InterMat Staff

This coming season Wisconsin will be without the services of two of its most accomplished wrestlers, Connor Medbery and Jesse Thielke, according to Badger coach Barry Davis, who shared the news in a Takedown interview. Connor Medbery wrestles Mike McMullan for third place at the NCAAs at heavyweight (Photo/Rob Preston)Medbery will be taking an Olympic redshirt as he prepares for medical school and focuses on freestyle. The Badger heavyweight earned All-American honors this past season with a fourth-place finish at the NCAAs. Medbery has one season of eligibility remaining. "It's going to maybe hurt our team a little bit, but we're doing it for him because we want him to be successful academically as far as getting into med school," said Davis. Thielke is taking an Olympic redshirt in his attempt to make the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team in Greco-Roman. In 2013 he was a U.S. World Team member in Greco-Roman at 60 kilos. This year he finished runner-up to Spenser Mango at the U.S. World Team Trials at 59 kilos. He was an NCAA qualifier this past season for the Badgers at 141 pounds. "Jesse Thielke is very good at Greco-Roman," said Davis. "He picks up things up very quickly. But it's your day-to-day routine and consistency that's going to help him make the team."

In the sport of wrestling, summer is prime freestyle and Greco-Roman season. With the Cadet and Junior Nationals taking place at the end of July, top wrestlers from across the country are preparing to compete against the nation's best and for the right to be called a freestyle or Greco-Roman All-American or national champion. Other youth wrestlers are competing in local, state and national summer freestyle and Greco-Roman events. But even the most dedicated wrestlers take time away from the mat and participate in other sports and today's top coaches fully endorse young wrestlers doing just that. But finding the balance between freestyle and Greco-Roman practice and competition and participation in sports such as baseball, soccer, football, lacrosse, golf, cross country, weight training and summer camps is a challenge all coaches, parents and wrestlers face. "I believe there is enough evidence to support having youth athletes participate in multiple sports," says Joe Russell, head coach at George Mason University. "Specialization is not for everyone. In fact, it can do more harm than good. Having young athletes participate in multiple sports can help their overall development." Kevin Roberts, assistant coach at Oregon State University, has a 12-year old son who is starting to find success in the sport of wrestling. But growing up to this point he's played football, basketball and baseball, competed in cross country and track and spent time training in gymnastics. "I think younger kids should participate in multiple sports in addition to competing in wrestling," says Roberts. "It helps to improve athletic skills that are not always the focus of wrestling practices. For most, to be good at the higher levels, they need to be fairly athletic. I think participating in multiple sports also keeps kids mentally fresh and hungry to come in and work hard as they get to the high school age, if they have participated in multiple sports growing up." Read complete story on MatBoss ...

This past weekend in Tulsa, Okla., were the USA Wrestling Junior National Duals for freestyle. Over the two day event, many of the top high school-aged wrestlers from the country assembled to compete, and teams battled to determine supremacy. Within the course of the multitude of dual meets were a plethora of matches placing higher-end wrestlers against one another. This article looks at five wrestlers that return to high school during the 2015-16 season, and had most excellent tournaments. All five went undefeated, and had quality wins along the way; while some of those wins were "expected," they still merit mention. In weight class order … Rhett Golowenski was 7-0 at the Junior Duals in freestyle (Photo/Sam Janicki)Rhett Golowenski (Tuttle, Okla.), 7-0 record at 100 pounds This sophomore-to-be was a state champion during the past high school season as an undersized 106-pound wrestler, after earning fourth in Cadet freestyle last summer at 94 pounds. Prior to the Junior Duals, Golowenski was runner-up at the UWW Cadet Nationals at 46 kilos (approximately 101 pounds). During the past weekend, he won six contested matches without giving up a single point, and five of them were by technical fall. Three of those wins came over wrestlers likely to also be in the rankings pool at 106 pounds this coming season: Peter Ogunsanya (Illinois), Kyle Biscoglia (Iowa), and Patrick McKee (Minnesota). Kaden Gfeller (Heritage Hall, Okla.), 6-0 record at 126 pounds This two-time state champion entered the Junior Duals ranked No. 31 overall in the Class of 2017, but ended the 2014-15 season outside the top 20 in the weight class rankings at 120 pounds, though he was a FloNationals champion at 113 (+5) pounds in April. Among his wins this weekend was a pin over graduated Nolan Hellickson (Iowa), who ended the season weight class ranked at 126 pounds; a 12-2 technical fall over top 100 Class of 2016 wrestler Ian Parker (Michigan); and a 10-0 technical fall over Austin Gomez (Illinois), who is ranked No. 13 in the Class of 2017, though Gomez did bump up a weight class for that match. Austin O'Connor (St. Rita's, Ill.), 5-0 record at 145 pounds This rising junior is already a two-time state champion, and ranked No. 11 in the Class of 2017. His performance level has continued to be strong, even as he goes through the weight classes, winning state at 106 as a freshman and at 132 this past season. Notable wins included a 6-4 decision over top 50 Class of 2016 wrestler Kyle Bierdumpfel (New Jersey), a 6-3 decision over Oklahoma State bound Tristan Moran (Oklahoma), and a 12-1 technical fall over state champion Dresden Simon (Michigan). Hayden Hidlay (Mifflin County, Pa.), 8-0 record at 152 pounds Though yet to make a state final in Pennsylvania's big-school division, the resume for Hidlay is not lacking. He placed third this year in a weight class with the two finishers above him being top five in the nation, placed third in the Super 32 Challenge this past fall, and was a Cadet freestyle finalist in 2013 among his myriad of accomplishments. This past weekend, the nation's No. 20 Class of 2016 wrestler had a 13-2 technical fall over top 100 senior Canten Marriott (Missouri) and an 11-10 decision victory over top 50 senior Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma). Keegan Moore lost in the UWW Cadet Nationals finals, but bounced back to go undefeated at Junior Duals in freestyle (Photo/Sam Janicki)Keegan Moore (Jackson County Central, Minn.), 5-0 record at 195 pounds A Cadet Triple Crown winner last year, this two-time state champion came into the Junior Duals seeking to bounce back from a disappointing upset loss in the best two-of-three finals at the UWW Cadet Nationals in the 85-kilo (approximately 187-pound) weight class. And that is what the nation's No. 11 overall Class of 2016 wrestler did with much aplomb. Quality wins included a 2-1 decision over top 100 graduated senior Cash Wilcke (Iowa), a 5-1 decision over top 100 Class of 2016 wrestler Wyatt Koelling (Utah), and a 6-0 decision over top 10 Class of 2017 wrestler Chase Singletary (New Jersey).

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State Athletics Director Mark Hollis has announced a coaching succession plan for the Spartan wrestling program. Roger Chandler will replace Tom Minkel as MSU's head wrestling coach (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)Tom Minkel, who has directed the program since 1991, will retire following his 25th season at Michigan State in 2015-16. Roger Chandler, who recently completed his 18th season on the Spartan wrestling staff and was promoted to associate head coach in 2011, has been named head coach designate and will assume the head coaching duties following Minkel's retirement. Chandler will become the ninth coach in the history of the program, which dates back to 1886 and has generated 25 NCAA Champions, 68 Big Ten Champions, eight Big Ten Championships and one NCAA Championship. "I'm excited about the future of Michigan State wrestling," said Hollis. "We're thankful for everything that Coach Minkel has given to Michigan State and we're looking forward to celebrating his exceptional career in the sport of wrestling during his final season. It's also a year that affords Roger Chandler an opportunity to prepare for a successful transition. "I had the fortune of being alongside Ron Mason as athletic director designate during his final months as athletic director at Michigan State (fall 2007), and I believe that experience was invaluable and helped me grow into my current position. Our men's soccer coach Damon Rensing also had the privilege of serving as head coach designate under Joe Baum, which has undoubtedly served Damon well as the program continues to flourish under his direction. I believe this speaks to the family atmosphere at Michigan State in preparing individuals to take over leadership roles. There are plenty of examples on campus and in the department where this model has been rewarding, including our President Lou Anna Simon. "While they have worked together for many years, Roger and Tom are uniquely different individuals. This is Coach Minkel's team, but once the season comes to a close, we're going to give Roger every opportunity to be successful. We're going to take that celebration of Tom's career and push it into a new era of Spartan wrestling, with Roger leading the way. "We're going to take the celebration of Tom's career and push it into a new era of Spartan wrestling, with Roger leading the way. I have high expectations for Roger to lead the program for the years to come." "I have high expectations for Roger to lead the program for the years to come. He has positive relationships with our student-athletes and also with young wrestlers and the wrestling community. Perhaps most importantly, he has learned how to do things the right way. I believe in Roger and his goals for the program, but we also need the support and commitment of the Spartan wrestling community to compete in the best wrestling conference in the country. With nearly 20 years of coaching experience, Roger has proved his selfless dedication to Michigan State wrestling, and I think the program will continue to benefit under his leadership." "As we enter Coach Minkel's 25th year as head coach of the Spartan wrestling program, we celebrate the contributions he's made to Michigan State University and the wrestling community," said Michigan State Deputy Athletics Director Greg Ianni. "He's been very creative in his approach to marketing his sport, especially in terms of the use of video and presentation at home meets. Many of the things he has done have been on cutting edge. I've always admired his passion for the sport of wrestling and respect his distinguished and incredibly accomplished career. "I'm also excited about the transition of Roger preparing to launch his own program. He possesses great energy and intensity, and I love his enthusiasm and the way he interacts with the student-athletes. Roger has an incredibly bright future as a head coach." "I absolutely love coaching and I've thoroughly enjoyed my tenure here at Michigan State," said Minkel. "There's not a day I can't wait to get into the wrestling room and I certainly still have a passion for wrestling, but there comes a time when you sit with your wife and say `what's on our list that we haven't done yet and would like to do?' The decision to shift your life's direction is always challenging; however, I have some things in mind that I want to do with my life besides coach. It just felt like the right time. I'm looking forward to the change because it's going to be exciting to have more time with my family. "The things that I'll miss the most are the relationships with the young men on your team. You go through the ups and downs, the challenges and successes, the failures and struggles, and it's tough, but you also get to build these great relationships through it all and have a significant impact on their lives. "At the end of the day, it's really about helping a young man and making them a better person, a more disciplined person, a successful person, and I think if you talk to guys in the program who come back, invariably, wrestling had a dramatic impact on them. They learned to take responsibility for themselves, to challenge themselves in ways that they never thought they could, and strive for things they initially thought were out of reach. They come back significantly changed, significantly stronger, and better young men. It's an emphasis not only on the wrestling, but the importance of academics, the civic responsibility of being a good person, and taking ownership of your own life and not putting the blame on someone else. It's a marvelous sport and through our program, I know we've had a really positive influence on a lot of young men, and I take a lot of pride in that. "Roger Chandler has been on my staff for 18 years; we have certainly worked closely together for a long, long time. His career goal is to be a head coach, and I feel very comfortable that he's totally ready to take over the position here. The next year will really be dedicated to making a smooth transition to Coach Chandler. "Roger has certainly grown in the coaching profession after coming to Michigan State right after college. He has the essential qualities that you need as a head coach. He has a strong work ethic and possesses the fortitude and ability to stay motivated and focused. Secondly, he's an outstanding wrestler himself. I don't think at the collegiate level you can be an effective coach without being a great wrestler yourself, and he still has great technical skills in the wrestling room. Thirdly, you have to be able to teach and communicate with kids who are 18 to 23 years old. Roger is outstanding at that as well. There are also the administrative duties that come along with being a head coach, which he will no doubt handle effectively because he's organized and very detailed. He clearly has the skill set to be a successful head coach." "I'd like to thank Mark Hollis and the entire executive staff for giving me the opportunity to be the next head wrestling coach at Michigan State University," said Chandler. "I'm truly honored and excited that they have placed their confidence in me to lead the program into the future. "I have been fortunate enough to be alongside Coach Minkel for the past 18 years. He has also given me the opportunity to observe and engage with other coaches from the Big Ten and across the country, which has provided valuable insight on how to lead a Division I wrestling program. I look forward to celebrating his final year as we honor all of his accomplishments that he has achieved during his tenure at MSU."

