InterMat Staff

Joey Dance hits a super duck in the Junior National freestyle finals (Photo/Rob Preston) On Thursday night, Joey Dance, one of the nation's top juniors, informed InterMat that he will be staying in-state for college and wrestling at Virginia Tech. Dance recently claimed his third Virginia state championship and helped lead nationally ranked Christiansburg to its 11th straight state title. Last summer Dance won a Junior National freestyle title at 125 pounds, beating Joey Palmer of Washington in the finals. It was his second Fargo freestyle title, having been a Cadet National freestyle champion in 2009. Dance has won and placed at many of the nation's most prestigious high school wrestling events. He is currently ranked seventh nationally at 126 pounds by InterMat.

Chris Dardanes defeated Ohio State's Logan Stieber (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine) Most wrestling fans are familiar with the legend of Tom and Terry Brands and their recruiting trip to Iowa. The duo had been scheduled to meet with Coach Gable at a certain time in the lobby of their hotel, but were late because some pre-meeting jocularities had turned serious and a takedown battle ensued. Apocryphal or not, it's the type of legend that makes you think about the Brands' intensity and leaves you contemplating what it would have been like to grow up wrestling with someone who moved, talked, and acted just like you. Would you too become a testier person if you were made to compete for everything from the affection of your parents to control of the remote? There have been plenty of successful college wrestling twins -- the aforementioned Brands, Troy and Terry Steiner, and Trent and Travis Paulson -- and those are just the ones whose first names start with the letter "T" and wrestled collegiately in the state of Iowa. Nick Dardanes finished the regular season with an 18-6 record at 141 pounds (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)Minnesota Gopher fans are welcoming the next generation of successful Big Ten twins this season with the surprising rise of Chris and Nick Dardenes, starting redshirt freshmen who have helped a young Minnesota team earn a top five national ranking. Both are ranked in the top 10 in their respective weight classes heading into next weekend's Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. Chris competes at 133 pounds, while Nick competes at 141 pounds. The Dardanes boys graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in the southwest suburbs of Chicago in 2010 as set of state champions. Their head coach was Mike Powell, the coach whose inspirational coaching style and battle with a life-threatening illness was recently profiled in the excellent Sports Illustrated feature by Chris Ballard. "Coach Powell taught us how to live the right lifestyle, eat the right foods, and train with intensity," says Nick. "When we met him we weren't nearly as focused as we are now." The boys have been more than just focused in 2012, they've been putting up wins against highly ranked opponents. Chris, who stepped in the Gopher lineup after David Thorn suffered an injury, took control of the starting spot after beating fellow freshman phenom Logan Stieber of Ohio State in a January dual meet. "It was a big match for me, but I knew going in that if I hand fought well and got into my positions that I could control where the match went," Chris says. "He's a talented wrestler and I'll see him again at the Big Tens. I just need to be prepared to battle." Helping him prepare for that battle will be his brother Nick. The duo are training partners in the room, which means that they push each other hard, even if that often means aggression gets spilled in the padded room. "We get in fights all the time in the wrestling room," says Nick. "We'll throw punches at each other. Last week we ended up in the treadmill area getting in a huge fight." "Those two would kick each other in the face, but it never seemed to stick to them, they just kind of see it as part of the sport," says Oak Park River Forest (OPRF) coach Mike Powell. "They trained with the most intensity I've seen since Ellis (Coleman -- the Flying Squirrel guy) and the younger guys on the team still talk about how hard they used to go in the room. It was awesome to watch." As juniors the twins transferred from Fenwick High School, a Catholic school, to OPRF, a public high school. It was a move that Powell said taught them how to train with focused intensity. "It's about eating the right foods and living the right lifestyle and they were always willing to make the right decisions." Chris Dardanes is currently ranked No. 7 at 133 pounds (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)"We took the lessons from high school and brought them to Minnesota," says Chris. "The things coach taught us were part of the culture up here, and we got along with the guys so well that it made sense. You know, we were able to keep training the way we liked and living that lifestyle." Another big reason the duo chose Minnesota was to train under Gopher head assistant coach Brandon Eggum, whom they both cite as a role model. "Coach Eggum takes care of us and makes sure that we do the right things and never slack." Never ones to cause a stir with management (only each other), Chris was quick to point out that J Robinson is a "legend" and coach that they think does a lot for the sport of wrestling and runs an incredible program. The program has been rewarded handsomely for stewarding the Dardanes boys' desire for competition. At the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals regional held at Rutgers they each scored an incredible 27 points in two matches. "Scoring points is something we're always thinking about," says Nick. "Earlier in the year I was hesitant and eeking out decisions, but recently the coaches have me thinking about scoring more from my positions and trying to create bigger leads. I think it's working." Though he's biased, Powell thinks the twins have the ability to go into the Big Ten tournament, finish at or near the top, and come out with high seeds for the NCAAs, alluding to the thought that they should be All-Americans as freshmen. The boys are competitive about how they place. When relayed stories about the competitiveness of Josh and Scott Moore, twins who competed at 133 pounds and 141 pounds respectively, and who owned classic, aggressive personalities and wrestling styles, Chris laughed and said he saw that same streak in he and his brother. Who would stand taller on the podium was at the center of their competition. "It's nice because I know I always have someone to talk to about what's going on in the room and who is going to give me the right answers," says Chris. "We can trust each other obviously and we can get extra workouts all the time. There is never a time when he is going to be working out when I won't be there for him." There is one thing that the twins agree upon, that they'll both be Big Ten champions and NCAA champions. "That's why you wrestle, and those are my goals," says Chris, a sentiment later repeated verbatim by Nick. "We want to be the best at everything we do." This story also appears in the Feb. 24 issue of The Guillotine. The Guillotine has been covering amateur wrestling in Minnesota since 1971. Its mission is to report and promote amateur wrestling at all levels -- from youth and high school wrestling to college and international level wrestling. Subscribe to The Guillotine.

Frankie Edgar (Photo/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) In every sport there is a Gulliver and there is a Lilliputian. For every Calvin Johnson, a Wes Welker; every Kobe Bryant a Muggsy Bogues. No matter the competitive arena there is an athlete, undersized and overmatched, who manages to do the incredible, to be not just a part of the team, but make an impact, win a championship. In the UFC that gritty gnome has been current lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. In a weight class where many of his competitors cut thirty pounds to earn their paycheck, Edgar typically trims a third of that, his frame maxing out closer to 165 pounds, not 185. On fight night he's often outweighed by fifteen pounds. But what Edgar has lacked in physical size, he's more than accounted for in heart, gumption, and sugary sweet boxing skills. He's not Rudy (that guy got one sack at the end of a meaningless game), he's not "The Little Engine that Could" (storybooks are for children who believe in fairy tales). Edgar is just an undersized son-of-a-bitch from Jersey with a rock-solid chin and the type of no-quit attitude that inspire armies, football teams and even other fighters. The road to the championship hasn't been easy for the native of Toms River, N.J., this weekend's UFC 144 in Japan will mark his fourth title defense in 18 months. His first was a rematch against B.J. Penn, the man from which Edgar earned the belt in August 2010 at UFC 112. Penn, then the consensus selection as greatest UFC lightweight of all time, was kicked low, punched high and taken down -- something that had never happened to the Hawaiian in the Octagon previous to Edgar's arrival. The bout had been a close point scoring affair and fans murmured that Penn had been robbed. A rematch was guaranteed -- there were few fans, brass, or media that trusted in pull off a second victory against Penn. Despite the Vegas odds that had him as a dog, or the pronouncements of know-it-all's Edgar once again beat Penn, retained his belt and in improving his game, silenced at least a few more of his doubters. Edgar's next fight was against fellow NCAA Division I wrestler Gray Maynard, who had won their first fight in at UFC Fight Night in 2008 largely by manhandling Edgar. In the postfight interview Maynard told UFC announcer Joe Rogan that he'd known about the size advantage (Maynard wrestled 157 lbs. in college, Edgar 141 lbs) and had won because he was able to "toss around" the smaller Edgar. If you haven't seen the second fight, then there isn't much chance that inspiring porse could match the intensity and raw carnage of the first period onslaught, or the improbably and gritty comeback, but for those who've seen it, it's well-worth reminiscing. The first round started with Edgar taking a massive uppercut that sent him spinning to the ground, legs buckling, eyes darting. Maynard pounced, seeing his chance to finish the smaller, and now injured Edgar, but the former Clarion wrestler dove in on a single leg and managed to avoid Maynard's barrage of hammer fists. The lopsided brutalization of the first round wasn't repeated, and the fight became a video game of back-and-forth momentum shifts, eventually ending in a draw. Edgar, the clinger-on, the nipping gnat, had convinced the judges that he'd won the majority of the remaining rounds. Maynard was left irritated and Edgar unsatisfied, fans were blood-thirsty. The UFC declared an immediate rematch, the cap piece to the fighter's trilogy. The third fight started much the same as the first, with Edgar eating an uppercut which not only wobbled his legs or sent him loopy, but challenged the referee to find an opportunity to not stop the fight -- for three minutes a stoppage seemed imminent. Edgar survived, and in just doing that proved that he's more than a brawler, or a stud, he's the guy in the room that can't be broken. Not by an uppercut, not by six. If God put an off switch on Edgar, it's yet to be found. He survived and came back to win the second and third rounds. In the fourth he caught Maynard with an uppercut as the three-time Michigan State All-American sought to fight off a single-leg. Edgar followed it up with a few rights and put Maynard out, retaining his belt and leaving fans and media confused but inspired. It was any fan's Fight of the Year. Edgar's saltiness is now undeniable. In a world of posturing (and the UFC Japan card is filled with media-crazed fighters anxious to sell you their toughness), Edgar seems to be one the last authentic tough guys. Don't buy into the Guido-Italian tough guy bullshit, that's as much an act as the scripting of the Jersey Shore; Edgar is a legend because he's consistently defeated bigger, more experienced opponents even if he takes a savage beating to do so. He's 155 lbs. but for anyone believing in Doomsday prophecies, he's the top pick for the All-Apocalypse team. UFC 144 in Japan has recently been the subject of several independently produced commercials looking to connect the Japanese cartoon style of anime to popular octagon stars. Rampage Jackson, as much a leading man as any fighter, lends himself to such caricatures. His broad neck, howling interludes and massive chain each giving the artist a place to begin crafting their animation. With Edgar the derivations have been more difficult. He has no costumes or trademark maneuvers (save being punched in the face). Despite pressure to sell himself Edgar remains caricature-free, a loyalist to authenticity. Looking at the films the artists' seem lost for aesthetic inspiration. How do you draw a guy who's best known for what's on the inside? The Henderson fight will be a challenge for Edgar. The Arizona native is almost un-submittable. He's athletic. He's fast. And he's coming off a recent destruction of Jim Miller, a fighter who prides himself on his wrestling ability. Like all Edgar's opponents Henderson will also be bigger -- much bigger -- on fight night. If Edgar wins he'll have his fourth successful title defense at arguably the toughest weight class in the UFC, and he'll have done it mostly as the underdog. How can someone that size, take all those beatings and yet still every time come out wearing the belt? Simple, The Answer is heart.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA has announced the qualifier allocations for the 2012 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships as listed in the chart below. Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data. Each wrestler was measured on the following: Division I winning percentage; rating percentage index (RPI); and coaches ranking. For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his qualifying tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class. Each qualifying tournament, with automatic qualifying status, was awarded a minimum of one wrestler per weight class, which will go to the tournament champion, even if they did not have any wrestlers reach at least two of the three thresholds. NCAA tournament spots for each qualifying event will be awarded at the tournament based solely on place-finish. After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 40 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 7. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.

