EIWA Championships. Devoy went 19-10 and starts the season ranked 17th in the nation. He'll face Ithaca's Alex Gomez, the runner-up at last year's NCAA Division III championships at 133 pounds. Gomez went 30-4 last season. He'll start the year ranked No. 1 in Division III. Ryan Diehl, a West Virginia native who won four state championships in his high school career in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, won the NCWA national championship last season at 133 pounds for Liberty University. Diehl will face Illinois native Jordan Laster, who went 23-21 as a true freshman for the Tigers last season. It'll be the third straight year a wrestler from the NCWA has competed in the showcase portion of the event. West Chester's Luke Bilyeu faced George Mason's Sahid Kargbo last year, while MIT's Sam Shames wrestled in the event in 2012. Diehl topped Shames 15-10 in the finals of the 2014 NCWA championships. To purchase tickets to the event, click here for the Penn Athletic Ticket Office. The event will be streamed live by the NWCA's live streaming partner Flowrestling. Fox College Sports will air the event on television via tape-delay no less than 10 times during the season, starting two weeks after the event has completed. These broadcasts are paid for by Rothschild, a leading global financial advisory based in New York City with offices in Washington, Los Angeles and Houston. Hibiclens and Resilite will again support the event as associate sponsors. The Rothman Institute and the United Association (UA) Group will also make 1,500 tickets available for local students (K-12) throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. These tickets will be distributed to regional schools by representatives of the United States Marine Corps. Follow on Social Media! For more information on the All-Star Classic, visit www.theallstarclassic.com and follow the NWCA on Facebook and Twitter. Fans can join the discussion with the #NWCAClassic hashtag. Fans should keep an eye on the discussion as there will be contests and interactive discussions about the event via Twitter and Facebook! Competing wrestlers will be eligible for the Outstanding Wrestler Award, presented by the Wrestlers in Business Network - Atlanta Chapter. Announced Matchups: 125: #2 Nahshon Garrett, Jr. (Cornell) vs. #4 Joey Dance, So. (Virginia Tech) 133: #1 A.J. Schopp, Sr. (Edinboro) vs. #2 Mason Beckman, Jr. (Lehigh) 141: #1 Logan Stieber, Sr. (Ohio State) vs. #2 Mitchell Port, Sr. (Edinboro) 149: #1 Jason Tsirtsis, So. (Northwestern) vs. #3 Josh Kindig, Sr. (Oklahoma State) 157: #2 James Green, Sr. (Nebraska) vs. #3 Ian Miller, Jr. (Kent State) 165: #1 Alex Dieringer, Jr. (Oklahoma State) vs. #2 Nick Sulzer, Sr. (Virginia) 174: #2 Robert Kokesh, Sr. (Nebraska) vs. #1-NAIA Brock Gutches, Sr. (Southern Oregon) 184: #1 Gabe Dean, So. (Cornell) vs. #2 Jack Dechow, So. (Old Dominion) 197: #1 J'den Cox, So. (Missouri) vs. #2 Scott Schiller, Sr. (Minnesota) 285: #1 Nick Gwiazdowski, Jr. (N.C. State) vs. #2 Mike McMullan, Sr. (Northwestern) Showcase Matchups Women's FS 55 kilos: World #3 Helen Maroulis (United States) vs. World #4 Jillian Gallays (Canada) 133: #1-Division III Alex Gomez, Sr. (Ithaca) vs. #20 Kevin Devoy, So. (Drexel) 141: #1-NCWA Ryan Diehl, So. (Liberty) vs. Jordan Laster, So. (Princeton) 149: #2 Devin Carter, Sr. (Virginia Tech) vs. #16 C.J. Cobb, Sr. (Penn) 184: #4 Lorenzo Thomas, Sr. (Penn) vs. Clint Morrison, Sr. (Rider) About the NWCA Founded in 1928, the NWCA strives to promote and provide leadership for the advancement of amateur wrestling, primarily at the scholastic and collegiate levels. The association is headquartered in Manheim Pa. The three core competencies are coaching development, student-wrestler welfare, and promotion/advocacy. The NWCA has 10,000 members and educational programs that serve 230,000 students each year. www.nwcaonline.com NWCA on Facebook | NWCA on Twitter About the University of Pennsylvania Established in 1740, the University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Incorporated as The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities and is one of the nine original Colonial Colleges. The school was founded by Ben Franklin. Penn is ranked among the top research universities in the world. About Wrestlers in Business/Wrestlers in Business Philadelphia The Group Wrestlers in Business is a non-profit organization that strives to unite the thousands of wrestlers that have retired from the sport and are now in their respective careers. It started as a networking group on LinkedIn. Since then, the group has evolved into a more prominent, member-focused organization that cares about supporting current & former wrestlers and the sport. Their mission is to establish a community of wrestlers who commonly share in the interest of helping each other in business and in life, while supporting and strengthening the sport that made us who we are today. www.wrestlersinbusiness.org Wrestlers in Business Philadelphia is a newly formed group who will kick-off their Chapter events with a Social Event in September followed by All-Star Classic. A 14-member Board has been elected led by President Anthony Stagliano and he is joined by distinguished names in the wrestling and business community including four members who have long ties to the University of Pennsylvania; Roger Reina who is playing a prominent role in the promotion of the All-Star Classic, Gary Baker, Andy Matter and Chris Hanlon. www.wrestlersinbusiness.org/chapters/philadelphia-pa About the United States Marine Corps On November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was established by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then, the Marine Corps, through service on land, in air, and at sea, have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term “Marine” has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue. Whether facing our nation's foes or conducting humanitarian relief and disaster recovery operations at home or abroad, today's Marine Corps stands ready to continue in the same proud tradition of faithful service to the United States. For more information, visit www.Marines.com. About Rothman Institute Rothman Institute is a private orthopaedic practice dedicated to providing communities with high-quality, compassionate, and affordable musculoskeletal care that is grounded in evidence-based medicine, the results of which will exceed expectations. Rothman Institute orthopaedists treat patients at 20 locations in the Philadelphia-region, including orthopaedic urgent care clinics in Marlton, NJ and Limerick, PA. With experts in orthopaedic sub-specialties including spine, hip and knee, foot and ankle, shoulder and elbow, hand and wrist, sports medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopaedic oncology and trauma, the Rothman Institute is internationally recognized for excellence in clinical treatment methods, research, education and technology. Consistently recognized as national and regional “Top Docs,” the Rothman Institute is proud to be official team physicians for several professional, college and high school teams. For more information about the Rothman Institute please call 1-800-321-9999 or visit www.RothmanInstitute.com.

