In the first dual between DIII teams in 2021, Averett bested Emory & Henry 57-0. It was the first match in program history for Emory & Henry and the first home match for the Wasps. Averett won all five contested matches and also took five forfeits to secure the final margin. Returning NCAA qualifier George Moseley turned in the top performance with a 46 second fall.
In addition to the five varsity matches, the teams contested ten exhibition matches, as Emory & Henry only had wrestlers at 165 and above.
Both teams head back to the mats this weekend at the Star City Classic tournament in Roanoke.
Averett 57, Emory & Henry 0 125 Sam Braswell (A) win by Forfeit 6-0 133 Joseph Jones (A) win by Forfeit 12-0 141 Brandon Woody (A) win by Forfeit 18-0 149 Tony Blackmon (A) win by Forfeit 24-0 157 Landon Childress (A) win by Forfeit 30-0 165 Alex Turley (A) def. Dalton Biggs, Fall 1:02 36-0 174 George Moseley (A) def. Matthew Cox, Fall 0:46 184 Nassir McCummings (A) def. Brenden Blevins, Fall 1:28 197 Billy Baldwin (A) def. Josh Brooks, Dec. 11-4 285 Trent Ragland (A) def. Wade Wheeler, Fall 4:26
Exhibition results 285 Ethan Hughes (EH) def. Jaleel Jones, Fall 5:58 285 Caleb Calhoun (A) def. Austin McBee, SV-1 5-3 285 Kowan Lee (A) def. Donovan Pinnix, Dec. 10-4 165 Cleon Lawton (A) def. Dalton Biggs, Fall 6:41 174 Jovonte’ Hobbs (A) def. Matthew Cox, MD. 10-1 184 John Bishop (A) def. Brenden Blevins, Fall :26 197 Zion Carpenter (A) def. Josh Brooks, Fall 2:28 285 Jamar Christian (A) def. Ethan Hughes, TF 18-3 5:00 285 Austin McBee (EH), def. Kowan Lee, Fall 3:49 285 Donovan Pinnix (EH) def. Caleb Calhoun, Dec. 9-8
Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights for college athletes has been a hot-button issue over the past few years, and it will only increase in prominence as July 1st approaches. On that day, Florida will be the first state to have a law going into effect allowing college athletes to profit from their own NIL. Five other states currently have laws on the books with varied dates of effectiveness, and many others are in progress.
The NCAA has resisted the idea of letting student-athletes make money in this way, but the association has gradually moved in the direction of relaxing those restrictions. All three divisions were set to vote on the issue at the 2021 NCAA convention happening this week, but the vote has been indefinitely delayed. One reason for the delay is that the NCAA proposal places certain restrictions on how athletes can make money through NIL. The U.S. Department of Justice has told the NCAA that any rules must follow antitrust laws and should not unlawfully restrict trade. The NCAA proposal places restrictions on NIL activity, and there will be new leadership in the Justice Department one week from now. How the incoming administration interprets what the NCAA wants to do will determine if the NCAA’s plan to place restrictions on its athletes is legal or is an antitrust violation caused by schools conspiring to limit student-athlete earnings.
Senators Cory Booker (CO) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) are sponsors of a wide-ranging reform bill for college athletics, and the delay from the NCAA caused them to release the following statement:
“Fair compensation delayed is fair compensation denied. Yet again, the NCAA has missed an opportunity to finally do right by college athletes. The NCAA’s delay reinforces the need for Congress and individual states to move forward with legislative remedies that will provide college athletes with rights that the NCAA continues to neglect. NCAA’s disappointing decision further fuels our commitment to passing a strong College Athletes Bill of Rights that will truly advance justice and opportunity for college athletes.”
The NCAA has released Return to Championships Guidelines for all non-basketball sports after earlier announcing that the Division I basketball championships would be hosted entirely in Indiana. The guidelines feature mostly standardized policies and procedures for all sports, though there is a short section at the end specific to wrestling. Read the whole document here, and continue on for a summary of the more interesting parts.
Defining Tiers There are three Tiers of personnel defined in the document. Tier 1 is wrestlers, coaches, trainers, officials, and others with close contact to athletes. Tier 2 is team and event staff that come into contact with Tier 1 but can reasonably keep distance and wear masks at all times. Tier 3 is people who provide event services but do not come into close contact with Tiers 1 and 2. Page 45 lists some examples of defined tiers for the Division I championships.