Missouri closes out the 2012 regular season this Friday, as they travel to Stillwater, Okla., for their final dual of the year against No. 3 Oklahoma State. Action will get underway from Gallagher-Iba Arena at 7 p.m. on Friday evening. Two weeks ago, the Tigers jumped back into the top-10 of the NWCA/USA Today Division I Coaches Poll for the first time since coming in at ninth on Jan. 10. Mizzou ranked 10th in the country, a spot they held onto this week after having being off last weekend. These two last met just a few weeks ago on Feb. 4 in Columbia. Missouri lead 12-9 with three matches to go, but the Cowboys would take all three contests to pull out the 22-12 victory. Drake Houdashelt scored a win over then-No. 9 Albert White to open things up, while Brent Haynes defeated then-No. 7 Blake Rosholt, 10-4. FOLLOW LIVE Live play-by-play and results will be provided for free at the Oklahoma State website, www.okstate.com. For a fee, fans can watch live streaming video of the match at www.okstate.tv. The Mizzou Wrestling Twitter account, @MizzouWrestling, will also post updates and results. SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE Oklahoma State is currently ranked No. 3 in the country and is coming off their first loss of the year, falling 18-13 to Minnesota in the NWCA National Duals championship bout this past weekend. Since facing the Tigers back on Feb. 4 in Columbia, Oklahoma State has defeated No. 10 Wyoming (28-7), No. 6 Ohio State (25-6), No. 12 Oklahoma (19-18) and No. 5 Illinois (19-15) before falling to Minnesota. The Cowboys have already clinched the first-ever Big 12 regular season dual championship with their 5-0 record in the league. The Oklahoma Sooners finished the year at 3-3, while Iowa State was winless at 0-6. The Tigers are currently 3-2 in the Big 12 this year. OSU has seven wrestlers ranked in the latest InterMat rankings. Leading the way is junior Jordan Oliver, who is No. 1 at 133 pounds, and senior Jamal Parks, who ranks second at 149. Also earning top-20 spots are No. 13 Jon Morrison (125), No. 11 Josh Kindig (141), No. 19 Albert White (157), No. 3 Chris Perry (174) and No. 8 Blake Rosholt (197). Heavyweight Alan Gelogaev, who ranked in at No. 2 in the nation last week, has been lost for the year due to injury. Oklahoma State defeated Missouri by a 22-12 final in Columbia earlier in the month. The Cowboys own the all-time series by a 35-5-1 margin. WHAT'S NEXT Missouri hosts the Big 12 Championships next Saturday, March 3, at the Hearnes Center. Session One will begin at 10 a.m. CT, while the championship round will take place that evening at 6:30 p.m. For ticket information, please visit mutigers.com. FOLLOW MIZZOU WRESTLING ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER If you're on Facebook or Twitter, make sure to follow the official University of Missouri Wrestling team to get exclusive updates, pictures, video content and live results throughout the entire season. Head to facebook.com/MizzouWrestling or twitter.com/MizzouWrestling and follow us today. NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS RETURN IN 2012 The NCAA Wrestling Championships will return to the Midwest in 2012, as the event heads back to St. Louis, Mo., after a two year hiatus. The three day tournament will run from March 15-17 and be held at the Scottrade Center. A limited number of tickets remain for the NCAA Championships and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com. MIZZOU TO HOST BIG 12'S For the fourth time in program history and first time since 2007, the University of Missouri will play host to the Big 12 Wrestling Championships, held in the Hearnes Center. The event will take place on Saturday, March 3, 2012. Head to mutigers.com for information on purchasing tickets. TIGERS GO 2-1 AT NATIONAL DUALS REGIONAL The No. 13 Mizzou wrestling squad went 2-1 at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals on Saturday, Feb. 11, defeating Cal Poly and No. 11 Michigan before losing to No. 4 Minnesota in the Rutgers Regional Finals. Missouri is now 14-4 in duals this season. The Tigers opened the day with a dominating 34-6 victory over Cal Poly, setting up a 21-12 victory over the Wolverines in the semifinals. Minnesota defeated the Tigers by a 26-7 score in the championship bout. Junior Brent Haynes had an impressive day, winning all three of his matches against ranked opponents, scoring bonus points in two of his bouts. Redshirt freshman Drake Houdashelt was also 3-0, which included a pin in his first contest.

Fight Now USA Presents Takedown Wrestling from the Brute studios in Des Moines, Iowa at 1460 KXNO. Takedown Wrestling is brought to you by Kemin Agrifoods! Tournament time continues in various states around the country. Congrats to one and all. This Saturday it's Takedown Wrestling Radio. Join Scott Casber, Jeff Murphy, Steve Foster and Brad Johnson with the Takedown Wrestling Headline News this Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. CT/10 a.m. to noon ET. This week's guests: 9:03 Pat Santoro, Lehigh head wrestling coach 9:20 Tony Ersland, Nebraska assistant head wrestling coach 9:40 John "Blood Doc" Fitzgerald, Randy Couture's famed blood specialist 9:50 Ty Barkley, Max Muscle Sports Nutrition Update 10:03 Brian Smith, Missouri head wrestling coach 10:20 Mark Cody, Oklahoma head wrestling coach 10:40 Robert Hamlin, Lehigh wrestler 10:50 Amy Ruble, Wildrose Casino and Resort Special in-studio guest host: Mike Thomas of the Midwest Folkstyle Championships. Fans, athletes, and coaches: Join in the conversation live by calling 866-333-5966 or 515-204-5966. Takedown Wrestling is available on radio on AM 1460 KXNO in Iowa, online at Livesportsvideo.com, or on your Blackberry or iPhone with the iHeart Radio app.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released the qualifiers for the 2012 NAIA Wrestling National Championships on Wednesday. The 55th annual event will take place March 1–3 at the Jacobson Exhibition Center at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa. The first of six sessions is set to get underway at 11 a.m. CST on March 1. Brackets will be posted Feb. 29 by 9 p.m. CST. Among the 320 qualifiers are 24 returning All-Americans, including two defending national champions and two runner-up finishers. Searching for a second-consecutive title will be Great Fall's (Mont.) Anthony Varnell at 141 pounds and Evan Hinebauch of Montana State-Northern at 184 pounds. Hinebauch, along with Campbellsville's Tommy Pretty, enter the championships as the only three-time All-Americans. Pretty claimed the 133 pound individual title in 2010, before moving up to the 141 pound class in 2011. Each weight class will have at least one returning All-American in action in Des Moines, with both 141 and 165 pounds featuring four All-Americans. Grand View (Iowa) enters the tournament as the team favorite. The Vikings qualified 13 individuals and have held the top spot in the NAIA Wrestling Coaches' Top 20 Poll for four consecutive weeks. NeuLion will stream live all 10 individual weight class championship bouts on March 3 and will be available to view starting at approximately 6:45 p.m. CST. A fee of $9.95 is set to view the finals. Click here for more information. Complete List by school | PDF Complete List by weight class | PDF

Edwin Cooper (Photo/IC Sports Information) Wrestling fans may think the phrase "one-and-done" only applies to college basketball players leaving after one season to play in the NBA. But at Iowa Central Community College, one-and-done has taken on a whole new meaning under head coach Luke Moffitt. The former Big Ten champion at Iowa instituted a policy when he took over at Iowa Central eight years ago whereby students who win NJCAA titles during their freshman year can remain on scholarship but will be redshirted their sophomore year so they have three years of athletic eligibility at their next school. It's a win-win as Iowa Central improves the quality of its wrestling room with reigning NJCAA national champions as drilling partners for the new recruits. It's part of a recruiting pitch that shows kids that Iowa Central has the best interests of the individual wrestler at heart, and it's a route that past NJCAA national champions like Willie Parks and Cain Velasquez have already taken. Troy Bennett"Our long-range goal is to see our kids be successful at the Division I level, not accumulate JUCO titles," Iowa Central assistant coach Troy Bennett said. "We're probably the only college in the NJCAA that sits down and talks with our kids about redshirting. Most wouldn't recruit a kid and give him the same athletic money knowing that he won't wrestle his sophomore year. I think that shows kids that it's not just about Iowa Central, but also about the kid in the long run when it comes to wrestling." So this weekend will be Edwin Cooper's first -- and likely last -- opportunity to win an NJCAA wrestling title. At 28-1 and ranked No. 1 at 149 pounds, Cooper is the heavy favorite heading into the NJCAA Wrestling Championships in Rochester, Minn. His success is not surprising considering Cooper was a prized recruit coming out of Providence Catholic in the south suburbs of Chicago. He was a two-time state champion and the first four-time winner of the prestigious Al Dvorak Memorial Tournament. Cooper was the 24th-ranked recruit in the country by InterMat as a senior, but poor grades forced him to turn down a host of Division I suitors and go the JUCO route instead. So he joined his good buddy and Team Illinois teammate Jahwon Akui in Fort Dodge. The Iowa Central roommates are both the top-ranked NJCAA wrestlers in their respective weight classes (Akui at 174) heading into the NJCAA Wrestling Championships. Edwin Cooper battles Zac Brunson in the Junior National freestyle finals (Photo/Dave Jedlicka, jedicheetah.com)Iowa Central's location near Ames allows them to participate in bigger tournaments like the UNI Open, Harold Nichols Cyclone Open (Iowa State), and Iowa Duals. The top-flight competition hasn't bothered Cooper, who won the aforementioned meets, beat several Division I kids, including Iowa's Jacob Ballweg this season, and has scored bonus points in 21 of his 28 wins. His only loss came in his first college tournament, where Cooper led Minnesota's Matt Mincey 7-3 with 15 seconds left before Mincey hipped Cooper over on a reshot and put him on his back for five points to earn the 8-7 comeback win. Cooper would later avenge that loss to Mincey with a 10-8 decision on his way to winning in Cedar Rapids. Despite his gaudy record, Cooper admits that wrestling in college has been an adjustment for him. "The matches are a lot closer, so you have to keep attacking," he said. "Also, you have wrestle on the entire mat." Luke MoffittNot only is Cooper being successful on the mat, he's also thriving off of it. "He's never missed a class or a study hall," Moffitt said. "He's got a 3.4 GPA right now. He's doing everything right." In the future, both Moffitt and Bennett feel the nearly 5'10" Cooper would be better served hitting the weight room and moving up to become a good-sized 157-pounder. "I think he needs to utilize the offseason and wrestle freestyle," Coach Moffitt said. "Wrestle some older guys that are more experienced and see how it goes. If he wins, it's a huge confidence booster. If he comes up short, he understands what he needs to do to compete at that level." Thanks to stud newcomers like Cooper and Akui, Iowa Central enters the NJCAA Wrestling Championships as the top-ranked team and favorite to take home a national title. Regardless of the outcome this weekend, however, Cooper figures to be a very hot commodity for Division I schools next year. When he does move on, Cooper says the coaches and the type of training partners are going to be the biggest factors in his decision. "He's had an impressive year," Moffitt said. "I expect him to go in and really dominate the tournament."

