InterMat Staff

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.

GORHAM, Maine - After five seasons as assistant coach, former Husky All-American Michael Morin has been named the head coach of the University of Southern Maine Huskies' wrestling program. Long-time University of Southern Maine Director of Athletics Al Bean announced the appointment of Morin who replaces former head coach Joe Pistone who stepped down this spring. "Mike Morin is the perfect choice to be our next head coach and to take on the leadership of the USM wrestling program," noted Bean. "First, he is an exceptional young man and has gained valuable experience as an assistant coach the past couple of years. Mike was an All-American, perhaps the best wrestler to ever wear a USM singlet, qualified as a Scholar All-American and is a great role model for our team members. He will be an excellent motivator and leader and has the benefit of having long-time assistant coach Julio Santiago returning as associate head coach. Mike and Julio will continue to work together to train and field one of New England's most competitive wrestling teams and will challenge our student-athletes to be the very best they can be on the mat, in the classroom and in the community. My thanks to Joe Pistone for his fine work as head coach and best wishes to him as he moves on to build the program at Florida Gulf Coast." Recently named the 2015 New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) Assistant Coach of the Year, Morin has been on the Huskies' sidelines since the completion of his career in 2010. The most decorated wrestler in Southern Maine history, Morin has helped develop and recruit several of the USM's top performers over the last five seasons, including two-time All-Northeast Region champion Jonathan Deupree (Ozona, Fla./Countryside) and Elite 89 winner Daniel Del Gallo (Gardiner, Maine). "I am extremely excited that Coach Morin has been named the next Head Wresting coach of the USM program," said Pistone. "After being involved as a student-athlete and assistant coach for nearly a decade, he is the most fit to carry on the academic and athletic excellence that the USM Wrestling program has been known for since its inception in 1997. With quality returners, a strong incoming recruiting class, a competitive schedule and a revamp in the coaching staff, it is a very exciting time for the University of Southern Maine Wrestling program. I am confident that Coach Morin's staff and leadership will bring the program to new and exciting heights." The most decorated wrestler in Huskies' history, Morin earned All-American honors in 2009 and 2010, becoming Southern Maine's first wrestling All-American. Additionally, Morin is the first USM grappler to earn three consecutive bids to the NCAA Division III National Championship tournament, winning the New England regional championship three consecutive seasons from 2008 through 2010. A two-time captain (2009, 2010), Morin is the all-time leader in wins posting a remarkable 133-21 record during his four-year career for a .863 winning percentage. Morin had a pair of 40-win seasons as a junior and a senior, earning a 40-2 record in 2008-2009 and a 44-5 record in 2009-2010. "I'm very excited for this opportunity and the chance to continue working with our student athletes," said Morin. "As a former University of Southern Maine student-athlete, and assistant coach for the last five years, I am very familiar with both the university and it's wrestling program and the hard work and dedication needed to achieve on the mat and in the classroom. Coach Pistone has done a great job building this program, and I look forward to taking over for him." A 2010 graduate from Southern Maine with a degree in Business Administration, Morin is a two-time NWCA Division III Wrestling Scholar All-American (2010, 2009) and a three-time William B. Wise Scholar-Athlete. Morin also works full-time as a Service Sales Representative at Cintas Corporation, a position he has held since 2011. Morin has also served as the head coach of the Casco Bay Elite Wrestling Club since 2011.

Wrestling has been called "man's oldest and greatest sport" and it continues to be passed down from generation to generation. Fathers are coaching their sons and daughters at all levels of wrestling. At the NCAA Division I level, Tom Ryan led Ohio State to its first national championship in wrestling this past season. His son Jake, a state runner-up, is a member of the Buckeye wrestling team and redshirted this past season. "I feel really blessed that Jake enjoys the sport," said Ryan, who wrestled collegiately at the University of Iowa for legendary coach and wrestler Dan Gable. "Dealing with the human ego is something I think is challenging for dads. We get caught up in self-pride and that is unhealthy. The father-son relationship is too important to be challenged by the sport." Tom Borrelli of Central Michigan coached his sons Jason and Bob at the collegiate level. Jason is now the head wrestling coach at Stanford. Borrelli said that when his sons were in high school he didn't get to see them compete as much as he would have liked because of his coaching duties at CMU, so being able to coach them in college was special, as is sharing a profession with his son. "The nice thing about them coming to Central Michigan and me coaching them in college was that I was able to see them and be around them," said Borrelli, who was named National Coach of the Year by the NWCA and WIN Magazine in 1998. "That's the other thing about Jason coaching … I get to see him a good bit. We're at a lot of the same tournaments and functions." Read complete story on MatBoss ...