In September, Andy Bisek became the first U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler since 2009 to win a medal at the World Championships. Bisek, a native of Chaska, Minnesota, claimed the bronze medal at 75 kilos with a technical fall victory over Hiroyuki Shimizu of Japan. His World bronze-medal performance capped a season in which he won gold medals at five international tournaments. InterMat caught up with Bisek and talked to him about his performance at the World Championships, what he needs to improve on to win gold, future plans and much more. Andy Bisek, a Minnesota native, competes for the Minnesota Storm (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Did you take a break from wrestling after the World Championships? Bisek: I took some time off. I was able to get back to Minnesota for a week and spend time with family. Since then I've had a few days off. I started getting back into it slowly last week. This was your third time competing at the World Championships. In previous years you came up short of a medal. What was different about this year that allowed you to medal? Bisek: I think just building off past years and getting more confidence. Not this past January, but the January before I was able to wrestle the Russian in a tournament. That helped. With the success I had winning five tournaments, it was definitely a good year and I had a lot of momentum. In the second round you knocked off World and Olympic champion Roman Vlasov of Russia. You rallied from deficits of 4-0 and 5-2. What was the key to defeating Vlasov? Bisek: Definitely the conditioning was a factor. Obviously, we train to be in the best shape, but we were doing a sprint-type pummel go after every match we were wrestling to get like a seventh or eighth minute of wrestling, expecting to have to wrestle a whole match or more. In par terre I'm always very confident on top. But on bottom I was able to defend him and then when he ended up going for the lift I was able to float it and get on top. That's a situation that just comes from tons of time wrestling in par terre, practice and doing a bunch of live goes. Andy Bisek defeated Petros Maoulidis of Greece in his opening match at the Worlds (Photo/Larry Slater)In the quarterfinals you dropped a 1-0 decision to Neven Zugaj of Croatia. What did you take away from that loss? Bisek: That's just something where I didn't really create any opportunities for myself to score, and I think that's what I was missing. I just have to score on my feet. I can have a good par terre game, but if I can't score on my feet it's not really going to matter. You can get him put down, but you can't leave that to chance. Did your mindset change after your quarterfinal loss? Did you feel more pressure to win a medal? Or were you more relaxed? Bisek: I don't feel like there was any more pressure. There may have been less, actually. I played the waiting game to see if I was going to wrestle and then planned for whoever I was going to wrestle. You have been able to score a lot in par terre. How have you developed your confidence in your par terre game? Bisek: Just getting a lot of time with foreign wrestlers and doing numerous par terre goes with them, stopping and asking what they're doing, trying to get as many looks and feels as I can. Someone might be really good at defending something, and then you find out where they're not good. Matt Lindland replaced Steve Fraser as the National Greco-Roman coach. You have spoken highly of Coach Fraser in the past. But what has Coach Lindland brought to the U.S. Greco-Roman program? Bisek: At the end of every match we have a fresh guy who didn't wrestle in the match come in and pummel with you for another minute. We started dong that this summer. We also do five or six minutes on the Airdyne bike and then a minute of either pushups or rope slams, and then you go right into six one-minute goes with a fresh partner every day. Those are things that have definitely helped with conditioning and things that seem new this year. Andy Bisek won a U.S. Open title in Las Vegas this year (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Lindland won an Olympic silver medal at the Olympic Games in 2000. You were 14 years old at the time. Do you have any recollection of him winning a medal in Sydney? Or were you not following wrestling on the world stage back then? Bisek: I was following it, but at the same time I wasn't paying close attention or waiting to hear the results. I usually found out information when I got the next issue of USA Wrestler magazine. The rules have changed a few times during your career. What do you think of the current set of rules for Greco-Roman? Bisek: They're good. They've definitely helped it improve. When they had it a minute on the feet and then each person had 30 seconds on top, nothing was really happening on the feet. And then even when they moved it to a minute and a half, a lot of people would just try to wait to have their chance. Now you can get a chance on top, but you really have to earn it or push for it. Coming out of high school you originally committed to wrestle at the Division II level for Minnesota State Mankato, but instead chose to attend Northern Michigan and wrestle Greco-Roman in the USOEC program. Do you ever think about how your life would have been different if you continued your folkstyle career after high school? Bisek: Yeah. It definitely would have been different in a lot of different aspects. I don't know that I would still be wrestling. The college season is so demanding for just such a short period compared to what I'm doing where I have a tournament every month or two months. I'm able to take things a little slower and focus on things. After a tournament I have more time to focus on things. Going to Northern Michigan I had a great coach, Ivan Ivanov, and I was able to understand the international scene of wrestling. I don't think I would be wrestling Greco or freestyle if I had gone to Mankato. You are living and training in Colorado Springs. What do you like about your current training situation? Bisek: It's good. I like my coach Momir a lot. I like my day-to-day routine. I get to spend time with my wife and kid and still have time to train full time. You have continued to compete for the Minnesota Storm despite not living and training in Minnesota. This year three members of the Storm wrestled on the U.S. World Team. How much pride do you take in your Minnesota roots and wrestling for the Storm? Bisek: A lot. I never had any desire to wrestle for any other club. When I was in youth wrestling I was in the HiFlyers with guys like Brandon Paulson, who won an Olympic silver medal. He was wrestling with the Storm. So that's what I grew up with. I'm definitely glad to be wrestling with the Storm still. Andy Bisek and Pat Smith attended the same high schoolOne member of the Minnesota Storm, Pat Smith, wrestled at Chaska High School with you. Pat was a U.S. Open runner-up this year and won a silver medal at the University Worlds. What's it like for you to see another wrestler from your high school have success in Greco-Roman? Bisek: It's awesome. I remember my first few years at Northern Michigan I would come back over Christmas or after the high school season and wrestle with Pat to help get him ready for Fargo and Junior Duals. I have always been trying to push him to the possibilities of competing on the international circuit at the senior level. You have been wrestling on the senior level for over a decade. Now you have a family. Have you thought about how much longer you plan to compete? Bisek: I have thought about it, but I don't want to make any definitive plans. I kind of think I'll be done after 2016, but you never know. About this time in the last quad I made the decision to go another quad after 2012. So we'll see what happens. Obviously, you have proven that you are one of the best Greco-Roman wrestlers in the world by your performance in international events and at the World Championships. What is it going to take to go from a World bronze medalist to a World or Olympic gold medalist? Bisek: I need to score on my feet. It doesn't matter who I'm wrestling, I just have to be able to score every time on my feet. My par terre game has been successful for me. If I can score on my feet I feel like I can beat anybody. This story also appears in the October 17 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.

