InterMat Staff

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Zach Roberson, a three-time All-American and 2004 NCAA 133-pound Champion at Iowa State, has joined the Arizona State University wrestling coaching staff Head Coach Thom Ortiz announced Tuesday. The second-ranked freestyle wrestler in the United States at 60kg (132 pounds), Roberson will work with the lightweights in the Sun Devil program while working toward his goal of representing the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics. Zach Roberson"I am excited to have a talented wrestler like Zach Roberson in our wrestling complex to help our student-athletes prepare to excel this year," Ortiz said. "I recruited him in college and knew he was a talented wrestler. He proved that at the collegiate level and is ready to do so on the international level. I look forward to having him train toward making the U.S. Olympic team while helping ASU's wrestlers prepare to compete for Pac-10 and NCAA titles." Roberson recently placed second at the Senior World Team Trials, falling to Mike Zadick in the Championship Final at the tournament in Las Vegas in July. The runner-up at 60kg in the first season of Real Pro Wrestling for the Iowa Stalkers team, Roberson placed fourth at the most recent U.S. National Championships in Las Vegas. Recruited to Ames, Iowa, by then-assistant coach Ortiz, Roberson placed seventh at the NCAA Championships as a sophomore for his first All-America accolade before taking second as a junior and winning the national title as a senior by defeating Penn State's Josh Moore, 7-3, n the 2004 event. The 2003 Midlands Champion at 133 pounds and Art Kraft Champion of Champions recipient (best exemplifying the qualities of a champion) at the same meet, Roberson also placed third in the Big XII Championships before taking second place as a senior. Prior to his arrival at ISU, Roberson was a four-time state champion in Kansas, claiming crowns at 103, 112, 119 and 125-pounds before taking runner-up honors at the 125-pound high school national tournament. A recipient of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award, which honors academic and wrestling excellence as well as community service, Roberson completed his prep career with an unblemished 153-0 record and won 109 of those bouts by pin fall.

This Thursday TDR will takes its mobile Brute Adidas studios on the road to Oklahoma City University. Coach Archie Randall and his staff, his 2 squads, male and female will be available as guests on this first of its kind program. I'm excited at the opportunity this affords us as we get to see a program that has battled its way back in to existence with both men's and women's program's in the face of title 9. We'll go one on one with Coach Randall starting at 4 PM this Thursday at Takedownradio.com. The broadcast is free of charge courtesy of OKCU and our great sponsors. Tune in won't you.

This week's edition of "On the Mat" will feature Kevin Jackson and Jason Townsend. Jackson is one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers the United States has ever produced. During his international career, Jackson won World Championships in 1991 and 1995 and an Olympic gold medal in 1992. He is one of only six American wrestlers to win three or more World gold medals. Jackson currently serves as the full-time head coach for the national freestyle wrestling program in Colorado Springs. He also works to develop freestyle coaches and programs in the United States. Since taking over as the freestyle national teams head coach in 2001, the United States has placed in the top three twice and recently placed fourth at the 2007 freestyle World Championships. Townsend was the head coach of the first United States World Grappling team that won the team championship earlier this month. He is also the author of the rulebook that was adopted by FILA (the international wrestling federation) and is a member of the FILA World Grappling Committee. Townsend is a Wrestling/Grappling coach at Xtreme Couture MMA in Las Vegas, Nevada. He serves as Head Wrestling Coach at Marc Laimon's Cobra Kai jiu-jitsu, also located in Las Vegas. As a wrestler, Townsend served as an assistant wrestling coach at Cal-State Fullerton from 2000-2005. He competed in college at both Syracuse and Hofstra following two Maryland state title. "On the Mat" is a weekly wrestling radio program that airs every Wednesday night. This week's broadcast can be heard live from 6-7 p.m. Central Standard Time. The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, hosts the show. "On the Mat" can be heard live on the Internet at www.kcnzam.com or locally in Northeast Iowa on 1650, The Fan. Feel free to e-mail radio@wrestlingmuseum.org with questions or comments about the show.

NORMAN, Okla. -- University of Oklahoma wrestling welcomed one of the largest classes ever to the program this season. Ten new Sooners have started practice and will quickly challenge for starting spots on the squad. "Our recruiting classes aren't usually this large, and there is a good possibility that several of these guys will wind up in the starting line-up," Head Coach Jack Spates said. "We have signed guys that are extremely capable of contributing right away and put us in a position for a bright future." The Sooner recruiting effort went coast-to-coast, signing state champions from California to Pennsylvania. The 10 member class combined for 15 state championships. The class is comprised of eight freshmen, one sophomore and a senior. The group has two previous NCAA qualifiers in transfers Max Dean (Indiana) and Eric Lapotsky (Bucknell). There will be holes to fill with several key Sooners departing from last year's team. But holes in the line-up present opportunities for new faces to make their way onto the mat to start for the Sooners. "We have a chance to have six, maybe seven freshmen and sophomores in the line-up this year," Spates said. "It is going to be a really fun group to coach." The coaches are excited about the youth, and the competition makes them excited about what's in store for this year's team. "The young guys and transfers we brought in have exceptional drive and determination," Spates said. "It is going to be an extremely fun year because although these guys are young, they are going to be an aggressive group on the mat." Practice for the Sooner team begins Tuesday, September 18.

COLUMBUS, Ohio –- Joe Heskett and Tommy Rowlands, assistant coaches for the Ohio State wrestling team and U.S. Freestyle World Team members, helped their respective weight classes qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, at the World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. Heskett and Rowlands, who wrestled in the Heydar Aliyev Sport and Exhibition Complex Thursday and Friday, represented two of the five classes that will go on to compete for the United States in the 2008 Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials will be held June 12-15, 2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Overall, the U.S. team finished fourth in the freestyle competition with 32 points. Russia won the event with 68 points, while Turkey (40 points) was second and Cuba rounded out the Top 3 (34 points). Heskett, who wrestled at 74kg/163 pounds, won his first four matches before dropping his final two decisions. Of his four wins, Heskett shut out his opponent in seven of the 10 periods wrestled, including a 1-0, 6-0 victory over Hiroki Kayamori of Japan in his second bout of the event. Prior to that match, Heskett defeated China's Zijian Wu, 4-3, 1-0. In his third and fourth match-ups, Heskett topped Asghar Ali Bazrighaleh of Iran (4-0, 0-4, 2-0) and Gabor Hatos of Hungary (1-0, 0-4, 2-0). Heskett then faced former world champion Makhach Murtazaliev of Russia in the semifinals. After winning the first period, 3-1, Heskett lost the final two periods, 1-0 and 3-1. Still in contention for the bronze medal, Heskett faced Chamsulvara Chamsulvarayev of host country Azerbaijan, but eventually lost, 1-0, 3-1. After winning his first match in dominating fashion against Mexico's Lawrence Langowski Mendoza, 6-1, 6-0, at 120kg/264.5 pounds, Rowlands would face former world champion Alexis Rodriguez of Cuba in the third round, where he lost, 2-0, 1-0. However, Rowlands would rebound with consecutive wins against Germany's Martin Siddiqui, 1-3, 1-0, 3-0, and Bulgaria's Boyidar Boyadzhiev, 1-0, 1-2, 1-0, to advance to the bronze medal round. It was in his final match up, Rowlands would wrestle former Olympic and World champion Artur Taymazov of Uzbekistan and drop a 3-0, 6-0 decision.

Columbia, Mo. -- Missouri Head Coach Brian Smith will sit down and talk wrestling with the Voice of the Tigers, Mike Kelly, beginning around 7:20 p.m. (CT) on Monday, Sept. 24. The show, which airs lives at the SportsZone located in the Holiday Inn Executive Center, can be heard on most of the Tiger Network affiliates. Fans are encouraged to attend the live show, which begins at 7:08 p.m. (CT). Other guests on Monday's show include Missouri Director of Athletics Mike Alden, Associate Athletic Director for Administration Mark Alnutt and another fall sport coach to be determined. Smith's nationally ranked Tiger program finished the 2006-07 season with a third place showing at the 77th annual Division I Wrestling Championships in Auburn Hills, Mich. Highlights of the three-day event included the crowning three Tiger All-Americans, recent graduates Ben Askren at 174 pounds, and Matt Pell at 165 pounds along with current senior Tyler McCormick at 133 pounds. Askren became Missouri's first four-time wrestling All-American and two-time National Champion in program history and now serves as the Tiger's volunteer assistant coach. Seven members of Missouri's 2007 Big 12 runner up team return for the upcoming campaign including Big 12 Champions junior Raymond Jordan (194) and sophomore Maxwell Askren (197). The Tiger wrestling season will begin Nov. 9 in Lawrenceville, N.J. as Missouri faces off with Rider.