Apple Valley's Gable Steveson won a state championship as a freshman at 220 pounds (Photo/The Guillotine)There's a new top dog in the Class of 2018, as that group now moves into the summer before their sophomore year. Moving into the No. 1 position for this class is Gable Steveson (Apple Valley, Minn.), a high school teammate of the top-ranked Class of 2016 wrestler Mark Hall. Steveson was an undefeated state champion this past season, competing in Minnesota's big-school division at 220 pounds. His lone semi-competitive match in the state series came in the state semifinal against returning Junior National freestyle All-American Rylee Streifel, and Steveson advanced with a 9-4 victory. Earlier this month, Steveson was champion at the UWW Cadet Nationals in freestyle at 100 kilos, with victories over a pair of 2014 Cadet National freestyle runners-up, along with one over last year's Cadet World silver medalist, Jordan Wood. The next two wrestlers in the rankings are a pair that have won UWW Cadet National titles, Cade Olivas (St. John Bosco, Calif.) and Gavin Teasdale (Jefferson Morgan, Pa.); each was also an undefeated state champion this past season. Olivas was champion in Greco-Roman at 42 kilosin 2013, as well as in freestyle at 46 kilos last year; while Teasdale earned titles in freestyle at 42 and 50 kilos the last two years. This past year, Olivas placed fourth in the 54-kilo freestyle competition. Rounding out the top five are Mitch Moore (St. Paris Graham, Ohio) and Brey Walker (Midwest City, Okla.). Moore was a state champion this year, and has placed in the high school division at the FloNationals each of the last two years; while Walker qualified for state as a freshman at 285 pounds in Oklahoma's big-school division. The next two wrestlers in the rankings were both state champions this past season, and has excellent performances at the UWW Cadet Nationals earlier this month. David Carr (Massillon Perry, Ohio) was runner-up in the 69-kilo weight class, while Brandon Whitman (Dundee, Mich.) finished third at 85 kilos. From a state power standpoint, Pennsylvania and Ohio lead the way with seven and six top 50 rated incoming sophomores respectively. Next on the ladder is Oklahoma with four, while it's three each for California, Illinois, and Indiana. In all, wrestlers competing for schools in 23 states are represented among the top 50 for this class. Link: Top 50 Sophomores