OREGON CITY, Ore. -- The Clackamas Community College wrestling team had their work cut out for them this off season. The challenge? To replace a sophomore class that earned an impressive 15 All American honors out of a possible 20 that included back-to-back National Duals championships, back-to-back region championships, a third-place team finish (2014) and a national runner-up finish this season. Colt Doyle (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Thus far Clackamas has added five to their incoming class, which includes multiple-time state champions, a Fargo champion and prep all-Americans. The past several weeks have netted five new commitments led by a top 100 recruit Colt Doyle of Poway High School in San Diego, Calif. Doyle is a two-time California state champ that is respected nationally among wrestling coaches and programs. He joins his teammate and good friend Andrew Tausch who committed to the Cougars in May. Joining Colt as a Clackamas Cougar is a host of in-state and out-of-state talent that includes 13 state medals and six trips to finals among them. Julio Fuentes will join the team as another very talented recruit out of the Golden State, while Brendan Harkey joins the Cougars from another nationally ranked program in Crook County High School. Also inking with the team is four-time state medalist Victor Almaguer and transferring in all the way from the state of New Jersey is Christian Stackhouse. Clackamas looks to continue a half decade of dominance among the NJCAA and maintain a streak of finishing inside the top four for five straight years and having never finished outside of the top eight in coach Josh Rhoden's nine-year tenure as coach. "Our team, alumni and fans are all really excited about the additions we have made over the past several months including a very big commitment here recently by Colt. We look forward to a very exciting year of wrestling and pushing hard to stay among the elite in wrestling at the Junior College level," said coach Josh Rhoden. "We have had a very good stretch here as we enter our tenth year with the program and we hope to have another ten just like it!" Colt Doyle, Poway High School (Calif.) Two-time California state champion, Reno TOC champion & ranked No. 15 at 160 pounds by InterMat Victor Almaguer, Granger High School (Wash.) Four-time Washington state placewinner, two-time champion Brendan Harkey, Crook County High School (Ore.) 4x Oregon state place finisher, Reno TOC Medalist Julio Fuentes, Golden Valley High School (Calif.) Third-place finisher in California Championships Christian Stackhouse, Riverside High School (N.J.) Two-time New Jersey medalist, Fargo All-American in freestyle (third)

T.J. Miller and Beth Phoenix will go “On the Mat” is this Wednesday, July 1. “On the Mat" is a presentation of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum. The show can be heard live on the Internet at 1650thefan.com or locally in Northeast Iowa each Wednesday at 5 p.m. Central on AM 1650, The Fan. Miller, a graduate of Cedar Falls High School, was a Division III NCAA wrestling champion for Wartburg in 2007. He was recently a hired as an assistant wrestling coach at Loras College in Dubuque. Phoenix will receive the Frank Gotch Award during the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame weekend on July 9-11. She was a WWE Divas champion and a three-time WWE women's champion. Phoenix (real name Kocianski) also became the first varsity female wrestler at Notre Dame High School in Elmira, NY. A podcast of the show is available on mattalkonline.com. E-mail dgmstaff@nwhof.org with any questions or comments.

TULSA, Okla. -- The host squad, Team Oklahoma, capped off a repeat Junior National Duals title in freestyle on Saturday evening, while Illinois confirmed its status as the King of the Duals. Outside of a fourth-place finish in Schoolboy Greco-Roman, the Illinois squad made the championship match of the other five dual meet competitions; including titles in Schoolboy freestyle, Cadet Greco-Roman and freestyle, as well as in Junior Greco-Roman on Thursday afternoon. The second-seeded team from Oklahoma dominated its way to three dual meet victory in Friday's preliminary freestyle bracket, going 34-7 in contested matches (also winning four matches by forfeit). First, it was a 63-2 victory over North Carolina in the Pool B quarterfinal. Then, it was a 50-13 semifinal victory over Pennsylvania, before the host squad beat Michigan 49-18 in the pool championship. The dominance continued in the opening two matches of Saturday's championship pool, a 55-16 victory over Arizona and a 47-18 win over Iowa. In those two dual meets, the Oklahoma squad went 21-5 in contested matches (two wins by forfeit against Arizona, while they forfeited two matches to Iowa). The de facto pool final against Minnesota was the first time the hosts faced a challenge. With the match starting at 195 pounds, Oklahoma faced an 11-2 deficit after three matches. The team from Minnesota got technical fall victories from Keegan Moore (195) and Gable Steveson (220), before a 9-2 decision victory from Rylee Streifel (285). It was then five consecutive victories for Oklahoma to create a 21-14 lead, which was never lost. Key in that stretch was the 16-12 victory from Josh Copeland at 113 pounds, in which he overcame a 7-2 mid-match deficit to earn the win and tie the dual meet at 13-13. Consecutive technical falls from Daton Fix (120) and Kaden Gfeller (126) would close out the run. Minnesota stopped the run with a 12-12 criteria victory from Mitch McKee at 132 pounds in a rematch of last year's Junior freestyle semifinal against Kaid Brock. However, Oklahoma answered with victories from another pair of Oklahoma State bound wrestlers, Boo Lewallen (138) and Tristan Moran (145) to open up a 30-18 lead. While Brady Berge (152) cut the Minnesota to nine with a 12-2 technical fall over top 50 incoming senior Wyatt Sheets, a Joe Smith technical fall at 160 pounds clinched the dual meet for Oklahoma with two matches remaining. Those matches were won by Minnesota to shrink the final score to 36-31. On the way to their championship match collision with Oklahoma, Illlinois was dominating their opposition as well. From four dual meets on the opening day, the Land of Lincoln squad went 44-5 in contested matches (i.e. those that weren't forfeits). Victories came by 64-4 over Louisiana in the preliminary round, 58-9 over Kansas-2 in the quarterfinal, 58-6 over Colorado in the semifinal, and 59-10 over Arizona in the final. They had two decisive victories to start Saturday's championship pool as well, 49-18 over Michigan and 44-20 over Utah to set up de facto semifinal match against New Jersey. In said match, Illinois beat a more than formidable New Jersey squad 41-22; this was a dual meet in which half of the 30 contestants appeared in the most recent InterMat grade-level rankings. Of the 29 wrestlers that wrestled in the Illinois vs. Oklahoma dual meet, only two have never finished in the top three of their state tournament, with 14 of them appearing in the most recent InterMat grade-level rankings (note that Oklahoma forfeited at 182 pounds, though they had a state champion who started in previous matches). The talent level within this championship match was absurd. Things started off well enough for Illinois, as they sought to knock off the defending champions. Oklahoma State bound Andrew Marsden scored an 11-0 technical fall over Kyler Childers at 220 pounds. However, the hosts responded with a pin from Korey Walker in 43 seconds at 285. Then, at 100 pounds, it was a battle of returning Cadet freestyle All-Americans, one in which Rhett Golowenski extended Oklahoma's lead with a 3-0 victory. Illinois would cut the deficit to 9-8 with a 12-1 technical fall from Louis Hayes at 106 pounds, as he beat fellow state runner-up and Junior National double All-American Mason Nafieh. However, the hosts would come through with wins in five consecutive matches to put the dual meet out of reach. Josh Copeland came up big again at 113 pounds, this time with a 7-3 decision over Dack Punke. Yet again, Daton Fix and Kaden Gfeller came up with consecutive technical fall victories. Gfeller, in particular, had a notable win; his 10-0 victory came against fellow elite Class of 2017 wrestler Austin Gomez, who bumped up from the 120-pound weight class that he had wrestled in previous dual meets. Closing out the string of five in a row were Kaid Brock and Boo Lewallen, Brock coming through with a 9-3 victory against Dylan Duncan, a Cadet National freestyle champion last summer. By the time Austin O'Connor came through with a 6-3 decision victory for Illinois at 145 pounds over Tristan Moran, the deficit was still 28-14. Consecutive victories from Wyatt Sheets (152) and Joe Smith (160) would assure Oklahoma earned the repeat championship. Smith's victory in particular was very notable, as he beat Junior National freestyle champion Isaiah White by an 11-7 decision in the process. Kamal Bey (170) and Christian Brunner (195) would sandwich technical fall victories around an earned forfeit for Nathan Traxler (182), as Illinois closed the final defeat score to 37-28. In the Greco-Roman tournament that concluded on Thursday, Illinois earned the title with a run of dominance that was very similar to their run to the freestyle final. The preliminary bracket on Wednesday saw three blowout wins, as the Land of Lincoln squad went 37-3 in contested matches (five addition wins by forfeit came in the opening dual meet): 67-2 over Texas 2, 52-12 over Pennsylvania, and 55-10 over Arizona. The first two championship pool dual meets were blowouts as well, 54-10 over Iowa and 54-13 over Washington. The final match of pool activity saw Illinois rally back from a 26-22 deficit against Oklahoma with victories in the last four bouts of a 36-29 dual meet victory; those wins came from Jacob Warner (170), Kamal Bey (182), Eric Schultz (195), and Andrew Marsden (220). The championship final was a 40-22 victory over Minnesota, which had lost to Oklahoma in the preliminary bracket final on Wednesday.