Wrestling, considered to be the oldest sport, has a new brother, the sport of Grappling. Earlier this year, Grappling was officially sanctioned by FILA, the organizing body that oversees various forms of international wrestling competition. USA Wrestling quickly followed suit. The very first world championship in Grappling took place in early September in Turkey … with the US team sweeping all nine gold medals. Grappling 101 Jason TownsendAlthough a new sport, amateur grappling can trace its roots back to long-standing forms of martial arts. Jason Townsend, one of the coaches for the US World Grappling team -- and the one responsible for writing the official FILA World Grappling Committee rulebook for the amateur sport of Grappling -- describes grappling as "a hybrid between various wrestling styles and jiu-jitsu -- a blend of wrestling and other martial arts." "Grappling is a form of submission wrestling," says Townsend. "There's no fall. In that regard, Grappling is like jiu-jitsu. Points are scored for a side mount -- putting your opponent on their back, similar to nearfall points in amateur wrestling." In Grappling, a match is six minutes in length … though, as Jason Townsend points out, at the 2007 US World Grappling Team Trials at Las Vegas (held in conjunction with the US World Wrestling Team Trials in June), "over 50% of the matches ended in submission, with an opponent ‘tapping out.'" Matches are contested on regulation amateur wrestling mats. Grappling is an equal-opportunity sport, with separate competitions for men and women. There are five weight classes for men (136.5, 154, 176, 202.5 and 275 pounds) and four for women (105.5, 121, 138.75 and 145 pounds). In terms of uniforms, grapplers wear what Townsend described as "board shorts/surfing shorts, with UnderArmor-type, tight-fitting, short-sleeve shirts." The genesis for Grappling as an amateur sport "There are professional grappling events already taking place, each with its own set of rules," explains Jason Townsend. "By establishing an international set of rules, we wanted to not only establish a level of consistency in all amateur-sanctioned Grappling competition around the world, but also provide legitimacy and a level of safety to the competition." "For instance, we specified regulation amateur wrestling mats to provide additional safety to absorb competitors when they're thrown," Townsend adds. "I've seen some grappling events contested on thin tatami mats not designed for high-amplitude throws, which increases an athlete's chance of getting injured." Randy Couture"There's a real hunger for mixed martial arts competition," Townsend continues. "Look at the success of pay-per-view events for UFC, Pride and other MMA (mixed martial arts) competition. Look at the popularity of reality TV shows that focus on MMA. And look at all the amateur wrestlers who are now competing in mixed martial arts." There's a long list of top amateur wrestlers who've found success in mixed martial arts competition over the years, including early pioneers such as Randy Couture, Mark Schultz, Mark Kerr, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, and Chuck Liddell… and more recent college grads Johny Hendricks and Jake Rosholt (both multi-time NCAA champs from Oklahoma State), and Paul Bradley, an Iowa Hawkeye alum. "College wrestlers are interested in submission wrestling," according to Townsend, who, after winning two Maryland high school state titles, wrestled at Syracuse and Hofstra in the 1990s. "It's part of the warrior mentality." Historical perspective In discussing the new amateur sport of Grappling, Jason Townsend provides a quick historical sketch: "Old-time professional wrestling of a century ago, with guys like Frank Gotch, Farmer Burns, George Hackenschmidt, Joe Stecher and others from the late 1800s and early 1900s, looks a lot like today's grappling." "Back then, a wrestler could win a match by a pin, or with a submission hold." "As pro wrestling became more theatrical, submission wrestling took on a new life of its own, as a separate entity. For instance, judo started to be popular in the 1940s; in the past decade or so, various combat arts from Brazil, Japan and other places have emerged onto the world scene." 2007 World Grappling Championships The first-ever World Grappling Championships took place in Antalya, Turkey on September 9, 2007, as part of the World Wrestling Games (which also included Beach Wrestling, Sombo, and Pankration). The US won 21 out of a possible 35 medalsThere were a total of more than 100 competitors from fifteen countries at the inaugural event. The US team brought twenty-seven grapplers, and delivered a dominating performance, sweeping all nine gold medals … and winning 21 out of a possible 35 medals. Earning gold medals in the women's competition: Lisa Ward (Lacey, WA/United Fight Team) at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., Felicia Oh (Tarzana, CA/JJ Machado/BJMUTA) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Tara LaRosa (Woodstown, NJ/unattached) at 63 kg/138.75 lbs., and Valerie Worthington (Whittier, CA/New Breed/Hollywood Jiu Jitsu) at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. The US men who brought home grappling gold: Darren Uyenoyama (South San Francisco, CA/Fogtown Jiu Jitsu) at 62 kg/136.5 lbs., Ricky Lundel (Orem, UT/Pedro Sauer Team) at 70 kg/154 lbs., Don Ortega (Albuquerque, NM/No Limits) at 80 kg/176 lbs., Malcolm Havers (Parker, CO/Grapplers Edge) at 92 kg/202.5 lbs., and Jeff Monson (Coconut Creek, FL/Victory Athletics) at 125 kg/275 lbs. Incredibly, in four of the five men's gold-medal finals matches, both grapplers were from Team USA. Bob Anderson"I really think having a training camp and bringing many of our people together really helped," said Bob Anderson, who, along with Jason Townsend, coached the US World Grappling Team, quoted in an USA Wrestling article about the event. "We didn't want to just win the championship. We wanted everybody to be the most outstanding they could be, no matter the outcome." "The team performed at the highest level against great competition," said Townsend in the same USA Wrestling story. "All the athletes had tough matches and pulled through with flying colors. This is the beginning of a new era for Grappling. It was a pioneering effort for USA Wrestling. We were excited to be a part of this historic event, and we will work hard to remain a dominant force for years to come." Grappling's future When asked to look into the future of Grappling, Jason Townsend responded, "We're expecting thirty countries at the Grappling World Championships next year," says Townsend. "We're working towards being a part of the Olympics someday, but realistically there is a lot of work to be done before then." Lisa WardIf the extreme interest in professional mixed martial arts competition is any indicator, Grappling is an amateur sport that is expected to grow, given its appeal to a broad demographic – not just in terms of fans, but competitors as well. "We think that Grappling has appeal for individuals 18-40 years old," says Jason Townsend. "Audiences who have been watching MMA events on TV will immediately relate to amateur Grappling." "For competitors, Grappling opens doors to athletes who've competed in various sports -- not just wrestling, but jiu jitsu and other martial arts. Look at all the individuals of all ages who study and practice various martial arts at thousands of schools and studios across the US. There's a huge potential market for Grappling." "And, because Grappling is actually less hard on the body, grapplers can extend their careers beyond what is typical for amateur wrestlers, or even those who compete in Freestyle and Greco competition after college." "We're not trying to take over amateur wrestling, or replace any existing forms of wrestling here in the US," adds Townsend. "We see opportunities for amateur wrestling and Grappling to help each other flourish and grow, in terms of fan base, and number of competitors."

The defending national champion Golden Gopher wrestling team enjoyed an eventful day in Washington, D.C. Friday, as they commemorated their NCAA victory with stops at the Capitol Building, Pentagon and a ceremony at the White House with President George W. Bush. The 2006-07 championship squad, along with several athletics administration and team staff members, were treated to tours of some our nation's most important landmarks before ending their day by commemorating their third NCAA championship on the lawn outside the White House. The team's day began at 8 a.m. sharp, as they received a tour of the Capitol Building as guests of former House Speaker (and current Illinois state representative) Dennis Hastert. Hastert, a former high school wrestling coach, was also instrumental in arranging the team's previous visit to the White House in 2001. The Gophers visited Hastert's office as well as the House chamber until about 11 a.m. One of the day's highlights was a police escort that shuttled the Gopher delegation between their stops at the Pentagon and White House, allowing them to circumvent the normally heavy D.C. traffic. After a brief Pentagon tour, the group headed to the White House at approximately 12:30 p.m. for that afternoon's ceremony. Seven other NCAA champion squads were also present at the commemoration, including the two-time College World Series champion Oregon State baseball team and the defending NCAA champion Tennessee Lady Vol basketball team. At the White House, the Minnesota delegation toured several of the structure's most noted rooms, including the Blue Room, Library and State Dining Room. After team members posed for a photo with President Bush, the entire crowd was brought to the South Lawn for that afternoon's presentation. The championship teams entered the lawn and were introduced as the President's Band played each school's fight song. Two-time NCAA champion Cole Konrad and the other team champion captains were allowed a personal 20-minute audience with the President before the ceremony began. The team captains also walked onto the podium with the President himself, standing next to the country's chief executive during his speech. "I'm honored to be among the nation's finest student-athletes," said President Bush during his roughly 10-minute address. "These people set high standards both on and off the field, and work hard to achieve the goals they set for themselves." After the President's remarks ended their White House stay, the team made stops at the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial before their late Friday evening flight to Minneapolis. The Gopher wrestling team has now visited the White House and President Bush on two separate occasions, the other following the program's first national championship in 2001. The 2007-08 Gopher wrestling season opens on Nov. 10 when Minnesota partakes in the 2007 Bison Open, hosted by North Dakota State. The defending national champions return to Williams Arena for their home opener Dec. 2.

Des Moines, IA -- September 13, 2007- Takedown Radio ( TDR) and the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) have taken their nutritional message beyond the airwaves by creating wrestling themed retail displays and recipe brochures. The campaign, titled "Pin and Win with Pork" was launched recently during Iowa's wildly popular State Fair. Free recipes were provided to the throngs of people visiting the IPPA fair location during the week long event. In total, nearly 100,000 prepared pork products were served at the IPPA location during the fair. "The real message here is proper nutrition, managing weight, and working toward peak performance" offered TDR founder and host Scott Casber. "This promotion creates a highly visible and attractive means to reinforce that message while providing additional value to consumers" Casber added. TDR will display the promotion during the numerous live broadcasts it provides from major wrestling competitions throughout the country during the upcoming wrestling season. Displays are also being provided to retail marketing partners including grocery, drug, and sporting goods merchants. "We're a day in and day out sponsor of TDR and a huge wrestling supporter", stated IPPA's Joyce Hoppes. "We believe we've created a new way to show our support as well as providing a fun promotion for a wide array of outlets" Hoppes concluded. Counter displays and four color recipe brochures are available without charge to retailers, schools, universities, wrestling camps, and sports programs. The promotion runs throughout the 2007-2008 wrestling season and will be featured on TDR's weekly broadcasts as well as additional live programming. TDR is heard Saturday mornings 9-11 AM on Des Moines Sports Station, KXNO1460 and around the world on takedownradio.com. Additionally, TDR has added international syndication through matchannel.com, Mat-magazine.com based throughout Europe. Counter displays and recipe cards can be requested by calling TDR at (515) 274-0849 or by email at arns.chris@gmail.com