If you listen to the messages coming from the professional sporting world, there is a new message that is being made clear to athletes, fans and owners: Less is more. The NBA this week experimented with shorter games, knocking four minutes off total game time by making quarters 11 minutes as opposed to 12. The talk of the experimental quarters and the announcement that the NBA signed a mega-billions TV deal spurred discussion among players that they also want a shorter season. The length of the MLB game is also under close scrutiny, with internal suits and outside consultants all trying to figure out how to sharpen the presentation of a game that once took roughly two hours to complete, now gobble up more than three hours. Wrestling should take note. The NCAA wrestling season is far too long, running a full five months of the year (November-March). That number of matches is unique to America, and in many ways harmful to the athletes (weight management, injuries, distraction from school) and the sport (diluted importance of matches). To what ends? What's the benefit? We know the costs are higher departmental expenses, increased injuries and less interest in the sport throughout the regular season. The NCAA competition committee should move to institute a one-semester competition calendar by 2018, if not sooner. Athletes should only compete in one academic semester, a move that will improve school performance, and give many the ability to connect with their families rather than starve their way to a few extra W's for their coaches. To your questions ... Virginia's Nick Sulzer finished fourth at the NCAAs at 165 (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Q: Alex Dieringer vs. Nick Sulzer at the NWCA All-Star Classic. Who you got? -- Mike C. Foley: Please ... Nick Sulzer has doubled in technical improvements every year. He's got Coach Garland and two NCAA champion wrestling partners in Keith Gavin and Jordan Leen. I've always been a Dieringer fan, but when it comes to a matchup against my fellow University of Virginia alumnus, I keep it loyal. Sulzer, 4-2. Go Hoos! Q: Are there any videos online about how the rule changes helped save wrestling in the Olympics and why they made changes? -- @mattg197 Foley: Yes. Q: When will redshirt announcements occur? So damn frustrating trying to find out who will be taking a redshirt! Why so secretive? -- @Eagle_Fan Foley: College wrestling coaches are like international wrestling coaches who are like high school wrestling coaches. There is a strong belief that withholding information will somehow give them an advantage -- that a wrestler unleashed without warning is like an extra queen on their chess board. Wrestling coaches don't do a ton of lineup management. The sport is mostly based on a meritocracy and lineups, through weight classes, don't allow for too much arrangement -- there is no pinch-hitting, pinch-running, designated hitters, etc. My theory is that coaches withhold these nuggets of information because it allows them some managerial oversight and for many that feels like control and work. I don't know for sure if Nico Megaludis is redshirting, though I've heard rumblings that he will. Does it matter to know now? Maybe. Is it annoying that we have to guess? A touch. Q: Anthony Valencia vs. Mark Hall this weekend. Who are you taking? -- Mike C. Foley: Valencia, 7-6. Q: What is your opinion on the public vs. private debate? -- @Prlab1 Foley: In terms of high school participation, I don't see why there would need to be any side. The debate isn't about if your child should wrestle at a private school, as there is nothing inherently wrong with wrestling at a private school. Same applies to public. The argument -- and this has been going on for as long as I've been in wrestling -- is about the accumulation of talent at private schools and the perception of recruitment. Like many wrestlers I attended a public school with no defined wrestling tradition. My coaches were great at motivation and keeping me focused on my goals, and though we produced Division I wrestlers on occasion, we were not considered a wrestling school. Though my path didn't include specialization, I can understand why some parents and students would seek that experience -- even at the expense of the greater desire for competitiveness or the ever-slippery perception that is competitive equality. As with top-level students who excel at the violin or chemistry, wrestlers should be allowed to pursue their talents at a young age, so long as they retain balance and perspective. The other issue, and this is more a problem today than even ten years ago, is the cost of college tuition. Sometimes paying a little for high school could save you 100s of thousands of dollars in college tuition in the form of a scholarship and prevent a lifetime of student loan debt. Maybe it's just as plausible to earn a scholarship from a public school, but when the motivation is saving 500k dollars in loan repayments the choice to go private can seem like an intelligent, calculated risk. Multimedia Halftime Foxcatcher Trailer No. 4 Link: Bennett Miller and Channing Tatum talk playing through the pain Link: The Brands bros. do comedy and it works Link: Sumo school is a magical place Q: 2015 is wide open, but right now is Cornell the favorite for 2016? -- @Rob_SwagginU Foley: How are you so confident in jumping ahead one season?! The 2015 season will help dictate who can compete for the team title in 2016 as the growth and stagnation of current sophomore and juniors comes into focus, and the hype of incoming freshman receives a reality check (or not). Anything can happen in 2015 and those outcomes will help dictate who is in contention in 2016. I don't think Cornell is in any better shape than Penn State, Ohio State or Minnesota. They are all reloading and in 2015 could have individual successes that change the argument and leave the field as open in 2016 as it is in 2015. Q: Who finishes higher on the podium in March, J'den Cox or Kyle Snyder? -- Mike C. Foley: Damn. I haven't seen Snyder wrestle an entire NCAA season, but on the flip side I don't know if Cox will be affected by the loss of Sammie Henson to West Virginia. I'm going (very tentatively) with Cox. He's seen the season, overcome its grind and proven himself a champion. Snyder will need to show the ability to make it through a very long, very difficult season. Q: I saw that Brock Gutches replaced Tyler Wilps at the NWCA All-Star Classic. I remember reading a Joey Davis interview on InterMat where he talked about wanting to wrestle in the All-Star Classic. No disrespect toward Gutches, but why would he go instead of Davis? Was Davis not asked? -- Mike C. Foley: Davis was asked, but declined because he won't be wrestling until the second semester. Really, really wish we could have seen him wrestle in the event!

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio State wrestling team took to the mat for the first time in the 2014-2015 season, holding its annual wrestle-offs on Thursday evening before a large crowd at French Field House. Head coach Tom Ryan and his staff will watch their preseason consensus top-five program battle it out prior to the season-opening Michigan State Open on November 2 in East Lansing, Mich. The evening was highlighted by a pair of pins – the first coming from three-time defending NCAA champion Logan Stieber at 141 pounds and the second by Bo Jordan at 165 pounds. Redshirt freshman Nathan Tomassello opened the event by defeating Mike Manuche in a 20-4 tech fall win the 125-pound class. Stieber needed less than two minutes to get the win in the 141-pound class against Sal Marandino on a pin. Randy Languis edged Micah Jordan in a tight 3-2 match to take the 157-pound class. Next, Micah’s brother, Bo, needed only 1:46 to pin Justin Kresevic in the 165-pound match. Next, the higher weight classes then took the mat, as Kenny Courts took down Josh Fox in full time 11-3 in the 184-pound match. Freshman Kyle Snyder showed off his talent in his first appearance as a Buckeye, defeating Matthew O’Hara by tech fall 19-5 in the 197-pound bout. The heavyweights then took the mat in the 285-pound class, as Nick Tavanello defeated Ray Gordon 5-2. Next, the 149-pound match was won by Jake Ryan, as he defeated Cody Burcher 11-4. The 174-pound class rounded out the night, as Mark Martin defeated Dominic Prezzia 12-4. The Buckeyes will return to action in Columbus to take on Kent State on November 13 at St. John Arena. Ohio State Wrestle Offs Columbus, Ohio French Field House Oct. 16, 2014 125: Tomassello won by tech fall over Manuche 20-4 141: Stieber pinned Marandino 1:58 157: Languis won by decision over M. Jordan 3-2 165: B. Jordan pinned Kresevic 1:46 184: Courts won by major decision over Fox 11-3 197: Snyder won by major decision over O’Hara 19-5 285: Tavanello won by decision over Gordon 5-2 149: Ryan won by decision over Burcher 11-4 174: Martin won by major decision over Prezzia 12-4