TULSA, Okla. -- Two of the traditional Greco-Roman powers on the Junior levels, Illinois and Minnesota, battled their way to the finals of the Junior National Duals on Thursday. Both teams were loaded with past Fargo All-Americans, looking to prove their claim as the best Greco state in the nation. Illinois opened with three consecutive wins by technical fall in the light weights, with wins from Peter Ogansanya at 100, Louis Hayes at 106 and Dack Punke at 113. That early 12-1 lead gave Illinois strong momentum early on. The middle weights saw both teams winning matches, as Minnesota won four of the next six matches to close the gap. Minnesota winners included Brent Jones at 120, Mitchell McKee at 132, Ben Brancale at 138 and Miles Patton at 152. McKee won his match by technical fall. Illinois grabbed wins from James Pawelski at 126 and Austin O'Connor by technical fall at 145. Then Illinois went on an impressive four straight wins which put the bout away and showed the depth and talent of the program. Over those four bouts, Illinois scored 15 points, while Minnesota earned just one point. Read complete story … JUNIOR NATIONAL GRECO-ROMAN DUALS At Tulsa, Okla. Gold/Silver Results 1st Place - Illinois 2nd Place - Minnesota 1 3rd Place - Utah 4th Place - Oklahoma 5th Place - Washington 6th Place - California Red 7th Place - Iowa 8th Place - Arizona CHAMPIONSHIP DUAL - Illinois 40, Minnesota 1 22 100 Peter Ogunsanya (Illinois) over Patrick McKee (Minnesota 1) TF 16-3 106 Louis Hayes (Illinois) over Garrett Vos (Minnesota 1) TF 10-0 113 Dack Punke (Illinois) over Peyton Robb (Minnesota 1) TF 11-0 120 Brent Jones (Minnesota 1) over Will Lewan (Illinois) Dec 11-8 126 James Pawelski (Illinois) over Alex Crowe (Minnesota 1) Dec 4-2 132 Mitchell McKee (Minnesota 1) over Dylan Duncan (Illinois) TF 12-0 138 Ben Brancale (Minnesota 1) over Zack Krause (Illinois) Dec 5-2 145 Austin O`Connor (Illinois) over Ty Johnson (Minnesota 1) TF 11-1 152 Miles Patton (Minnesota 1) over Ryder Punke (Illinois) Dec 12-6 160 Isaiah White (Illinois) over Mathew Rustad (Minnesota 1) TF 10-0 170 Jacob Warner (Illinois) over Taylor Venz (Minnesota 1) TF 10-0 182 Kamal Bey (Illinois) over Owen Webster (Minnesota 1) TF 16-5 195 Eric Schultz (Illinois) over Wyatt Richardson (Minnesota 1) Dec 5-0 220 Gable Steveson (Minnesota 1) over Jacob Godinez (Illinois) TF 11-0 285 Thomas Helton (Illinois) over Jesse Heifort (Minnesota 1) Dec 4-1 3RD PLACE - Utah 34, Oklahoma 30 100 Rhett Golowenski (Oklahoma) over Trevor Cluff (Utah) TF 12-0 106 Brandon Meikel (Utah) over Wyatt Adams (Oklahoma) Dec 11-6 113 Josh Copeland (Oklahoma) over Kade Evans (Utah) Fall 0:45 120 Dalton Duffield (Oklahoma) over Braxton Ocana (Utah) Fall 1:03 126 Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma) over Tanner Cox (Utah) Dec 10-1 132 Taylor LaMont (Utah) over Cody Karstetter (Oklahoma) TF 10-0 138 Kyle Evans (Utah) over Brik Filippo (Oklahoma) Dec 5-0 145 Jayden Pentz (Utah) over Tristan Moran (Oklahoma) Dec 13-4 152 Johnny O`hearon (Utah) over Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma) TF 10-0 160 Joe Smith (Oklahoma) over Curtis Smith (Utah) TF 12-2 170 Spencer Hansen (Utah) over Christian Bahl (Oklahoma) Dec 14-9 182 Jordan Dieringer (Oklahoma) over Ashton Seely (Utah) Dec 6-2 195 Wyatt Koelling (Utah) over Evan Hudson (Oklahoma) Fall 2:06 220 Kyler Childers (Oklahoma) over Korbon Tibbals (Utah) Dec 2-1 285 Damian Trujillo (Utah) over Bryson McGowan (Oklahoma) Fall 5:59 5TH PLACE - Washington 36, California Red 30 100 Brandon Kaylor (Washington) over Jacob Allen (California Red) Dec 9-4 106 Riley Gurr (Washington) over Nicholas Aguilar (California Red) TF 13-0 113 Randon Miranda (California Red) over Derek Frietag (Washington) Dec 17-12 120 Clai Quintanilla (Washington) over Abbas Khan (California Red) TF 12-0 126 Devan Turner (California Red) over Dalton Young (Washington) Dec 6-2 132 Jaden Enriquez (California Red) over Brandon Forster (Washington) TF 14-3 138 Logan Pine (Washington) over Aaron Watts (California Red) TF 12-1 145 Zachary Evans (California Red) over Max-Henery Nelson (Washington) Dec 8-6 152 Tom Strassenberg (Washington) over Anthony Mantanona (California Red) Dec 13-7 160 Jimmy Hoang (California Red) over Riley Smith (Washington) TF 12-1 170 John Leal (California Red) over Logan Nelson (Washington) TF 10-0 182 Mitchell Owens (Washington) over Roman Romero (California Red) Dec 10-6 195 Andrew Herrera (California Red) over Levi Mcbride (Washington) Fall 2:50 220 Trevor Eicher (Washington) over Davit Stepanyan (California Red) Fall 1:14 285 Tate Orndorff (Washington) over Jake Minshew (California Red) Fall 0:20 7TH PLACE - Iowa 35, Arizona 29 100 Atilano Escobar (Arizona) over Grayson Kesterson (Iowa) Dec 11-6 106 Jason Holmes (Arizona) over Gable Fox (Iowa) TF 11-0 113 Brenden Baker (Iowa) by forfeit 120 David Salazar (Arizona) over Dante Tacchia (Iowa) TF 10-0 126 Ryan Farina (Arizona) over Brock Rathbun (Iowa) Fall 3:35 132 Josh Kramer (Arizona) over Parker Witthuhn (Iowa) TF 10-0 138 Nic Madsen (Iowa) over Marc Farina (Arizona) Dec 21-15 145 Aaron Meyer (Iowa) over Andres Gandara (Arizona) Fall 1:57 152 Cole Erickson (Iowa) over Anthony Wokasch (Arizona) TF 10-0 160 Tristan Johnson (Iowa) over James Williams (Arizona) Dec 15-10 170 Bridger Barker (Arizona) over Salvator Armani (Iowa) Dec 6-4 182 Chad Porter (Arizona) over Deion Clayborne (Iowa) Dec 8-5 195 Cash Wilke (Iowa) over Jeremiah Imonode (Arizona) Dec 7-4 3.00 1 220 Donovan Doyle (Iowa) over Blake Smith (Arizona) TF 11-0 4.00 0 285 Carter Isley (Iowa) over Hunter Chapman (Arizona) Fall 3:46 5.00 0