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, under the veteran tutelage of head coach Troy Sunderland, will head into the 2007-08 season riding the crest of two straight superb seasons and featuring the perfect blend of veteran strength and youthful potential. Two All-Americans and three other qualifiers from the 2006-07 season return as do a number of key red-shirts. Add to that one of the nation's top recruiting classes and the Nittany Lions appear poised to start another journey towards Big Ten and NCAA glory. A total of seven starters from last year return along with a number of veterans who have started in years past. "We have a talented mix on this year's roster and our staff is looking forward to working with this group this year," Sunderland said. "With two All-Americans and a number of qualifiers returning, it gives our outstanding younger wrestlers the chance to work with - and learn from - the best." Leading the charge for Penn State will be three-time All-American Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) at 197 pounds and returning All-American Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.). Strayer was an All-American at 133 last year and will move up to 141 this season. In addition to that duo, national qualifiers Mark McKnight (McDonald, Pa.), Bubba Jenkins (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Dan Vallimont (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) all return. McKnight is a three-time qualifier at 125, Jenkins qualified last year as a true freshman at 157 and will wrestle at 149 this season while Vallimont reached the `round of 12' as a freshman at 149 last season and will move up to 157 for the new campaign. WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT BREAKDOWN 125: McKnight went 23-11 last year, bolting out to a 16-1 mark and a No. 2 national ranking. The senior from McDonald, Pa., will look to negotiate the Big Ten season as well as the Big Ten Championships in order to prep himself for an All-America run in March. McKnight has a superb 88-34 career record, wrestling for two seasons at Buffalo before debuting for PSU last year. Backing McKnight up will be red-shirt freshmen Eric Caschera (South Williamsport, Pa.) and Adam Smetana (Valencia, Pa.) as well as true freshman Desmond Moore (Easton, Pa.). Caschera went 3-10 in unattached action last season while Smetana was 1-2. Smetana will be out for much of the first term recovering from surgery. Moore finished third at the PIAA championships last year for Easton High School. Part-time 2005-06 starter Brad Pataky (Clearfield, Pa.), who red-shirted last year, will utilize an Olympic red-shirt this season as he strives to make the U.S. squad that will compete in Beijing in 2008. 133: With All-American Strayer moving up to 141, this lower weight class will see a spirited battle for the starting spot. Senior Tim Haas (Camp Hill, Pa.) will have a real shot at grabbing the starting spot here after taking an injury red-shirt in 2006-07. Haas was a starter throughout most of 2005-06 at 125 before an injury cut his season short just before March's tournament run. Haas, who was 5-0 in early season action last year, was 14-7 at 125 two years ago and has a 22-8 overall mark, including a 6-5 record in duals. Reserves at 133 could come from Penn State's talented group of 125-pounders or, perhaps, a member of a very deep corps of 141-pounders. Look for true freshman Chad Mitchell (Lilburn, Ga.) to compete at this weight. Mitchell was a Georgia State Champion in high school. 141: Strayer heads up a weight to the 141-pound class. The junior went 27-8 at 133 last year and walked away with a seventh place finish at nationals to earn his first All-America tag. He finished in the `round of 12' as a freshman a year prior. Strayer was 16-3 in duals in 2006-07 and was 7-4 in the post-season. He heads into his first year at 141 with a 53-14 career record. Five freshmen are in line to push Strayer for mat time as well. Mike Eagan (Morris Knolls, N.J.) is a red-shirt freshman who went 8-11 unattached last year. Matt Jacobs (Phoenix, Md.) Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.), Colby Pisani (Ridgway, Pa.) and Garrett Scott (Alexandria, Pa.) are all true freshmen ready to take their shots at this weight. Jacobs won the 2007 Maryland State title at 141; Molinaro is a three-time New Jersey State Champion and was the National High School Runner-Up; Pisani (who could also wrestle at 149) had two top five finishes at PIAAs; and Scott was a three-time PIAA Champion during his high school days. Scott was not a full-time student nor on the wrestling roster at Penn State a year ago and heads into 2007-08 as a true freshman. 149: Jenkins, a qualifier at 157 a year ago as a true freshman, moves down to 149 this year, a more natural weight for the 2007 FILA Junior World Champion. Fresh off an outstanding summer of freestyle action, Jenkins heads into the new season looking to make a run at All-America laurels at a lighter weight. The Virginia-native went 23-12 last year, with a 7-5 dual match mark and a 4-4 record in Big Ten action. He was 4-5 in the post-season. Red-shirt freshman Christian Harr (Hollidaysburg, Pa.) will also compete at this weight. Harr was 6-5 in unattached action last year. Joining Harr as a contender for action at this weight will be sophomore Adam Lynch (Mifflinburg, Pa.). Lynch was 4-4 at Navy last year and finished as high as third at the Pennsylvania championships. 157: Vallimont had an outstanding season last year, reaching the NCAA `round of 12' as a freshman at 149. The New Jersey native will move up to 157 where he will look to improve upon that, take the next step and become an All-American for the Nittany Lions. Vallimont went 22-12 in 2006-07, including a 12-7 mark in duals and a 5-3 record in Big Ten action. He was 6-4 in post-season action as well. Vallimont ended the year ranked No. 12 in the nation. Junior Jon Clemens (McVeytown, Pa.) is coming off an 11-8 season last year and has a 15-10 career record. Craig Owsiany (Phoenixville, Pa.) returns for his sophomore season at 157 as well. Owsiany was 0-2 last year. Joining the trio of veterans at this weight will be a stable of talented newcomers. Freshman Micah Bollinger (Mifflinburg, Pa.), who could also wrestle at 165, was a Bronze Medal winner at High School Nationals and a PIAA Runner-Up. Tim Darling (Nazareth, Pa.) is a three-time PIAA State Champion and won the High School National Championship as well. Shane Everett (Saylorsburg, Pa.), who could also wrestle at 165, was a state qualifier at Pleasant Valley High School. 165: Dave Rella (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) returns for his second go-round at 165 pounds after a solid freshman season. The talented Ohio-native went 21-13 as a true freshman. He posted 19 dual match points and three Big Ten wins. This year, the sophomore will be looking to earn his first trip to nationals and make some noise at NCAAs. Junior Mark Friend (Libertyville, Ill.) will also look to be a factor at this weight. Friend saw action as a starter for Penn State last year as well, going 6-5 overall, including a 3-2 dual match record. Friend heads into his junior year with a 9-7 career record. Red-shirt freshman Michael Lorenzo (Bellefonte, Pa.) rounds out the returning veterans at 165. Lorenzo posted a 1-9 mark in unattached action in 2006-07. Both Bollinger and Everett could move up from 157 to battle at 165 as well. 174: Gone is All-American James Yonushonis, but looking to fill those rather impressive shoes is red-shirt sophomore David Erwin (Urbana, Ohio). Erwin started as a true freshman at 165 in 2005-06, putting together an outstanding freshman campaign before an injury in the Big Ten Tournament kept him from advancing to nationals. The talented Ohio-native red-shirted last year and is now bigger, stronger and more driven to have an impact up at 174 pounds. Erwin went 23-8 as a true freshman, including a 10-2 dual match record and a 5-1 mark in Big Ten action. Looking to challenge Erwin at 174 is junior Jack Decker (Roseland, N.J.). Decker has started in each of his freshman and sophomore years (with a red-shirt in between) and has the potential to be an impact wrestler for Penn State as well. He has a 30-30 career record, including a 10-6 mark last year and a 20-24 record as a true freshman at 149 in 2004-05. 184: Junior Phil Bomberger (Port Royal, Pa.) and sophomore Mike Ward (Mayfield, Ohio) split time at 184 last year and the talented duo returns to battle for a starting spot again this season. Bomberger went 8-14 overall and has a 16-20 career record. Ward was 14-11 last season, which was his red-shirt freshman campaign. Junior Neil Bretz (Carlisle, Pa.), who has been plagued by injuries, returns this season. Bretz went 1-5 as a starter in duals in 2005-06. 197: Senior All-American Davis will embark upon his journey to become only Penn State's fourth four-time All-American and to grab the national title that has slipped away from him for three years. Already owner of a Big Ten title, will carry a 90-19 record into his final season after last year's 28-5 mark. He was a perfect 8-0 in Big Ten duals and was 7-0 in pins. Davis has a superb 41-5 career dual match record, is 22-1 in pins and has collected 169 career dual match points. Redshirt freshmen Nathan Andrews (Spring Mills, Pa.) and Justin Hepburn (Williamsport, Pa.) return at 197 as well. Andrews went 6-10, splitting time at 197 and HWT, last year in unattached action while Hepburn did not see any action. Joining the upper-weight wars will be freshman Jared Platt (Blairstown, N.J.). Platt won two Pan American Junior Gold Medals over the summer, was a two-time prep national champion and a junior national runner-up. HWT: With 2007 national runner-up Aaron Anspach denied another year by the NCAA, the heavyweight position will be one of the most hotly contested weight classes in the Penn State wrestling room. Sophomores John Laboranti (Scranton, Pa.) and Stefan Tighe (Erie, Pa.) will return after transfer seasons last year. Laboranti did not wrestle in 2006-07 while Tighe went 8-3 in unattached action and competed in the FILA Junior World Championships this summer. Laboranti transferred prior to last season from Virginia Tech while Tighe transferred in from Nebraska. Joining that veteran duo will be fellow sophomore Brendan Herlihy (Fairfield, Conn.) posted a solid 7-8 mark last season as a red-shirt freshman. True freshman Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio) comes in ready to compete for mat time as well. Wade was a two-time Ohio State Champion and a three-time finalist at St. Peter Chanel High School. THE SCHEDULE AHEAD The Nittany Lions will face one of the nation's toughest schedules once again. Penn State will face eight of the nation's best in its usual swing through the Big Ten this year. In addition, Penn State has put together a daunting non-conference slate that includes a return to the National Duals and a trip to Oklahoma State. The season begins with Wrestle-Offs on Nov. 4 and kicks off with a home dual against Maryland on Sunday, Nov. 11. Eastern power Hofstra comes to Rec Hall for a dual on Saturday, Nov. 17. Penn State will then take part in the Nittany Lion Open on Sunday, Dec. 2. The Nittany Lions hit the road for the first time with a dual swing that takes them to Lehigh (Friday, Dec. 7) and Oklahoma State (Sunday, Dec. 9). The dual in Stillwater will be the last of the fall semester. The spring session begins with the yearly match-up with Cornell. This time, Penn State and the Big Red will tangle in Rec Hall on Friday, Jan. 4. The next weekend, the Nittany Lions will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to take part in the 2008 National Duals. The annual dual match tournament once again features a field of the country's best collegiate programs. The only other non-conference dual on the schedule is the season finale at Lock Haven on Saturday, February 23. Penn State's eight-dual Big Ten schedule begins with a trip to Iowa on Sunday, Jan. 20. The Lions then visit Ohio State on Friday, Jan. 25, before returning home for a Rec Hall meeting with Indiana on Sunday, Jan. 27. A two dual swing through Illinois starts at Northwestern on Friday, Feb. 1, and concludes at Illinois on Sunday, Feb. 3. The Nittany Lions then host Michigan on Friday, Feb. 8, Michigan State on Friday, Feb. 15, and Purdue on Sunday, Feb. 17. Wisconsin and Minnesota rotate off the conference schedule this year. "We've created a very challenging schedule this season, one that will test us from the start and prepare us well for the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments," Sunderland said. "We face some of the East's top programs early on and return to the National Duals. Then, in the Big Ten portion of the schedule, we once again dive into the rugged conference battles that really prepare you mentally and physically for March. I'm very pleased at the make-up of the schedule and that our fans will once again be able to see the nation's best in Rec Hall." THE GOALS "Our goal, every year, is to win the Big Ten title and NCAA crown," Sunderland said. "That is what every team begins every season focusing on. To make runs at those goals, we need to focus on each portion of the season as a rung on a ladder, as a single step in our path towards becoming champions. The generous support of the Penn State Wrestling Booster Club enabled us to travel to Romania as a team this summer, and that experience helped this unit bond early and had them excited to return for the start of the new campaign. The pre-season needs to be focused and intense. We then need to attack the non-conference portion of our schedule with fire and balance. We can't peak too soon, yet we need to have early success to maintain our level of confidence. The Big Ten season is where things really ramp up and it's a gut-check time in terms of stamina, both mental and physical. The entire season builds up to the two tournaments in March and we need to focus on every little aspect of the journey."

DURHAM, N.C. -- Head coach Clar Anderson and the Duke wrestling team released their 2007-08 schedule today. The slate includes six regular season tournaments and upwards to 20 dual meets. All dates have been finalized, yet the times of some meets are still to be announced. The Blue Devils will have their annual exhibition Blue-White meet on Sat., Oct. 27, to determine rankings of their wrestlers in each weight class. The season kicks off on Sat., Nov. 3 in Charleston, S.C. at the Freshman and Sophomore Open hosted by the Citadel. That is followed by two more weekends of tournaments: Nov. 9-10 at the UNC Pembroke Open and Nov. 17 at the East Stroudsburg Open. Duke heads to Bloomington, Ind., on Sat., Nov. 24 for the Indiana Duals. Indiana, Oregon St., Ohio and Liberty will all be at the competition. Three more tournaments (two in the first weekend of the month and one in the last weekend) await the Blue Devils in December, with a four-week break in between. January and February are loaded with dual meets. The home opener is a dual matchup with ACC rival N.C. State on Wed., Jan. 9 at 7 p.m., in Cameron Indoor Stadium. At home, Duke also faces Virginia on Sun., Feb. 10 at 6 p.m., Virginia Tech at 1 p.m. and VMI at 4 p.m. on Sat., Feb. 16, and Duquesne on Sun., Feb 24 at 6 p.m., which will also be senior night. The ACC Championship will be hosted by the University of Maryland on Sat., March 8 in College Park, Md. The NCAA Tournament takes place March 20-22 in St. Louis, Mo. The Blue Devils are coming off of a 7-9 season and return seven of 10 starters to their lineup.

Columbia, Mo. -- Missouri wrestling Head Coach Brian Smith announced today that this year's TigerStyle Wrestling Clinic will be held Sunday, Oct. 14, beginning at 10 a.m. (CT) in the Missouri wrestling facility located on the fourth floor of the Hearnes Center. The entry fee is $40 and includes three technique sessions followed by an open mat/scrimmage and autograph session. Lunch is also provided as well as a wrestling camp t-shirt. The six-and-a-half hour clinic is open to athletes between the ages of seven to seniors in high school. Smith, along with assistant coaches Shawn Charles and Lee Pritts, volunteer assistant and two-time National Champion Ben Askren and members of the nationally ranked wrestling squad will be on hand to teach their unique TigerStyle method. Held in the state-of-the-art 60x104 foot wrestling facility, participants will experience training sessions with the coaching staff as well as have the opportunity to meet and get autographs from some of the nation's finest wrestlers. To register for the Oct. 14 camp, please visit www.mutigers.com for a registration form or contact Pritts at 573-673-8845. Pritts can also be reached by email at prittsl@missouri.edu.