OREM, Utah -- University of Northern Iowa 157-pound redshirt junior David Bonin (Broussard, La./Comeaux HS) and University of Wyoming 184-pound senior Joe LeBlanc (Meeker, Colo./Meeker HS) have been named Co-Western Wrestling Conference Wrestlers of the Week after both had outstanding performances on the mat last weekend. The final 2011-12 weekly award was released Tuesday by the league. Bonin continued his recent streak of impressive wins last weekend with arguably his biggest victory of the season as he upset No. 6 James Green of Nebraska with a 4-3 decision. The UNI junior had a 3-1 lead going into the final 30 seconds of the match but a one-point penalty paired with a Green escape notched the score. Riding time ended up being Bonin's friend in the end, however, as it offset the match's 3-3 tie at the end of the third period. The win was Bonin's 11th-straight dual victory and his second over a ranked opponent during the span. Bonin broke into the InterMat rankings for the first time of the season last week and he is currently rated No. 16 at 157 pounds. LeBlanc's two wins over the weekend pushed him into a tie for first (140) on UW's all-time wins list. On Thursday, LeBlanc pinned South Dakota State's Tony Lisek in 3:50. The next night, LeBlanc defeated North Dakota State's Mac Stoll, ranked 32nd in the latest NCAA Coaches' Poll, in an 18-3 technical fall. The top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 184 pounds finished the WWC season a perfect 6-0 in duals and 27-1 overall all in the regular season. With one more win, LeBlanc will become Wyoming's all-time leader in career victories. The conference award was LeBlanc's third of the season and sixth of his career. The award was also Bonin's second of 2011-12 and third of his career. The Western Wrestling Conference, which is in its sixth year of competition, is comprised of seven schools including the Air Force Academy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming. Other Nominees: Air Force: Greg Rinker, 125 pounds, So., (Northampton, Pa./Northampton HS) Northern Colorado: Gabe Burak, 165 pounds, Sr., (Colorado Springs, Colo./Penn) 2011-12 WWC Wrestlers of the Week Nov. 9 - Cole VonOhlen (Air Force) Nov. 15 - Shane Onufer (Wyoming) Nov. 22 - Kasey Garnhart (Wyoming)/Steven Monk (North Dakota State) Nov. 29 - Ryan Loder (Northern Iowa) Dec. 6 - Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming) Dec. 13 - Zach Zehner (Wyoming) Dec. 20 - Shane Onufer (Wyoming) Jan. 4 - Steven Monk (North Dakota State) Jan. 10 - Pat Martinez (Wyoming) Jan. 17 - Cole VonOhlen (Air Force) Jan. 24 - Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming) Jan. 31 - Joe Colon (Northern Iowa) Feb. 7 - David Bonin (Northern Iowa)/Clayton Gable (Air Force) Feb. 14 - Joe Colon (Northern Iowa) Feb. 21 - David Bonin (Northern Iowa)/Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming) Final 2011-12 WWC Dual Standings School Conf. Overall No. 11 Wyoming 6-0 10-3 Northern Iowa 5-1 8-7 Air Force 3-3 8-5 Northern Colorado 3-3 6-7 North Dakota State 3-3 6-9 Utah Valley 1-5 6-10 South Dakota State 0-6 4-9

Matt Hamill (Photo/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) Name a sports movie. OK, that was too easy. There are thousands, from Breaking Away to Bull Durham to The Blind Side, Rocky to Rudy to Remember the Titans. Now, how about a fictional film featuring amateur wrestling. There may be a dozen examples; arguably the most widely known is the mid-1980s classic Vision Quest. Now for the $64,000 question: Name a movie about an actual amateur wrestler. You may be wracking your brain, running through a list of mat legends. A biopic on Dan Gable? Dan Hodge? Cael Sanderson? Nope, nope, nope. (There is a movie in the works titled Foxcatcher, about the murder of Dave Schultz ... but that's not due in theaters until sometime in 2013.) One real-life, real wrestler whose life has been captured on film is Matt Hamill, a deaf former amateur wrestler and MMA fighter. Hamill is the subject of the movie The Hammer, which was released to theaters last fall, and is now available on DVD. Meet Matt Hamill Born in October 1976 in Loveland, Ohio -- a suburb of Cincinnati -- Matthew S. Hamill was introduced to wrestling as a kid by his stepfather, John Rich, who was head wrestling coach at Loveland High School. While in high school, Hamill benefitted from additional training at Jeff Jordan's wrestling camps ... and from the late Doug Blubaugh's Top of the World camps in Bloomington, Indiana. (Hamill and Blubaugh remained lifelong friends until the 1960 Olympic gold medalist was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2011.) Matt Hamill competed for one year at Purdue University, then transferred to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he won three straight NCAA Division III wrestling titles -- at 167 pounds in 1997, 190 in 1998, and 197 in 1999. He was undefeated his senior year, and compiled an impressive overall record of 89-3. Hamill graduated from RIT's National Technology Institute for the Deaf with a degree in electromechanical technology in 1999. In 2007, he was welcomed into the RIT Athletics Hall of Fame. In addition to his folkstyle wrestling accomplishments, Hamill also participated in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. While still in college, Hamill earned gold medals in both international wrestling styles at the 1997 Deaflympics in Copenhagen, Denmark. Four years later, at the 2001 Deaflympics in Rome, the Ohio native earned a silver in Greco, and a gold in freestyle. Hamill launched his MMA (mixed martial arts) career as a contestant on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter TV series in 2006. After three wins, Hamill made a successful debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championships at UFC 98 in March 2007, and was a major draw in the UFC for four-and-a-half years, retiring from the Octagon in August 2011 with an overall MMA record of 10-4. The 411 on "The Hammer" The movie The Hammer -- originally to be called Hamill -- was the brainchild of Joseph McKelheer and Eben Kostbar, writers and producers of the film. Kostbar, a former wrestler himself, had become aware of Matt Hamill's story while watching The Ultimate Fighter; the two met a couple years later, and started talking about putting Hamill's story on film. Originally Kostbar was slated to play Hamill. However, some in the deaf community protested the idea of a non-deaf actor portraying a deaf athlete, and the role went to Russell Harvard, a 30-year-old deaf actor who, among other roles, played opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in the Paul Thomas Anderson film There Will Be Blood. (In The Hammer, Kostbar plays Rochester Institute of Technology's assistant wrestling coach; McKelheer portrays RIT head coach Ron Gross.) In a fall 2011 interview with the MMA website Heavy.com, Kostbar addressed the issue of casting for the role of Matt Hamill by saying, "Obviously, actors portray different people and you can kind of get by, but what I learned is that what's different about the deaf community is that it's a real culture, there is a real language -- American Sign Language. You can learn it, but somebody that has lived in that culture their entire life like Russell has can really make sure that the role is played with integrity and authenticity.” "As a hearing filmmaker, we had a lot of deaf people involved with the film, but I'm not naive enough to think I know everything there is about their culture by researching it for a few years,” Kostbar continued. “At the end of the day, I wanted to tell a story that was really entertaining and for this film to be successful, but I also hopefully wanted to make a difference and shed some light on their culture." The movie was filmed in the Rochester, N.Y. area, including on the RIT campus, in the fall of 2009. The Hammer was presented at a number of film festivals around the country, winning a number of awards, including the American Independent Film Award at the Cleveland Film Festival, and Best American Independent Film honors at the Philly Cinefest in Philadelphia. The Hammer was released to theaters in October 2011, and was made available on DVD on Jan. 30, 2012. Matt Hamill's reel life The Hammer manages to follow certain conventions of the classic feel-good sports film, and, conversely, blows others away. The basic story of an athlete overcoming incredible odds to find success in sport -- and in life beyond the playing field -- is one that has served many, many sports films. Two Cinderella sports classics: Rocky, the Oscar-winning 1976 film that tells the fictional story of a struggling boxer in Philadelphia who gets a shot at the title ... and Rudy, the 1993 biopic based on the true-life story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, who, despite his small size, played football for the University of Notre Dame. The Hammer incorporates many of the proven components of sports films such as Rocky and Rudy, in telling the story of Matt Hamill the athlete, while providing plenty of additional biographical elements beyond the wrestling mat to give the audience a sense of feeling they really know the protagonist ... and understand his struggles. The movie opens with Hamill as an infant, undergoing hearing tests ... then quickly moves on to show a young boy struggling in elementary school, not just in regards to learning in the classroom as a deaf student in a hearing world, but also in gaining acceptance in the rough-and-tumble world of recess. However, he finds success right from the start in wrestling, which opens new opportunities during his school days in Loveland. Yet, he continues to struggle with fitting into high school life outside the sports world; scenes involving his prom are heartbreaking. Matt Hamill is played by Russell HarvardThe portrait of Matt Hamill up through high school fits many of the conventions of the warm-and-fuzzy sports movie -- including its deliberate pacing, and beautiful photography. (In fact, the movie portrays Loveland, Ohio as a Norman Rockwell-esque rural paradise; in actuality, it's a typical upper-middle-class suburban community.) However, the movie picks up the pace as Hamill heads off to college, first to Purdue, then to Rochester Institute of Technology. Much of the movie will feel very comfortable and familiar to anyone who's watched movies about athletes overcoming odds. However, The Hammer manages to leave Cinderella-story convention behind in ways that will draw the viewer deeper into this compelling story. One way The Hammer breaks with convention is in its inventive presentation of Matt Hamill dealing with his deafness. In numerous scenes, the movie contrasts the hearing world -- what everyone else is experiencing at normal volume -- with his perspective, which features muddied sound. When Hamill is spoken to, there are subtitles (as in a foreign-language movie) of what the other person is saying (verbally or in sign language) ... or, more accurately, what Hamill thinks they are saying, complete with gaps for the words that are missing from the wrestler's understanding. The movie also deals with issues that confront the deaf every day ... starting from the opening minutes of the film, where Matt Hamill's mother (played by Susan Gibney), who, after listening to the audiologist, is considering sending him to a school for the deaf, while his grandfather (Raymond J. Barry) thinks he should “mainstreamed” to take advantage of educational opportunities in the “hearing world.” Growing up as he did in the hearing world, Hamill did not consider himself to be handicapped. He learned to read lips, and had very rudimentary knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL). His limitations are expressed in a scene at Purdue; Hamill enters a lecture hall late, unable to see the professor's lips as he his facing away from the students, scribbling on the wall-mounted whiteboard. Seeing Hamill, the instructor points out that there is an interpreter at the front of the auditorium to translate the lecture into ASL, but Hamill is unable to keep up with her rapid-fire replay of the prof's lecture. The frustration on actor Russell Harvard's face speaks volumes without saying a word. InterMat readers will want to know about the combat scenes. For those who are expecting an MMA movie with hard-hitting action, this isn't it ... instead, focusing on Hamill's life up through his first year at RIT. The Hammer uses a UFC fight as a framing device, opening and concluding with a ready-to-rumble Matt Hamill entering the Octagon, experiencing the crowd reaction as a deaf athlete. MMA fans will smile when seeing Rich Franklin -- who, like Hamill, is a product of the Cincinnati area -- as the head wrestling coach at Purdue. (Franklin scored a TKO over Hamill at UFC 88 in September 2008.) As for wrestling fans, the movie is NOT a non-stop mat fest, either. That said, there are multiple scenes of wrestling room action at various stages of Hamill's wrestling career, starting as a youngster, and including both Purdue and RIT. The movie concludes with the 1997 NCAA Division III championships, showing quick-cut edited versions of matches featuring Hamill and his RIT roommate/teammate Jay (played by the scene-stealing Michael Anthony Spady, himself an RIT grad). Intercut with these RIT-focused scenes are those of matches with the movie's Goliath, an intimidating defending two-time champ named Jason Sloan from Frampton (played by Gabe Stolt, who has fought in MMA competition). True to sports-movie convention, the stage is set for a Hamill-Sloan finals; that has been telegraphed more than once in the movie, almost to the point where the viewer might expect Sloan to confront Hamill in the washroom by saying “You can't hold your mud!” a la Vision Quest. (Think Sloan = Shute.) The match for the 167-pound title between Hamill and Sloan is well-filmed and exciting ... and incorporates just about every possible nail-biting element that could be in a college wrestling match, and then some (including the disqualification of one of the coaches). It's all fun ... and all fiction. In the actual 167-pound title match at the 1997 NCAAs, the real Matt Hamill shut out Jason Dell of Gettysburg, 7-0, to win the first of three national mat titles, becoming the first deaf wrestler to win an NCAA championship. But that lopsided outcome probably wouldn't have made for a thrilling finish to The Hammer, a movie that should appeal to anyone who has cheered classic overcoming-the-odds sports movies ... even if they don't know a takedown from a touchdown.