The Wrestling World Championships are September 7-12 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and if you aren't already planning to attend you should rearrange your schedule. While in past years it's been easy to get invested in the NCAA season, the international scene has been closed off to most fans. Results, photos, videos and recaps were nearly impossible to find. Today, that's changes. With the United World Wrestling site updated with event results and daily recaps with photos, highlights and full matches it has never been easier to get involved. Much like college sports are outstripped by professional, the level of wrestler at the World Championship is simply stunning. We are used to our brand of wrestling, but seeing some of the world's most talented freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers compete can be heart-stopping. As an added bonus, supporting this year's World Championships directly benefits USA Wrestling and puts them in a better place to fund athletes for 2016 and beyond. Go to http://www.vegasworlds2015.com and look for tickets and hotels. It's Vegas, you'll have a great time no matter what happens on the mats. To your questions … Q: Outside of Jordan Burroughs, which U.S. wrestler is the most marketable? -- Mike C. Foley: Tony Ramos has quickly become a social media darling and given the rise of the Hispanic population in America there could be some growth potential (as it was show to work with Henry Cejudo). Brent Metcalf is incredibly engaging as well. Over the past few seasons the increase in his media presence and the revelation that he's a complex, intelligent and thoughtful guy has really helped his popularity. Also, he's really, really good at wrestling and is a threat to medal at this year's World Championships. I predict silver. Aaron Pico has already proven to be a popular figure, though it remains to be seen if he can get past Metcalf and own the spot for an Olympic cycle. Helen Maroulis (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Maybe the most marketable future star is Kyle Snyder. He's on a World Team at 19 years old, has maturity and is in hot pursuit of an Olympic team. Having already been in the media eye for several years he has the established relationships that are necessary to grow a brand. Still, with Varner as an Olympic gold medalist in 2012 it would be optimistic to think he could usurp his popularity and steal an Adidas shoe contract. The dark horse is Helen Maroulis, who generates a ton of social media traffic, earned a medal at the World Championships and has good odds of placing at the Olympic Games. She's beautiful and camera-ready, which make her marketable. With the growth of women's wrestling an HM-branded line of wrestling gear could catch on with youth and collegiate wrestlers. Q: Do you believe the call in the first Brent Metcalf-Jordan Oliver match was correct that allowed BM to score after shot clock expired? -- @Eagle_Fan Foley: Yes. If the wrestler attacks before the end of the 30-second clock they can continue until there is a completion of action. What you saw is exceedingly rare, but you have to incentivize the wrestler on the clock to attack. If 30 seconds is a must-end then they will shut it down at 15 seconds, or worse still they'll engage in a shoving match. I know it's not as clean as basketball, but remember that they too have continuation from the hand. If it's clear then it can travel towards the basket. Though knowing when the attack is over can seem subjective, I've yet to see an egregious offense by international referees. Q: Kyle Snyder says he's returning to college wrestling in 2016-17, but I'm a little skeptical, especially if he wins a World title or World medal. I understand wanting to get a college degree (he can do that online or later), but it seems like it would be a waste of time for him to wrestle folkstyle if he's already the best U.S. freestyle wrestler in the world. Thoughts? -- Mike C. Foley: I think you shouldn't be too skeptical. Snyder is getting a free education and will probably learn more competing every weekend over the course of 2016-2019 than he would traveling the international circuit. Snyder is crazy young and it's important that he have the life experiences necessary to turn him into a full adult male. (Yes, Pico isn't in school, but that fits his personality.) Being around teammates and Coach Ryan has paid immense benefit to Snyder and having three years to grab 150 matches in preparation for the 2020 Games is a rock-solid plan. MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME LOOK AT THIS MONSTER One of the best matches you'll ever watch Q: Please rank the following 2016 Olympic Trials potential upsets, from most likely to least likely: Aaron Pico over Brent Metcalf Cael Sanderson over Jake Herbert Spencer Lee over Tony Ramos Alex Dieringer over Jordan Burroughs Mike McMullan over Tervel Diagnev J'den Cox over Kyle Snyder -- Ronald M. Foley: While NONE of these strike me as likely, I will play your game, sir. Not that there is much of a chance Alex Dieringer wrestles Jordan Burroughs, making that the least likely by default. Also, I don't think Coach Cael is strapping on his shoes in front of a crowd ever again. 1. J'den Cox over Kyle Snyder 2. Mike McMullan over Tervel Diagnev 3. Cael Sanderson over Jake Herbert 4. Aaron Pico over Brent Metcalf 5. Spencer Lee over Tony Ramos 6. Alex Dieringer over Jordan Burroughs Q: Euro crowd was awesome! Thoughts on merging all combat sports for yearly WC to build up atmosphere like that vs. current format? -- @Rob_SwagginU Foley: The Euro crowd was intense. The Azerbaijani's HATE the Armenians, which led to a bevy of melodramas, not the least of which was a gaggle of teenagers double birding athletes as they walked off the mats. That scene, along with another three dozen similar, made the sportsmanship of their cheers less attractive. Still, the Azeris know their wrestlers and with so much winning by the locals and their cousins in Turkey the event was always packed with fans who were knowledgeable, engaged and cheering with passion. Good idea! Unfortunately it's already been done and it was called the World Combat Games. Successful to a level, but they are probably no more as Marcus Vizer, the president of the Sport Accord -- who ran the Combat Games -- took on the IOC in a very public way two months ago and lost his entire constituency of International Federations. Part of him losing his position was Lima, Peru, pulling out of their commitment to host the 2017 World Combat Games. Who knows, though. They could be revived by the new president, so long as he stays in line with the IOC. Q: Why didn't Kendric Maple challenge at end of the Daniel Dennis bout? Did he and coaches not know tiebreaker criteria rules? -- @Eagle_Fan Foley: Must not have known the rules. However, I also don't know if the scoreboard in the USA reflects who is winning on criteria. At the international level the program used by the scorekeepers is automatically programmed to reflect who is winning with an underline. That goes wrong every once in a while (I have seen it once this season) but even still the coaches are told to know for themselves. One thing that has to be recognized is that most guys wrestling at the U.S. Open and World Team Trials don't have a mastery of the rules since many don't compete more than once or twice a year. Yes, the rules have been tweaked, but overall the rules today are the same they've been for two years. Also, all rule changes are announced on the site. More could always be done to promote the rules and any questions or changes, but for the most part the criteria rules are easy to know and quick to calculate.

John Smith has been there and done that many times over to where if you wanted to debate whether his plain-as-milk name is synonymous with wrestling, you'd be sure to lose because, after all, there is a move named after him. The John Smith low single is part of his sport's lexicon, and yet he is legend for many more reasons than his namesake takedown and sublime leg attacks. When he speaks Wednesday at lunch at Maggiano's in Buckhead and at dinner at the Buckhead Club about how coaching has evolved in a quarter century, the Oklahoma State head coach will bring an unmatched pedigree before members of the Atlanta chapter of Wrestlers in Business. No American wrestler has been more successful at the international level, where his 100-5 record, two Olympic gold medals and four World freestyle championships -- won consecutively from 1987-'92 -- stand alone in our land.Only one other American wrestler, Bruce Baumgartner, has won as many as five world-level titles, and Smith is still the only wrestler to win a world freestyle title while still in college. That one came between his junior and senior years at Oklahoma State, where he won NCAA individual titles in '87 and '88. Just six men have won more world-level titles, and Aleksandr Medved (10), Buvaisar Saitiev (nine), Sergei Beloglazov, Arsen Fadzayev, Valentin Yordanov (eight each) and Makharbek Khadartsev (seven) all wrestled longer. John Smith stopped winning only when he stopped wrestling, and he hung up his competitive singlet only to go to work as the wrestling coach at his alma mater beginning shortly after the '92 Olympic Games at the age of 27. That's worked out well, as the Cowboys have won five NCAA championships and 13 Big 12 titles while producing 26 national champions and five Olympians on his watch. In 1990, he became the first -- and still only -- wrestler to win the AAU Sullivan award, given annually to the nation's top amateur athlete. A great deal has changed since Smith moved into coaching 23 years ago, and he said that, "about 70 percent" of his job now is administrative exclusive of recruiting and coaching student-athletes. Academic requirements have stiffened, rules are always shifting, the sport has been threatened at the Olympic level, money beyond scholarships is now in play for student-athletes and must be managed, and the nature of student-athletes themselves has evolved. One thing hasn't changed: wrestling has long been a family affair for the Smiths and will be for a while. This fall, John -- who has nine siblings -- will for the first time coach one of his children. Joe, a four-time Oklahoma high school champion, will be a freshman. Smith, 49, has experience coaching blood. His younger brother, Pat Smith, was the first four-time NCAA champion, winning titles from '90-'94, while wrestling for the Cowboys. He also coached his nephew, Chris. Smith's older brother, Lee Roy, was like John and Pat an NCAA champion. He took time to preview his speeches and opine on a few issues. Is coaching substantially different than when you started at Oklahoma State? Smith: There's definitely been some changes in America. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're negative or positive. You stay pretty close to what you believe is successful, but dealing with individuals is different. I don't know whether as you get older you believe it's more maintenance [required], but in the end, this generation of athletes works just as hard as any. We've gone through pretty serious times with things like 9-11, where you want to protect. With that comes things that don't correlate with athletics at times. I think parent involvement is pretty good yet I think we need to teach parents how to be involved. How do we teach them to give [their children] the best opportunity to excel, meaning reach their potential? That's not necessarily about being an NCAA champion, but [ensuring that] they feel fulfilled, and have some sense of accomplishment. In some ways with parents, that's working opposite. Today's student-athletes, when they're done, they're sometimes feeling unfulfilled because of parental interference. Read complete story on MatBoss ...

As the 2014-15 scholastic year comes to an end, the junior high group now breaks off. The eighth graders are now the incoming freshmen of the Class of 2019, while those not moving on to ninth grade will remain part of the junior high pool. The nation's top incoming ninth grade wrestler is Josh McKenzie from New Jersey, who is a dual-sport superstar. Josh McKenzie is the nation's top-ranked incoming freshman (Photo/Andrew Mills, NJ Advance Media)McKenzie, who will be attending Bergen Catholic, has been a dominant force at the youth level; be it in the grade school/junior high state championships, or major national showcase events (i.e. Virginia Challenge Duals, McDonogh Duals, etc.). According to those outlets that track young football talents, to the extent that such evaluation is possible, McKenzie is considered an elite Class of 2019 football prospect as well. Ranked second in the Class of 2019 is another upperweight talent in Cohlton Schultz from Colorado. He placed third in the high school division of the FloNationals this spring at 220 pounds, and was a double All-American at the UWW Cadet Nationals in late May (fourth Greco-Roman, fifth freestyle). This past season, Schultz was champion at both the Tulsa Kickoff Classic and the Tulsa Nationals to add to the litany of Roller World of Wrestling event titles he has won. The top five for this grade level is rounded out by a trio of lighter weight wrestlers: Nick Raimo (New Jersey), Julian Chlebove (Pennsylvania), and Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio). Wrestlers from 16 different states are reflected in the top 25 for the Class of 2019, with three wrestlers each ranked from New Jersey, Colorado, and Ohio; a pair of wrestlers from Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Oklahoma are also ranked. Link: Top 25 Freshmen