IOWA CITY, IA -- University of Iowa Assistant Wrestling Coach Dan Gable has decided to step down from that position. The announcement came today from Head Wrestling Coach Tom Brands. Brands said Gable will remain fully engaged in the day-to-day operations of Iowa's wrestling program, but without the title or on-the-mat responsibilities that come with the title of assistant coach. "Dan has been my coach and my mentor. What's important to me is that he's going to remain involved in the Hawkeye wrestling program and will continue to play a significant role as we continue to make progress toward the goal of domination," said Brands. "My assistant coach's role was always temporary and I'm not going anywhere. I'll be directly involved in our wrestling program as much as NCAA rules allow me to be," said Gable. Gable, arguably the state of Iowa's most successful student-athlete and coach and the architect of one of college athletics' longest running dynasties, will return to his role as special assistant to the director of athletics effective Oct. 1. Another full-time coach will be added to the wrestling staff. "Dan has been my coach and my mentor. What's important to me is that he's going to remain involved in the Hawkeye wrestling program and will continue to play a significant role as we continue to make progress toward the goal of domination." UI Wrestling Coach Tom Brands "I'm very excited for everyone who loves the sport of wrestling and cares about wrestling at the University of Iowa and worldwide. I feel good about the direction of our program and the leadership and the young men who are involved in our program," he continued. "What isn't temporary, and what will never be temporary, is the respect and appreciation I have for Tom, his drive and determination, and the love he has for wrestling. We're in very, very good hands and there is absolutely no doubt that we're headed in the right direction." "The wrestling team is very lucky to have two great coaching minds like Coaches Brands and Gable available every day to help make us better," said senior Mark Perry, the defending Big Ten Conference and NCAA champion at 165 pounds. "I look forward to working with both of them again this year in helping our team win championships." Perry added. Brands said he has no timetable for the hiring of a full-time assistant coach. "I have great guys around me including Coach Gable. They are all totally committed. At some point down the road, we'll get the position filled with someone who shares my commitment to developing young student-athletes to win championships," said Brands.

NIACC has announced today that current University of Iowa Assistant Coach and 2007 World Team member, Doug Schwab will be headlining the NIACC Fall Wrestling Clinic. The clinic is slated for Saturday October 20th at 9:00 am. Schwab was also the 2006 Pan Am Gold medalist and a 3x All-American and 1999 NCAA Champion for the Hawkeyes. Other clinicians will be the NIACC Coaching Staff and athletes. The clinic is open to grades 1-12 and all coaches. The cost will be $55 and includes, 4 Technique sessions, clinic t-shirt, lunch, USA Wrestling DVD, Copper Certification for coaches and a 2007-08 USAW membership card. Registration form can be found at http://www.niacc.edu/athletics/wrestling/2007NIACCFallClinicFlyer.pdf

This week's edition of "On the Mat" will feature Wade Schalles. Schalles is one of the most dynamic and dominant wrestlers ever. While wrestling at Clarion University, Schalles won two NCAA titles and became the first wrestler to ever pin 100 opponents during his college career. He is in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for recording the most wins (821) and most pins (530) for a career. Each year Wrestling International Newsmagazine gives out the Schalles and Junior Schalles Awards to the most dominant college and high school wrestlers in the nation. Schalles is currently working with Media Sports Productions, a non-profit organization with the sole purpose of helping promote the sport of wrestling. The goal of the organization is to get wrestling on television on a consistent basis. "On the Mat" is a weekly wrestling radio program that airs every Wednesday night. This week's broadcast can be heard live from 6-7 p.m. Central Standard Time. The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, hosts the show. "On the Mat" can be heard live on the Internet at www.kcnzam.com or locally in Northeast Iowa on 1650, The Fan. Feel free to e-mail radio@wrestlingmuseum.org with questions or comments about the show.

Mason City, IA -- In November, North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, IA announced the return of college wrestling to the school after a 32 year hiatus. The Trojans last fielded a team in 1976 and won the national championship in 1973. Thirty-two years later, the Trojans will once again field a team. Head Coach Richard Fergola was announced as the skipper for the revival of the Trojan wrestling program in March and in two months compiled the nation's No. 1 recruiting class in non-division I as rated by Wrestling USA magazine. "I am very excited about these young men that have committed to our program," stated Fergola. The 2007-08 Trojan wrestling team will be made up of eight different states including nineteen individuals from Iowa. The Trojans will be represented by states such as Nebraska, Minnesota, California, Arizona, Virginia, Missouri, and Illinois. There were thirteen individual state championships won among this years group, with twelve All-American honors, three national championships, seven nationally ranked individuals and one high school All-American. The in-state talent that will help begin the inaugural season at NIACC is very rich with experience and local ties. Nineteen individuals hail from Iowa. They consist of Seth Cooper (Keokuk), Nathan Jones (Ankeny), Jordan Bartoszek (Mason City), Tyler Eckerman (Garner), Casey Watts (La Porte City), T.J. Moen (Des Moines), Ben Riedinger (Council Bluffs), A.J. Youngblut (Raymond), Harley Godderz (Rudd), Jeff Ragan (Mitchellville), Nick Fox (Riceville), Clarence Jordan (Waterloo), Jordan Graham (Mason City), Jason Schweer (Waverly), Tylor Pilcher (Fairfield), Luke Stika (Cresco), Jadd Dithmart (Ogden), Skyler Morrison (Sioux City), and Hiram Serrano (Muscatine). The Iowa group is highlighted by a handful of state placers and state champions. Leading this group is four-time state placer and two-time state champion T.J. Moen from Saydel High School. Moen made the finals three times winning two titles and also placing seventh as a sophomore. Moen was very successful on the national scene winning a Cadet Greco National Championship and placing third in Junior Greco in Fargo. Moen is currently the No. 12 rated senior in the country by Wrestling USA magazine and No. 7 by Intermat. A handful of state placers from Iowa will help bring the Trojans back to national prominence. Nathan Jones, a team-mate of Moen for Saydel, placed 6th in 2007. Union High School product Casey Watts finished as a three-time state placer out of La Porte City. Don Bosco will be represented by A.J. Youngblut who finished 7th. The upper weights will be led by a couple of state runners-up in Luke Stika and Jadd Dithmart. Both placed 2nd respectively at 189. Stika for Cresco-Crestwood and Dithmart for Ogden. Hiram Serrano placed 6th at heavyweight. Bordering state Nebraska will be well represented with two very accomplished young men. Leading the way will be three-time undefeated state champion DaVaughn Perkins. Perkins comes to NIACC from Omaha North High School where he went 86-0 with three titles. Perkins also claimed a Cadet National Championship and All-American honors in Fargo, most recently placing third in Junior Greco-Roman. Perkins is the No. 6 rated senior in the nation as rated by Wrestling USA magazine, No. 10 by Intermat and is a Top 100 recruit. Lastly from the Cornhusker state is Jerald Parker of Lincoln Northstar High School. Parker was a two-time state placer, finishing as the state runner-up in 2007. Arizona will also be providing a quad of student-athletes for NIACC's new program. All four come from Camp Verde High School, a powerhouse in Arizona that is always loaded with talent. 2x state placer and heavyweight state champion Beau Tudor will make his way to Iowa to continue his academic and athletic career. Tudor won the 2007 state championship while placing third in 2006. Brothers and former team-mates of Tudor's are Aaron and Tyler Hancock. Aaron claimed two state titles for Camp Verde and was ranked No. 21 in the nation in 2005 by Wrestling USA magazine. Tyler was a two-time state placer finishing fourth and sixth. Rounding the Camp Verde clan is 2007 state runner-up, Preston Brogdon. Just north of Iowa is Minnesota which will provide NIACC with two very talented young student-athletes. Out of Burnsville is David Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstrand was a two-time Minnesota state placer, finishing third and fifth respectively. Bjorkstrand was also successful on the national scene claiming All-American honors on both the Cadet and Junior level in Fargo finishing sixth twice. Heavyweight state runner-up Jacob Schotanus from Southland High School will look to make an impact at heavyweight. Six other states each have one individual that will join the Trojans. Leading this group is arguably the top recruit in the country in Albert White. White hails from Harvey, IL where he claimed four Illinois state championships for St. Rita High School. White also claimed the 2006 Junior National Freestyle title in Fargo. White is currently the No. 1 rated senior in the country by Wrestling USA magazine, No. 2 by Intermat, No. 1 by Amateur Wrestling News, No. 1 by W.I.N. magazine and the No. 3 recruit in the nation by Intermat. The east coast will provide one student-athlete from a storied program. Timothy Hill comes to Iowa from nationally ranked Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, VA. Tim was a Virginia state qualifier and placed 6th at the Iron Man Tournament. Cody Hogan comes to Iowa from Richmond, MO where he was a four-time state placer finishing his senior year as a state champion and finishing third twice and second as a freshman. Hogan also finished as a high school senior All-American placing 5th at NHSCA Senior Nationals in Virginia Beach in 2007. Hogan is currently ranked No. 8 by Wrestling USA magazine and No. 7 by Intermat. Rounding out the class will be two transfers that could make an immediate impact for the Trojans. These two young men all competed in college for another program and will get back on track at NIACC. Head Coach Richard Fergola comes to NIACC from Dana College. Glenn Rhees wrestled for Dana College in 2005 and will be making his way back into college wrestling at NIACC. Rhees was highly decorated as a prep placing fourth in the California state championships and claimed three Junior Greco All-American honors in Fargo. As a red-shirt at Dana College, Rhees placed second at the prestigious Kaufman-Brand Open at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Jordan Graham who is originally from Mason City, was a starter for powerhouse Wartburg, before coming back to Mason City. "NIACC and my coaching staff did an absolutely wonderful job in the recruitment of these student-athletes," said Fergola. I am very excited about our first year at NIACC and the opportunity to coach such an elite level group."