Matt Hamill (Photo/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) Name a sports movie. OK, that was too easy. There are thousands, from Breaking Away to Bull Durham to The Blind Side, Rocky to Rudy to Remember the Titans. Now, how about a fictional film featuring amateur wrestling. There may be a dozen examples; arguably the most widely known is the mid-1980s classic Vision Quest. Now for the $64,000 question: Name a movie about an actual amateur wrestler. You may be wracking your brain, running through a list of mat legends. A biopic on Dan Gable? Dan Hodge? Cael Sanderson? Nope, nope, nope. (There is a movie in the works titled Foxcatcher, about the murder of Dave Schultz ... but that's not due in theaters until sometime in 2013.) One real-life, real wrestler whose life has been captured on film is Matt Hamill, a deaf former amateur wrestler and MMA fighter. Hamill is the subject of the movie The Hammer, which was released to theaters last fall, and is now available on DVD. Meet Matt Hamill Born in October 1976 in Loveland, Ohio -- a suburb of Cincinnati -- Matthew S. Hamill was introduced to wrestling as a kid by his stepfather, John Rich, who was head wrestling coach at Loveland High School. While in high school, Hamill benefitted from additional training at Jeff Jordan's wrestling camps ... and from the late Doug Blubaugh's Top of the World camps in Bloomington, Indiana. (Hamill and Blubaugh remained lifelong friends until the 1960 Olympic gold medalist was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2011.) Matt Hamill competed for one year at Purdue University, then transferred to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he won three straight NCAA Division III wrestling titles -- at 167 pounds in 1997, 190 in 1998, and 197 in 1999. He was undefeated his senior year, and compiled an impressive overall record of 89-3. Hamill graduated from RIT's National Technology Institute for the Deaf with a degree in electromechanical technology in 1999. In 2007, he was welcomed into the RIT Athletics Hall of Fame. In addition to his folkstyle wrestling accomplishments, Hamill also participated in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. While still in college, Hamill earned gold medals in both international wrestling styles at the 1997 Deaflympics in Copenhagen, Denmark. Four years later, at the 2001 Deaflympics in Rome, the Ohio native earned a silver in Greco, and a gold in freestyle. Hamill launched his MMA (mixed martial arts) career as a contestant on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter TV series in 2006. After three wins, Hamill made a successful debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championships at UFC 98 in March 2007, and was a major draw in the UFC for four-and-a-half years, retiring from the Octagon in August 2011 with an overall MMA record of 10-4. The 411 on "The Hammer" The movie The Hammer -- originally to be called Hamill -- was the brainchild of Joseph McKelheer and Eben Kostbar, writers and producers of the film. Kostbar, a former wrestler himself, had become aware of Matt Hamill's story while watching The Ultimate Fighter; the two met a couple years later, and started talking about putting Hamill's story on film. Originally Kostbar was slated to play Hamill. However, some in the deaf community protested the idea of a non-deaf actor portraying a deaf athlete, and the role went to Russell Harvard, a 30-year-old deaf actor who, among other roles, played opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in the Paul Thomas Anderson film There Will Be Blood. (In The Hammer, Kostbar plays Rochester Institute of Technology's assistant wrestling coach; McKelheer portrays RIT head coach Ron Gross.) In a fall 2011 interview with the MMA website Heavy.com, Kostbar addressed the issue of casting for the role of Matt Hamill by saying, "Obviously, actors portray different people and you can kind of get by, but what I learned is that what's different about the deaf community is that it's a real culture, there is a real language -- American Sign Language. You can learn it, but somebody that has lived in that culture their entire life like Russell has can really make sure that the role is played with integrity and authenticity.” "As a hearing filmmaker, we had a lot of deaf people involved with the film, but I'm not naive enough to think I know everything there is about their culture by researching it for a few years,” Kostbar continued. “At the end of the day, I wanted to tell a story that was really entertaining and for this film to be successful, but I also hopefully wanted to make a difference and shed some light on their culture." The movie was filmed in the Rochester, N.Y. area, including on the RIT campus, in the fall of 2009. The Hammer was presented at a number of film festivals around the country, winning a number of awards, including the American Independent Film Award at the Cleveland Film Festival, and Best American Independent Film honors at the Philly Cinefest in Philadelphia. The Hammer was released to theaters in October 2011, and was made available on DVD on Jan. 30, 2012. Matt Hamill's reel life The Hammer manages to follow certain conventions of the classic feel-good sports film, and, conversely, blows others away. The basic story of an athlete overcoming incredible odds to find success in sport -- and in life beyond the playing field -- is one that has served many, many sports films. Two Cinderella sports classics: Rocky, the Oscar-winning 1976 film that tells the fictional story of a struggling boxer in Philadelphia who gets a shot at the title ... and Rudy, the 1993 biopic based on the true-life story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, who, despite his small size, played football for the University of Notre Dame. The Hammer incorporates many of the proven components of sports films such as Rocky and Rudy, in telling the story of Matt Hamill the athlete, while providing plenty of additional biographical elements beyond the wrestling mat to give the audience a sense of feeling they really know the protagonist ... and understand his struggles. The movie opens with Hamill as an infant, undergoing hearing tests ... then quickly moves on to show a young boy struggling in elementary school, not just in regards to learning in the classroom as a deaf student in a hearing world, but also in gaining acceptance in the rough-and-tumble world of recess. However, he finds success right from the start in wrestling, which opens new opportunities during his school days in Loveland. Yet, he continues to struggle with fitting into high school life outside the sports world; scenes involving his prom are heartbreaking. Matt Hamill is played by Russell HarvardThe portrait of Matt Hamill up through high school fits many of the conventions of the warm-and-fuzzy sports movie -- including its deliberate pacing, and beautiful photography. (In fact, the movie portrays Loveland, Ohio as a Norman Rockwell-esque rural paradise; in actuality, it's a typical upper-middle-class suburban community.) However, the movie picks up the pace as Hamill heads off to college, first to Purdue, then to Rochester Institute of Technology. Much of the movie will feel very comfortable and familiar to anyone who's watched movies about athletes overcoming odds. However, The Hammer manages to leave Cinderella-story convention behind in ways that will draw the viewer deeper into this compelling story. One way The Hammer breaks with convention is in its inventive presentation of Matt Hamill dealing with his deafness. In numerous scenes, the movie contrasts the hearing world -- what everyone else is experiencing at normal volume -- with his perspective, which features muddied sound. When Hamill is spoken to, there are subtitles (as in a foreign-language movie) of what the other person is saying (verbally or in sign language) ... or, more accurately, what Hamill thinks they are saying, complete with gaps for the words that are missing from the wrestler's understanding. The movie also deals with issues that confront the deaf every day ... starting from the opening minutes of the film, where Matt Hamill's mother (played by Susan Gibney), who, after listening to the audiologist, is considering sending him to a school for the deaf, while his grandfather (Raymond J. Barry) thinks he should “mainstreamed” to take advantage of educational opportunities in the “hearing world.” Growing up as he did in the hearing world, Hamill did not consider himself to be handicapped. He learned to read lips, and had very rudimentary knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL). His limitations are expressed in a scene at Purdue; Hamill enters a lecture hall late, unable to see the professor's lips as he his facing away from the students, scribbling on the wall-mounted whiteboard. Seeing Hamill, the instructor points out that there is an interpreter at the front of the auditorium to translate the lecture into ASL, but Hamill is unable to keep up with her rapid-fire replay of the prof's lecture. The frustration on actor Russell Harvard's face speaks volumes without saying a word. InterMat readers will want to know about the combat scenes. For those who are expecting an MMA movie with hard-hitting action, this isn't it ... instead, focusing on Hamill's life up through his first year at RIT. The Hammer uses a UFC fight as a framing device, opening and concluding with a ready-to-rumble Matt Hamill entering the Octagon, experiencing the crowd reaction as a deaf athlete. MMA fans will smile when seeing Rich Franklin -- who, like Hamill, is a product of the Cincinnati area -- as the head wrestling coach at Purdue. (Franklin scored a TKO over Hamill at UFC 88 in September 2008.) As for wrestling fans, the movie is NOT a non-stop mat fest, either. That said, there are multiple scenes of wrestling room action at various stages of Hamill's wrestling career, starting as a youngster, and including both Purdue and RIT. The movie concludes with the 1997 NCAA Division III championships, showing quick-cut edited versions of matches featuring Hamill and his RIT roommate/teammate Jay (played by the scene-stealing Michael Anthony Spady, himself an RIT grad). Intercut with these RIT-focused scenes are those of matches with the movie's Goliath, an intimidating defending two-time champ named Jason Sloan from Frampton (played by Gabe Stolt, who has fought in MMA competition). True to sports-movie convention, the stage is set for a Hamill-Sloan finals; that has been telegraphed more than once in the movie, almost to the point where the viewer might expect Sloan to confront Hamill in the washroom by saying “You can't hold your mud!” a la Vision Quest. (Think Sloan = Shute.) The match for the 167-pound title between Hamill and Sloan is well-filmed and exciting ... and incorporates just about every possible nail-biting element that could be in a college wrestling match, and then some (including the disqualification of one of the coaches). It's all fun ... and all fiction. In the actual 167-pound title match at the 1997 NCAAs, the real Matt Hamill shut out Jason Dell of Gettysburg, 7-0, to win the first of three national mat titles, becoming the first deaf wrestler to win an NCAA championship. But that lopsided outcome probably wouldn't have made for a thrilling finish to The Hammer, a movie that should appeal to anyone who has cheered classic overcoming-the-odds sports movies ... even if they don't know a takedown from a touchdown.