BOONE, N.C. -- Appalachian State University wrestling announced the hiring of two new assistant coaches on Wednesday. Head coach JohnMark Bentley added Todd Schavrien and Josh Roosa to his staff ahead of the 2015-16 season. “I am extremely excited to add Todd and Josh to our staff!” said Bentely. “They bring a lot of experience and motivation that will benefit our wrestling program!” Schavrien comes to Appalachian after spending last season as a volunteer assistant at Missouri. Before he was an assistant at Missouri he spent two years as the Tigers director of wrestling operations. In 2012, Schavrien was a part of the wrestling staff at Drexel University. Schavrien was a three-time NCAA qualifier during his wrestling career at Mizzou after transferring from Azrizona State. He tallied an 86-44 record and finished his career with a Big 12 Championship. Schavrien went on to place sixth at the NCAA Championship at 141 pounds. The son of Lee and Theresa Schavrien, Todd was born June 3, 1987, in San Diego, Calif. Schavrien graduated from Missouri with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. After spending one season as an assistant coach at Buffalo, Roosa will join the Mountaineer staff. Roosa enjoyed a very successful wrestling career at Bloomsburg University before jumping into coaching. In his four years as a starter and team captain for the Huskies, Roosa had a 40-25 record and was ranked in the top-20 in all four years at 149 pounds. As a senior in 2013, Roosa finished third in the Eastern Wrestling League while leading his team to a third place finish. Roosa qualified for for the 2013 NCAA Championship along with earning All-American status at the University Nationals. Roosa graduated from Bloomsburg with a degree in communications. Both Mountaineers will begin their duties on July 1.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Logan Stieber, a four-time Big Ten and NCAA champion as a member of the Ohio State wrestling team, has been named the 2015 Jesse Owens Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year, conference announced today. The Big Ten Athletes of the Year are selected by a panel of conference media members from nominations submitted by each institution. Stieber, who last week was named Ohio State's 2015 Male Athlete of the Year, is just the fourth Buckeye to win the Jesse Owens Award in school history, joining Eddie George (football, 1996), Blaine Wilson (gymnastics, 1997) and Evan Turner (men's basketball, 2010). "Logan is a special student-athlete who has left a legacy at Ohio State," said head coach Tom Ryan. "His four national titles are the first ever for a Big Ten athlete, but it was his ability to lead the program to our first-ever NCAA team title that most accurately defines him. I am proud that someone who has worked as hard as he has for as long as he has is receiving such great recognition." In March, Stieber became the fourth all-time Division I wrestler to win four NCAA championships in his career when he defeated Edinboro's Mitchell Port, 11-5, for the 141-pound championship. Stieber, whose career record was 119-3, also won NCAA titles at 133 pounds in 2012 (vs. Jordan Oliver, Oklahoma State) and 2013 (vs. Tony Ramos, Iowa) and a third at 141 pounds in 2014 (vs. Devin Carter, Virginia Tech). He finished his senior season with 10 pins, eight technical falls four major decisions on his way to being named the NCAA's Most Dominant Wrestler, NWCA Most Outstanding Wrestler and Ohio State's first-ever Dan Hodge Trophy winner. The list of Stieber's career accomplishments include: The first wrestler in the history of the Big Ten conference to win four national titles. With a 16-1 tech fall win over Iowa's Josh Dziewa in the finals, became the first Ohio State wrestler to ever win four Big Ten titles. Finished his career on a 50-match winning streak dating back to December, 2013. Fastest Buckeye to ever reach the 100-win milestone (103 matches). Winning percentage ranks first in Ohio State history (.975). 50 career falls, tied for the most in school history. Just the second wrestler ever to win four CKLV titles. Big Ten Most Outstanding Wrestler and Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Big Ten Championships. At the 2015 NCAA Championships, won four of five matches by a combined score of 57-9 and added a first period pinfall in his other win. Scored a team-high 26 points. 96 of Stieber's 119 wins at Ohio State were bonus point wins. Became only the second wrestler in history to win both the Hodge and Jr. Dan Hodge Trophy, given to the top high school wrestler in the country. Led by Stieber, Ohio State captured its first-ever NCAA team title in the 94-year history of the sport in Columbus. JESSE OWENS MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS 1982 - Jim Spivey, Indiana, track and field/cross country 1983 - Ed Banach, Iowa, wrestling 1984 - Sunder Nix, Indiana, track and field 1985 - Barry Davis, Iowa, wrestling 1986 - Chuck Long, Iowa, football 1987 - Steve Alford, Indiana, basketball 1988 - Jim Abbott, Michigan, baseball 1989 - Glen Rice, Michigan, basketball 1990 - Anthony Thompson, Indiana, football 1991 - Mike Barrowman, Michigan, swimming 1992 - Desmond Howard, Michigan, football 1993 - John Roethlisberger, Minnesota, gymnastics 1994 - Glenn Robinson, Purdue, basketball 1995 - Tom Dolan, Michigan, swimming 1996 - Eddie George, Ohio State, football 1997 - Blaine Wilson, Ohio State, gymnastics 1998 - Charles Woodson, Michigan, football 1999 - Luke Donald, Northwestern, golf 2000 - Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, football 2001 - Ryan Miller, Michigan State, ice hockey 2002 - Jordan Leopold, Minnesota, ice hockey 2003 - Amer Delic, Illinois, tennis (co) 2003 - Matt Lackey, Illinois, wrestling (co) 2004 - Damion Hahn, Minnesota, wrestling 2005 - Luis Vargas, Penn State, gymnastics 2006 - Peter Vanderkaay, Michigan, swimming 2007 - Cole Konrad, Minnesota, wrestling 2008 - Brent Metcalf, Iowa, wrestling 2009 - Jake Herbert, Northwestern, wrestling 2010 - Evan Turner, Ohio State, basketball 2011 - David Boudia, Purdue, diving 2012 - Draymond Green, Michigan State, basketball 2013 - Derek Drouin, Indiana, track and field 2014 - David Taylor, Penn State, wrestling 2015 - Logan Stieber, Ohio State, wrestling

The Junior National Duals kick off this morning at the Cox Business Center in Tulsa, Okla., with the Greco-Roman competition. Preliminary brackets (double elimination with possibility for true second place) will be contested today, four of them involving eight teams each, to create the round-robin pools for Thursday. The top two finishers in each preliminary bracket will advance to the championship pools, while there will be other pools for teams finishing in lower places this afternoon. Below are the opening round matchups for the Junior Greco-Roman Duals: Pool A: Illinois vs. Texas 2, Nebraska 2 vs. Pennsylvania; Ohio vs. North Dakota 2, Kansas 2 vs. Arizona Pool B: California 1 vs. Tennessee, Michigan 2 vs. Missouri; Colorado vs. Minnesota 2, Louisiana vs. Iowa Pool C: Utah vs. Indiana, North Carolina vs. Florida; Kansas 1 vs. North Dakota 1, Texas 1 vs. Washington Pool D: Oklahoma vs. Nebraska 1, South Carolina vs. Georgia; Michigan 1 vs. South Dakota, California 2 vs. Minnesota 1 Michigan is the defending champion in Greco-Roman, as they bested Oklahoma in last year's championship match. However, the top seed for this year's tournament is Illinois; and an analysis of the entered rosters would suggest that they are the favorites. Tomorrow, the round-robin pools will be as follows: A1, B2, C2, D1; A2, B1, C1, D2. Placement matches will be cross-pool, which means the champion of each pool will meet for first place, and so forth. Joe Smith picked up a key technical fall shutout for Oklahoma in last year's Junior National Duals championship match (Photo/Austin Bernard, OklahomaWrestling.com)The main event of the tournament is the freestyle competition, which will be held on Friday and Saturday. It is one of the must follow events on the wrestling calendar, with the caliber of wrestler taking to the mats. Again, preliminary brackets on Friday, with championship pools on Saturday. In the freestyle event, the host Oklahoma is your defending champion, as they upended Minnesota in last year's final. Close to 50 wrestlers that are (or were in the case of the Class of 2015) ranked within their respective grade levels will be taking to the mat in the freestyle competition. That is of course subject to change with the registration/check-in for freestyle not taking place until Thursday evening. Those grade-level ranked wrestlers sorted by state: Arizona: Roman Bravo-Young (113) Illinois: Dylan Duncan (132), Austin O'Connor (145), Isaiah White (160), Jacob Warner (170), Kamal Bey (170), Eric Schultz (195), Austin Marsden (220) Iowa: Brock Rathbun (126), Cash Wilcke (195), Ethan Andersen (220), Carter Isley (285) Kansas: Jon Trowbridge (138) Michigan: Ian Parker (126), Ben Freeman (132), Lincoln Olson (132), Brandon Whitman (182), Trent Hillger (220) Minnesota: Mitch McKee (132), Brady Berge (152), Owen Webster (182), Keegan Moore (195), Gable Steveson (220) Missouri: Canten Marriott (160) New Jersey: Matthew Kolodzik (138), Kyle Bierdumpfel (145), Jordan Kutler (152), David McFadden (160), Joe Grello (170), Kevin Mulligan (195), Chase Singletary (195) Ohio: Ben Darmstadt (182), Kevin Vough (285) Oklahoma: Dalton Duffield (120), Montorie Bridges (120), Daton Fix (120), Kaden Gfeller (126), Kaid Brock (132), Boo Lewallen (138), Wyatt Sheets (152), Joe Smith (160) Pennsylvania: Jared Verkleeren (145), Hayden Hidlay (152) Tennessee: Michael Murphy (138) Utah: Taylor LaMont (132), Wyatt Koelling (195) Washington:Tate Orndorff (285)

