Hamilton's hiring comes on the heels of the announcement earlier this week that Trackwrestling had been acquired by SportsEngine, now a part of the NBC Sports Group, to strengthen its product solution offered to wrestling events and clubs.
Hamilton will join forces with Shane Sparks of Trackwrestling and the Big Ten Network, along with a team of contributors to create a media platform for Trackwrestling, according to this morning's press release. He will be based out of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa.
Hamilton spent the past five years as the lead wrestling writer at the Des Moines Register, where he was responsible for the coverage of 26 college programs and more than 260 high schools across Iowa. Prior to joining Iowa's largest newspaper in 2011, he spent 12 years at the Iowa City Press-Citizen, where he handled the University of Iowa football and wrestling beats.
In March, Hamilton was named the National Wrestling Media Association's journalist of the year, becoming the first two-time winner in the award's history. He received the NWMA award for the first time in 2004, won Amateur Wrestling News' Dellinger Award as the top wrestling writer in the country in 2005 and was honored by W.I.N. Magazine as its journalist of the year in 2011.
"I couldn't be happier to have hired a professional like Andy," Trackwrestling founder and general manager Justin Tritz said. "He is a great writer and extremely well respected across the country. He fits in really well with our team and is going to do a great job building our media presence."
"I can't express enough how grateful and excited I am to have the chance to cover the sport I'm most passionate about on a full-time basis," Hamilton said. "I'm blessed that Trackwrestling, SportsEngine and NBC Sports have provided me with a tremendous opportunity that allows me to do what I love and also checks off a lot of the top priorities in my life on a personal level. I'm looking forward to building more relationships with coaches and athletes across the country and delivering stories that reach the masses in the wrestling world and help enhance the sport."
Hamilton revealed his career move in a two-step process on his Inside Trip Facebook page. On Monday, the wrestling writer wrote, "Today is my last day at the Register. I've been living a dream, working at the newspaper I grew up reading and alongside some of the writers who inspired me to get into sports journalism when I was a teenager. I've been blessed to work with so many talented people inside the Register newsroom for the past five years. They've made me a better journalist. I'll have some more news to share later in the week about my next career step."
That next step came late Saturday morning with this simple message: "I'm excited to join the Trackwrestling/SportsEngine/NBC Sports team and lead Trackwrestling's newly created media group."
Here's how Trackwrestling describes itself: "Trackwrestling managed over 7,400 events last year, including 38 state high school tournaments and all college national championships, including NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA. Originally created to seed wrestling events, Trackwrestling.com has evolved into a customizable, comprehensive solution for the wrestling world, offering tools for weight management, team management, event management, rankings, athlete profiles, and more. Wrestling fans across the country can also log in to follow their favorite athletes online with real-time results and streaming video services."
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