World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) will provide same-day delayed coverage of the 2007 FILA World Wrestling Championship from Baku, Azerbaijan, on September 17 - 22. Fans can log on to www.wcsn.com to watch top athletes from over 70 countries compete in wrestling's most important competition as well as the first Olympic qualifying event of the year. Viewers tuning in will also hear special commentary provided by 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist, Jamill Kelly. In addition to a strong female competition, male athletes from around the world will go head-to-head in the Freestyle and Greco Roman categories. For U.S fans, the U.S championship team includes No. 1 ranked twenty-year-old Henry Cejudo, gold medalist at the recent Pan American Games in Brazil and the youngest U.S. World Team member in freestyle since 1979. Rounding out the team is Mike Zadick, 2006 World silver medalist, Daniel Cormier, 2007 Pan American bronze medalist, and Joe William, two-time World bronze medalist. What: Same-day delay and on-demand coverage of 2007 World Wrestling Championships Online: www.wcsn.com/wrestling When: September 17 - 22, 2007 Schedule*: Monday, September 17, 2007 - Men Greco- Roman 55-60-66kg, Bronze & Gold Finals - 12 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - Men Greco-Roman 74-84-96kg, Bronze & Gold Finals - 12 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - Men Greco- Roman 120kg, men's Freestyle 55 & 60kg, Bronze & Gold Finals - 12 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET Thursday, September 20, 2007 - Men's Freestyle 66-74-84kg, Bronze & Gold Finals - 12 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET Friday, September 21, 2007 - Men's Freestyle 96 & 120kg, - Female Wrestling 48kg, Bronze & Gold Finals - 12 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday, September 22, 2007 - Female Wrestling 51-55-59kg, Bronze & Gold Finals - 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. ET Sunday, September 23, 2007 - Female Wrestling 63-67-72kg, Bronze & Gold Finals - 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. ET *Schedule subject to change. Visit Online:www.wcsn.com/wrestling for the most up-to-date schedule. Wrestling enthusiasts can follow every minute of the action online with live and on-demand coverage, via a $4.95 monthly subscription, plus free access to results, video highlights, breaking news, behind-the-scenes features, and more. Visit www.wcsn.com for detailed schedules. About WCSN: World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) is the premier destination for fans of Olympic and lifestyle sports, delivering an immersive experience via exclusive live and on demand coverage of world class competitions, interaction with top athletes and in depth access to sports news and information year round. WCSN offers comprehensive coverage of over 60 sports disciplines, through exclusive long term programming agreements across a number of key International Federations and National Governing Bodies. Major championship events in sports ranging from Track & Field, Skiing, Swimming, Gymnastics and Cycling to Volleyball, Karate and Taekwondo are featured online at www.wcsn.com and on television via WCSN's 24/7 cable sports network. WCSN also markets Olympic sports in partnership with International Federations, National Governing Bodies, local organizations, clubs, sponsors, and through related websites and publications.

HEMPSTEAD, NY -- Nine opponents that finished in the Top 25 at last March's NCAA Division I Championship, seven home matches, three dual tournaments and two in-season tournaments highlight the 2007-08 Hofstra University Wrestling schedule announced Wednesday by Pride head coach Tom Shifflet. Hofstra will also host the 2008 Colonial Athletic Association Wrestling Championships on March 7 and 8 at the David S. Mack Sports Complex. The Pride, who finished seventh at the 2007 NCAA Championships, will open the 2007-08 season at home at the Mack Sports Complex on Saturday, November 10 when the University of Missouri comes to Long Island for a 7 p.m. match. The Tigers finished third in last year's NCAA Championships. Other NCAA Top 25 finishers that the Pride will host include: number nine Edinboro and number 15 Central Michigan on January 6; number 16 Nebraska on February 17; number 22 Harvard on December 9; and number 25 Pennsylvania on January 27. Hofstra will also face several other top 25 programs on the road and in dual tournaments including: number five Oklahoma State at the Northeast Duals in Guilderland Center, NY on November 24; number 11 Penn State in State College, PA on November 17; and number 12 Cornell in Ithaca, NY. In addition to the Northeast Duals in the Albany, NY suburbs, the Pride will also face nationally-ranked competition at the NWCA-Cliff Keen National Duals in Cedar Falls, IA on January 12 and 13. Participants in the National Duals include Central Michigan, Cornell, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, UT-Chattanooga, and West Virginia. Hofstra will also compete for individual and team titles at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, NC on December 29 and 30, and at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on November 30 and December 1.

The 2007 National Champion University of Minnesota wrestling team will visit Washington, D.C. on Friday, Sept. 21 to commemorate their third NCAA title in the past six years. Head coach J Robinson, University athletic director Joel Maturi, Minnesota's championship squad and several team staff and administration members will be making stops at the Capital, Pentagon and the White House, where they will meet President George W. Bush. Friday morning, the team will enjoy tours at both the Capitol and Pentagon buildings before their afternoon appointment at the White House with the President. In 2001, the then-national champion Gophers became the first collegiate wrestling team to ever visit the White House, spending 25 minutes with President Bush and receiving a personal tour of the Oval Office from our country's chief executive. During Coach Robinson's tenure at Minnesota, the Gophers wrestling team has become one of the most successful programs in collegiate athletic history. The Gophers have captured three national championships since 2001, boast 10 NCAA individual champions since 1998, 62 All-Americans in the last decade and six Big Ten titles in nine years. Minnesota stormed through the 2006-2007 season, going 20-1 in dual meets and gaining team titles at the National Duals and Big Ten Championships before taking home their third NCAA Championship on March 18. Five Gophers – Jayson Ness (125 lbs.), Dustin Schlatter (149), C.P. Schlatter (157), Roger Kish (184) and Cole Konrad (Hwt.) – finished in the top eight at nationals and earned All-American status. The Gophers' second Washington visit also marks the return of 2007 national heavyweight champion Konrad, the only Gopher All-American to graduate last spring. Konrad cemented his place alongside Golden Gopher legends Verne Gagne, Tim Hartung and Damion Hahn by winning his second straight national championship in 2007. Konrad finished his career with 76 wins in a row and a 154-13-0 career record, just five wins behind the all-time mark of 159 held by Ed Giese. He also had 50 pins, which rank second in school history. Cole Konrad also became Minnesota's fifth four-time All-American, joining Chad Kraft, Luke Becker, Jared Lawrence and Hahn. The 2007-08 Gopher wrestling season opens on Nov. 10 when Minnesota partakes in the 2007 Bison Open, hosted by North Dakota State. The defending national champions return to Williams Arena for their home opener Dec. 2.

