The championships have all been won and all of the awards except the Hodge Trophy have been handed out. Its time for the second annual View from Section GG college wrestling awards.
The Ron Santo “Heart on Your Sleeve Award”
The longtime Cubs radio announcer (and “should be” Hall of Fame third baseman) has long been known for his emotional eruptions during his broadcasts. We present a Santo award to former Hawkeye wrestler, Mark Ironside, who is the color commentator for KXIC-AM’s University of Iowa wrestling coverage. Iowa All-Access streams the audio for KXIC so fans across the country can now hear Mark. If you wanted to get a feel for the emotional roller coaster that was this year’s NCAA Division I Championship you just had to listen to Ironside, “Gol dang it, (fill in wrestler’s full name), what are you doin’? Attack!” His eruption after Dan Erekson pinned David Zabriskie rattled my windows.
The “We Really Care” Award
This goes to all of the Division III wrestlers, coaches and fans who came to Cedar Rapids this year for the DIII Championships. In the past two weeks I have heard a number of stories about your generosity – from holding receptions at flood recovering businesses to making donations to recovery funds. Thank you. I look forward to seeing you all again next year.
Rookies of the year
The women’s award goes to Jamestown College of North Dakota. In their first year of competition they finished fourth in the Women’s College Wrestling Association national championships and had an individual title winner (Tani Adler).
Another first year program, Grand View University (Des Moines, IA), takes the men’s award with an eighth place finish at the NAIA Championships. They also had an individual titleist in Matt Burns.
The “Stuff it” Award
There’s a tie here. We have 15,955 winners – all of the fans who packed Carver Hawkeye Arena for the Iowa/Iowa State contest and broke the dual meet attendance record.
The “Real Opportunity” Award
Longtime readers know that I believe wrestling to be the most democratic of sports. You don’t need to win some kind of genetic lottery (great height, a large body mass or blazing speed) to become a champion. The athlete that works the hardest and learns the most almost always triumphs. It goes beyond that – wrestling offers real opportunity for excellence not always presented by other sports. This year I’ve chosen to name a runner-up and a grand prize winner.
Michaela Hutchison is already a wrestling pioneer. In 2006 she became the first girl in America to win a boys state wrestling championship when she won the Alaskan 103 pound title. Now wrestling at Oklahoma City University, Michaela won the 55kg class at this year’s Women’s College Wrestling Association Championships and was named Outstanding Wrestler. In February she broke more ground. When the 125 pounder on the Oklahoma City men’s team went down to injury, Michaela stepped in to fill the spot. She took a lot of lumps but did win at least one match.
There can be no question, however, about the grand prize winner of this award – Anthony Robles of Arizona State University. As most know by now, Anthony was born with just one leg. After an amazing high school career that included an undefeated senior season, an Arizona state championship and a National High School championship, he chose to become a Sun Devil. Last year, as a freshman, he reached the round of 12 at the Division I championships. In May it seemed as if he was going to face even more adversity when ASU announced the elimination of the wrestling program. Anthony became an active spokesperson, helping to raise awareness about the plight of the program. Fortunately for him and all involved, major alumni donors stepped up and gave the program the necessary financial backing to save the team.
Saturday in Saint Louis Anthony Robles became an All-American – finishing fourth in this year’s tournament. In past interviews he has acknowledged that he is aware that others look to him as a role model – and he accepts the role with grace. In an Associated Press interview after his semi-final loss to Paul Donahoe of Edinboro Anthony said, “He didn’t beat me because I was born with one leg. He beat me because he was just the better wrestler tonight. Its that simple.”
Congratulations, Anthony. I’m glad you chose wrestling.
Showing posts with label Jamestown College. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jamestown College. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Thoughts on National Duals
The NWCA National Duals just might be my favorite wrestling event. The current format exposes a wrestling junkie to performances by the best intercollegiate student-athletes at all levels and of both genders. Most fans attend to support their favorite team – sometimes missing much of the spectacle. This year’s National Duals exemplified all that is great about college wrestling – and the wrestling community. Here are some random observations.
It seems almost impossible to avoid unpleasant weather when attending a wrestling event of any kind in Cedar Falls. This year was no exception. By the time I got our house completely dug out of the snow Saturday and felt it safe to travel I had missed the Hawkeyes’ first two meets. Even with the adverse Saturday weather, attendance at the UNI-Dome almost hit 16,000 – topping last year. The event continues to grow in popularity. Is 20,000 an attainable attendance figure? I think so.
This is a well run tournament. UNI athletic director Troy Dannen, coach Brad Penrith and their entire staffs are to be congratulated. The announcing team faced a daunting task of keeping fans apprised of the action on 18 mats (Saturday) and 6 intercollegiate divisions without slighting anyone. They were more than up to it. Every endeavor of this scope has dozens of people behind the scenes who make it work. I really don’t know who is responsible for what, but it sure seemed like Tammy Tedesco from the NWCA logged a lot of miles on the floor of the dome this weekend.