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum has new digs ... online, that is. The official website for the Hall has a whole new look, and even a new website address: www.nwhof.org. (If you bookmarked the previous locations -- or committed their addresses to memory -- don't worry. They'll still get you to the new website.) What's more, for the first time, it brings together what had been separate websites for the Hall's two facilities in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Waterloo, Iowa into a single location online. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame website provides a wealth of information to wrestling fans and researchers no matter where they are in the world, including biographies of Hall of Fame honorees, photos of the two museums, and complete NCAA brackets going back to 1928. All these popular features -- and so much more -- are now available all together in one convenient, easy-to-use website. Let's go inside the new NWHOF website and take a look around. The new layout The first thing a visitor who used the old website will notice about the new online home of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is that it's much cleaner, more contemporary-looking ... without being trendy. It's incredibly easy to find your way around. The primary menu of the new NWHOF website is at the top of every page, including the home page. It provides links to the major pages within the website: Home ... Stillwater ... Waterloo ... News ... Merchandise ... Support ... Calendar/Events ... State Chapters. In addition to these headers, there's also a website search box feature ... and a cool bonus: the option of customizing the accent color in the website to orange, blue, green, or gold. Let's take a quick tour of these major pages within the new NWHOF website: Stillwater: This webpage is your link to the features that are a part of the original National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum that was dedicated in 1976. Ask folks about the Stillwater facility, and many will immediately mention the Wrestling Hall of Fame, where individuals are honored for their achievements and contributions to the oldest and greatest sport. Both the actual building and the website feature separate sections for: Distinguished Members: A wrestler who has achieved extraordinary success, a coach who has compiled an outstanding record and demonstrated great leadership, or a contributor whose long-term activities have enhanced the development and advancement of the sport. Among the Distinguished Members welcomed in recent years: Cael Sanderson, Dennis Hall, Les Gutches, Rulon Gardner, and Lincoln McIlravy. Medal of Courage: Presented to a wrestler who has overcome seemingly insurmountable physical or mental challenges. Past recipients include Joe Russell, Kyle Maynard and Nick Ackerman. Order of Merit: Awarded to an individual who has made significant contribution to the sport, other than success as an athlete or coach. Sandy Stevens, Mike Chapman, and former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert are among past honorees. Outstanding American: This award honors past wrestlers who have used what they learned from the sport to achieve greatness beyond wrestling. Past honorees include U.S. Presidents and other politicians, corporate CEOs, military leaders, as well as American heroes such as Dr. Norman Borlaug and astronaut Michael Collins. Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award: Presented each year to a high school senior who demonstrates excellence on the mat, in the classroom, and in service to the community. Recent national winners include Morgan McIntosh, Logan Stieber, and David Taylor. Lifetime Achievement for Officials: This award recognizes outstanding service as a wrestling or pairing official or judge. At the website, visitors can click on any of these categories and see a year-by-year listing of award recipients. Click on an honoree's name to read about that individual. In addition to these National Wrestling Hall of Fame categories, the Stillwater section of the website also features a link to the separate website for the FILA Hall of Fame honoring international wrestlers, coaches and officials. The Virtual Tour feature brings the Stillwater Hall of Fame & Museum to wrestling fans, no matter where they are ... allowing website visitors the chance to get a 360-degree view of the major displays inside the facility located near the Oklahoma State campus. Other online resources sure to be a hit with serious historians (as well as for settling friendly bar bets) are a compelling history of the sport, and, in PDF files, NCAA brackets going back to 1928, and NCAA Guides, annual publications that covered the rules, results and photos recapping college and high school wrestling from the previous year. Waterloo: This set of pages takes the visitor to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum -- or at least a virtual version -- which was originally established in Iowa as a separate entity, and came under the National Hall of Fame umbrella in the summer of 2010. The Waterloo portion of the website features pages for its unique Halls of Fame: Glen Brand Hall of Fame of Iowa: Designed to honor amateur wrestlers who have some connection to wrestling in the state of Iowa. Among recent honorees in this facility named for the NCAA wrestling champ for Iowa State and 1948 Olympic gold medalist include Bill Zadick, Doug Schwab, Jason Smith, and the 1947 Cornell College wrestling team that won the NCAA and AAU national titles that year. Alan and Gloria Rice Greco-Roman Hall of Champions: Named in honor of the couple who has tirelessly supported Greco-Roman wrestling in the U.S., this Hall honored Rulon Gardner and the Olive and Jim Morgan family in 2011. Tragos/Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: Some of the honorees have actual amateur wrestling credentials. As with the Stillwater pages, visitors to any of the Waterloo Halls of Fame can see a year-by-year listing of honorees; click on an individual name for a biography. And, for wrestling fans who can't make the trip to the museum in the eastern Iowa city that is the hometown to Dan Gable, there's a Photo Tour that provides visuals of major highlights of the facility. News: Stories of upcoming events at both Stillwater and Waterloo. Website visitors may choose news specifically for either museum, or both. Merchandise: An online store, featuring wrestling apparel, gear, books, videos, and collectibles, among the wrestling-related items available for purchase from a visitor's home or work computer. Support: No, not tech support ... but options for visitors to support the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, including an easy-to-use online form to make a one-time donation, as well explanations of planned giving options (through the Hall's Endowment Fund), and opportunities for corporations and other organizations to contribute to the financial strength of the facilities in Iowa and Oklahoma, and their outreach efforts. Calendar/Events: A month-by-month display of happenings at the Stillwater and Waterloo museums, as well as major wrestling events throughout the nation. State Chapters: Click on this link, and up pops a map of the United States. Click on a particular state, and the visitor is taken to that state's chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Why a new online home Why the new website for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame? "The new website at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame was developed with the intent of providing the public with more information about the sports heritage and its inductees," according to Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director of the Hall. "We want to expand our reach so that more people can become inspired about the sport and our website is a vital part of this objective. This is an ever-evolving investment for our organization and we invite the wrestling community's feedback on how we can make it better." There are some more practical reasons as well. "We wanted to integrate the two facilities (Stillwater and Waterloo) into a single website to offer a consistent, uniform experience for the online user," said Krista Graff, Development and Special Events Manager for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. "Another goal was to make the website easier to navigate," Graff continued. "The organization of the pages, and the uniform presentation of information on each page makes the new website easier to use." "We also wanted to enhance the interface between the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the individual state chapters. Now it's easy for someone who's visiting the Hall of Fame site to directly access the page of a chapter in a specific state, and provide each state chapter with a webpage format to make it easier for them to present information." There are additional pluses for the new website, created by GuRuStu Group, a website design and development company based in Tulsa. Graff specifically cited the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's new online home offers a greater variety of merchandise for purchase, with a user-friendly interface, and the new calendar of events feature that alerts visitors to major upcoming events at the facilities, as well as in the sport. The new website also has built-in flexibility to grow and add new features. In the future, the Hall of Fame plans to add new exhibits to its website (the African-American Experience is already online), and make its extensive collection of historic photos, films and videos available online.