Every fall, as a new college wrestling season starts, individual wrestlers and their teams work towards one ultimate goal: to win the national championship at the NCAAs in March. 1947 Cornell College Wrestling TeamEven for the programs that are loaded with talent, the odds of claiming the national team title are very long. In the nearly 80 years of NCAA wrestling championships, the vast majority of team titles have been won by just five teams: Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. Of course, there have been exceptions, including Iowa State Teachers College (now University of Northern Iowa) in 1950 … Penn State in 1953 … Michigan State in 1967 … and Arizona State in 1988. Arguably the biggest "exception" involved the smallest school ever to win a team title at the NCAAs: Cornell College in 1947. That year, the school with just 650 students located in eastern Iowa snatched the team crown from the mat powerhouses of the post-World War II era, Oklahoma State and Iowa State Teachers … becoming the smallest school to ever win the team title, and the only private college to do so. (This was before today's three-division system.) What's more, Cornell became the first Iowa-based school to win the NCAA team title … earning that distinction ahead of the much larger state schools that are home to the Hawkeyes, Cyclones and Panthers. How did Cornell do it? With two individual champions, and a total of six All-Americans (the top four placers in 1947) out of eight weight classes. But there's so much more to the story… We're not in New York Just to be clear from the start… the Cornell that won the NCAA wrestling team title sixty years ago is not Cornell University, the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York. In fact, at its website, Cornell College lets it be known that it's actually older than the university of similar name in upstate New York, and claims to have more alums listed in Who's Who of America. While Cornell University's sports teams are known as the Big Red, back in the 1940s, Cornell College's teams were called the Purple. (They are now the Rams … but the school colors remain royal purple and white.) Cornell College was founded by the Methodists in 1853, and is located in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, a prosperous, picturesque town of about 4,000 residents situated about a half-hour north of Iowa City, and an equal distance east of Cedar Rapids. Walk around the rolling, leafy-green campus -- one of only two to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places –- and it's easy to imagine the place as it was sixty years ago, when the Purple ruled the college wrestling scene. Although Cornell's current total enrollment of approximately 1,200 students is about double what it was in 1947, many of the buildings on the Hilltop -- the main part of the campus -- are from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Meet Coach Paul Scott Paul Scott was a long-time fixture on the Cornell College campus, starting as a college student in the late 1920s. Born in 1905 in West Liberty, Iowa -- about 40 miles southeast of Mt. Vernon -- "Scotty" was a natural athlete, playing basketball and baseball in high school. Coming to Cornell to play those sports, the 5'4", 125-pound Scott's dreams of being a college cager and star of the diamond were derailed by some unusual circumstances. However, according to an unpublished interview with the late writer Robert Hilton, Scott said he "kind of lied" about his football experience when he registered at Cornell (he had been on the bench in high school, quitting in disgust when not put into a football game when his team was being trounced). Despite that lack of experience, Scott apparently impressed head coach Dick Barker, who made him quarterback by the end of his freshman season. Paul ScottThe football coach also saw potential for Paul Scott beyond the gridiron. Scott, quoted in a profile written by Robert Hilton for Jay Hammond's book The History of Collegiate Wrestling, says that coach Barker told the quarterback to "get my ass out for wrestling." (It so happens that Dick Barker was also the wrestling coach at Cornell.) Scott didn't disappoint his coach. He was a conference champ at 121 pounds, invited to try out for the 1928 Olympic team, and was captain of both the wrestling and football teams his senior year. After graduating from Cornell College in 1929, Paul Scott was unable to afford graduate school to pursue his dream of being a sociologist, so he went into teaching and coaching in high schools and small colleges in Iowa and Missouri. During his summers off, he earned a master's degree in physical education health at Columbia University. In the spring of 1941, Paul Scott was invited back to his college alma mater, inheriting the head wrestling coaching position from his college mentor, Dick Barker. In his first season as coach in 1942, Scott's Purple wrestlers compiled an 8-2 record in a schedule loaded with Big Ten opponents. In a war-shortened 1943 season, Cornell had a perfect 8-0 record, and placed second in the team standings at the national AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) meet. While the wrestling program was suspended during World War II, Scott worked in Cornell's admissions office, and as a referee in high school wrestling matches, where he got a firsthand look at potential Purple grapplers. The war and wrestling World War II had a profound affect on college wrestling. There were no NCAA championships from 1942 to 1945; most able-bodied, college-age men went off to serve in the military, so most collegiate wrestling programs were suspended. Although the war ended in the summer of 1945, it took a while for most programs to get back to pre-war strength as wrestlers slowly found their way back to campus. Most programs competed in fewer events in the 1945-46 season than they had before the war. In fact, according to The History of Collegiate Wrestling, the NCAA had not planned to have a college wrestling championship in 1946, but Oklahoma State offered to host the event… and, in fact, orchestrated a letter-writing campaign. The NCAA relented, and 1946 NCAAs took place at Gallagher Hall in Stillwater. Because of the last-minute scheduling of the championships, participation was pretty much limited to Midwestern schools. In fact, only fifty-four wrestlers from seventeen schools found their way to the 1946 NCAAs … the smallest turnout since the first NCAAs in 1928. (By comparison, the 1941 NCAAs at Lehigh welcomed 129 wrestlers from thirty-six schools. The 1942 NCAAs – which occurred after the US had entered the war -- saw 79 wrestlers from twenty-three schools compete.) In the years immediately after the war, college campuses experienced an influx of students, fueled by war veterans taking advantage of the G.I. Bill that paid college tuition for those who served in the military. By the 1946-47 season, college wrestling was as strong as ever, with these vets -- as well as kids straight out of high school – flocking to the sport in record numbers. Cornell College was no exception. According to wrestling historian Arno Niemand -- who's writing a book about the 1947 Cornell team -- "Coach Paul Scott had lost eight of his eleven starters to the war in 1943." After the war, Cornell's wrestling program was forced to start fresh. Three amigos "Two-thirds of the guys on that team had never seen a wrestling mat," Richard Small, one of the 1947 Cornell team members honored at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Honors Weekend in June 2007, told Roger Moore of the Stillwater NewsPress. "We had the nucleus of three guys who came from Waterloo West, but most of us were just hard-nosed country boys." (Small, originally from Olmsted Falls in Ohio, was one of those who had not wrestled in high school.) The three that Small is referring to -- Dick Hauser, Leo Thomsen, and Lowell Lange -- were all 1946 Iowa state champs who came out of Waterloo West, a high school with five straight team titles from 1941-1946, and an enduring tradition of turning out great grapplers over the years, including Dan Gable in the 1960s. Lowell Lange, Leo Thomsen, and Dick HauserThe Wahawk trio of Hauser, Thomsen and Lange probably could have wrestled at any college anywhere in the country. Many in the wrestling world would have bet on Iowa State Teachers College (ISTC) for three basic reasons: it was one of the top wrestling programs in the country, with all-time greats such as Bill Nelson, Gerry Leeman and Bill Koll in the starting lineup … it was coached by the highly respected Dave McCuskey … and, being in Cedar Falls, it was close to their hometown of Waterloo. Here's how Paul Scott described the wooing process to bring the talented threesome to Cornell College: "I refereed the state meet and knew how good they were," Scott told wrestling writer/historian Mike Chapman in a 1997 interview for a cover story in the Cornell Report alumni magazine to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Purple winning the NCAA team title. "I also knew they came from solid families and I tried to convince their parents that Cornell would be a good place for them. Dick Hauser's dad ran a restaurant in Waterloo, and I would stop there from time to time. Dick was the key, I felt, sort of the leader of the three. Dick's father had confidence in me." "One of the boys' fathers asked Dave (McCuskey) if these kids were able to beat a senior, would they make the team at ISTC. Dave apparently said no, not if the other boy was a senior. And that did it, I think," according to coach Scott. "I was out for track and didn't get down there (for a visit to Cornell)," recalls Lowell Lange, quoted in the 1997 alumni magazine article. "Dave McCuskey was really after me and I was planning on going there. But when Hauser and Thomsen said they were going to Cornell, I decided to go too. The three of us wanted to go somewhere together." A road trip with "Scotty" may have also clinched the deal. In 1946, Paul Scott invited the three Waterloo West wrestlers to go with him to the national AAU championships at the New York Athletic Club. (High school wrestlers were eligible to compete in the event.) Hauser and Lange won national titles… while Scott won over the Wahawk trio. "On the trip to New York City I got to know Scott," Lowell Lange told Robert Hilton in his unpublished profile of the Cornell coach. "He was a guy you couldn't help but like. He had an uncanny memory for names, and no one could tell a story better." A solid lineup at every weight The fab freshmen from Waterloo West wrestled as starters at the lighter end of the Cornell College lineup, with Dick Hauser at 121 pounds (who teammate Richard Small considered to be "the most dominant wrestler at that immediate time"), Leo Thomsen at 128, and Lowell Lange at 136. The Purple were blessed with a balance of mat talent in the middle and upper weights as well. Most of them were veterans of the military … and the wrestling mat. Among the starters who coach Scott had seen in AAU action before they went off to war: Rodger Snook, Fred Dexter, and Al Partin. Kent Lange -- Lowell's older brother -- had served in the Air Force in World War II. Nicknamed the Milkman, Rodger Snook, a native of Newton, New Jersey, and a three-time state champ, wrestled primarily in the 145-pound weight class for Cornell. Waterloo's Kent Lange wrestled at 155, while the 165-pound starting slot was usually held by "blond bomber" Fred Dexter of Davenport, Iowa. Stepping up to wrestle heavyweight was Al Partin of Maywood, Illinois, who, according to the The Cornellian student newspaper, was lighter in weight than most big men he battled. Dale ThomasRounding out the starting line-up (usually competing at 175 pounds) was Dale "Whitey" Thomas, a native of nearby Marion, Iowa, who brought a wealth of experience to the Cornell wrestling team when he came on board in the middle of the 1947 season. A 1943 AAU national champ who never wrestled in high school, Thomas served in the Navy, then coached at an Iowa high school for one year before pursuing his dream of playing football in the Big Ten. While at Purdue, he told coach Scott that he would rather be back at Cornell. R.K. Scott, son of coach Scott, said, "He convinced Tug Wilson, Big Ten commissioner, to let Thomas transfer to Cornell." According to Richard Small, Dale Thomas wrestled in the Purdue vs. Michigan dual, then joined the Cornell wrestlers as they headed east to battle Lehigh. To his fellow Purple wrestlers, "Whitey" was good as gold; he was elected team captain. Insights into Paul Scott as coach "Paul Scott was the first modern college wrestling coach," asserts Richard Small. "At the time, most coaches waited for wrestlers to come to them. (Scott) went out and actively looked for talent. For instance, he saw Snook in action at the AAUs. He also saw Al Partin working out with Henry Wittenberg in New York." "(Scott) had a team that was well experienced," Lowell Lange told Robert Hilton in 2003. "He wasn't a teacher of wrestling. His influence was in fortitude and conditioning. He was an incredible person who made you naturally feel wanted." In that Hilton profile, Dale Thomas is quoted as saying, "(Scott) had not kept up with all the latest moves in wrestling. But he loved the sport and he was a salesman. He put a spirit into you that you never wanted to stop. Every time you stepped out on to the mat, you knew he was right there with you." "He was like a second father to me." R.K. Scott, who was seven years old when his father coached the Cornell team to its national titles, said, "As the only child, I had more access to what was going on. I was able to travel with the team. I went to the gym to watch (the wrestlers) work out every day." Paul Scott's only son shared a story that provides a multi-faceted look into how the coach interacted with his wrestlers: "Dad would give each wrestler a rubdown before each match, and give specific instructions to each man. Then, once that was done, he'd raise hell to get them fired up." "In coaching, you learn a lot as you go along," Paul Scott told Robert Hilton. "It's an awful power you have over kids. You work on attitude, positive thinking, motivation. I never had a guy who didn't give me his best effort." Cornell's Cinderella season During the 1946-47 regular season, the Cornell wrestlers took on some of the top teams in the country at the time, including Iowa State (champs of the Big Six -- predecessor to the Big Twelve of today), Illinois (team champs of the Big Nine, now known as the Big Ten), Wisconsin, and Nebraska. R.K. Scott remembers accompanying his dad and the wrestling team to away meets. "Travel conditions were rugged. No fancy hotels for the team; dad knew every YMCA in the country. The guys never complained." Look through the Cornell College archives about the 1947 wrestling team, and there are many mentions of the old International Harvester truck/station wagon with serious engine problems … and no heater. According to R.K. Scott, that was just one of the vehicles that formed the caravan that took the Purple wrestlers to out-of-town events. "We would ride in our family's '43 Mercury four-door, and then there was the Salisbury's new Dodge wagon. There were two brothers on the team (John and James Salisbury) whose dad was the Dodge dealer in Waterloo, and let them use the wagon." "There would sometimes be fights along the way, arguing who got to ride in which car." This caravan took the Cornell matmen on a big road trip to the east in early February, where they topped Army 27-2… bested McBurney Athletic Club in New York City 24-7 … and got a 23-13 win over the Ithaca, New York Athletic Club. Arguably the biggest dual of the trip was taking on Lehigh in their home gym. According to Cornell wrestler Richard Small: "Two Cornell guys had ear problems, so Scott asked (Lehigh coach Billy) Sheridan if they could wear headgear. Sheridan said no. Scott then said, ‘We'll show those sons of bitches!'" (Back then, headgear was not mandatory, and, in fact, was a rather rare sight in college wrestling.) Show them they did. The Purple wrestlers were not cowed by Lehigh's reputation -- or their 3,000 fans. In fact, Cornell handed Sheridan his worst defeat in 36 years of coaching with a 36-0 shut-out, with pins scored by Hauser, Thomsen, Lowell Lange, Snook, Dexter and Partin. (Listening to an audio recording of the Lehigh radio broadcast of the dual captured by Gordon "Rick" Meredith, Cornell's student manager, it's incredible to hear the Lehigh crowd grow progressively quieter as their men fell one-by-one to the visitors from Mt. Vernon, Iowa.) In their wake, the Cornell team left some believers back east. Fred Nonnemacher, sports editor of the Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) Globe-Times said, "The best team in my 26 years of watching the man top teams of the east and west, and every NCAA meet but one during that time. One Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) team of the mid-thirties might compare but Cornell has more finesse than any I recall, and there is not a weak link in the entire outfit." West Point coach Lloyd Appleton -- a wrestling teammate of Scott's at Cornell College -- declared, "Probably the greatest team ever to hit the east." Fans and the media back in Mt. Vernon were also believers in the power of the Purple. The Cornellian provided extensive coverage of each dual meet (rivaling that of other winter sports), and of the wrestlers themselves. All that ink helped fuel fan interest, too. According to coach Paul Scott, "Students would start camping out in front of the gym at noon and build fires on the sidewalk to keep warm. The gym seated about 1,000 but it would be packed all the way to the very top. They hung from the rafters, literally." On the road or at home, the Cornell wrestlers must have been an impressive sight even before they stepped out onto the mat. They entered the gym in what The Cornellian described as "purple boxing robes." For their wrestling matches, they wore purple tights with a white stripe on the side of each leg, running from waist to foot, with white shorts that fit snugly over the tights. Normally, the Purple grapplers wrestled stripped to the waist, as wrestlers at many college programs in the Midwest did in the 1940s. (Shirtless wrestling was legal under NCAA rules up to the mid 1960s; today's singlets did not become common in college wrestling until the 1970s.) Tying up with the Tutors At the end of the 1946-47 dual-meet season, tiny Cornell College had racked up an incredible 12-0-1 record. The one blemish on an otherwise perfect season: a 12-12 dual with Iowa State Teachers College Panthers -- also known as the Tutors -- in late January at the Men's Gym at Cedar Falls. "It was as fine a dual meet as you'd ever want to see," coach Scott told Mike Chapman for the 1997 Cornell Report. "Two great teams giving it all they had." Together, the two teams had among the very best collegiate wrestlers of the era -- a wealth of defending and future NCAA champs, as well as two Tutors who would go on to compete one year later at the 1948 Olympics in London: Bill Nelson, and Gerry Leeman (who earned a silver medal in freestyle). Paul Scott's son R.K. recalls overhearing his dad's instructions to his men before the dual: "Don't get pinned or I'll kill you!" "The meet opened up with a battle of two Waterloo West alums -- (Dick) Hauser and (James) Stoyanhoff, with Hauser winning 4-0," according to Arno Niemand. "Then, the tide shifted with (Gerry) Leeman beating (Leo) Thomsen 10-2. Next, Lowell Lange -- arguably the greatest control wrestler -- shut out Russ Bush, a 1946 NCAA finalist, 3-0 … The momentum stayed with Cornell as Snook beat Neil Johnson 6-0." Bill Koll, defending NCAA champ at 145 pounds, moved up one weight class to 155. Niemand says, "When Scott sent out (Wallace) Littell, he said, 'Don't try to stand up on him, and don't get pinned.' Littell got slammed to the mat by Koll, and was knocked out for a time, but he was revived, and managed not to get pinned." Koll got the 8-1 victory, and started a bit of a streak for the hometown heroes, with Bill Nelson getting a 7-2 decision over Al Partin at 165, and ISTC's 175-pounder LeRoy Alitz defeating Charlie Voyce 10-4. In the last match of the evening, Cornell's Fred Dexter -- normally the Purple's man at 165 -- moved up to heavyweight, where he held Jim Jenson scoreless 4-0. Final score: 12-12. Perhaps an indicator of just how evenly matched these two teams were, none of the matches ended in a pin! The 1947 NCAAs The 1947 NCAA college wrestling championships were held at Huff Hall at the University of Illinois in Champaign on March 28-29. (Back then, the NCAAs were a two-day event.) According to The History of Collegiate Wrestling, thirty-two schools brought 101 wrestlers to the tournament. To put those numbers in perspective, that's slightly fewer schools and participants than at the 1941 NCAAs, but a significant increase over the 1946 championships … and about one-third the number of wrestlers at the 2007 NCAA Division I championships. In its in-depth, pre-event analysis, The Cornellian openly wondered if Oklahoma State would win its eighth straight official team title; those with doubts about the Cowboys seemed to lean towards either Cornell College or Iowa State Teachers as having the mat talent to take the crown. As Cornell's student paper pointed out, two of the three top team title contenders had serious gaps in their line-ups. Oklahoma State was missing its defending champ at 175 pounds, George Dorsch, who had been defeated in wrestle-offs by freshman Jim Gregson … while ISTC was missing its 128-pound titlewinner Gerry Leeman, who suffered torn rib cartilage before the tournament. By contrast, Cornell's entire starting lineup was ready to wrestle for the title. Let's take a look at how the Cornell wrestlers performed at the 1947 NCAAs, weight-by-weight: • 121 pounds -- Dick Hauser -- the lightest of the Waterloo West trio -- made some history by being the first freshman ever to win an NCAA title. Seeded second in the bracket behind Oklahoma State's Bill Jernigan, Hauser got a pin in two out of three of his matches before the finals. The Waterloo West alum continued his role as the fall guy, putting Jernigan's shoulders to the mat at 3:34 to claim the crown. Hauser had entered the NCAAs with an 88-match winning streak going back to Waterloo West. • 128 pounds -- Leo Thomsen -- who had lost only two matches during the regular season -- fell to top-seeded Lou Kachiroubas of Illinois in his first match… but battled back in the consolation bracket to eventually place third, earning All-American honors. In the finals, Kachiroubas lost to Russell Bush of Iowa State Teachers. • 136 pounds -- Lowell Lange, the top seed, pinned his first opponent (Calderaro of Rutgers), then shut out his next two (Waynesburg's Fuller, Oklahoma's Watson) to find himself in the finals vs. Nathan Bauer, the third-seeded wrestler from Oklahoma State. Lange got a convincing 6-3 win over the Cowboy to win the second individual title for Cornell. Nicknamed "Tiger", Lowell Lange had scored 70 straight victories going back to high school before coming to the NCAAs. • 145 pounds -- Rodger Snook: The top seed in this tough weight class was defending champ Bill Koll of Iowa State Teachers… with Cornell's Snook seeded second. "The Milkman" – unbeaten in the regular season -- pinned his way through his side of the bracket, getting falls against wrestlers from Penn State, Wheaton and Navy before facing Koll in the title bout. The Panther got a 7-2 win over Snook, earning his second straight title… and won Outstanding Wrestler honors to boot. By placing second, Snook claimed All-American status. • 155 pounds -- Kent Lange, Lowell's older brother, lost in his opening-round match to Oklahoma's Ledger Stecker, and did not place. In the finals, unseeded Gale Mikles of Michigan State scored a 2-0 upset over top-seeded Bill Courtright of cross-state rival Michigan. • 165 pounds -- Fred Dexter: David Shapiro of host school Illinois was the top seed; Oklahoma's Jim Eagleton was seeded second, and Cornell's Dexter third. Dexter, who had thirteen wins in fifteen matches before the NCAAs, got a 6-2 win over Indiana's Conklin, but was defeated by Eagleton in the semifinals. Dexter came back in the consolations to claim third place, and All-American status. In the finals, fourth-seeded Bill Nelson of Iowa State Teachers pinned Eagleton at 7:36 to win the title. • 175 pounds -- Dale Thomas: Cornell's team captain – and only starting senior -- was unseeded. In his first match, he pinned Ed Ahrens of Iowa State Teachers at 4:01. However, in the quarterfinals, "Whitey" lost to the top-seeded Glen Brand of Iowa State 9-2. Brand then succumbed to Iowa's second-seeded Joe Scarpello 10-6 in the finals. Thomas scored two falls in the consolation bracket to place third, and become the sixth Cornell wrestler to be an All-American. • Heavyweight -- Al Partin -- was unseeded. Freshman Dick Hutton of Oklahoma State was the top seed, with Nebraska's Mike DiBiase seeded second. Partin lost his first match to Purdue's third-seeded Ray Gunkel, 7-2. In the conseys, Partin fell to Iowa State Teachers College's LeRoy Alitz 8-4, failing to place. In the finals, Hutton got a 5-3 overtime victory over Gunkel. When the cheering was over and the mats cleared, Cornell College had two individual champions – Dick Hauser at 121, and Lowell Lange at 136, both freshmen -- and a total of six All-Americans. In addition to Hauser and Lange, Cornell's placers included Leo Thomsen (third place at 128) … Rodger Snook (second at 145) … Fred Dexter (third at 165) … and Dale Thomas (third at 175). Cornell College president Russell Cole, Dale Thomas, and Paul Scott with the trophy The individual performances by the Purple's starters helped Cornell clinch the team title before the finals matches, scoring a total of 32 team points. In second place was its in-state rival to the north, Iowa State Teachers College, with 19 points and a total of three individual champs. Finding itself in third place was perennial team champs, Oklahoma State, with 16 points and just one individual champ. With eleven points and an individual titlewinner, Michigan State placed fourth in the team standings. Key to Cornell winning the team title was its pinning prowess. At the time, a win by decision counted for one team point, while a pin was worth two. Of the 128 matches at the 1947 NCAAs, eighteen ended in pins … with Cornell wrestlers accounting for ten of those. In addition to its pinning power, Arno Niemand believes there were three other factors that made it possible for Cornell to become team champs in 1947: the G.I. Bill which, by paying tuition, made it possible for veterans of any income level to go to a private college like Cornell … the liberal transfer policies that made it easy for students to switch colleges … and that freshmen were eligible to compete in the NCAAs that year. (Most of Cornell's starting lineup would not have been able to compete under traditional NCAA rules.) It's as if all the planets aligned to make it possible for Cornell to win the team title. First again, two weeks later Not content to rest on their laurels, a couple weeks after winning the 1947 NCAA team title, the Cornell wrestlers headed west by train to San Francisco, to compete at the 1947 AAU national tournament. The team proved that the NCAA title was no fluke, winning the NAAU team title with 17 points; Oklahoma State placed second with 12 points. Lowell Lange and Dale Thomas claimed individual titles, while Rodger Snook and Dick Hauser placed second. According to Arno Niemand, the trip was made possible thanks to $1,500 raised by the community, and a $500 gift from the college. On the front page of The Cornellian of April 18, 1947, a thank-you note attributed to "Paul K. Scott and the Champions" said, "All of us who were privileged to make the trip to San Francisco are deeply appreciative of the many who made it possible through their generous financial contributions. Thanks!" That front-page story in The Cornellian describes the scene as the wrestling team stepped off the streamliner back home: "They received a welcome Tuesday that would have honored returning conqueror-heroes. Bands, cars, horns, signs, cheering throngs, radio interviews, pictures for Life magazine, parades, more cheering throngs, and finally a gigantic pep rally in the chapel filled out the celebration welcoming them …" "All of downtown Mt. Vernon was decorated with colorful signs and purple and white bunting. The town fire truck helped out by carrying a load of cheering students in the parade and tooting its siren. The parade contained hundreds of cars, most of them decorated colorfully, and the champs rode from the (train) station through town to the college chapel in regal splendor, the beautiful gold trophy in plain view." The celebration of Cornell's doubly-sweet season continued far beyond eastern Iowa. The story captured the imagination of sportswriters across the country. Some of the wrestlers appeared on a TV game show … and Paul Scott and his grapplers were showcased in a three-page photo essay in Life magazine in early 1948, featuring some action images from a Cornell vs. Illinois dual, and demonstration photos to illustrate the difference between college wrestling and the showbiz shenanigans of the pro ring. Behind the scenes, things were not all sweetness and light, as Paul Scott's son R.K recalls: "In 1947, (Cornell College) President (Russell) Cole was concerned that the school be a place to get a good liberal arts education and a strong dose of Methodism. He thought the wrestling program was getting too much attention. Cole threw out a wrestler -- not one of the starters -- because of some infraction … (Scott) and Cole didn't get along too well. He got only a $300 raise for winning the NCAA title." Hopes of a second NCAA championship crashed Sadly, Cornell College's Cinderella story was truly an once-in-a-lifetime event. The opening paragraphs on the first page devoted to wrestling in the 1948 edition of the Royal Purple student yearbook set the stage: "The season 1947-48 will be long remembered by followers of the Cornell College wrestling team as 'the year of the auto accident.' Undefeated in 24 straight dual grappling meets and defending National Collegiate and AAU champions, the Purple matmen ran the streak to 32 in a row before disaster struck in the form of a head-on collision on the Lincoln Highway." "National titleholders Dick Hauser and Lowell Lange and team manager ‘Jug' Beck, along with three other Cornellians … were injured in the crash, miraculously none of them fatally, and the Hilltop hopes for another double win went glimmering." The accident on US 30 just outside Mt. Vernon in early 1948 seriously injured Cornell's two NCAA champs. Coupled with the graduation of Dale Thomas, and the loss of Fred Dexter -- "who fell victim to the high Cornell academic standards" according to the Royal Purple -- the wrestling team lost three straight duals at the end of the season to top-name opponents, including a shut-out at the hands of in-state rival Iowa State Teachers College with whom they had tied just one year earlier. Quoting the yearbook, "Trying to strike back, the Scottmen, with the ‘B' team dominating the lineup, annexed the Midwest Conference title for the umpteenth time, then passed up defense of the their national collegiate title in order to have a full team for the AAU tourney." In other words, Cornell College did not wrestle at the 1948 NCAAs at Lehigh University; last year's individual champs Dick Hauser and Lowell Lange were not there to defend their titles. However, the team traveled to the 1948 NAAU championships, where they tied for third place, behind Navy and Oklahoma State. Leo Thomsen was the only individual champ, winning the 136.5 pound crown. In what must have been a bittersweet moment, Thomsen qualified for the finals by defeating his teammate Lowell Lange in the semifinals. Kent Lange was a runner-up at 147.5, with Rodger Snook placing fourth in the same weight class. For the 1948-49 wrestling season, the Cornell wrestlers won all but two of their dual meets (losing to Iowa State Teachers, and Michigan State) … claimed the Midwest Conference team title … and placed third in the team standings at the 1949 NCAAs. Lowell Lange won his second NCAA title at 136 pounds, holding defending champ Richard Dickensen of Michigan State scoreless in the finals 6-0. (Some believe Lowell Lange would have been the first four-time NCAA champ if not for the car accident.) Other Cornell All-Americans include Dick Hauser, placing third at 121 pounds … Leo Thomsen, losing in the 128-pound finals to Charles Hetrick of Oklahoma State … Kent Lange, placing third at 145 … and Rodger Snook, earning fourth place at 155. Lowell Lange was the only individual champ from Cornell at the national AAU championships, winning the 135-pound crown. The next season was the swansong for the Cornell wrestlers who had been freshmen in 1947; now they were seniors. During the 1949-50 season, the Purple won all but one dual meet, and swept the Midwest Conference championships, according to the 1950 Royal Purple yearbook. At the 1950 NCAAs up the road at Iowa State Teachers College, Cornell placed third in the team standings for the second straight year. Lowell Lange won his third NCAA title, beating home-crowd favorite Fred Oglesby of ISTC in the finals. Earning All-American honors: Walt Romanowski, runner-up at 128 pounds (losing to Joe Patacsil of Purdue in the finals) … Rodger Snook, placing fourth at 145 …and Bill Nardini, fourth place at 165. At the AAU nationals, Dick Hauser and Lowell Lange won individual titles at 125.5 and 135, respectively. The 1950-51 season signaled a changing of the guard … and the final curtain coming down on the 1947 Cinderella season. After compiling a stunning 56-8-1 dual meet record, coach Paul Scott left Cornell to pursue new challenges as athletic director at Davidson College in North Carolina. Taking the reins as head coach when the original candidate to succeed "Scotty" -- Ed Hitchcock -- died of a heart attack: Lowell Lange. That year, the Purple compiled a 6-3-1 record, placing ninth in the team standings at the 1951 NCAAs … with Walt Romanowski winning the 130-pound title over Bill Borders of Oklahoma. It was impossible to keep Paul Scott away. After a few years at Davidson, he came back to Cornell College in 1954, this time as alumni director. He officially retired in 1976, but continued to serve in an unofficial capacity as a "goodwill ambassador" for the school, hosting alumni trips. Reliving the magic decades later In 1997, the fiftieth anniversary of tiny Cornell College winning the 1947 NCAA and NAAU team titles was marked in a big way. The story got plenty of news coverage, and a number of sports columnists weighed in on the significance of the eventIn 1997, the fiftieth anniversary of tiny Cornell College winning the 1947 NCAA and NAAU team titles was marked in a big way. In addition to the multi-page cover story written by Mike Chapman in the Cornell Report alumni newsmagazine, the story got plenty of news coverage, and a number of sports columnists weighed in on the significance of the event. Cornell College hosted a "1947 Dream Team" luncheon at the Small Life Sports Center on campus, with long-time NCAA announcer Ed Aliverti serving as master of ceremonies, and Myron Roderick, then president of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, making a special presentation. According to the beautifully-produced program for the event, the luncheon concluded with the introduction of a 91-year-old Paul Scott and "The Purple Gang." In June 2007, members of the Cornell team that won the two national team titles in 1947 were honored in a special ceremony at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which included a PowerPoint presentation produced by Arno Niemand. The 1947 team was inducted into the Hall of Fame -- the first team to be so honored in the 30+ year history of the facility. "This is a great story to tell," said Lee Roy Smith, executive director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. "This really demonstrated what a great coach Paul Scott was. He knew how to recruit the type of student-athlete he needed to achieve such a feat. The 1947 championship truly was a milestone. It is one of the greatest feats in college wrestling history." Lasting legacies The 1947 championship team produced some lasting legacies. Two of the wrestlers from the starting lineup became college wrestling coaches: Lowell Lange, who, after one year at the helm at Cornell, then service in the Army as a military intelligence officer, and helping his father with the family farm for a number of years, eventually found his way to Atlanta, where in the 1960s he launched then coached the wrestling program at Georgia Tech until retiring in 1993 … and Dale "Whitey" Thomas, head coach at Oregon State from 1957 through 1990, compiling an incredible 616-168-13 record that made him the winningest coach in college wrestling. Others also had careers in education. Dick Hauser was a high school math instructor … Fred Dexter taught physical education, science and math in West Chicago, Illinois … and Al Partin was director of physical education at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. As of this writing, most of the major players involved in the 1947 Cornell College team title win are still alive, according to Arno Niemand. Two died in the prime of life: Rodger Snook in 1956, and Leo Thomsen in 1974. Coach Paul Scott died in August 2003, just shy of his 98th birthday; Dale Thomas passed away in March 2004 at the age of 81. Wallace Littell died just before the 2007 Stillwater hall of fame ceremony. Because of major structural changes in the national wrestling championships, Cornell College's Cinderella story will never be repeated. In 1963, the NCAA introduced a second division for smaller schools … followed in 1974 with the formation of the NCAA's Division III, where Cornell now competes under the direction of coaching veteran Mike Duroe, head coach of the 2005 and 2006 US Freestyle World Team, and one of the US coaches for the 2007 Pan American Games. However, the story of tiny Cornell College winning both the 1947 NCAA and national AAU team titles is a classic David-beats-the-Goliaths tale that still resonates with today's wrestling fans six decades later. In addition to those quoted in this article, special thanks to Bob Majors, who provided fundamental information for the story, and to Jen Rouse of the Russell D. Cole Library at Cornell College for graciously assisting with on-campus research. All photos in this story courtesy of the archives at the Cole Library at Cornell College.

