John Huckaby
It’s no secret that the survival of wrestling as a viable college sport, especially at the Division I level, is not guaranteed.
Tough economic times that strain athletic departments and the constant cloud of Title IX loom over the sport.
That’s why Saturday’s “Wrestling Supporting Wrestling” event at the University of Missouri might bear watching.
Tiger coach Brian Smith came up with the idea. All money from ticket sales at the dual Saturday afternoon against Hofstra will be added to the wrestling scholarship endowment fund.
Smith, whose team won duals over Lock Haven and Bucknell on an eastern swing last weekend, said “If a program consistently draws large crowds, it has a positive impact on the athletics department.”
Wrestling isn’t the only sport at the Division I level that loses money faster than the auto industry.
But if wrestling at least underwrites the scholarship portion of the budget, athletic directors will be less likely to apply the knife to wrestling’s neck.
Early upsets and other stuff
Two wrestlers ranked No. 1 in most polls couldn’t make it through the first couple weeks of the season without being defeated.
At the Bearcat Open at Binghamton, Cornell’s Jordan Leen, last season’s champion at 157 pounds, fell to J.P. O’Connor of Harvard by 7-5 in overtime. And at Bucknell on Sunday, Missouri’s Nick Marable, ranked No. 1 at 165, lost 3-1 in overtime to the Bison’s Andy Rendos. O’Connor was ranked seventh and Rendos 17th.
Intermat didn’t take long to drop both wrestlers. Leen fell to fifth as Mike Poeta of Illinois took over the top spot while Marable also dropped to fifth. Mack Lewnes of Cornell is now on top at 165.
And Cornell’s Troy Nickerson, who sat out last year with an injured shoulder after two straight All-American finishes at 125, injured his shoulder in the Bearcat Open. His status against Penn State tonight is uncertain.
Brand dies at 85
Glen Brand, who won an Olympic gold medal at 174 pounds in 1948 in London, died Saturday in Omaha, Neb. Brand, who served in the Marines during World War II, also won an NCAA title for Iowa State in 1948.
Brand was a successful businessman in Omaha and was involved with the wrestling program at Nebraska-Omaha. This weekend’s Kaufman-Brand Open at UN-Omaha is named in his honor.
High schoolers shine
The East Stroudsburg Open most times is a coming-out-party for freshmen wrestlers and wrestlers from some of the smaller schools. This year, the big story coming from E-Burg was the result at 141 pounds.
The finale featured a pair of high schoolers ” Eric Grajales from Brandon, Fla., and Andrew Alton of Central Mountain. Grajales won 7-4 to boost his national reputation, but let’s remember that Alton, who was third at 140 in last season’s PIAA tournament, is just a junior.
Andrew’s twin, Dylan, also made an appearance and was fifth at 149. He lost to the older brother of Grajales, Cesar, a Penn wrestler, in the semifinals. Matt Cathell of Delaware State won the weight.
Other champs: 125, Chris Sheetz, Delaware Valley; 133, Joe Kemmerer, Kutztown; 157, Matt Dragon, unattached-Penn; 165, Jason Lapham, Rider; 174, Mike Letts, unattached-Maryland; 184, Colin Hitschler, unattached-Penn; 197, Hudson Taylor, Maryland; 285, Trey McLean, Penn.
Winners in the Binghamton Bearcat Open were: 125, Frank Perreli, unattached-Cornell; 133, Jason Guffey, Bloomsburg; 141, Mike Gray, unattached-Cornell; 149, Donnie Vinson, unattached-Binghamton; 157, Leen; 165, Lewnes, unattached-Cornell; 174, Steve Anceravage, unattached-Cornell; 184, Louis Caputo, unattached-Cornell; 197, Andrew Silber, American; 285, Zach Hammond, unattached-Cornell.
Top dual results from last week: Ohio State 35, Cleveland State 13; Buffalo 29, Appalachian State 6; Illinois 40, North Carolina State 7; Wisconsin 20, North Carolina State 15; Michigan State 23, North Carolina State 13; Missouri 32, Lock Haven 9; Missouri 25, Bucknell 16; Navy 27, Stanford 6; Lehigh 27, Pitt 9.
Coming up
Today: Michigan at Lehigh, Penn State at Cornell, Eastern Michigan at Clarion, Wisconsin at Iowa State. Saturday: Michigan at Penn, Body Bar Tournament at Cornell (Bloomsburg, Boise State, Buffalo, Drexel, Ithaca, Kent State, Maryland, Millersville, Cornell); Hofstra at Missouri, Old Dominion at Oklahoma State. Sunday: Journeyman/Brute Sprawl and Brawl Duals at Binghamton (Penn State vs. Virginia, Penn State vs. Edinboro, Penn State vs. Binghamton, West Virginia vs. Columbia, Boise State vs. Rutgers, Rutgers vs. Clarion, West Virginia vs. North Carolina,), Old Dominion at Oklahoma.
John Huckaby reports on college wrestling for the CDT.
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