MANHEIM, Pa. -- For the first time since 2004, a wrestler from the NAIA will be in the main event at the NWCA All-Star Classic. Due to an injury to Pittsburgh All-American Tyler Wilps at 174 pounds, Southern Oregon's three-time NAIA national champion Brock Gutches has been named as a participant at the 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic presented by the United States Marine Corps and the Wrestlers in Business Network hosted by Penn and WIBN-Philadelphia on November 1 at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The last time an NAIA wrestler competed in the main event was when Montana State-Northern's Emmett Willson took to the mat at 197 pounds in Cedar Falls, Iowa in February of 2004. Willson won that match, beating Northern Iowa's Sean Stender 7-3. Gutches, a Central Point, Oregon native, started his career at Division I Boise State before heading back to his home state to wrestle for coach Mike Ritchey. Southern Oregon wrestlers have competed in the showcase matches, with 125-pounder Trevor Lofstedt competing at the 2007 event in Eugene, Oregon. Gutches will face two-time Division I All-American Robert Kokesh of Nebraska. In the finals of last season's Reno Tournament of Champions, Kokesh defeated Gutches 3-1. Gutches placed fourth at the Division I-heavy Midlands championships last season. He ended his season 30-3. Gutches brings a career record of 72-11 into the match with 47 career falls. He holds a 38-0 record against NAIA competition and is 15-9 against Division I opponents in his career. Gutches is also currently on the U.S. Greco-Roman national team. "It's an outstanding opportunity for both the NAIA to be represented and for us as a university," said Southern Oregon coach Mike Ritchey. "I think it's a heck of a compliment to Brock and his abilities and I feel he's capable of wrestling at that level. So it's an opportunity for him to show you can be an NAIA guy and wrestle at a really high level. He's pretty pumped up." "While we never want to see any of our athletes get hurt, injuries do happen," said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. "Coach Mike Ritchey jumped at the opportunity to have Brock Gutches compete in the event. It brings a lot of exposure to the NAIA. The Gutches family is synonymous with wrestling in Oregon and worldwide. Brock is an aggressive competitor and will be able to show the wrestling community the talent level that competes in the NAIA." Gutches inclusion brings the total number of All-American medals won by the competitors to 36, with 14 finals apperances and 10 total championships across the NCAA and NAIA levels. To purchase tickets to the event, click here for the Penn Athletic Ticket Office. The event will be streamed live by the NWCA's live streaming partner Flowrestling. Fox College Sports will air the event on television via tape-delay no less than 10 times during the season, starting two weeks after the event has completed. These broadcasts are paid for by Rothschild, a leading global financial advisory based in New York City with offices in Washington, Los Angeles and Houston. Hibiclens and Resilite will again support the event as associate sponsors. The Rothman Institute and the United Association (UA) Group will also make 1,500 tickets available for local students (K-12) throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. These tickets will be distributed to regional schools by representatives of the United States Marine Corps. Follow on Social Media! For more information on the All-Star Classic, visit www.theallstarclassic.com and follow the NWCA on Facebook and Twitter. Fans can join the discussion with the #NWCAClassic hashtag. Fans should keep an eye on the discussion as there will be contests and interactive discussions about the event via Twitter and Facebook! Competing wrestlers will be eligible for the Outstanding Wrestler Award, presented by the Wrestlers in Business Network - Atlanta Chapter. Announced Matchups 125: Nahshon Garrett, Jr. (Cornell) vs. Joey Dance, So. (Virginia Tech) 133: A.J. Schopp, Sr. (Edinboro) vs. Mason Beckman, Jr. (Lehigh) 141: Logan Stieber, Sr. (Ohio State) vs. Mitchell Port, Sr. (Edinboro) 149: Jason Tsirtsis, So. (Northwestern) vs. Josh Kindig, Sr. (Oklahoma State) 157: James Green, Sr. (Nebraska) vs. Ian Miller, Jr. (Kent State) 165: Alex Dieringer, Jr. (Oklahoma State) vs. Nick Sulzer, Sr. (Virginia) 174: Robert Kokesh, Sr. (Nebraska) vs. Brock Gutches, Sr. (Southern Oregon) 184: Gabe Dean, So. (Cornell) vs. Jack Dechow, So. (Old Dominion) 197: J'Den Cox, So. (Missouri) vs. Scott Schiller, Sr. (Minnesota) 285: Nick Gwiazdowski, Jr. (N.C. State) vs. Mike McMullan, Sr. (Northwestern) Showcase matchups to be announced About the NWCA Founded in 1928, the NWCA strives to promote and provide leadership for the advancement of amateur wrestling, primarily at the scholastic and collegiate levels. The association is headquartered in Manheim Pa. The three core competencies are coaching development, student-wrestler welfare, and promotion/advocacy. The NWCA has 10,000 members and educational programs that serve 230,000 students each year. www.nwcaonline.com NWCA on Facebook | NWCA on Twitter About the University of Pennsylvania Established in 1740, the University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Incorporated as The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities and is one of the nine original Colonial Colleges. The school was founded by Ben Franklin. Penn is ranked among the top research universities in the world. About Wrestlers in Business/Wrestlers in Business Philadelphia The Group Wrestlers in Business is a non-profit organization that strives to unite the thousands of wrestlers that have retired from the sport and are now in their respective careers. It started as a networking group on LinkedIn. Since then, the group has evolved into a more prominent, member-focused organization that cares about supporting current & former wrestlers and the sport. Their mission is to establish a community of wrestlers who commonly share in the interest of helping each other in business and in life, while supporting and strengthening the sport that made us who we are today. www.wrestlersinbusiness.org Wrestlers in Business Philadelphia is a newly formed group who will kick-off their Chapter events with a Social Event in September followed by All-Star Classic. A 14-member Board has been elected led by President Anthony Stagliano and he is joined by distinguished names in the wrestling and business community including four members who have long ties to the University of Pennsylvania; Roger Reina who is playing a prominent role in the promotion of the All-Star Classic, Gary Baker, Andy Matter and Chris Hanlon. www.wrestlersinbusiness.org/chapters/philadelphia-pa About the United States Marine Corps On November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was established by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then, the Marine Corps, through service on land, in air, and at sea, have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term "Marine" has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue. Whether facing our nation's foes or conducting humanitarian relief and disaster recovery operations at home or abroad, today's Marine Corps stands ready to continue in the same proud tradition of faithful service to the United States. For more information, visit www.Marines.com. About Rothman Institute Rothman Institute is a private orthopaedic practice dedicated to providing communities with high-quality, compassionate, and affordable musculoskeletal care that is grounded in evidence-based medicine, the results of which will exceed expectations. Rothman Institute orthopaedists treat patients at 20 locations in the Philadelphia-region, including orthopaedic urgent care clinics in Marlton, NJ and Limerick, PA. With experts in orthopaedic sub-specialties including spine, hip and knee, foot and ankle, shoulder and elbow, hand and wrist, sports medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopaedic oncology and trauma, the Rothman Institute is internationally recognized for excellence in clinical treatment methods, research, education and technology. Consistently recognized as national and regional "Top Docs," the Rothman Institute is proud to be official team physicians for several professional, college and high school teams. For more information about the Rothman Institute please call 1-800-321-9999 or visit www.RothmanInstitute.com.