This week's edition of "On the Mat" will feature Dan Gable, Craig Sesker, and Jon Trenge. Gable was the head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa from 1977-1997. During his tenure he established a record of domination that has become legendary in sport. In 21 years as head coach, Gable led his teams to 15 NCAA titles, 21 Big Ten titles, and a 355-21-5 record. As a wrestler, Gable won two NCAA titles for Iowa State and compiled a 183-1 record throughout high school and college. At the 1972 Olympics he won a gold medal at 149.5 pounds without surrendering a single point. Sesker is the manager of communications for USA Wrestling and was a long-time journalist for the Omaha World-Herald. In 2000, he was named the National Wrestling Media Association's journalist of the year and is considered one of the nation's top wrestling journalists. He will be discussing the upcoming World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. Trenge was a three-time All-American for Lehigh University and is currently serving as an assistant coach at his alma mater. He is also the centerpiece of a new wrestling documentary entitled "Veritas." This feature-length film documents Trenge's senior year at Lehigh as he attempts to become an NCAA champion. "On the Mat" is a weekly wrestling radio program that airs every Wednesday night. This week's broadcast can be heard live from 6-7 p.m. Central Standard Time. The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, hosts the show. "On the Mat" can be heard live on the Internet at www.kcnzam.com or locally in Northeast Iowa on 1650, The Fan. Feel free to e-mail radio@wrestlingmuseum.org with questions or comments about the show.