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Wolfpack Olympic Regional Training Center (RTC) is beginning to come together as one of the top training centers in the country for wrestling. The training center is already home to multiple US Open place winners, University National All American's, and World Team Members. Continuing to build upon that success, NC State head coach Pat Popolizio is excited to announce two additions to the Olympic RTC here in Raleigh. To further bolster the center's status as one of the elite in the country, current Wolfpack assistant coach Adam Hall will be joining the training center. Competing as a part of Titan Mercury Wrestling Club, Hall placed fifth at the 2012 Olympic trials and is a three-time US Open Place winner. In addition to Hall joining the RTC, Popolizio is also excited to announce the addition of North Carolina native, Timmy McCall, to the roster as well. Born and raised in Hope Mills, McCall wrestled collegiately for Wisconsin in the 184 and 197 pound weight classes. During his time at Wisconsin, McCall was ranked as high ninth in the country and finished fourth in the Big Ten. He was a two-time University National's All American and a Midlands Tournament Finalist. In addition to his training, McCall will be working extensively with Athletes in Action on the NC State campus. "The addition of Adam and Timmy to the Wolfpack Regional Training Center is huge as we continue to build as a program," said Popolizio. "It is important that we have guys training here and competing every year for world and Olympic medals. In addition to McCall and Hall, the training center is already home to three-time U.S. Open place winner, Nick Gwiazdowski; two-time University Nationals All American and U.S. Open Place Winner Tommy Gantt, and also two-time USA World Team member, Obe Blanc. Both Gwiazdowski and Blanc will be competing internationally this summer. "I'm very excited to pick back up where I left off. The goal is to win an Olympic medal in Rio (2016) and this is where that journey begins again. I am very confident that I have all the tools and resources to accomplish that here at NC State," said Blanc. A two-time USA World Team member, Blanc will be making his competitive comeback at the Spanish Grand Prix in the 57 KG division. After a two year competitive layoff, Blanc will look to re-establish himself as the top lightweight wrestler in the country and one of the best in the world. Gwiazdowski, coming off a fourth place finish at the World Team Trials, will also be competing in the heavyweight division. Blanc and Gwiazdowski compete July 11-12 in Madrid.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Kyle Snyder, a Big Ten and NCAA runner-up as a true freshman last season for the Ohio State wrestling team, will take an Olympic redshirt in 2015-16 as he trains for the Summer Olympics in Rio. Snyder will have three years of eligibility remaining when he returns in 2016-17. Kyle Snyder defeated Jake Varner to earn a spot on the U.S. World Team (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)"Kyle is the first collegiate athlete in NCAA history to win the U.S. Open and make the World Team as a freshman," said head coach Tom Ryan. "The best chance for him to win an Olympic gold medal is to spend this season building his strength and freestyle skill. Traveling overseas will be critical for Kyle as well." "After discussing this with Coach Ryan and his staff, we are all in agreement this is the best thing for me," said Snyder. "I've always dreamed of competing in the Olympics and to now have the opportunity to chase that goal is exciting. I came to Ohio State because I knew I could get a great education, compete for titles and prepare myself for Olympic-level wrestling. While I will miss wrestling in front of our fans at St. John Arena this season, I look forward to being back and better than ever in 2016-17." As he makes his run at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Snyder will remain in Columbus and train at the renowned Ohio Regional Training Center along with the likes of former Buckeyes Logan Stieber, J.D. Bergman and Reece Humphrey. "I have amazing training partners at Ohio RTC and they prepare me every single day to wrestle in big matches," said Snyder. "I couldn't ask for a better environment both on and off the mat." Snyder has enjoyed a breakthrough summer, as he's earned a victory over 2012 Olympic champion Jake Varner in the finals of the U.S. Open championships and topped the 2014 World bronze medalist in Times Square. At the U.S. World Team Trials June 13-14, he defeated Varner twice to win the 97-kilo/213-pound title and punched his ticket to the World Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. Sept. 7-12. During his freshman season with the Scarlet and Gray last winter, Snyder went 30-4 with a team-high 15 major decisions and two technical falls. He was the Big Ten and NCAA runner up at 197 pounds, finishing 15-1 in the regular season against Big Ten competition that included a 12-match winning streak from Jan. 11-March 8. His victory over defending champion J'den Cox in the 197 lbs. NCAA semifinals was instrumental in helping Ohio State earn its first team national title in school history. A native of Woodbine, Md., Snyder came to Ohio State as the nation's top-ranked recruit. He went 178-0 at Our Lady of Good Counsel before spending his senior season at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. In August of 2013, he became the youngest American in over 20 years to win a FILA Junior World championship.

The top of the rankings for the Class of 2017 is certainly the most debated of the five grade levels. One wrestler has held the top position for the last thirteen iterations of the rankings, which starts with the rankings of November 2012. Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional, Pa.) has established himself as the best wrestler in this class since the Super 32 Challenge high school division runner-up finish during the fall of his eighth grade year. Additional accomplishments before his first high school match included a FloNationals (high school division) runner-up finish, qualifying for a Cadet World freestyle team, and winning a Super 32 Challenge title in October 2013. Among the credentials from his first high school match forward are two Walsh Jesuit Ironman titles, including an Outstanding Wrestler honor in December of 2013; two Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament titles; two undefeated state championship seasons (113/120); a Cadet World freestyle title in the summer of 2014 (at 50 kilos); and a second Super 32 Challenge title in the fall of 2014 (at 113 pounds). Daton Fix defeated Spencer Lee twice at the UWW Cadet Nationals (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)However, within the last month fellow Class of 2017 prospect Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla.) swept Lee in the first two matches of the best-of-three finals at the UWW Cadet Nationals at 54 kilos. Fix rallied back from 4-0 deficits after one period in both matches to win by scores of 5-5 (last point scored criteria) and 9-6. In addition to a pair of wins over Lee, Fix has a most excellent resume, especially recently. Earlier in the month of May, before the UWW Cadet Nationals, Fix won the UWW Junior Nationals in freestyle at 55 kilos. He won all matches by technical fall, including wins over a pair of NCAA Division I qualifiers in Ronnie Bresser and Ethan Lizak; as well as one in the finals over redshirting freshman Stevan Micic of Northwestern, who ended the 2013-14 high school season as the nation's top wrestler at 126 pounds. For Fix, the UWW Cadet National title meant a second straight World Team berth at 54 kilos; his championship match victory in 2014 came over Nick Suriano, the No. 2 overall wrestler in the Class of 2016. In addition, this past season saw Fix win a second straight undefeated state title in a season of total dominance (all matches were decided by major decision or more); and in early April, Fix won a FloNationals title. Despite the strong resume for Spencer Lee, and the compelling case for him to retain the top spot in the 2017 class for a 14th straight ranking, the decision here is to elevate Daton Fix to the No. 1 position in the Class of 2017. The resume for Fix, while not as strong as the one that Lee possesses, is sufficient when augmented by the two recent head-to-head victories. The top two positions in this class are ones to be watched over the next two years with this class. The two wrestlers behind Lee and Fix among incoming juniors join Fix on the UWW Cadet World freestyle team this summer, Brady Berge (Kasson-Mantorville, Minn.) and Yianni Diakomihalis (Hilton, N.Y.). Fellow UWW Cadet World freestyle team member Jared Verkleeren (Belle Vernon, Pa.) is ranked sixth, while Nick Lee (Evansville Mater Dei, Ind.), the Outstanding Wrestler of last summer's Cadet Nationals in freestyle, is ranked fifth. Yet again, talent from the Keystone State stands out, as ten rising juniors appear in the top 50 for the Class of 2017. Next most is the six from California, and the five from Ohio. It's four from Illinois, with three each from New Jersey and Michigan. Link: Top 50 Juniors

Penn State student-athletes Matt Brown (wrestling) and Nia Grant (women's volleyball) have been selected the Nittany Lions' 2014-15 Big Ten Medal of Honor recipients. The duo joins the nearly 1,400 student-athletes across the conference as recipients of this prestigious honor over the past 100 years. The Big Ten's most exclusive award was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had “attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.” In 1982, the award was expanded to include one female student-athlete from each member institution. Among the nearly 9,500 student-athletes competing at Big Ten programs, only 28 earn this proud distinction on an annual basis. Brown and Grant join an elite group of previous Penn State Big Ten Medal of Honor award winners, including: Helen Holloway, women's basketball, 1994; John Amaechi, men's basketball, 1995; Jeff Hartings, football, 1996; Kim McGreevy, women's cross country/track and field, 1998; Katie Futcher, women's golf, 2004; Joanna Lohman, women's soccer, 2005; Jason Yeisley, men's soccer, 2010; Petra Januskova, women's tennis, 2013 and John Urschel, football, 2013. Earlier this spring, Brown and Grant were named recipients of the 2015 Ernest B. McCoy Memorial Award, which is presented annually to one Penn State senior male and one senior female student-athlete who have combined successful athletic participation with academic excellence. Brown became Penn State's 24th three-time All-American this past March as he rolled to the 174 pound championship at the NCAA Championships. Brown posted a 29-3 record this past season. He capped off his career with a 5-0 run through the NCAA Championships to claim his first individual crown and leaves Penn State with a 118-16 career record, 12th all-time in wins and 11th all-time in pins with 30. Brown rolled to a 14-1 dual meet record this year, including a perfect 9-0 mark in Big Ten duals. All told, Brown will leave Penn State with 118 wins, 44 dual meet victories, 23 Big Ten dual wins, 30 pins, 11 tech falls, 35 majors and 196 dual meet points. Brown placed first, second and fifth at nationals and was a two-time national finalist for Coach Cael Sanderson. Brown leaves Penn State a member of three NCAA Championship and three Big Ten Championship teams and competed in the NWCA All-Star Classic once and was Penn State's 2015 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner for wrestling. Brown was recently named Penn State's Male Student-Athlete of the Year for 2014-15. He was also selected as the CoSIDA Men's At-Large Academic All-American of the Year after earning his second first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America honor. A criminology and international studies major, he was also recently honored with a prestigious NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship and was Penn State's male recipient of this year's Big Ten Post-Graduate Scholarship. He was one of four Nittany Lion wrestlers to earn first team NWCA National All-Academic laurels as well (the third time he has been honored as such). He was also recently named Penn State's male recipient of the McCoy Award and was also a 2013 first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American. The 2013 Elite 89 Award Winner as the nation's top wrestling student-athlete, Brown was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree as well. Grant, who is majoring in communications, completed her career at Penn State this past fall, having helped the Nittany Lion women's volleyball team to back-to-back NCAA national championship titles in 2013-14. She also highlighted the season with her second career AVCA honor, having garnered honorable mention distinction in 2013. Grant earned her first career Big Ten postseason accolade in 2014 with a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten team, while also picking up her second consecutive AVCA All-Northeast Region honor. Having led the conference and the nation in hitting percentage for most of the season, her team-high .431 hitting efficiency concluded the year ranked first in the conference and fourth nationally. She closed out her four-year career at Penn State ranked eighth all-time with a .381 career hitting efficiency. Her 466 total blocks also ranks 12th in the PSU record book. Grant is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, who also earned 2013-14 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar-Athlete honors.

