Carthage brings back wrestling
Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, announced the return of wrestling yesterday after a 26 year absence. The school is located between Milwaukee and Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan and competes in the CCIW. Carthage will be the sixth full CCIW member with wrestling joining Augustana, Elmhurst, Millikin, North Central, and Wheaton. Concordia Wisconsin and MSOE are associate members in wrestling.
Carthage previously had wrestling from 1961-1994, and Ron Zalokar was the coach for all 33 seasons of their previous incarnation. Bob Bentz finished 7th at the 1988 NCAA Division III Championships to give Carthage its only NCAA All-American. Tom Adams was 3rd in 1972 and 1st in 1973 at the NAIA Championships.
The school was founded in 1847 and currently enrolls around 2,600 undergraduates. In addition to reviving the wrestling team, Carthage will be adding women’s wrestling and women’s bowling
Carthage College to Revive Men’s Wrestling, Add Women’s Wrestling and Women’s Bowling
6/10/2019 1:58:00 PM
By: By David Nelson, Interim Assistant Director of Athletics For Communications
KENOSHA, WIS.— Carthage College will broaden its sports offerings in 2020-21 with the revival of men’s wrestling, and the addition of women’s wrestling and women’s bowling. These additions will expand the Carthage athletics department to 27 varsity programs.
“I’m thrilled that Carthage is expanding our sport offerings, as it continues our history of offering emerging sports that meet our prospective student’s needs. Adding men’s and women’s wrestling, along with women’s bowling, and increasing our focus on club and recreational sports will enrich our campus community,” says Michelle Manning, director of athletics at Carthage College.
Men’s wrestling will return to the Carthage lineup after a 26-year hiatus. The Red Men wrestling program, which began in 1961-62, will begin its new season with a 204-242-8 all-time record in dual meets. Carthage College Athletic Hall of Fame member Ron Zalokar ’95 was the head coach for all 33 seasons of the Red Men wrestling program. As of the 2018-19 academic year, 108 NCAA Division III institutions across six regions sponsor men’s wrestling.
Carthage College will contribute to the national expansion of women’s wrestling and women’s bowling.
Women’s wrestling was recently recommended as an emerging sport by the NCAA committee on women’s athletics. If approved, women’s wrestling will be added to the NCAA emerging sports lineup on August 1, 2020, a huge step toward evolving into an NCAA Championship-Level sport in the future. The 2018-19 academic year saw 23 NCAA institutions sponsor women’s wrestling.
Eighty-four NCAA campuses participate in women’s bowling, and Carthage will add its name to that list. Women’s bowling competes as one division known as the National Collegiate Bowling.
A national search for head coaches will begin in the coming weeks.
Carthage will also hire a club sport coordinator to provide structure for club sport athletes and to grow programs to meet our campus recreational needs. This position will focus efforts on men’s water polo, men’s and women’s ice hockey, and men’s bowling.