Related Link: The MMA Outsider Podcast Archives The UFC gave birth to modern mixed martial arts, but Japan embraced the sport long before American mainstream culture got on board. On Saturday night, the lightweight title bout between Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson will garner most of the headlines. But UFC 144 also means the promotion will finally hold a show in Japan for the first time in more than a decade. Richard and John break down the whole fight card and then in part two of this episode, UFC veteran Cole Escovedo joins the show. For those of you who don't know the backstory, a staph infection left Cole temporarily paralyzed. However, he defied the odds and returned to MMA, ultimately reaching his goal of debuting in the UFC. Cole reflects on his octagon stint and, as the only fighter to have faced title contenders Urijah Faber and Renan Barao, Escovedo gives his thoughts on the UFC bantamweight division. Cole has also twice fought rising prospect Michael McDonald and lends his expertise to break down McDonald's upcoming fight with former champ Miguel Torres.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The 2012 NJCAA Wrestling Championships take place Friday, Feb. 24 and conclude on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the UCR Regional Sports Center in Rochester, Minn., with 268 wrestlers from 43 two-year colleges across the country competing for both team and individual honors. The tournament returns to Rochester after rotating to both Spokane, Wash., and Des Moines, Iowa the previous two years. This season marks the 13th time the Rochester Amateur Sports Commission has hosted the NJCAA Wrestling Championships. Action begins at 9:30 a.m. (Central) Friday with first round matches and concludes with 10 championship bouts on Saturday at 6:45 p.m. with the parade of champions. Saturday's 10 championship matches will be broadcasted live on NJCAA TV (http://www.njcaatv.ihigh.com) thanks to the efforts of tournament host Rochester Amateur Sports Commission and iHigh.com -- the online broadcasting partner of the NJCAA. Iowa Central Community College heads into Rochester ranked No. 1 in the latest and final team rankings of the regular season. The Tritons are looking to win the program's eighth national title and sixth since 2006. ICC won the North Central District team title and has six district champions advancing to Rochester that will look to avenge last year's fourth place finish in Spokane. The Tritons boast two returning All-Americans with Brandon Wright (133 pounds) and Michael Perez (157 pounds). Wright was third in his division last year while Perez took home fifth place in the 149 pound class a year ago when he competed for Labette (Kan.). Second-ranked Labette Community College (Kan.) also has six district champions that are expected to give the Cardinals a shot at a national title. LCC took home the team championship at the recent West Central District tournament and finished fifth at nationals a year ago. Also advancing six district champions to Rochester this week will be third-ranked Lincoln College (Ill.). The Lynx finished in a tie for sixth place a year ago with in-state rival Harper College (Ill.) and took second behind the Hawks at the Central District Championship two weeks ago. Defending national champion Clackamas Community College (Ore.) has a strong chance to repeat as five Cougar wrestlers won individual titles at the West District Championship tournament. Four of those wrestlers have finished in the top five at nationals in their respective weight classes, including Austin Morehead who took home second place in the 184-pound division last year wrestling for Rend Lake College (Ill.). Northwest College (Wyo.) looks to improve upon its eighth place finish from a year ago in Spokane with a solid lineup this year led by 174 pounder Keith Cast. The sophomore was runner-up a year ago and is the top returning All-American in the weight class. The Trappers were second to Labette at the West Central qualifier. Additional information on the 2012 NJCAA Wrestling Championships can be found at http://www.rochsports.org/2012njcaawrestling.php and official brackets for each weight class can be found on http://www.TrackWrestling.com. View NJCAA rankings 2012 NJCAA Wrestling Championships weight by weight overview: 125: Steven Romero from Highline Community College (Wash.) is the favorite as he enters Rochester as the top-ranked wrestler in this class. Romero finished third last season, defeating Jeff Vesta from Neosho County Community College (Kan.), who will also be in this year's tournament field, in the consolation finals. Garrett Jones from Labette is the other lone wrestler in this division that finished in the top eight a year ago. 133: Brandon Wright of Iowa Central finished third a year ago and has been the top ranked wrestler in this division all season. Martin Gonzales of Clackamas is also expected to go deep into the bracket. He was defeated by Wright a year ago in the third/fourth place match. Gonzalez is ranked second in this weight class. 141: Cody Randall of Clackamas has an edge in this division after taking home fifth place a year ago. He is also ranked second in this division heading into nationals. Iowa Central's Terrel Wilbourn and Jordan Basks of Labette have both been ranked high within this weight class all year. Basks won the West Central title while Wilbourn slipped up at districts and enters Rochester as a wildcard selection. Wismit Moinius of North Iowa Area Community College (8th place in 133 lbs. last year) and Colby Community College's (Kan.) Jace Campbell (8th place in 141 lbs. last year) should also compete well into the winner's bracket. Yet Ethan Raley of Lincoln is ranked No.1 overall in this division and recently won the Central District crown. 149: Sean Turner of Muskegon Community College (Mich.) and Mark Marianovich of Lincoln are two of the top returners from last year in the 149-pound division. Turner took home fourth place at 141 pounds while Marianovich was fourth in the 149 weight class. Vinny DiGravio from Mercyhurst North East (Pa.), who was the national runner-up in the 141-pound class last year, also has a chance to go deep into this bracket. Iowa Central's Edwin Cooper enters Rochester with the No. 1 ranking in this weight class and won the North Central District title. 157: Justin Pencook of Gloucester County College (N.J.), Eric Telford of Muskegon, and Michael Perez of Iowa Central are the lone returning wrestlers that had impressive showings in Spokane a year ago. Pencock took third place in the weight class while Telford finished sixth. Perez was fifth in the 149 pound class a year ago when he wrestled for Labette. Pencock is the top-ranked individual in this division, while Ryan Zumwalt of Northwest and Devin Aguirre of Labette are second and third. 165: The lone weight class not featuring a returning All-American, district champions Ethan Orr of Labette, Colin Hewett of Iowa Central and Bernie Dupuy of Northwest are the top three ranked wrestlers in the 165-pound class heading into Rochester. 174: Northwest's Keith Cast is one of many favorites in the 174-pound division after he finished second to Jesse Nielson of North Idaho last year in Spokane. Cast has been highly ranked in the weight class all season. However, Cast was defeated by Labette's Ray Hall in the finals of the West Central District tournament. Hall finished fourth at nationals last year competing in the 184-pound class. Harper College's (Ill.) Khari Washington is another returning All-American in this division after taking fourth place at Spokane a year ago. The latest individual rankings North Central District champ Jahwon Akui of Iowa Central as the top wrestler in this class. 184: Austin Morehead of Clackamas finished second nationally in this division last season when he competing for Rend Lake College (Ill.). Morehead has been the top-ranked wrestler in this class all season. Lincoln's Matt Dwyer is ranked second and John McArdle of Middlesex County College (N.J.) is third. Both Dwyer and McArdle won district titles earlier this month. McArdle also finished eighth nationally in this weight class last season. 197: Lincoln's Michael Johnson took home seventh place last year in this division and is the top-ranked individual heading into Rochester. Kolton Kersten of Iowa Central is ranked second and was the champion of the North Central District. Rudi Burtschi of Clackamas is also expected to make a good showing in Rochester. In 2009 he finished fourth in this weight class competing for North Idaho College. 285: Ryan Steverson of Muskegon is the lone wrestler in the heavyweight division that finished in the top eight in Spokane last year. Lance Moore of Niagara County Community College (N.Y.) and Curtus Blaydes of Harper are at the top of this division in the final individual rankings. Both won district titles two weeks ago. About the NJCAA: The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing body of two-year college athletics, offering athletic and academic opportunities to college students. It is the second largest national intercollegiate athletic organization in the United States with over 500 member schools in 43 states. Each year over 60,000 student-athletes compete in one of 28 different sports and the organization sponsors 48 national championship events and nine football bowl games. For more visit http://www.njcaa.org.

Minnesota wrestler Cody Yohn has been named this week's Big Ten Wrestler of the Week. Yohn was a key part in helping the Gophers win the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Dual title this past weekend. The Alamosa, Colo., native picked up two overtime wins over both No. 4 Iowa and No. 1 Oklahoma State. Yohn defeated Iowa's sixth-ranked Mike Evans 4-2 en route to the Gophers 16-15 win over the Hawkeyes in the semifinals. It was the first win over Iowa since Feb. 18, 2007 when the Gophers won 29-13. Yohn would then post a 4-2 overtime victory against the Cowboys' Dallas Bailey, to push Minnesota to an 18-13 win over Oklahoma State and the championship. Not only did it give Minnesota the title, but it was the first win against Oklahoma State, since Dec. 6, 2006 (21-15). On that date the Gophers were ranked third in the country and the Cowboys were first. This is the first time he junior has won this award. He has now won his last four matches and is ranked No. 14 in the latest InterMat rankings at 165 lbs. Yohn's overall record this season is 17-7 and he has 82 wins in his career.

NORMAN, Okla. -- Ronnie Balfour, a wrestler at the University of Oklahoma, passed away Tuesday at the M.D. Anderson hospital in Houston, Texas, after battling acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) for the past year. Ronnie BalfourBalfour, was a freshman last year and would have graduated from OU in 2015, won a state title as a senior at Union High School in Tulsa and was among the nation's top-ranked college recruits after being named a Junior National All-American. Donations to help the Balfour family pay for medical bills may be sent to the OU Athletics Department at the address listed below. Please make checks payable to "OU Foundation" with Ronnie Balfour's name listed in the memo line, or call (405) 325-8215. Mail to: OU Athletics Development McClendon Center for Intercollegiate Athletics 180 W. Brooks Norman, OK 73019

The Viking wrestlers defended their title at the Central Qualifying Tournament held today in Des Moines. Eleven Grand View wrestlers placed in the top six, five claimed championships, and GV scored 208.5 points to finish first in the field of eleven teams. Photo/Grand View University Sports InformationThe Vikings were 59 points ahead of second place Oklahoma City (149.5). Missouri Valley (147.5), Baker (127), and Waldorf (87.5) rounded out the top five. Five Grand View wrestlers won individual titles - Omi Acosta (133), Gustavo Martinez (141), TJ Moen (149), Brad Lower (165), and Eric Thompson (285). Also placing in the top six for GV - Travis Evans (3rd-133), Nick Coffman (2nd-141), Adam Kurimski (4th-149), Jimmie Schuessler (5th-157), Ty Knowler (3rd-174), and Cody Swim (6th-174). Following the tournament, Lower was voted as the Outstanding Wrestler. Lower pinned all three of his opponents en route to the 165 pound title. Team Scoring: 1. Grand View University 208.5 2.Oklahoma City University 149.5 3. Missouri Valley College 147.5 4. Baker University 127 5. Waldorf College 87.5 6. York College 73.5 7. Bacone College 61 8. Bethany College 55 9. Hannibal-LaGrange College 44 10. William Penn University 33 11. Central Baptist College 11

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Oklahoma State 133-pounder Jordan Oliver was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for the second week in a row today for his performance in the NWCA National Duals, the conference announced today. Oliver, ranked No. 1 at 133 pounds, helped lead the Cowboys to a runner-up finish at the NWCA Mat Mayhem Final Round in Stillwater Sunday, as well as Bedlam win in Norman on Thursday night. The junior picked up major decision wins his three opponents, who are all in the top 11. He started his week of competition with a key 11-2 bonus-point victory over Oklahoma's Jordan Keller on the way to a one-point Cowboy win at No. 12 OU. In Sunday's competition at the NWCA National Duals Final Four, he was even more dominant. Oliver beat No. 4-ranked B.J. Futrell of Illinois from the opening whistle and nearly earned a technical fall, 15-1, on the way to a 19-15 team win over No. 5 Illinois and a spot in the title match. The defending NCAA champion wrapped up the day with an 11-3 win over eighth-ranked Chris Dardanes as the Cowboys came up just short in their bid for a ninth NWCA National Duals title with an 18-13 loss to No. 3 Minnesota. Oliver now holds a 21-1 record on the year and is 82-5 in his career. He leads the 2011-12 Cowboys with 20 bonus-point wins, 14 falls, 83 dual team points, 73 dual takedowns and 16 dual nearfalls. Last season, Oliver became the first Big 12 wrestler to be honored three times in one season, making this his fifth career honor. It marks the third time a Cowboy wrestler has received the recognition this year, as heavyweight Alan Gelogaev was honored on Jan. 23 and Oliver was honored on Feb. 13. The Cowboys are back in action Friday when they take on the Tigers of Missouri at 7 p.m. in Stillwater.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team wrapped up the 2012 regular season with an impressive 41-0 shutout at VMI tonight. The Mocs improve to 12-6 overall, the most wins under third-year head coach Heath Eslinger. This is the first shutout for Chattanooga since a 40-0 win over Gardner-Webb on Nov. 14, 2010. It is the first blanking of a Southern Conference opponent since a 46-0 victory over Davidson on Nov. 8, 2008. UTC ran out to a quick 12-0 and never looked back. Senior Manny Ramirez (Fayetteville, N.C.) took six points in a walkover while freshman Nick Soto (Spring Hill, Fla.) earned six more with a fall at 133. Sophomore Shawn Greevy (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) and senior Brandon Wright (Germantown, Tenn.) also scored bonus points with major decision wins at 141 and 165, respectively. Wright tied a career-high with his 18th win of the season. UTC finishes second in the SoCon with a 5-1 overall record. Appalachian State wrapped up the regular season title at 6-0 with its win over Davidson on Sunday. The Mocs will have over a week to prepare for the Southern Conference Tournament. UTC is hosting the event in McKenzie Arena on March 3. Tickets are available on GoMocs.com or by calling the UTC Ticket Office at (423) 266-MOCS (6627). Results: 125: Manny Ramirez (UTC) - Forfeit - (VMI) - UTC 6-0 133: No. 17 Nick Soto (UTC) - Fall 2:34 - Joe Jarrells (VMI) - UTC 12-0 141: Shawn Greevy (UTC) - MD 12-4 - Zeb Stewart (VMI) - UTC 16-0 149: Kelly Felix (UTC) - Dec. 11-4 - David Yost (VMI) - UTC 19-0 157: Dan Waddell (UTC) - Dec. 4-0 - Edward Gottwald (VMI) - UTC 22-0 165: Brandon Wright (UTC) - MD 19-5 - Carry Joseph (VMI) - UTC 26-0 174: Levi Clemons (UTC) - Dec. 5-2 - Matthew Brock (VMI) - UTC 29-0 184: Cory Canada (UTC) - Forfeit - (VMI) - UTC 35-0 197: Robert Prigmore (UTC) - Dec. 7-3 - Urayoan Garcia (VMI) - UTC 38-0 285: Kevin Malone (UTC) - Dec. 6-1 - Andrew Embree (VMI) - UTC 41-0