Joshua SaundersJoshua Saunders (Missouri) is the nation's No. 1-ranked junior high wrestler. Among his accomplishments include consecutive titles in the middle school division of the Super 32 Challenge and a Roller World of Wrestling Triple Crown this past year. The next two wrestlers in the rankings are a pair of Pennsylvania natives in Sam Hillegas and Beau Bartlett, while a pair from the upper Midwest round out the top five: Cullan Schreiver (Iowa) and Kellyn March (South Dakota). Link: Top 15 Junior High Wrestlers

The coaching carousel has finally been spun, but the push came from an unexpected source. C.D. Mock was fired last week from his position as head wrestling coach at UNC-Chapel Hill. Mock had been at the school for 14 seasons and though he'd enjoyed little success, the program had improved in 2014 with a freshman All-American and the school's third top 25 finish in three years. The stated reason for Mock's firing was his lack of performance on the mat, but many, including Mock, suspect that his firing came as a result of his recent campaign to discuss the issue of sexual assault on campus. C.D. Mock (Photo/Jeffrey A. Camarati)To be clear, Mock should have been fired for his lack of performance as early as five years ago. That he wasn't is a testament to how hard he worked politically within UNC to keep his job -- promising a turnaround plan, big donations and an improved coaching staff. He made those promises but had yet to make a decisive push to the front of the ACC even as NC State has made an immediate turnaround under new head coach Pat Popolizio. Mock's undoing was his recent and outspoken criticism of the debate surrounding sexual assaults on American campuses. As many people know, Mock's son Corey was expelled from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga after on-campus disciplinary hearings found him guilty of sexual assault. Sometime after the ruling was handed down, Coach Mock began posting on the website CoreyMock.net, which included the oh-so-subtle sub-header "FALSELY ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT IN COLLEGE." The blog included rants about the Columbia University student who carries her mattress in protest of how sexual assault cases are handled on campus, videos of women who have falsely accused men of rape and other diatribes about men who have been "victimized' by women. There is even mention about how many beers it takes to make a woman capable or incapable of consenting to sex. There is a certain amount of understanding you can extend to Coach Mock for working on behalf of his son. A father will always want to protect his child and he believes he needs to correct the public perception of his son and his actions. If Coach Mock came out in vehement defense of his son and promised to fight to clear his name then we all could appreciate his desire as a father even if we disagreed or held suspicions. However, Coach Mock's argument extended well past his son's case and began to unravel into a hysterical blog seeming to shame women who are victims of sexual assault. In light of these viewpoints it's the wrestling community's job (and athletic department's job) to clarify and distance themselves from bigotry, sexism or anything short of the full and complete protection of women on college campuses. In choosing to start a blog and grant interviews about how sexual assault claims on campus are false or harmful to men, Mock made himself public fare. You are always free to say what you want, but when you work for a company, public or private, you represent that company and if you choose to speak out then you risk your employment. Spoken plainly, his firing is in no way a violation of free speech. Mock was fired because he was working at the pleasure of a college administration and when failed to head their warning and/or uphold the standards they demanded he was fired. Mock's actions and statements are also not representative of the wrestling community's larger views on women. His reductive, thick-browed analysis of the sexual assault issue on campus has proven crass, irrational and out-of-touch with how modern men -- and modern wrestlers -- view women. Most in the American wrestling community want to embrace women competing in our sport. Most in our community abhor the idea of violence against women. Most have the perspective to understand that sexual assault is a crime that takes from its victim's innocence and trust in men. That Mock represented himself as a warrior for a cause that has a dwindling army of troglodytes is fine, but I, like the UNC administration, don't want him doing it in the name of wrestling. The wrestling community is better than to be represented by hate, or any idea short of compassion and inclusion. There will never be a way to know exactly what happens in the bedroom, but as a wrestling community we can focus on making certain women will always be protected and that their interests, their safety and their health are also our top concern. Mock's continued assault on progress is out of line with that viewpoint. Wrestlers have proven to be progressive in the past. Hudson Taylor's Athlete Ally helps create a better community for LGBT athletes and the recent Super 8 campaign by United World Wrestling has helped form new international sports policy regarding development programs for women. Wrestlers are often at the front of change. We are bold and decisive and never quit. We are strong enough now to stand in the face of cultural bullies, even one that has been our own, and tell them to take a seat. To your questions ... Q: What was up with Jordan Burroughs' "shame on you" tweet? What set him off? Overall he seems like a humble guy but ruffled a lot of fans' feathers with this one making it seem like he uses a social media persona. -- Peter W. Foley: I flatly disagree that Jordan Burroughs has two different personalities -- one for social media and one for interpersonal communication. That is just not defensible, not based on one tweet or from any other feedback of him as a person. Jordan Burroughs defeated Kyle Dake in the finals of the U.S. World Team Trials (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Taken from Burroughs' perspective the recent hubbub and message board discussion around the other 74-kilo wrestlers must have been infuriating. Not many people realize that when Burroughs wrestles overseas he is slapped, twisted, poked, bitten, and head-butted while representing our country. Despite all these very personal and infuriating moments Burroughs has kept cool and become arguably the most popular and respected wrestler in the world. The international sports community tends to be bitterly anti-American and yet the most anti-American individuals, fans, coaches and officials seem to think Burroughs is everything that's right about wrestling. Yes, he confounds them, but he's won over fans in Iran, Russia and even Belarus. Hell, even the Russians have come to respect him and his talents in private. If I'm Burroughs I'd be pissed off, too. Shame on all those people who thought that because Kyle Dake got a three-point throw he somehow could outperform a two-time World champion and Olympic gold medalist. David Taylor? Sure there is an argument that he might have been able to pull off a match. But two? Beat the rest of the world for four years straight? Andrew Howe matches up well, but still lacks the international success. America has the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the world -- one who represents the country with grace -- and because a few guys look the part of an American hero he somehow earns doubt? Hell, I'm mad on his behalf. Support Jordan Burroughs. Support greatness. Let's stop trying to find reasons to tear down or minimize his accomplishments and start paying more attention to how well he competes and has become an American ambassador for good around the world. Q: What do you think of the World Team Trials qualifying system? Seems unfair to those who are behind world I believe the process of determining the representative from the USA in the World Championships should be reviewed and revised so that the process for naming the USA wrestling representatives for the Olympic Games next year is more fair to the challenge tournament winner. -- Barry M. Foley: This dovetails into the above point. The main thrust of the complaints regarding qualification came from Kyle Dake who about a month before the U.S. Open tweeted, among other things, "If you win the Super Bowl the previous year, should you receive and automatic bid to the playoffs?" While asking questions is always welcome, I think that the passive-aggressive self-assured tone made the inquiry seem self-evident, which of course it's not. I understand it's frustrating to be a 74-kilo American wrestler -- backups around the world undergo the same struggle -- but for Dake to prime the American wrestling crowd into complaining about the Trials format because a change would directly benefit his cause is disingenuous. It's also not especially forward-thinking or big-minded. As for the World Team Trials system itself and why the USA system is exceedingly fair … I've been at the European Games the past week and was able to ask some team leaders about their current systems for selecting individual World Team members. Overall, I think that Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan are the most compelling comparisons for how open and fair a process the USA wrestlers enjoy. Until this year the Iranian Greco-Roman national team was hand-selected by head coach Mohammed Bana. Year-in and year-out there were no wrestle-off's for the most successful athletes -- many of whom were from Bana's club. This year, with Rasoul Khadem as the president of the wrestling federation -- and Bana fired -- all wrestlers were asked to enter a national selection tournament. The idea was to eliminate the political drama and give everyone a fair shot. Hamid Soryan (six-time World champion, one-time Olympic champion) is the most successful wrestler in Iranian history and though he weighed-in, refused to wrestle, citing that in ten years he'd never been asked to wrestle off and he wasn't about to start. Omid Noroozi (2012 Olympic champion) did wrestle and actually lost in this year's tournament. Noroozi believed his loss came as the result of a bad call and responded by breaking a chair and charging the head table with one of the legs held high over his head. On the freestyle side, four of the top wrestlers in the world lost in the tournament and will not represent Iran at the World Championships -- Esmailpoor and Taghavi among them. The Iranian press told me that a single elimination one-time tournament was an over-correction since some wrestlers began preparing only for their expected opponents, not international competition. Russia has used this single-elimination national tournament as an ultimate qualifier for a couple years, save extraordinary circumstances. This year three-time World champion Denis Tsargush lost to a relative nobody at Russian Nationals and is being replaced by three-time European champion and Yarygin winner Anuiar Geduev. The rest of the team remained relatively unchanged minus the musical chairs at 57 kilos and 65 kilos. As a reminder of how biased selections can become, the Azerbaijan national team has a tournament in December, which puts the wrestlers in a ladder, but wrestlers for competitions throughout the year are chosen for a number of reasons. Winning does not make you No. 1 with a bullet. For example, if a wrestler is Azeri and is on par with a Dagestani transfer then the Azeri might get the nod. It's as political a system as exists in wrestling, but for them it seems to work. Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan have incredible resources and depth which allows for their cutthroat style of selection. Nobody would argue that Russia and Iran won't perform well in Las Vegas even given the elimination of some of these established wrestlers. They have talent, a proven system and great coaching to assist their young wrestlers and new World Team members. In the past eight years America has won 12 World and Olympic medals. Burroughs has won four of those medals, Dlagnev has two, Varner has one gold and one bronze, Scott, Herbert, Cormier and Cejudo each have a medal a piece. By comparison Russia has 43 medals, Iran 24, Azerbaijan 19, Cuba 15 (they missed three competitions), and Ukraine and Uzbekistan are tied with 13. Save the perception that our 74-kilo weight class is filled with three World champions (it's not) overall the USA does not have enough quality backups across 24 weight classes to warrant a single-elimination tournament. It seems that only Russia does. To compensate the USA is forced to incentivize returning World medalists to keep competing and the best way to do so is to give them this slight advantage to the finals of the challenge tournament. The other issue being presented is one of rest. While we can complain about what we think would happen under a variety of rest-based scenarios the truth is that it doesn't apply to the 2015 team. Take for example 86 kilos where I believe you had a perfect iteration of the system. Jake Herbert wrestles at the U.S. Open, wins by beating returning World Team member Ed Ruth, gets a bye to the World Team Trials finals and then beats Ruth two more times in that final. Yes, Ruth wrestled two more matches, but at the World Championships it's just as likely that you could wrestle one more match than your opponent and you could wrestle three times in sixty minutes if you get a loaded repechage bracket. Herbert wrestled Ruth three times and recorded three lopsided wins. No matter the conditions that is pretty damn definitive on who is the better wrestler right now. (Note: Jake competed at the Paris GGP and Yarygin tournaments while Ruth only made an appearance at last year's GGP in Baku and the World Cup.) Similarly, Tony Ramos won the U.S. Open in dominating fashion and went 2-0 at the World Team Trials. He wrestled six matches and was rarely in danger (He competed at the Yarygin, Paris GGP and World Cup.) Kyle Snyder beat an Olympic champion, wrestled in last year's Junior Worlds and then competed a collegiate season. He went 3-0 against Olympic champion Jake Varner. Same with Brent Metcalf. (Paris GGP, Yarygin, World Cup) 3-0 against Jordan Oliver. Tervel Dlagnev even went 3-0 against a very powerful Zack Rey. At 74 kilos, Kyle Dake chose to qualify through the regional system, giving him fewer looks at top-ranked competition than that of Andrew Howe and David Taylor who both qualified at the U.S. Open and had a season wrestling overseas. Dake did not compete overseas in 2015 and hasn't competed in a meaningful freestyle tournament since taking fifth at the Golden Grand Prix in 2013. (He won a watered down Granma Cup in 2014.) While the popular perception is that Dake is a fantastic shot to medal he hasn't wrestled enough to prove that he can be effective in international competition. Prior to the Trials, any of the feelings about Dake's potential seemed to be rooted in his NCAA success, which is not applicable to the Trials discussion. The other source seems rooted in his Global Wrestling Championships win over Andrew Howe, which of course in no way should count since it didn't follow international rules. For perspective, over the past two years Jordan Burroughs has gone undefeated at two World Cups, won two Medved prizes, the Sarsygian and a World Championship. He finished in bronze at last year's World Championships, beating Rashid Kurbanov (Uzbekistan) who won the 2014 Asian Games, Golden Grand Prix, Paris GGP, Asian Championship and is a World bronze medalist. Burroughs also pinned Rustam Dudaiev (Ukraine) for bronze, a wrestler who has been ranked in the top ten in the world. Should all of Jordan Burroughs' international successes be risked to a single elimination tournament for which his opponent could choose to prepare for only him? That's highly irrational when considering USA Wrestling wants to incentivize our best to compete overseas throughout the year without having to worry about one guy sitting at home training for one opponent. It's also worth mentioning that once they did compete Burroughs had no issues dismantling Dake, which essentially muted his personal appeal. The current process still allows for others to win the starting spot, and the elimination of the international tournament placement post-World Team Trials was the right call, but in no way should the USA step away from their system which has been lauded by other NF's for its fairness and for producing results. For wrestlers that don't think it's fair and that they could win a best-of-one series, there are plenty of other nations with money looking for quality wrestlers. The immediate transfer policy available from United World Wrestling makes that a viable option for 2016. Is that right for Dake or Taylor? Maybe, but maybe not. Their motivation might be to represent the United States, but their motivation may also be to represent their own best interest. MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME Link: Panda video to unwind I mean … game, set, match. Right? Q: What are your thoughts on the angry birds being thrown out instead of the cubes? -- Tim H. Foley: That started at last year's European Championships in Vantaa, Finland, the home base for Roxio, the makers of the game Angry Birds. The USA Wrestling officials see the comedy in it and chose to adopt it. Bravo. Wrestling is a sport that is supposed to be entertaining. I love it. Q: Why does Joey McKenna get a special wrestle-off? Foley: I honestly don't know about McKenna, but he did wrestle a ton of overseas matches and took the year off to train for international competition. Given his success overseas, the legitimacy of his appeal and the hope that more wrestlers will take the risk to follow his lead would all seem to be indicative of a positive result. Q: How much fear does Jake Herbert's mullet strike into the hearts of his opponents? Is it as much as Lincoln McIlravy's mullet did? -- Ryan P. Jake Herbert earned a spot on the U.S. World Team at 86 kilos (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Foley: Fear? I'm not sure that his mullet is making Abdulrashid Sadulaev shiver in his ASICS as much as he's confounded why such a handsome man would handicap himself so severely. I will say that Herbert's mullet is only part of a much bigger story. Talent without hard work is bound to fail and for a few years there Herbert dabbled in wrestling. Now, with clear focus he isn't just the best in the country, but a threat to make an impact on the world stage. McIlravy came by his mullet honestly, which is much, much more terrifying. Q: Is Kyle Snyder the first college freshman to make the senior World Team? The only two people I can recall that made the World Team while still in college were Cael Sanderson (but USA didn't send a team with tourney in Iran due to safety if recall) and John Smith. But both of them were upperclassmen. -- Frank C. Foley: Yes, Kyle Snyder is the first enrolled college freshman to make the U.S. World Team in freestyle, a feat that is unreal especially considering he needed to beat an Olympic champion three times to make that happen. In 2009, both Dustin Schlatter and Jake Varner made the U.S. World Team in freestyle before their senior seasons of college wrestling. Snyder is special. We've known it since high school, but as he's matured he's seemed to embrace development rather than fear loss. The comments on his personality (I've never met him) seem to indicate that his focus is unbreakable and his mentality one of light-hearted but complete dedication. I don't know how he will fare at the World Championships as 97 kilos. The weight class is loaded with former World and Olympic champions. Though I think gold is ambitious, I fully expect Snyder to beat ninety percent of the international field. He will need a nice draw, but only Gadisov (Russia), Gazymuv (Azeiberijan) and Yazdani (Iran) feel like heavy favorites. Valerii Andriitsev (Ukraine) isn't much better than Snyder, but could give him an issue as he's quite the bully.

