Nittany Lions reel off seven straight wins to stop visiting Hawkeyes

 By Andy Elder For USA Wrestling    01/22/2012

STATE COLLEGE — On one of the saddest days in the history of Penn State University, the Nittany Lion wrestling team gave the community a brief reason to celebrate.

Mere hours after legendary former football coach Joe Paterno passed away, casting a pall over the community, the Nittany Lions put the Happy back in Happy Valley, at least for a couple of hours.

No. 3 Penn State (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten) battled back from a 12-0 deficit to reel off wins in the final seven bouts to hand No. 2 Iowa (9-3, 4-2) a 22-13 loss in front of sell-out crowd of 6,796 fans in Rec Hall.

Pictured: A sellout crowd watched the Nittany Lions defeat the Hawkeyes. Photos by Mark Selders, Penn State Athletics

Click here to read the full article...

Oklahoma State beats Iowa, 17-16, on tiebreaker #3 - most points scored in individual bouts

By Roger Moore Special to TheMat.com

01/07/2012

IOWA CITY – The storied rivalry between Oklahoma State and Iowa has provided plenty of memorable dual meets.

Saturday night, in front of a standing-room only Carver-Hawkeye crowd of 15,400, added yet another chapter.

Iowa entered the dual ranked No. 1 and unbeaten in its last 84 duals after beating Indiana on Friday night. The Hawkeyes' last loss came to Oklahoma State, also owner of an 84 match unbeaten streak from 1959-66 and who entered the 46th all-time meeting ranked second.

It was the first time the two rivals met in a dual ranked 1 and 2 since 2003.

How close was it? After 10 bouts, each winning five, officials went to criteria No. 3 to determine the winner. It was the Cowboys this time around, winning 17-16.

"Just tough matches, all the way through," said Oklahoma State head coach John Smith, whose squad improved to 6-0. "We lost some close ones and won some close ones. In the end it's about scoring points and we outscored them to get the win.

"It was a wild night."

That's an understatement. Read the rest of the article at TheMat.com

Midlands top contenders announced & Souther Scuffle Brackets Released

12/23/2011
Northwestern University Sports Information

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern hosts the 49th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships Dec. 29-30 at Welsh-Ryan Arena and today the tournament committee announced the top contenders for this year's event. Although the final seeding for Midlands may extend beyond the top eight at each weight class, the pre-tournament contenders are subject to change. Final brackets for the event will be released the morning of Thursday, Dec. 29.

A complete list of tournament contenders is as follows... click here.

The brackets were released for the 2012 Southern Scuffle, which takes place Jan. 1-2. Minnesota, Penn State, and Cornell all have three No. 1 seeds.

View Southern Scuffle Brackets

USA Wrestling Weekly’s December 9 broadcast posted for viewing

By Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
12/09/2011

The USA Wrestling Weekly broadcast for Friday, December 9 has been posted for fans to enjoy.

USA Wrestling Weekly is a new half-hour news broadcast which will be produced on a weekly basis. Presented in a news format, it provides updated information on USA Wrestling activities, as well as a variety of feature segments.

This week's show included the following feature segments:
• Coverage of the Men's Freestyle Olympic Trials Qualifier in Las Vegas, Nev.
• U.S. Olympic Team Trials update, with 21 more men's freestyle qualifiers
• U.S. Women's Team training week at the University of Iowa, to including training sessions, public appearances, visit to Dan Gable's home and a visit to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum
• Speeches from Tom Brands, Dan Gable, Terry Steiner
• Coverage of Iowa vs. Illinois Dual meet
• Coverage of Las Vegas Cliff Keen Collegiate Invitational in Las Vegas
• Preview of U.S. Open in Greco-Roman and women's freestyle in Arlington, Texas
• U.S. freestyle team headed to London, England for Olympic Test Event
• And More

Watch This Weeks Episode Now!

Holiday gift ideas for wrestlers and wrestling fans

InterMatWrestle.com senior writer Mark Palmer has put together a list of ideas for presents sure to score big points with the mat fanatics on your holiday gift list. Books, DVD's and other great gift ideas! Check it out!

USA defeats Russia, 5-2 in Freestyle Dual at NYAC in New York City

By Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
11/11/2011

Raymond Jordan of the USA battles Andrey Valiev of Russia at 84 kg during the dual meet at the New York Athletic Club. Julieta Okot photo

NEW YORK, N.Y. – It was a good night for Freestyle Team USA, which had a strong performance in beating Russia, 5-2 in a dual meet at the New York Athletic Club on 11-11-11.

The U.S. opened with three straight wins in the lightweights, getting its momentum going strong. Click here for full story. 

Olympic champion Henry Cejudo returns to mat by winning Sunkist Kids International Open

By Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
10/30/2011

Henry Cejudo wins the Sunkist Kids International Open title on Sunday. Larry Slater photo.

MESA, Ariz. – Henry Cejudo knows he is still a long way from where he needs to be to repeat as Olympic wrestling champion.

But Sunday was a positive step in the right direction for the 2008 Olympic gold medalist.

Cejudo's long-awaited returned to competition finally happened when he captured a championship at the Sunkist Kids International Open on Sunday night at Skyline High School.

Click here for full story.