Kansas City, Mo. -- Grand View (Iowa), Campbellsville (Ky.), Midland (Neb.) and Southern Oregon claimed team championships in the NAIA Qualifying Group Tournaments on Saturday. The event serves as a last chance qualifier for individuals looking to punch their ticket to the 55th Annual Wrestling National Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, March 1-3. Five of Grand View's nine top-four finishers claimed individual championships, as the Vikings tallied 208.5 points to garner a team championship in the Central Qualifying Group. The group featured two first and second place sweeps, as Gustavo Martinez of Grand View edged teammate Nick Coffman, 2-1, in the 141 pound class, while Jarid Price of Baker (Kan.) defeated fellow Wildcat Robert Shadrach, 3-2, at 184 pounds. Oklahoma City finished second in the group with 149.5 points, while Missouri Valley (147.5), Baker (127.0) and Waldorf (Iowa) (87.5) rounded out the top five. Campbellsville racked up 183.5 team points – 66 more than second-place Missouri Baptist – to claim the team title in the East Qualifying Group. The Tigers posted 10 top-four wrestlers, including individual titles by Tim Thurston (133 pounds), Chris Teague (141 pounds), Conor Young (157 pounds), Josh Ashbrook (184 pounds) and Jamelle Jones (197 pounds). Shorter (Ga.) finished third place in the group with 109 points, while Lindsey Wilson edged Indiana Tech for fourth place with 98 points. In the north tournament, Midland edged Great Plains Athletic Conference rival Morningside (Iowa), 156.5 – 147.0, to earn the group's team championship. Dickinson State (N.D.) finished third with 105.5 points, while Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) (100.5) and Concordia (Neb.) (96.0) took fourth and fifth place, respectively. Jahsua Marsh and Levi Roberson claimed championships at the 197 pound and 285 pound classes for the Warriors, who had 10 competitors qualify for the national championships with top-four finishes. The Mustangs posted the most individual winners in the group with three (Garet Lambrecht, 141 pound; Joe Sievert, 174 pound; Brian Brock, 184 pound). Southern Oregon, led by a Qualifying Group Tournament-high 12 top-four finishers, earned the west group team championship with 164 points to beat Great Falls (Mont.) (137.5) and Montana State-Northern (106.5). Four Raiders claimed group titles, as SOU had at least one wrestler finish in the top-four in every weight class except at 197 pounds. Rounding out the west's team top-five were Menlo (Calif.) with 84 points and Wayland Baptist (Texas) with 66.5 points. The official list of National Championship qualifiers will be announced on Feb. 23. Central Qualifying Group Brackets East Qualifying Group Brackets North Qualifying Group Brackets West Qualifying Group Brackets

Minnesota: J Robinson and Zach Sanders Oklahoma State: John Smith and Jordan Oliver

Related Content: Results|Audio Interviews Photo/Austin Bernard, Tech-Fall.com The No. 3 Minnesota Golden Gopher wrestling team was crowned NWCA/Cliff Keen National Dual Champions this evening, in Stillwater, Okla. Minnesota defeated No. 1 Oklahoma State 18-13 in front of a sea of orange. Minnesota made history today defeating Iowa (16-15) and Oklahoma State, in route to being crowned champions. It was the first win over Iowa since Feb. 18, 2007 (29-13) and the first win against Oklahoma State, since Dec. 6, 2006 (21-15). Like today, when the Gophers beat the Cowboys back in 2006, OSU was No. 1 and Minnesota was No. 3 in the country. The dual started out at 125 pounds and senior Zach Sanders got the Gophers started off on the right foot. Sanders faced Jon Morrison, who is ranked No. 13 in nation. The Wabasha, Minn., native rebounded from his loss earlier in the day by picking up a 5-2 decision. After a loss (11-3 maj.) from Chris Dardanes, his brother Nick took the mat for Minnesota and gave the Maroon and Gold a boost, with a 10-4 decision. That victory gave the Gophers a 6-4 lead. The Cowboys would take the next two matches (149 pounds and 157 pounds) from the Gophers, but Cody Yohn picked up his fourth straight win when he scored a 4-2 overtime win against Dallas Bailey. The win in the extra session pulled the Gophers within one (10-9) of OSU. Kevin Steinhaus defeated Chris McNeil, 4-1, at 184 pounds (Photo/Austin Bernard, Tech-Fall.com)Kevin Steinhaus would pick up the team after a Logan Storley loss (4-0 dec.) to Chris Perry. Steinhaus scored a key 4-1 decision, to make the score 13-12, in favor of the Cowboys. Sonny Yohn would pick up a 3-1 decision over Blake Rosholt to give Minnesota a 15-13 lead. It was the first lead for the Maroon and Gold since after Nick Dardanes win at 141 pounds. Tony Nelson would seal the deal for the second time today. Nelson took care of the Cowboys Austin Marsden (8-1 dec.) who stepped in place of OSU's top heavyweight Alan Gelogaev, who was out with an injury. Minnesota will now rest up before heading to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Big Ten Championships. Action takes place March 3-4 (Saturday-Sunday) inside Mackey Arena. Results: 125: No. 2 Zach Sanders (Minnesota) dec. No. 13 Jon Morrison (Oklahoma State), 5-2 133: No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) maj. dec. No. 8 Chris Dardanes (Minnesota), 11-3 141: No. 8 Nick Dardanes (Minnesota) dec. Julian Feikert (Oklahoma State), 10-4 149: No. 2 Jamal Parks (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 10 Dylan Ness (Minnesota), 11-8 157: No. 12 Albert White (Oklahoma State) dec. Danny Zilverberg (Minnesota), 9-7 165: No. 14 Cody Yohn (Minnesota) dec. Dallas Bailey (Oklahoma State), 4-2 SV 174: No. 3 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 5 Logan Storley (Minnesota), 4-0 184: No. 7 Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota) dec. Chris McNeil (Oklahoma State), 4-1 197: No. 7 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota) dec. No. 8 Blake Rosholt (Oklahoma State), 3-1 285: No. 4 Tony Nelson (Minnesota) dec. Austin Marsden (Oklahoma State), 8-1 Iowa defeats Illinois to finish third University of Iowa Sports Information The University of Iowa wrestling team rode bonus point victories from Derek St. John and Grant Gambrall to roll past Illinois, 28-6, in the consolation finals of today's NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. Iowa won eight of the 10 matches. Gambrall, an All-American at 184 pounds last year, had wrestled at 197 pounds this season up until today. He dropped a 3-1 decision in the semifinal round before responding with a 10-2 major decision against Tony Dellago in tonight's consolation finals. St. John, who has missed significant time since suffering a knee injury in early December, erased an early takedown by scoring a reversal and escape before flattening Jackson Morse 14 seconds into the second period. His win answered one of Illinois' two wins and extended Iowa's team lead to 15-3. The Hawkeyes were spotted another 9-0 lead by their three lower weights. Matt McDonough avenged his only loss of the season with a 6-3 win over Jesse Delgado. Tony Ramos scored a 5-2 win over B.J. Futrell, his third win in as many tries this season against the Illini, and Montell Marion earned a 6-2 win over Daryl Thomas. Mike Evans and Ethen Lofthouse squeezed a pair of decisions in between St. John and Gambrall's efforts. Evans earned a 5-1 decision and Lofthouse won his fifth straight, topping Jordan Blanton 4-2. After Gambrall clinched the dual with his major decision, Illinois got back on the board with an 11-6 win at 197. Leading the team race 25-6, Bobby Telford put the final touches on the National Duals with a 5-0 win over Illinois' Pat Walker. Minnesota won the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals with an 18-13 win over top-ranked Oklahoma State in the finals. The Hawkeyes (14-4) return to the mat March 3-4 at the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue will host the event inside Mackey Arena. Tickets can be purchased through the Purdue ticket office by visiting purduesports.com. NOTES: Attendance was 4,453… McDonough has won 19 in a row. Results: 125: No. 1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) dec. No. 6 Jesse Delgado (Illinois), 6-3 133: No. 3 Tony Ramos (Iowa) dec. No. 4 B.J. Futrell (Illinois), 5-2 141: No. 5 Montell Marion (Iowa) dec. Daryl Thomas (Illinois), 6-2 149: No. 19 Eric Terrazas (Illinois) dec. Michael Kelly (Iowa), 3-2 157: Derek St. John (Iowa) pinned Jackson Morse (Illinois), 3:14 165: No. 6 Mike Evans (Iowa) dec. No. 12 Conrad Polz (Illinois), 5-1 174: No. 8 Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa) dec. No. 9 Jordan Blanton (Illinois), 4-2 184: Grant Gambrall (Iowa) major dec. Tony Dallago (Illinois), 10-2 197: No. 18 Mario Gonzalez (Illinois) dec. Vinnie Wagner (Iowa), 11-6 285: No. 14 Bobby Telford (Iowa) dec. Pat Walker (Illinois), 5-0