With the high school wrestling season's start nearing, InterMat is taking readers across the United States of America on a tour of scholastic wrestling. From mid-August until mid-November, InterMat is introducing readers to the top high school senior wrestlers in the 49 states with scholastic wrestling. Dan Ransick looks at the top senior wrestlers in Ohio. The Class of 2015 for Ohio is anchored by a strong group of state champions and a Junior National freestyle champion. There is some debate within the Ohio wrestling community as to who is the best wrestler, but after this summer one wrestler cleared his way to the top. Austin Assad defeated Sean Russell to win a Junior National freestyle title in Fargo (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)1. Austin Assad (Brecksville) Projected High School Weight Class: 126 Projected College Weight Class: 125 College: Michigan Analysis: Assad has yet to stand on top of the podium at the state tournament. He has been second, second and third in some of the toughest weight classes in Division I. However, Assad broke out this summer in Fargo, winning a Junior National freestyle title at 120 pounds. This year he will look to capture that elusive state title in his senior year before heading to Ann Arbor to wrestle for Michigan. 2. Jose Rodriguez (Massillon Perry) Projected High School Weight Class: 126 Projected College Weight Class: 133 College: Ohio State Analysis: Rodriguez comes into his senior year as a state champion and two-time state finalist. Last year Rodriguez fell in the finals to Hayden Lee of Marysville, 5-2. He owns a victory over Assad in the 2013 state finals. Rodriguez, who has a quick shot, will be staying in state for college and attending Ohio State to wrestle for the Buckeyes. 3. Cameron Kelly (Bellbrook) Projected High School Weight Class: 132 Projected College Weight Class: 133/141 College: Ohio Analysis: Kelly is a three-time state finalist and 2012 state champion. He won the state title as a freshman, but has come up short the past two years. This year he looks to add another state title to make bookends for his great high school career before enrolling at Ohio University and wrestling for the Bobcats. 4. Eli Seipel (St. Paris Graham) Projected High School Weight Class: 126 Projected College Weight Class: 133 College: Pittsburgh Analysis: Seipel is a three-time state placer and 2013 state champion. He had an excellent junior season, finishing runner-up at the Walsh Ironman, losing to Matthew Kolodzik in the finals. He had a hiccup at state as he was upset in the quarterfinal match but rebounded to take third. This year he looks to add another state title to his resume before wrestling for the Pitt Panthers. 5. Eli Stickley (St. Paris Graham) Projected High School Weight Class: 120 Projected College Weight Class: 125 College: Wisconsin Analysis: Stickley finally broke through last season winning his first state title with a dominant major decision victory in the finals. Earlier in the season he placed third at the Walsh Ironman. This year Stickley will move up a weight class for St. Paris Graham. He continues the line of Graham wrestlers going on to wrestler for Wisconsin that started with Jim Jordan and Jeff Jordan in the 80s. 6. Ben Schram (Bellbrook) Projected High School Weight Class: 160 Projected College Weight Class: 165 College: Old Dominion Analysis: Schram is a two-time state third-place finisher in Division II. This year he looks to win his first state title. Schram will wrestle for the Monarchs of Old Dominion next year and projects as a 165-pounder in college. 7. Jared Ganger (Covington) Projected High School Weight Class: 126 Projected College Weight Class: 125/133 College: Kent State Analysis: Ganger, already a two-time state champ and three-time state finalist, will be after his third consecutive state title. Last year he came back from Tommy John surgery to win his second state title. This year a healthy Ganger should be a heavy favorite to win a third state title before he heads to Kent State. 8. Nate Hagan ( Toledo Central Catholic) Projected High School Weight Class: 138 Projected College Weight Class: 141 College: Undecided Analysis: Last year Hagan pulled off a huge upset in the state finals when he defeated FloNationals champion Brent Moore of St. Paris Graham. He scored an overtime takedown to win. He will face stiff competition this season as he looks to win another state championship. 9. Kade Kowalski (Dresden Tri-Valley) Projected High School Weight Class: 152 Projected College Weight Class: 157 College: Open Analysis: Kowalski came through last year, winning his first state title after finishing third as a sophomore. He became his school's first state champion in wrestling. Kowalski is currently undecided on his college choice. 10. L.J. Bentley (St. Edward) Projected High School Weight Class: 120 Projected College Weight Class: 125 College: Pittsburgh Analysis: Bentley is a state placer who has had big wins in the past, including a win over Stickley. He pushed Rodriguez to the brink in the state semifinals last year before falling 8-6. I would not be surprised to see him on top of the podium this year.

MANHEIM, Pa. -- Ohio State's Logan Stieber is looking to join a very exclusive group. The senior from Monroeville, Ohio looks to join Pat Smith, Cael Sanderson and Kyle Dake as the only four-time NCAA Division I wrestling champions in the sport's history. He'll face one of his top competitors in Edinboro's Mitchell Port at 141 pounds at the 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic presented by the United States Marine Corps and the Wrestlers in Business Network hosted by Penn and WIBN-Philadelphia on November 1 at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Logan Stieber (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Stieber's participation puts the 49th annual event at five returning NCAA Division I champions as Northwestern's Jason Tsirtsis, Oklahoma State's Alex Dieringer, Missouri's J'Den Cox and N.C. State's Nick Gwiazdowski will also take part in the dual. The final lineup totals 34 total All-American medals, 11 finals appearances and seven total titles. It'll be the second straight year Stieber has appeared in the event. Last year, Stieber bumped up to 149 pounds to face returning NCAA champion Kendric Maple of Oklahoma. The match ended with an exciting 6-4 tiebreaker win by Stieber. "Anytime you get to showcase a wrestler like Logan Stieber in an event like the All-Star Classic, it's a win for the sport of wrestling," said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. "You can literally count on one hand, without even using all your fingers, the number of times we've seen a four-time Division I wrestling champion. We all know there is nothing certain in our sport, seeing a potential NCAA finals preview with Stieber and Edinboro's Mitchell Port is a fantastic way to kick off the wrestling season. Mitchell Port is a tremendous wrestler. He's well-coached and any opportunity for him to get to see Stieber before March will suit him well." In 2013-14, Stieber went 30-1 en route to his third NCAA Division I title. He topped Virginia Tech's Devin Carter in the finals. Stieber's record stands at 90-3 and he's avenged every single loss during the last three seasons. He's also been one of the most dominant, racking up 75 bonus victories in 90 wins -- good for 83.3 percent. Port's career has been impressive. The Tyrone, Pennsylvania native went 32-1 last season en route to a third-place finish at 141 pounds. His lone loss on the season was an upset loss in the quarterfinals to North Carolina's Evan Henderson, an outcome he would later reverse in the third-place bout. In 2013, Port was an NCAA runner-up and comes in with a 96-14 career record with 51 bonus victories. Of those 51 bonus wins, 23 are by fall and 14 of those came last season. The two have never met in collegiate competition. As Stieber steps on the mat at the event for the second time, it'll be Ohio State's 19th overall appearance in the event. Buckeye wrestlers have gone a combined 9-9, with Stieber picking up the most recent win last year. The first Ohio State wrestler to compete in the event was current Notre Dame College head coach Frank Romano, who wrestled at 118 pounds in 1970. Port is one of two Edinboro wrestlers in the event. Teammate A.J. Schopp will make his third straight appearance in the event when he faces Lehigh's Mason Beckman at 133 pounds. The first Edinboro appearance came in 1987 when Dean Hall competed at heavyweight. Fighting Scot wrestlers have combined to go 7-7 in 14 total matches at the All-Star Classic. "We're super pleased to have every single wrestler in the main portion of the event is an All-American," said Moyer. "This truly is a special class of wrestlers and we're honored they're going to take the opportunity to showcase this amazing sport in the All-Star Classic in a building that literally means house of wrestling." To purchase