USA Wrestling has confirmed that the 2015 Jacob Curby Cup will feature a dual meet between the United States and 2014 World Team Champions Iran, at the Jones Convocation Center at Chicago State University on Friday, June 27. The event 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 U.S. team will feature the 2015 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team, which will compete in the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 7-12. The Curby Cup is one of the key tune-up events for the U.S. World Team in preparation for Las Vegas. "One of the missions of the Jacob Curby Foundation is to help with the development of Greco-Roman wrestling in our nation. Having the defending World Champion Iran team in our country wrestling Team USA shows how much we have evolved and grown. I am truly excited for the historic opportunities of this year's Curby Cup," said Dave Curby, founder of the Curby Cup and Jacob Curby's father. Leading Team USA is two-time World bronze medalist and Olympian Justin Lester (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) at 71 kg/156 lbs., 2014 World bronze medalist Andy Bisek (Colorado Springs, Colo./Minnesota Storm) at 75 kg/165 lbs. and two-time Olympian and two-time World fifth-place finisher Spenser Mango (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 59 kg/130 lbs. Seven of the eight U.S. World team members also competed in the 2014 World Championships. Competing in their third straight World Championships are Jordan Holm (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) at 85 kg/187 lbs., Caylor Williams, Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 98 kg/216 lbs. and Robby Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 130 kg/286 lbs. On his second straight World team is Bryce Saddoris (Camp LeJeune, N.C./U.S. Marines) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. The only newcomer on the USA team is Patrick Martinez (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 80 kg/176 lbs. Iran won the 2014 World Team Title in Greco-Roman with a champion and four total medalists in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Iran placed ahead of perennial powers Russia in second and Turkey in third. Iran is bringing a loaded lineup to Chicago, including some of the best wrestlers in the world. Iran is led by 2012 Olympic champion and six-time World champion Hamid Soryan at 59 kg/130 lbs. Also in the lineup is 2014 World bronze medalist Afshin Byabangard at 75 kg/165 lbs., 2011 World bronze medalist Bashir Babajanzadeh at 130 kg/286 lbs. and 2009 World bronze medalist Habibollah Akhlaghi at 85 kg/187 lbs. On the roster are 2015 Asian Championships champions Ramin Taheri at 71 kg/156 lbs. and Mahdi Aliyari at 98 kg/215 lbs. Competing at 80 kg/176 lbs is 2014 Junior World silver medalist Payam Boyeri. "Iran is one of the best teams in the world and they are bringing their best team to the United States. This event is a pre-world match and training camp that will kick start the U.S. World Team's preparation for the World Championship in LasVegas. We are excited," said U.S. National Greco-Roman Coach Matt Lindland. Tickets for the Curby Cup are $10 and $15. For more information, visit the website at www.curbycup.com. Since the Iranian Revolution, both Iran and the United States have competed in wrestling events in the other nation, in spite of their government's lack of formal interaction. When Iran arrives in Chicago to compete in the Curby Cup, it will be the 14th time that their wrestling team has come to the United States since the Iranian Revolution. The only other time that Iran sent Greco-Roman wrestlers to the USA was in 1996, when Iran had one Greco-Roman athlete at the Atlanta Olympic Games. The United States has sent teams to compete in Iran 13 times since the Iranian Revolution, most recently a Greco-Roman Roman team at the Takhti Cup earlier this year. The official program for the Curby Cup begins at 9:00 a.m. with Illinois freestyle women's wrestling. At 10:00 a.m., Beat the Streets-Chicago and Beat the Streets-Indianapolis will have a youth wrestling event. At 12:00 noon, the U.S. Olympic Training Site from Northern Michigan will battle an Illinois Greco-Roman All-Star Team. The Opening Ceremonies begin at 2:00 p.m., followed by the USA vs. Iran dual meet at 2:30 p.m. This is the fifth Curby Cup competition. The first Curby Cup was held in 2010, and featured challenge matches between U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling stars on the Senior, Junior and Cadet level. In 2011, it became an international event, when Team USA battled an International All-Star Team in Greco-Roman. In 2012, the Curby Cup featured a USA vs. Georgia international dual meet, featuring numerous world-class competitors. In 2013, as part of the successful Keep Olympic Wrestling effort, the Curby Cup featured a dual meet tournament featuring the United States, Hungary, Lithuania and Serbia. There was no Curby Cup in 2014. All of the previous Curby Cups were held in LaGrange, Ill., where Jacob Curby attended high school. JACOB CURBY CUP At Chicago, Ill, June 27 Event Schedule 9:00 a.m. - Illinois freestyle women's wrestling. 10:00 a.m. - Beat the Streets-Chicago and Beat the Streets-Indianapolis youth matches 12:00 noon - U.S. Olympic Education Center - NMU vs. Illinois Greco-Roman All-Star Team 2:00 p.m. - Opening Ceremonies begin at 2:00 p.m. 2:30 p.m. - USA vs. Iran Greco-Roman Dual Meet USA Curby Cup lineup 59 kg/130 lbs. - Spenser Mango, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) 66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Bryce Saddoris, Camp LeJeune, N.C. (U.S. Marines) 71 kg/156 lbs. - Justin Lester, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) 75 kg/165 lbs. - Andy Bisek, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Minnesota Storm) 80 kg/176 lbs. - Patrick Martinez, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) 85 kg/187 lbs. - Jordan Holm, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm) 98 kg/216 lbs. - Caylor Williams, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) 130 kg/286 lbs. - Robby Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC) Iran Curby Cup lineup 59 kg/130 lbs. - Hamid Soryan 59 kg/130 lbs. - Mohammad Nourbakh 66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Mohammad Ali Garaei 71 kg/156 lbs. - Ramin Taheri 75 kg/165 lbs. - Afshin Byabangard 80 kg/176 lbs. - Payam Boyeri 85 kg/187 lbs. - Habibollah Akhlaghi 98 kg/216 lbs. - Mehdi Aliyari 130 kg/286 lbs. - Bashir Babajanzadeh NMU - USOTS vs. Illinois All-Stars 59 kg/130 lbs. - Alec Noa, Lombard, Ill. (USOTS) vs. Max Nowry, Wheeling, Ill. (IL All-Stars) 65 kg/143 lbs. - Travis Rice, Washington, Ill. (USOTS) vs. Chris Dardanes, Oak Park, Ill. (IL All-Stars) 66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Austin Morrow, Wenatchee, Wash. (USOTS) vs. Nick Dardanes, Oak Park, Ill. (IL All-Stars) 75 kg/165 lbs. - Jake Fisher, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm)* vs. TBA 85 kg/187 lbs. - Khymba Johnson, Sacramento, Calif. (USOTS) vs. Joe Rau, Chicago, Ill. (IL All-Stars) 85 kg/187 lbs. - Brandon Marshall, Keystone Hts., Fla. (USOTS) vs. Mark Stenberg, Lockport, Ill. (IL All-Stars) 105 kg/231 lbs. - Orry Elor, Walnut Creek, Calif. (USOTS) vs Pete Kowalczuk, Oak Park, Ill. (IL All-Stars) *Note - Fisher is a graduate of the NMU-USOTS program. Information on other preliminary matches to be announced shortly ABOUT THE JACOB CURBY FOUNDATION The Jacob Curby Foundation has been formed to honor the memory of my son, and has as its mission, teaching strong values through wrestling participation, growing youth participation in wrestling as a path to success and personal growth, and the advancement of Olympic-style international wrestling competition in the United States. Before his sudden, tragic death, Jacob Curby had been working as hard as he could to attain the ultimate goals in Greco-Roman wrestling - becoming an Olympic and World Champion. Jake was taken from us too early and was unable to complete his quest, but he remains a champion in all our hearts. ABOUT USA WRESTLING USA Wrestling is the National Governing Body for the Sport of Wrestling in the United States and, as such, is its representative to the United States Olympic Committee and United World Wrestling, the International Wrestling Federation. Simply, USA Wrestling is the central organization that coordinates amateur wrestling programs in the nation and works to create interest and participation in these programs. Its president is James Ravannack, and its Executive Director is Rich Bender.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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