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The No. 21 Virginia wrestling team concluded its regular season Sunday with a pair of dominating wins at Memorial Gymnasium. Virginia won nine of the 10 weight classes against No. 23 Old Dominion in a 31-3 victory, then captured eight weight classes in a 29-7 triumph over George Mason. Virginia finished its regular season with an 11-1 dual record. The Cavaliers' .917 winning percentage goes down as the best mark in program history. UVa's previous top winning percentage was .846 in 1974 when the Cavaliers went 11-2. Prior to the ODU match, Virginia held Senior Day ceremonies. Four Cavaliers were honored - Shawn Harris (Cleveland, Ohio), Sam MacGregor (Fredericksburg, Va.), Ryan Malo (Georgetown, Mass.) and Nick Nelson (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Six Cavaliers recorded two wins on the day, including four who currently reside in InterMat's individual top 20 - No. 11 Matt Snyder (R-Jr., Lewistown, Pa.) at 125 pounds, No. 7 Nick Nelson at 141, No. 20 Gus Sako (So., Cleveland, Ohio) at 149, No. 16 Nick Sulzer (R-Fr., Cleveland, Ohio) at 165, Vinny Waldhauser (Fr., El Dorado Hills, Calif.) at 174 and Derek Papagianopoulos (R-Fr., Burlington, Mass.) at heavyweight. Seven of the Cavaliers' nine wins against the Monarchs (13-10) came by decision. Jedd Moore (R-Jr., Mount Vernon, Ohio) recorded a 19-7 major decision over Jacob Kingett at 157 pounds, while Snyder earned a win by forfeit at 125. At 165 Sulzer picked up a good win, 4-1, over Tristan Warner, who was No. 21 in the latest NCAA Coaches Rankings. Nelson (22-2) earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over Justin LaVelle at 141 pounds; LaVelle is No. 26 at 141 in the latest NCAA Coaches Rankings. The Cavaliers sat three of their starters against George Mason (6-16) and rolled to the win. Snyder earned a solid 7-4 decision over Vince Rodriguez at 125. Billy Coggins (So., Sound Beach, N.Y.) wrestled up a weight class at 184 and notched an 11-10 victory over Ryan Hembury. Virginia has next weekend off as it prepares for the ACC Championships, which are slated for March 3 in Chapel Hill, N.C. No. 21 Virginia 31, No. 23 Old Dominion 3 125: No. 11 Matt Snyder (UVa) won by forfeit; UVa 6-0 133: Scott Festejo (ODU) dec. No. 20 Matt Nelson (UVa), 6-4; UVa 6-3 141: No. 7 Nick Nelson (UVa) dec. Justin LaValle (ODU), 1-0; UVa 9-3 149: No. 20 Gus Sako (UVa) dec. Brennan Brumley (ODU), 8-1; UVa 12-3 157: Jedd Moore (UVa) major dec. Jacob Kingett (ODU), 19-7; UVa 16-3 165: No. 16 Nick Sulzer (UVa) dec. Tristan Warner (ODU), 4-1; UVa 19-3 174: Vinny Waldhauser (UVa) dec. Brett Miller (ODU), 10-4; UVa 22-3 184: No. 14 Jon Fausey (UVa) dec. Billy Curling (ODU), 4-1; UVa 25-3 197: Ryan Malo (UVa) dec. Joe Budi (ODU), 4-0; UVa 28-3 285: Derek Papagianopoulos (UVa) dec. Matt Tourdot (ODU), 8-3; UVa 31-3 No. 21 Virginia 29, George Mason 7 125: No. 11 Matt Snyder (UVa) dec. Vince Rodriguez (GMU), 7-4; UVa 3-0 133: Joseph Martinez (UVa) dec. Zach Isenhour (GMU), 5-0; UVa 6-0 141: No. 7 Nick Nelson (UVa) dec. Denny Herndon (GMU), 4-1; UVa 9-0 149: No. 20 Gus Sako (UVa) pinned Kevin Timothy (GMU), 6:34; UVa 15-0 157: Shohei Takagi (GMU) dec. Sam MacGregor (UVa), 6-1; UVa 15-3 165: No. 16 Nick Sulzer (UVa) major dec. Ty Knepp (GMU), 21-9; UVa 19-3 174: Vinny Waldhauser (UVa) major dec. Seth Robertson (GMU), 14-1; 23-3 184: Billy Coggins (UVa) dec. Ryan Hembury (GMU), 11-10; UVa 26-3 197: Bagna Tovuujav (GMU) major dec. Ryan Malo (UVa), 17-5; UVa 26-7 285: Derek Papagianopoulos (UVa) dec. Adam Barnette (GMU), 9-3; UVa 29-7

GREELEY, Colo. -- Winning eight of 10 matches, the Air Force wrestling team closed out its dual slate with a 33-6 win over conference rival Northern Colorado on Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Falcons end the regular season with an 8-5 dual record and 3-3 mark in the Western Wrestling Conference, while the Bears fall to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in the WWC. Northern Colorado earned the first victory of the day, taking a 1-0 decision at 141 pounds. However, third-ranked Cole VonOhlen (Jr., Jackson, Minn.) put the Falcons on top with a commanding win at 149 pounds, registering a 20-3 technical fall over Justin Gonzales. Sophomore Josh Kreimier (Fort Collins, Colo.) added a 14-5 major decision in the 157-pound bout to push Air Force's lead to 9-3. The Bears got back on the scoreboard following the 165-pound bout when 10th-ranked Gabe Burak earned a 9-2 decision, but the Falcons posted wins in the final six weight classes. Clayton Gable (Jr., Dallastown, Pa.) scored a 15-0 technical fall over Josh VanTine at 174 pounds, while 184-pounder Greg Isley (So., Toledo, Ohio) followed with a 13-5 major decision. Air Force scored decisions in its next two bouts to put the dual out of reach for Northern Colorado, as Josh Mohr (Jr., Pewaukee, Wis.) earned a 7-3 decision at 197 pounds, while Jared Erickson (Jr., Newton, Utah) came away with a 3-2 decision in the heavyweight match, bringing the team score to 24-6. At 125 pounds, sophomore Greg Rinker (Northampton, Pa.) scored the quickest victory of the day, pinning Jesse Meis in a time of 1:22. Meanwhile, senior Tyler Untrauer (Midwest City, Okla.) closed out the dual at 133 pounds, recording three takedowns in the opening period to score a solid 8-4 decision over Sam Bauer. The Falcons return to action March 4, when they head to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to take part in the 2012 NCAA West Regional, hosted by Northern Iowa. Results: 141 - Casey Cruz (UNC) dec. Carter McElhany, 1-0 149 - No. 3 Cole VonOhlen (AF) tech fall Justin Gonzales, 20-3 (6:41) 157 - Josh Kreimier (AF) maj. dec. Charlie McMartin, 14-5 165 - No. 10 Gabe Burak (UNC) dec. Colby Kluesner, 9-2 174 - Clayton Gable (AF) tech fall. Josh VanTine, 15-0 (5:42) 184 - Greg Isley (AF) maj dec. Patrick Gomez, 13-5 197 - Josh Mohr (AF) dec. Nick Bayer, 7-3 HWT - Jared Erickson (AF) dec. Henry Chirino, 3-2 125 - Greg Rinker (AF) fall Jesse Meis, 1:22 133 - Tyler Untrauer (AF) dec. Sam Bauer, 8-4

CLARION, Pa. -- Former Clarion University & NCAA wrestling legend Wade Schalles received the PSAC “Award of Merit” from Commissioner Steve Murray on Sunday afternoon, while the Golden Eagles defeated Lock Haven (HOURS AFTER THE MATCH WAS OVER) 19-18 by tie-breaker. The match ended tied 18-18. The interpretation immediately after the match by officials was that Lock Haven won 19-18 by virtue of tied breaker 2 – most falls in a match. It turns out that criteria 2 was not interpreted correctly. It says most falls and technical falls. Which both teams had 1 each. Now on to criteria 3, match points. Clarion wins the extra team point by virtue of a 33-28 advantage in match points. Clarion finished the season with an overall record of 6-7 and an EWL mark of 3-3. Lock Haven finished their season with a record of 4-11 and an EWL mark of 1-5. “I received a call from the NWCA after reading the match story that they thought the dual meet tie breaker was not applied correctly,” said Clarion head Coach Matt Dernlan. “ After checking with the NCAA Rules interpreter, it turns out we won the dual meet by criteria. Even if it's a little late, it's a nice way to end the regular season.” Schalles received his PSAC “Award of Merit”, from Commissioner Murray at special halftime ceremonies at Tippin Gym. Schalles had a career record of 153-5-1, an NCAA Record 106 pins, 4 PSAC titles with 4 “OW's” to his credit, NCAA Individual titles in 1972 and 1973 and an NCAA “OW” award in 1972. Schalles subsequently was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1991, Clarion Hall in 1989, and named to the NCAA's 75th Anniversary team in 2005 in St. Louis, when the top 15 wrestlers of all-time were recognized. “This is a very special day and for me to be here at Clarion University and accept the “Award of Merit” from Commissioner Murray,” said Schalles. “I have great memories of my days here at Clarion – they are so special. And of course I especially want to thank Coach (Bob) Bubb, who was more than a coach, he was like a father. With a nearly 100% graduation rate, you can see why he was so special.” The match started at 184 with LH's Fred Garcia defeating Steve Cressley 4-1, then Clarion's Alex Thomas notched a major decision (10-1) over Matt Parlier at 197 to give the Eagles their only lead – 4-3. Lock Haven heavyweight Harry Turner, pinned backup Brandon Contreras at 5:26, that ended up producing the match winning points. Clarion's Quintas McCorkle sat out the dual with an injury. Bobby Rehm then decisioned Trey Hicks at 125 to give LH a 12-4 lead. Clarion's Joe Waltko scored a 6-2 decision over Johnathon Childress at 133. Ahead 3-2 late in the match, Waltko's takedown with 15 seconds plus riding time left secured the win. Lock Haven took an 18-7 lead winning the next two bouts. Matt Bonson decisioned Tyler Bedelyon 10-6 in a wild match at 141-pounds. Then William Randt decisioned Cameron Moran 3-1 at 149 in a key bout. Randt registered a 2-point near fall in the second period which proved to be the winning points. Clarion rallied, down 18-7, to tie the match 18-18. #4 ranked James Fleming got the ball rolling with a 6-1 win over Aaron Fry at 157. Fleming had a first period takedown, and was close to near fall points in the first and second periods but could not finish the move. Fry was called for stalling four times in the match, three times in the third period with Fleming on top and in control, but held on to only give up a decision. Clarion's Bekzod Abdurakhmonov , ranked #5 in the nation, notched an 18-3, technical fall at 7:00 against Seth Creasy at 165. Bekzod had four takedowns in the first, one in the second, and one in the third. His three point near fall in the final ten seconds secured the technical fall, and brought the Eagles to within 18-15. Clarion's Nick Milano scored a 3-1 decision over Aaron McKinney at 174 with a takedown in the final ten seconds of the match. The win eventually provided Clarion with a big dual meet win. CLARION NOTES: The Award of Merit is the highest honor the PSAC can give … only 4 preceding hi including former Clarion and Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Olympic Gold Medalist Bruce Baumgartner, NBA coach Chuck Daly and Shipp's Steve Spence… Bekzod raised his season record to 28-4; while Fleming is 24-2… Four seniors were honored in pre-match ceremonies including Kyle Fluck, Cameron Moran, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov and Quintas McCorkle… McCorkle's injury will not keep him out of EWL's on March 4… He was held out Sunday for precautionary measures. Results: 184– Fred Garcia (LF) dec. Steven Cressley (CL) 4-1 197– Alex Thomas (CL) maj. dec. Matt Parlier (LH) 10-1 285- Harry Turner (LH) wbf Brandon Contreras (CL) 5:26 125- Bobby Rehm (LH) dec. Trey Hicks (CL) 6-0 133- Joe Waltko (CL) dec. Johnathon Childress (LH) 6-2 141- Matt Bonson (LH) dec. Tyler Bedelyon (CL) 10-6 149- William Randt (LH) dec. Cameron Moran (CL) 3-1 157- James Fleming (CL) dec. Aaron Fry (LH) 6-1 165- Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (CL) tech. fall Seth Creasy (LH) 18-3; 7:00 174- Nick Milano (CL) dec. Aaron McKiney (LH) 3-1