tickets to the event, click here for the Penn Athletic Ticket Office. The event will be streamed live by the NWCA's live streaming partner Flowrestling. Fox College Sports will air the event on television via tape-delay no less than 10 times during the season, starting two weeks after the event has completed. These broadcasts are paid for by Rothschild, a leading global financial advisory based in New York City with offices in Washington, Los Angeles and Houston. Hibiclens and Resilite will again support the event as associate sponsors. The Rothman Institute and the United Association (UA) Group will also make 1,500 tickets available for local students (K-12) throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. These tickets will be distributed to regional schools by representatives of the United States Marine Corps. Follow on Social Media! For more information on the All-Star Classic, visit www.theallstarclassic.com and follow the NWCA on Facebook and Twitter. Fans can join the discussion with the #NWCAClassic hashtag. Fans should keep an eye on the discussion as there will be contests and interactive discussions about the event via Twitter and Facebook! Competing wrestlers will be eligible for the Outstanding Wrestler Award, presented by the Wrestlers in Business Network - Atlanta Chapter. Announced Matchups 125: Nahshon Garrett, Jr. (Cornell) vs. Joey Dance, So. (Virginia Tech) 133: A.J. Schopp, Sr. (Edinboro) vs. Mason Beckman, Jr. (Lehigh) 141: Logan Stieber, Sr. (Ohio State) vs. Mitchell Port, Sr. (Edinboro) 149: Jason Tsirtsis, So. (Northwestern) vs. Josh Kindig, Sr. (Oklahoma State) 157: James Green, Sr. (Nebraska) vs. Ian Miller, Jr. (Kent State) 165: Alex Dieringer, Jr. (Oklahoma State) vs. Nick Sulzer, Sr. (Virginia) 174: Robert Kokesh, Sr. (Nebraska) vs. Tyler Wilps, Sr. (Pittsburgh) 184: Gabe Dean, So. (Cornell) vs. Jack Dechow, So. (Old Dominion) 197: J'Den Cox, So. (Missouri) vs. Scott Schiller, Sr. (Minnesota) 285: Nick Gwiazdowski, Jr. (N.C. State) vs. Mike McMullan, Sr. (Northwestern) Showcase matchups to be announced About the NWCA Founded in 1928, the NWCA strives to promote and provide leadership for the advancement of amateur wrestling, primarily at the scholastic and collegiate levels. The association is headquartered in Manheim Pa. The three core competencies are coaching development, student-wrestler welfare, and promotion/advocacy. The NWCA has 10,000 members and educational programs that serve 230,000 students each year. www.nwcaonline.com NWCA on Facebook | NWCA on Twitter About the University of Pennsylvania Established in 1740, the University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Incorporated as The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities and is one of the nine original Colonial Colleges. The school was founded by Ben Franklin. Penn is ranked among the top research universities in the world. About Wrestlers in Business/Wrestlers in Business Philadelphia The Group Wrestlers in Business is a non-profit organization that strives to unite the thousands of wrestlers that have retired from the sport and are now in their respective careers. It started as a networking group on LinkedIn. Since then, the group has evolved into a more prominent, member-focused organization that cares about supporting current & former wrestlers and the sport. Their mission is to establish a community of wrestlers who commonly share in the interest of helping each other in business and in life, while supporting and strengthening the sport that made us who we are today. www.wrestlersinbusiness.org Wrestlers in Business Philadelphia is a newly formed group who will kick-off their Chapter events with a Social Event in September followed by All-Star Classic. A 14-member Board has been elected led by President Anthony Stagliano and he is joined by distinguished names in the wrestling and business community including four members who have long ties to the University of Pennsylvania; Roger Reina who is playing a prominent role in the promotion of the All-Star Classic, Gary Baker, Andy Matter and Chris Hanlon. www.wrestlersinbusiness.org/chapters/philadelphia-pa About the United States Marine Corps On November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was established by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then, the Marine Corps, through service on land, in air, and at sea, have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term "Marine" has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue. Whether facing our nation's foes or conducting humanitarian relief and disaster recovery operations at home or abroad, today's Marine Corps stands ready to continue in the same proud tradition of faithful service to the United States. For more information, visit www.Marines.com. About Rothman Institute Rothman Institute is a private orthopaedic practice dedicated to providing communities with high-quality, compassionate, and affordable musculoskeletal care that is grounded in evidence-based medicine, the results of which will exceed expectations. Rothman Institute orthopaedists treat patients at 20 locations in the Philadelphia-region, including orthopaedic urgent care clinics in Marlton, NJ and Limerick, PA. With experts in orthopaedic sub-specialties including spine, hip and knee, foot and ankle, shoulder and elbow, hand and wrist, sports medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopaedic oncology and trauma, the Rothman Institute is internationally recognized for excellence in clinical treatment methods, research, education and technology. Consistently recognized as national and regional "Top Docs," the Rothman Institute is proud to be official team physicians for several professional, college and high school teams. For more information about the Rothman Institute please call 1-800-321-9999 or visit www.RothmanInstitute.com.

The first Who's Number One event was held on Nov. 2, 2013, at Grace Hall (Photo/Rob Preston) The second edition of Who's Number One, an event organized by Flowrestling, will be held on Saturday at Grace Hall on the campus of Lehigh University. The event places wrestlers projected to be among the nation's best during the 2014-15 scholastic season against one another. Below is an overview of each matchup. 106: Cade Olivas (St. John Bosco, Calif.) vs. Gavin Teasdale (Jeff.-Morgan, Pa.) This match places wrestlers ranked No. 1 and No. 3 overall in the Class of 2018. Each incoming freshman represented the United States in the FILA Cadet World Championships in freestyle this summer; Olivas at 101 pounds, and Teasdale at 92.5 pounds. During the previous off-season, Olivas competed in Greco-Roman at the FILA Cadet World Championships, while Teasdale was a Cadet National freestyle champion at 88 pounds. Predicted winner: Olivas 152/160: Larry Early (OPRF, Ill.) vs. Joseph Smith (Stillwater, Okla.) This match pairs up elite Class of 2015 prospects in No. 34 Early and No. 13 Smith. This past year Early won his first state title, after placing second and third during his previous two campaigns. During this summer, Early placed third in Junior Greco-Roman at 145 pounds; while last summer Early was fourth in FILA Cadet freestyle and a Cadet National double All-American (Greco-Roman champion). Smith is a two-time state champion, and three-time state finalist, during his high school career. This past summer, he finished fourth in Junior freestyle at 152 pounds; while in the 2013 off-season, he was third in Junior freestyle and fifth in FILA Cadet freestyle. Predicted winner: Smith 120: Nick Suriano (Bergen Catholic, N.J.) vs. Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla.) This is a rematch of the FILA Cadet Nationals final in freestyle at 119 pounds this past spring, a 1-1 match won by Fix on criteria, as the wrestlers traded points after their opponent was unable to score when put on the shot clock. Ranked No. 4 in the Class of 2016, Suriano is undefeated during two high school campaigns, and a two-time Super 32 Challenge finalist (champion in 2012). Fix counters with the No. 4 ranking in the class of 2017, and was an undefeated state champion during his freshman high school season. He is also a two-time Cadet National folkstyle champion, and was a Cadet Triple Crown winner in 2013. Predicted winner: Suriano 195: Bobby Steveson (Apple Valley, Minn.) vs. Hunter Ritter (John Carroll, Md.) Like the second match on the docket, this is also a match placing elite Class of 2015 prospects against one another; Steveson is No. 10 overall, while Ritter is No. 35. This summer, the two-time state champion Steveson won a Junior National freestyle title at 195 pounds. Ritter counters with a FILA Cadet National freestyle title this spring at 187.5 pounds, and a pair of top three finishes at the National Prep Championships. Predicted winner: Steveson 138: Ke-Shawn Hayes (Park Hill, Mo.) vs. Matthew Kolodzik (Blair Academy, N.J.) This match places wrestlers both ranked within the top ten of the Class