The Hawkeyes were tough. The Big Red from Cornell came to Cedar Falls to wrestle – and wrestle they did. Cornell held the lead in the finals after 165 but Iowa won the last four matches to retain the Division I National Dual championship for another year. Dan Erekson’s pin at heavyweight was an exclamation point at the end of the tournament.
I’ve followed Justin Kerber’s career since he wrestled for Emmetsburg High School. The son of 4X Iowa high school champ and 3X Hawkeye All-American, Jeff Kerber and the nephew of Hawkeye great and Olympic gold medallist, Randy Lewis, Justin would have seemed a natural to wrestle for the University of Iowa. Instead he chose to follow his own path and join coach Rob Koll in Ithaca. An academic All-American, he helped Cornell “upset” Iowa State in Sunday morning’s semi-finals.
The first time I ever saw Minnesota’s Brock Lesnar wrestle was at National Duals in Iowa City several years ago. His strength, physique and dominating performance created quite a buzz. When one reporter asked him how much he could bench press, Lesnar replied, “whatever I want”. Current Golden Gopher 125-pounder, Zach Sanders, is at the complete other end of the weight spectrum. I stood near him late Sunday afternoon and he just might be one of the smallest college wrestlers I’ve ever seen. With his “baby face” he looks about 15 years old. As was the case with Lesnar, National Duals afforded me my first opportunity to see Sanders wrestle. Don’t pay any attention to his size and facial features – this kid is going to be a good one. He is a skilled takedown artist with power on top that belies his size. I’m really looking forward to three years of battles between Zach and Iowa’s blue chip freshman, Nate Moore.
Augsburg’s cumulative score after the first two rounds in Division III was 110-0. Then, in the finals, they scored two falls in the last four weights to upset number one ranked Wartburg. They may be setting up one heck of a team race at DIII Nationals in Cedar Rapids this March.
I spent a lot of time watching the women wrestle. It’s a little disconcerting switching back and forth from watching folkstyle to watching freestyle – but it can be done. It’s pretty clear that there are opportunities to add women’s wrestling at more colleges. With 5,000 girls wrestling in high school, and that number growing, there is room for growth in roster spots and scholarships. Jamestown College of North Dakota is fielding a women’s team for the first time. With athletes from states like Hawaii, California and Michigan, they’ve attracted a full roster of wrestlers and were competitive in this tournament. I especially enjoyed watching Mason City’s Tiffany Sluik score a fall to help Jamestown to one of their victories. It was also heartening to see Olympic silver medallist Sara McMann in the stands supporting the women’s teams. Oh, by the way, Oklahoma City University kicked the snot out of the rest of the field to win the women’s division.
Speaking of Sara McMann, I still can’t get over being such a goober fan when in the presence of Olympic greats like Sara, Bill Smith, Doug Blubaugh and Ben Peterson.
Every year I adopt a team outside the normal group of schools I follow (Iowa, Iowa State, UNI, Coe and Cornell College). This year I picked Southern Oregon because my daughter went to school there for a year. In the closest final dual of the night, they won the NAIA championship on criteria.
Newberry College from South Carolina is another great story. In only their third year of competition, the finished as runner-up in Division II to Nebraska-Omaha. They have 33 wrestlers on the squad – 25 of whom come from states with no Division I programs. With high school wrestling continuing to grow in popularity in the southeastern United States and a limited number of competition alternatives, I see only bright things in the future for Newberry.
However, my favorite story of this year’s National Duals had nothing to do with the competition. Midway through the final round Sandy Stevens announced that one of the young lady wrestlers had lost a gold ring and described the area where the ring was thought to be lost. It was an area open only to those with credentials and you could see a stirring among the coaches and athletes as they began to search for the lost ring. About ten minutes later Sandy came back on the mic to say that the ring had been found by one of the coaches. It was a great way to finish the weekend.
It seems almost impossible to avoid unpleasant weather when attending a wrestling event of any kind in Cedar Falls. This year was no exception. By the time I got our house completely dug out of the snow Saturday and felt it safe to travel I had missed the Hawkeyes’ first two meets. Even with the adverse Saturday weather, attendance at the UNI-Dome almost hit 16,000 – topping last year. The event continues to grow in popularity. Is 20,000 an attainable attendance figure? I think so.
This is a well run tournament. UNI athletic director Troy Dannen, coach Brad Penrith and their entire staffs are to be congratulated. The announcing team faced a daunting task of keeping fans apprised of the action on 18 mats (Saturday) and 6 intercollegiate divisions without slighting anyone. They were more than up to it. Every endeavor of this scope has dozens of people behind the scenes who make it work. I really don’t know who is responsible for what, but it sure seemed like Tammy Tedesco from the NWCA logged a lot of miles on the floor of the dome this weekend.
The Hawkeyes were tough. The Big Red from Cornell came to Cedar Falls to wrestle – and wrestle they did. Cornell held the lead in the finals after 165 but Iowa won the last four matches to retain the Division I National Dual championship for another year. Dan Erekson’s pin at heavyweight was an exclamation point at the end of the tournament.