Former Stroudsburg High School standout wrestler Joey Rivera has been named the interim head wrestling coach at East Stroudsburg University, Director of Athletics Tom Gioglio has announced. Rivera was an assistant coach last season under Jason Kutz. "I am extremely excited about the opportunity that I have been blessed with both for myself and the athletes," Rivera said. "I have always envisioned becoming a head coach, and to be able to do so at the university that I grew up around is an ideal situation for me. I also believe that having a familiar face to work with will provide stability for the student-athletes during this time of transition." Rivera was an NCAA qualifier at Boston University following a standout career at Stroudsburg High School. He was the team's outstanding freshman and outstanding wrestler while at Boston, and was team captain as a senior. He qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and finished his career with a record of 86-30. Rivera earned his degree in Psychology from Boston University in 2005 and was a recipient of the Colonial Athletic Association Commissioner's Academic Award. At Stroudsburg High School, Rivera was a four-time state qualifier and set the school record with 137 career wins. He finished fifth in the state as a freshman and sophomore, eighth as a junior and fourth as a senior. As a freestyle wrestler, Rivera placed eighth in the 60kg weight class at the U.S. National Freestyle Tournament last spring. It was the first freestyle tournament in which he had competed. Rivera resides in Stroudsburg and will marry his fiancée, Leah Middleton, in October.

The Higher Calling Wrestling Club and the Chattanooga wrestling team is pleased to announce that they will be hosting wrestling legend Dan Gable at their respective facilities on October 12-13, 2007. The event will kick off at the Jones Wrestling Center in Cleveland, Tenn. It will start with a motivational talk from Coach Gable followed by a technique session by the new Higher Calling Wrestling Club coach and former Gable wrestler, Mike Hatcher. The event will continue the following day at Maclellan Gym at UTC. It will begin with a technique session by Coach Gable, followed by an open UTC practice session, featuring UTC Head Coach and World Team member, Chris Bono. This will be a unique opportunity to learn, meet, and be inspired by the biggest name in wrestling history, Dan Gable. Gable, former head coach at the University of Iowa, directed Iowa to 15 NCAA titles and 21 Big Ten Conference Championships during his career. He was responsible for 45 National Champions, 106 Big Ten Champions and 152 All-Americas. As a competitor, he was a two-time NCAA Champion and a Gold Medalist at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Attendees will also be exposed to elite level instruction, training facilities, and practice planning. This is a must for all athletes and coaches looking to better themselves in the sport of wrestling. The cost of the two-day event is only $35, and $25 for groups of 10 or more. Make checks payable to Higher Calling Wrestling Club. Please call Mike Hatcher at (423) 303-0760 with any questions.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern head coach Tim Cysewski along with assistants Drew Pariano, Ryan Bertin and Bill Scherr are hosting the 15th annual coaches' clinic at 1 p.m. on Sat. Oct. 20 at Conant High School. Registration will be $50 in advance, $60 at the door and will begin at 12:30 on the day of the event. Following the clinic, all attendees are welcome to join the coaches at Papa's Pizza Place to eat and watch the football games. A season ago, the Wildcats earned a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships and matched the program's best finish. Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) won his first NCAA title and the school's first since 1990. Northwestern also boasted four All-America recipients in Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion), Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward), Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick), and Herbert for the first time since 1990. At the Big Ten Championships, Herbert, Lang, and Tamillow won titles in their respective weight classes. It was the first time Northwestern had three individual Big Ten champions since 1931 and the first time the school had multiple individual champions since 1990. Complete information and a registration form can be found by clicking here or by visiting NUsports.com.

WATERLOO –- Young wrestlers are being invited to participate in one of the most exciting wrestling seminars ever offered. Dan Gable, considered by many to be the most successful coach in collegiate history, will be conducting a special kids clinic at the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum. The clinics will be held in the Dan Gable Teaching Center at the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum located at 303 Jefferson St. in downtown Waterloo. "This in an unbelievable opportunity for wrestlers to learn from the best in a very intimate setting," said Kyle Klingman, associate director of the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum. "It was part of our goal when setting up the museum structure to bring Dan's coaching expertise to the Cedar Valley area. We are very excited about these clinics." A native of Waterloo, Dan Gable set the standard for coaching by winning 15 NCAA titles in 21 years during his tenure as the head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa. He is considered by many to be the greatest coach of all time, in any sport. Gable was a three-time state champion at West Waterloo and won 181 straight matches in high school and collegiate competition. He won the World Championships in 1971 and captured the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics without surrendering a point. In 2000, Sports Illustrated named Gable as the top sports figure in the state of Iowa. "Now that I've gotten back into coaching as an assistant, it will be nice to be in a head coaching role again," said Gable. "These clinics will be a good start for future success in the area." Dates for the clinic are October 21 & 28 and November 4 & 11. Dan Gable will provide instruction, technique, training, and coaching advice at all sessions beginning October 21. Cost is $250 for all four sessions. Due to the size of the teaching center the enrollment limit will be 40 on a first-come first-served basis. Times for the clinic are 1:30-3 p.m. for Kindergarten through 8th grade and 3:15-5 p.m. for 9th through 12th grade. To reserve a spot in the clinic call the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum at (319) 233-0745.