of 2015 against one another. Ranked No. 4 Hayes brings a pair of state titles into this match, and was also a Junior National freestyle runner-up at 132 pounds this summer. Kolodzik, ranked No. 7 in this senior class, has three state tournament/National Prep titles in as many seasons; and was a FILA Junior National freestyle runner-up at 132 pounds this spring. Each wrestler won a Walsh Jesuit Ironman title last season; Hayes at 120 pounds, Kolodzik at 126. Predicted winner: Hayes 152/160: Isaiah White (OPRF, Ill.) vs. David McFadden (DePaul Catholic, N.J.) This match places Junior National freestyle finalists from the summer against one another. White, presently ranked No. 7 in the Class of 2016, won the title at 145 pounds; while McFadden, ranked No. 18 in the Class of 2015, finished runner-up at 152 pounds. Each wrestler won their first state title this past season; White was third as a freshman in Illinois, while McFadden was sixth and second during previous campaigns in New Jersey. Predicted winner: White 132: A.C. Headlee (Waynesburg, Pa.) vs. Mitchell McKee (STMA, Minn.) Both wrestlers in this match were top three finishers in Junior freestyle this summer. Headlee, ranked No. 23 in the Class of 2015, was third at 132 pounds; while McKee, ranked No. 19 in the Class of 2016, was an unexpected champion at 126. Headlee has placed sixth and third each of the last two years in the Pennsylvania state tournament, and finished third this past spring at the Flo Nationals. McKee, who is expected to compete down one weight class (at 126) during the 2014-15 season, won an initial state title this past season after placing third and second in previous seasons. Predicted winner: Headlee 126: Nick Piccininni (Ward Mellville, N.Y.) vs. Kaid Brock (Stillwater, Okla.) This match pairs up future college teammates, as the pair of Oklahoma State commits both reside within the top 35 overall in the Class of 2015; Piccininni sits at No. 9, while Brock is positioned No. 33 overall. Piccinnini is a three-time state champion in New York, who placed fourth at the Super 32 and was a Flo Nationals champion during the 2013-14 season; while Brock is a two-time state champion in Oklahoma, and a two-time Junior National freestyle All-American (5th in 2014, 2nd in 2013). Predicted winner: Piccininni 145: Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh CC, Pa.) vs. Fredy Stroker (Bettendorf, Iowa) This is a rematch of a semifinal bout from the Junior National freestyle tournament, one that was won by Joseph on the way to a runner-up finish at 145 pounds; Stroker went on to place fourth in that bracket. Each wrestler is positioned within the top 15 of the 2015 class; Joseph at No. 8, Stroker at No. 15. Both wrestlers are now two-time Junior National freestyle All-Americans; Joseph is a three-time state placer (7th/3rd/1st), and Stroker a three-time state finalist (two-time state champion). Predicted winner: Joseph 182: Myles Martin (McDonogh, Md.) vs. Zahid Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif.) This match showcases a pair of top five prospects within the 2015 recruiting class, Martin at No. 4 and Valencia at No. 5. In the December 2013 Ironman final, Martin lost to Zahid's older brother (by birth date) Anthony at 170 pounds; while Zahid won his third Ironman title down at 132. During the most recent summer, Martin won a Junior National freestyle title at 182 pounds in dominant fashion; while Zahid was a two-time Cadet National freestyle champion, winning titles in 2012 and 2013. Predicted winner: Martin 170: Anthony Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif.) vs. Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) Here is a bout that places the top recruit in the Class of 2015 against the top recruit in the Class of 2016. When these two wrestlers met in October 2013, it was Valencia coming out on top in the final of the Southwest Kickoff Classic. Since then, Valencia won a second California state title and a FILA Junior Naitonal freestyle title; while Hall won a fourth state title in Minnesota and a FILA Cadet World freestyle title. Predicted winner: Valencia

J'den Cox celebrates after winning the NCAA title (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com) MANHEIM, Pa. -- After an impressive season-long performance as a true freshman in 2013-14, Missouri 197-pounder J'den Cox is ready to defend his NCAA Division I championship. Cox will face a stern test in two-time All-American Scott Schiller of Minnesota at 197 pounds at the 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic presented by the United States Marine Corps and the Wrestlers in Business Network hosted by Penn and WIBN-Philadelphia on November 1 at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Cox is the fourth returning national champion set to compete in the event, joining Northwestern's Jason Tsirtsis, Oklahoma State's Alex Dieringer and N.C. State's Nick Gwiazdowski. A Columbia, Missouri native, Cox ended his freshman season with a 38-2 record, winning the last 20 matches of the season and upending top-seeded Nick Heflin of Ohio State in the finals at the 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City. His last loss came on January 2. Schiller, a native of West Fargo, North Dakota, will wrestle in the event for a second-straight year. The two-time All-American fell in overtime last year in Fairfax to Oregon State's Taylor Meeks. Schiller comes in as a two-time All-American, taking third last season, and holds a career record of 94-15. The two have never met in collegiate competition, but Schiller does have four wins over Iowa State's Kyven Gadson, who was one of only two wrestlers to beat Cox last season. Missouri's participation in the All-Star Classic dates back to 1979 where Dave Miller first represented the Tigers at 167 pounds. The last time a Tiger wrestler took to the mat in the All-Star Classic came in 2012 when heavyweight Dom Bradley defeated Northwestern's Mike McMullan 3-2. Minnesota has been active in the All-Star Classic throughout the program's history. The Gophers' first appearance in the event came in 1967 when Jim Anderson wrestled at 115 pounds. Overall, Gopher wrestlers hold a 14-17-1 record with Tony Nelson picking up the last victory in last year's event. "The University of Missouri is proud to have J'Den Cox representing Missouri at the NWCA All-Star Classic," said Missouri head wrestling coach Brian Smith. "The NWCA does an amazing job promoting this event and it is always a great honor for the athletes who participate in it. The All Star Classic is wrestling's annual kick-off event and features today's best college wrestlers. This event also provides a platform to communicate what the NWCA stands for; growing the sport of wrestling, being the voice for wrestling coaches, helping develop strong leadership within our coaches ranks through its leadership Academy and most of all looking out for the welfare of our student athletes. Again, we are very proud to have J'den taking part in this very prestigious event." To purchase tickets to the event, click here for the Penn Athletic Ticket Office. The event will be streamed live by the NWCA's live streaming partner Flowrestling. Fox College Sports will air the event on television via tape-delay no less than 10 times during the season, starting two weeks after the event has completed. These broadcasts are paid for by Rothschild, a leading global financial advisory based in New York City with offices in Washington, Los Angeles and Houston. Hibiclens and Resilite will again support the event as associate sponsors. The Rothman Institute and the United Association (UA) Group will also make 1,500 tickets available for local students (K-12) throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. These tickets will be distributed to regional schools by representatives of the United States Marine Corps. Follow on Social Media! For more information on the All-Star Classic, visit www.theallstarclassic.com and follow the NWCA on Facebook and Twitter. Fans can join the discussion with the #NWCAClassic hashtag. Fans should keep an eye on the discussion as there will be contests and interactive discussions about the event via Twitter and Facebook! Competing wrestlers will be eligible for the Outstanding Wrestler Award, presented by the Wrestlers in Business Network - Atlanta Chapter. Announced Matchups 125: Nahshon Garrett, Jr. (Cornell) vs. Joey Dance, So. (Virginia Tech) 133: A.J. Schopp, Sr. (Edinboro) vs. Mason Beckman, Jr. (Lehigh) 141: 149: Jason Tsirtsis, So. (Northwestern) vs. Josh Kindig, Sr. (Oklahoma State) 157: James Green, Sr. (Nebraska) vs. Ian Miller, Jr. (Kent State) 165: Alex Dieringer, Jr. (Oklahoma State) vs. Nick Sulzer, Sr. (Virginia) 174: Robert Kokesh, Sr. (Nebraska) vs. Tyler Wilps, Sr. (Pittsburgh) 184: Gabe Dean, So. (Cornell) vs. Jack Dechow, So. (Old Dominion) 197: J'Den Cox, So. (Missouri) vs. Scott Schiller, Sr. (Minnesota) 285: Nick Gwiazdowski, Jr. (N.C. State) vs. Mike