USA Wrestling has named James Green (Lincoln, Neb./Titan Mercury WC), the winner of the 2015 U.S. World Team Trials at 70 kg/154 pounds in men's freestyle wrestling, as the World Team Member at 70 kilos. Green will represent the United States at the 2015 World Championships. USA Wrestling's Freestyle Sport Committee denied a request by 2015 U.S. Open champion Nick Marable (Morgantown, W.Va./Sunkist Kids) for a delay of competition for the Final Wrestle-off at 70 kg/154 lbs. in men's freestyle wrestling for the 2015 U.S. World Championships Team. James Green won the U.S. World Team Trials at 70 kilos (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Based upon the 2015 World Team Trials Procedures, Marable, as the U.S. Open champion at 70 kg, earned an automatic berth into the Final Wrestle-off of the U.S. World Team Trials in Madison, Wisconsin. However, Marable did not attend weigh-ins for the 70 kg weight class on Friday, June 12 due to reported injury and, pursuant to the 2015 World Team Trials Procedures, Marable made the request for delay of the Final Wrestle-off within 18 hours of the weigh-in. This process is included in the 2015 World Team Trials Procedures, under IV. Delays or Replacement Due to Injury or Illness. Click here for complete 2015 World Team Trials Procedures document

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan graduate student Max Huntley, a 2015 NCAA All-American and two-year wrestling team captain, has been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA and will return to the Wolverines for the 2015-16 season. Huntley claimed NCAA honors for the first time in his career last season, taking eighth place at the NCAA Championships to cap a 24-11 senior season at 197 pounds. He was ranked among the nation's top 10 for the bulk of the season, earning notable wins over Ohio's Phil Wellington, Purdue's Braden Atwood and Wisconsin's Timmy McCall, who he defeated, 7-2, in the NCAA Round of 12. A two-year team captain, Huntley lost the majority of two collegiate seasons due to injury, suffering a season-ending ACL tear at the EMU Open as a true freshman (2010-11) and a season-ending pectoral tear at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational as a junior (2013-14). He is a three-time NCAA qualifier at 197 pounds and has compiled a 60-45 record over his five collegiate seasons. He dipped down to 184 pounds for his shortened junior campaign before bumping back up to 197 pounds for his breakout season last year. Huntley, who graduated in April with a bachelor's degree in English, has enrolled in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and will begin coursework toward a Master of Public Policy degree this fall. With the addition of Huntley, the Wolverines will return five NCAA All-Americans and all 10 of their 2015 NCAA qualifiers for the 2015-16 season.

The 2015 Jacob Curby Cup at the Jones Convocation Center at Chicago State University on Saturday, June 27 has been cancelled. The event included a dual meet between the United States and 2014 World Team Champions Iran in Greco-Roman wrestling. The Curby Cup is held in honor of the late Jacob Curby, a Greco-Roman Team USA member who unexpectedly passed away at the age of 25 in January 2010. The decision to cancel the event was made by the hosts of the event, the Jacob Curby Foundation, and USA Wrestling, because of challenges in getting visas for the Iranian team. The Iranian Wrestling Federation followed all of the proper procedures in order to attend the event. The visa problems were beyond the control of either USA Wrestling or the Iranian Wrestling Federation. “I have to announce the very disappointing news that the Jacob Curby Cup, scheduled for June 27, has been cancelled. This decision was made because of the inability to obtain visas for the Iranian delegation within the time frame of our event. No blame, no acrimony, just sadness and disappointment,” said Dave Curby, founder of the Curby Cup and Jacob Curby's father. The U.S. Greco-Roman team will still attend a training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Site at Northern Michigan University, which had been previously scheduled. The preliminary NMU – USOTS vs. Illinois All-Stars dual meet which was included in the program will also be cancelled. The Illinois freestyle women's wrestling event and the Beat the Streets-Chicago and Beat the Streets-Indianapolis youth matches will be held, at a different location in Chicago to be announced.