I’ve followed Justin Kerber’s career since he wrestled for Emmetsburg High School. The son of 4X Iowa high school champ and 3X Hawkeye All-American, Jeff Kerber and the nephew of Hawkeye great and Olympic gold medallist, Randy Lewis, Justin would have seemed a natural to wrestle for the University of Iowa. Instead he chose to follow his own path and join coach Rob Koll in Ithaca. An academic All-American, he helped Cornell “upset” Iowa State in Sunday morning’s semi-finals.
The first time I ever saw Minnesota’s Brock Lesnar wrestle was at National Duals in Iowa City several years ago. His strength, physique and dominating performance created quite a buzz. When one reporter asked him how much he could bench press, Lesnar replied, “whatever I want”. Current Golden Gopher 125-pounder, Zach Sanders, is at the complete other end of the weight spectrum. I stood near him late Sunday afternoon and he just might be one of the smallest college wrestlers I’ve ever seen. With his “baby face” he looks about 15 years old. As was the case with Lesnar, National Duals afforded me my first opportunity to see Sanders wrestle. Don’t pay any attention to his size and facial features – this kid is going to be a good one. He is a skilled takedown artist with power on top that belies his size. I’m really looking forward to three years of battles between Zach and Iowa’s blue chip freshman, Nate Moore.
Augsburg’s cumulative score after the first two rounds in Division III was 110-0. Then, in the finals, they scored two falls in the last four weights to upset number one ranked Wartburg. They may be setting up one heck of a team race at DIII Nationals in Cedar Rapids this March.
I spent a lot of time watching the women wrestle. It’s a little disconcerting switching back and forth from watching folkstyle to watching freestyle – but it can be done. It’s pretty clear that there are opportunities to add women’s wrestling at more colleges. With 5,000 girls wrestling in high school, and that number growing, there is room for growth in roster spots and scholarships. Jamestown College of North Dakota is fielding a women’s team for the first time. With athletes from states like Hawaii, California and Michigan, they’ve attracted a full roster of wrestlers and were competitive in this tournament. I especially enjoyed watching Mason City’s Tiffany Sluik score a fall to help Jamestown to one of their victories. It was also heartening to see Olympic silver medallist Sara McMann in the stands supporting the women’s teams. Oh, by the way, Oklahoma City University kicked the snot out of the rest of the field to win the women’s division.
Speaking of Sara McMann, I still can’t get over being such a goober fan when in the presence of Olympic greats like Sara, Bill Smith, Doug Blubaugh and Ben Peterson.
Every year I adopt a team outside the normal group of schools I follow (Iowa, Iowa State, UNI, Coe and Cornell College). This year I picked Southern Oregon because my daughter went to school there for a year. In the closest final dual of the night, they won the NAIA championship on criteria.
Newberry College from South Carolina is another great story. In only their third year of competition, the finished as runner-up in Division II to Nebraska-Omaha. They have 33 wrestlers on the squad – 25 of whom come from states with no Division I programs. With high school wrestling continuing to grow in popularity in the southeastern United States and a limited number of competition alternatives, I see only bright things in the future for Newberry.
However, my favorite story of this year’s National Duals had nothing to do with the competition. Midway through the final round Sandy Stevens announced that one of the young lady wrestlers had lost a gold ring and described the area where the ring was thought to be lost. It was an area open only to those with credentials and you could see a stirring among the coaches and athletes as they began to search for the lost ring. About ten minutes later Sandy came back on the mic to say that the ring had been found by one of the coaches. It was a great way to finish the weekend.
Monday, December 29, 2008
I resolve
I resolve to move down at least one weight class this year. I really shouldn’t be a 5’7” heavyweight. I’ll probably have to cut out the ice cream cones at Carver Hawkeye.
I resolve to yell, “What’s he doin’?” only once a meet.
I resolve to care about the growth of new wrestling programs like Grand View, California Baptist, Jamestown College and Baker University as much as I care about the ones that get dropped.
I resolve to convert at least one new person into a wrestling fan (perhaps one of my sons-in-law).
I resolve to attend more high school meets.
I resolve to meet more of my online friends in person (National Duals anyone?)
I resolve to quote Tom Brands no more than once every two blogs (even though he says some of the most interesting things in wrestling).
Finally, I resolve to not take myself too seriously. I’m just a fan who writes a blog about the “world’s oldest and greatest sport”.
Happy New Year, everyone. May it be healthy, joyful and profitable.
I resolve to yell, “What’s he doin’?” only once a meet.
I resolve to care about the growth of new wrestling programs like Grand View, California Baptist, Jamestown College and Baker University as much as I care about the ones that get dropped.
I resolve to convert at least one new person into a wrestling fan (perhaps one of my sons-in-law).
I resolve to attend more high school meets.
I resolve to meet more of my online friends in person (National Duals anyone?)
I resolve to quote Tom Brands no more than once every two blogs (even though he says some of the most interesting things in wrestling).
Finally, I resolve to not take myself too seriously. I’m just a fan who writes a blog about the “world’s oldest and greatest sport”.
Happy New Year, everyone. May it be healthy, joyful and profitable.
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