McMullan, Sr. (Northwestern) Showcase matchups to be announced About the NWCA Founded in 1928, the NWCA strives to promote and provide leadership for the advancement of amateur wrestling, primarily at the scholastic and collegiate levels. The association is headquartered in Manheim Pa. The three core competencies are coaching development, student-wrestler welfare, and promotion/advocacy. The NWCA has 10,000 members and educational programs that serve 230,000 students each year. www.nwcaonline.com NWCA on Facebook | NWCA on Twitter About the University of Pennsylvania Established in 1740, the University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Incorporated as The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities and is one of the nine original Colonial Colleges. The school was founded by Ben Franklin. Penn is ranked among the top research universities in the world. About Wrestlers in Business/Wrestlers in Business Philadelphia The Group Wrestlers in Business is a non-profit organization that strives to unite the thousands of wrestlers that have retired from the sport and are now in their respective careers. It started as a networking group on LinkedIn. Since then, the group has evolved into a more prominent, member-focused organization that cares about supporting current & former wrestlers and the sport. Their mission is to establish a community of wrestlers who commonly share in the interest of helping each other in business and in life, while supporting and strengthening the sport that made us who we are today. www.wrestlersinbusiness.org Wrestlers in Business Philadelphia is a newly formed group who will kick-off their Chapter events with a Social Event in September followed by All-Star Classic. A 14-member Board has been elected led by President Anthony Stagliano and he is joined by distinguished names in the wrestling and business community including four members who have long ties to the University of Pennsylvania; Roger Reina who is playing a prominent role in the promotion of the All-Star Classic, Gary Baker, Andy Matter and Chris Hanlon. www.wrestlersinbusiness.org/chapters/philadelphia-pa About the United States Marine Corps On November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was established by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then, the Marine Corps, through service on land, in air, and at sea, have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term "Marine" has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue. Whether facing our nation's foes or conducting humanitarian relief and disaster recovery operations at home or abroad, today's Marine Corps stands ready to continue in the same proud tradition of faithful service to the United States. For more information, visit www.Marines.com. About Rothman Institute Rothman Institute is a private orthopaedic practice dedicated to providing communities with high-quality, compassionate, and affordable musculoskeletal care that is grounded in evidence-based medicine, the results of which will exceed expectations. Rothman Institute orthopaedists treat patients at 20 locations in the Philadelphia-region, including orthopaedic urgent care clinics in Marlton, NJ and Limerick, PA. With experts in orthopaedic sub-specialties including spine, hip and knee, foot and ankle, shoulder and elbow, hand and wrist, sports medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopaedic oncology and trauma, the Rothman Institute is internationally recognized for excellence in clinical treatment methods, research, education and technology. Consistently recognized as national and regional "Top Docs," the Rothman Institute is proud to be official team physicians for several professional, college and high school teams. For more information about the Rothman Institute please call 1-800-321-9999 or visit www.RothmanInstitute.com.

Clinics from some of the greatest wrestlers on earth will be included in the exciting program at the 2014 Bill Farrell International, held at Hofstra University’s Mack Arena in Hempstead, N.Y., November 8-9. Featured clinicians will include four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake, NCAA champion and World Team member Tony Ramos, two-time World champion Adeline Gray and two-time World medalist Helen Maroulis. The longest running international tournament in the United States, the New York Athletic Club International changed its named to the Bill Farrell International this year, to honor the late NYAC Wrestling Chairman and 1972 Olympic Head Coach Bill Farrell. As part of this change, the event has been moved to Long Island and many new exciting activities have been added to the schedule. The women’s freestyle clinic featuring Adeline Gray and Helen Maroulis will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 8, between sessions of the women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions of the Bill Farrell International. Adeline Gray is a two-time World champion in women’s freestyle, winning gold medals in 2012 and 2014. She boasts four career World medals, with bronze medals in 2011 and 2013 to go along with her golds. Gray has also won a University World gold medal and a Junior World gold medal. Helen Maroulis has won a pair of World medals, a silver medal in 2012 and a bronze medal in 2014. She was a Pan American Games champion in 2011. Maroulis was a four-time WCWA women’s college national champion for Simon Fraser University. She boasts three Junior World medals, a silver and two bronzes. The men’s freestyle clinic featuring Kyle Dake and Tony Ramos will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 9, between sessions of the men’s freestyle divisions at the Bill Farrell International. Kyle Dake made history when he became the first wrestler to win four NCAA Div. I national titles in four different weight classes during his record-setting career at Cornell University. He joined Cael Sanderson and Pat Smith as the only four-time NCAA champions. Dake is also a top Olympic hopeful in freestyle wrestling at 74 kg, placing second at the 2013 World Team Trials and winning the 2014 Cerro Pelado Tournament in Cuba. He boasts a win over three-time World champion Denis Tsargush of Russia. Tony Ramos was a 2014 NCAA Div. I champion for the University of Iowa. He quickly became No. 1 in the USA at 57 kg in men’s freestyle, winning the 2014 U.S. World Team Trials and competing at the 2014 World Championships. At Iowa, he was a three-time All-American, also placing second in 2013 and third in 2012 for the Hawkeyes. Many international wrestling stars from the United States and a number of nations are expected to compete at the Bill Farrell International, including past World and Olympic medalists. This is a must-see event for wrestling fans and Olympic sports fans. Ticket holders for the Bill Farrell International will be able to attend the clinics on both days of the competition. Tickets cost $20 for students and $30 for adults, with special VIP seating available for $100. Order your tickets today at: http://www.billfarrellinternationaltournament.ticketleap.com/tickets The clinic will be well attended, so those attending the clinic are asked to arrive 30 minutes prior to the clinics. The event will also feature the Hofstra University wrestling team. For Senior athletes wishing to compete, online registration is available at www.trackwrestling.com. Deadline for online registration is 5:00 p.m. (MST), Wednesday, November 5, 2014. Many other exciting wrestling events and activities will be included in the program at the Bill Farrell International. Watch for additional announcements shortly. For more information, visit the official website at: http://usawevents.sportngin.com/page/show/974543-bill-farrell-international-open BILL FARRELL INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE At Mack Arena, Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y. Friday, November 7 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. – Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle registration 2:45 – 3:00 p.m. – Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle skin checks 3:00 – 3:30 p.m. – Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle weighins (+2kg) Saturday, November 8 9:00 a.m. – Greco-Roman and Women’s freestyle Session I 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. – Men’s freestyle registration 2:45 – 3:00 p.m. – Men’s freestyle skin checks 3:00 – 3:30 p.m. – Men’s freestyle weighins (+2kg) 4:00 p.m. – Women’s freestyle clinic featuring Adeline Gray and Helen Maroulis 6:00 p.m. – Greco-Roman and Women’s freestyle Championships and Medal Matches Sunday, November 9 9:00 a.m. – Men’s freestyle Session I 2:00 p.m. – Men’s freestyle clinic featuring Kyle Dake and Tony Ramos 4:00 p.m. – Section XI vs. Section VIII All-Star Classic 6:00 p.m. – Men’s freestyle Championships and Medal Matches Note: Additional exciting activities to be added to the schedule. Visit TheMat.com for more details.