Tier 1 and 2 individuals must have a negative COVID test within 48 hours of travel to the event and will be subject to further testing by the NCAA at the championships site. This group is not to have contact with any non-tiered individuals for the duration of their trip. This includes family members outside of the tested group. “Fans are not permitted to interact with any student-athletes, coaches, team personnel, or officials (all Tier 1 or Tier 2 personnel) at any time. This also applies to family members of these individuals.” Furthermore, those in Tiers 1 and 2 are encouraged and expected to take meals in their hotel rooms and only eat at a restaurant if seated outdoors.
Team Guidelines Practice at the competition site is also highly regulated. “Each team should have an exclusive time period for practice facility use…Individual workouts must also be scheduled, if allowed, at a host practice facility.” This would be a start contrast from the free-for-all nature of practice typically employed where dozens of teams could be on the mat at once in the two days before the event. It will put a logistical strain on the site and could be a reason for teams to locate alternate practice facilities.
How this might affect the warmup area is as of yet unclear. Wrestling has a greater mixture of athletes from different teams, especially in a tournament setting, than most sports. Athletes and coaches are expected to wear masks except when actually competing, practicing, or in their hotel rooms.
Travel and Meals Travel presents its own challenges as teams converge on La Crosse, Wisconsin, in two months. Tier 1 & 2 individuals are supposed to maintain distancing as much as possible and refrain from using facilities like a pool or fitness center unless it is limited to the team and disinfected. Wrestlers would be advised to have their weight under control without relying on the hotel bikes and treadmills, since their availability is not guaranteed.
Regarding team meals, “[T]eams should either arrange for boxed meals and bottled beverages to be delivered to each individual’s room or arrange for dedicated meal location within the hotel that is set for team meals only…Meals at a restaurant should be avoided, and only outdoor seating should be utilized if unavoidable.” Outdoor seating in Wisconsin in March is unlikely, so there will likely be a lot of food delivered to hotel rooms.
One wrinkle the NCAA and teams will have to grapple with is the quarantine requirements. If a tested individual is positive for COVID-19, that individual will need to have a place away from the rest of the travel party to spend 14 days to avoid exposing others. The document allows for a contingency travel plan if quarantine is not possible. This seems to allow an infected individual to drive or be driven home in a private or college-owned vehicle.
Spectators There are guidelines for scenarios with no fans as well as full or partial fan capacities. If fans are allowed, there will be at least six feet between groups, everyone will be required to wear a mask at all times, and there will be a buffer zone of at least five rows or twenty feet between fans and the competition area. The elevated seating in the La Crosse Center would seem to solve this problem naturally.
Wrestling-specific Guidelines Most of the document is not specific to any sport, but section E beginning on page 37 has some wrestling guidelines. Weigh-ins should be separated by weight class, as opposed to the typical procedure where all athletes are weighed in together. Also, scales should be disinfected after each use. If this is interpreted as in between each athlete, the weigh in procedure will take a little longer than usual.
The coaches corners are to be sanitized after each match, and coaches should wait to enter the corners until after the previous coaches have left and the sanitization is complete. Usually, the next wrestler is sent to the mat as the previous one approaches its conclusion. With these guidelines, wrestlers will likely be delayed until after the previous competitors and coaches have left the mat and the corners have been sanitized.
Mat Cleaning “Mats should be regularly cleaned and disinfected in accordance with manufacturer’s best practices. Consideration should be made to utilize a rotation of mats used in competition at a given time to allow for mats to be disinfected between each match.” This is a little bit unclear. Should the mat be cleaned between each match or should manufacturers best practices be utilized? Typically, the mats are only cleaned between sessions. Cleaning each mat in between matches will significantly delay the competition, even with 45 fewer wrestlers in attendance. Regardless, the mats will be cleaned more frequently, and coming up with a strategy to clean and dry the mats quickly would be worthwhile.
Conclusion The 2021 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships, if the event is contested, will provide a unique challenge to athletes, coaches, athletic trainers, and event staff. The athletes and coaches will be in a sort of modified “bubble.” Interactions between wrestlers and fans will be eliminated, if fans are even permitted to attend. The logistical hurdles to be cleared to have the tournament are challenging, but do not appear insurmountable. The two main questions that remain: 1. Will there be enough teams in the 2021 season for the NCAA to host a championship? 2. Is there a point at which the NCAA cancels the tournament for health, cost, or other reasons?
The daily increase in COVID-19 infections is a sobering reminder that the pandemic continues, even as plans move forward with college athletics. Vaccines will not be available in large enough numbers to affect the wrestling championships, so it will be up to each school and individual to do their part to keep infections low on their campuses and in their athletes. Surely, schools, conferences, and the NCAA will have to make compromises and be nimble in the face of change, but we can all hope to see wrestlers on the mat in La Crosse two months from now.
The 2021 Division III college season continues its slow start yesterday as Loras followed fellow ARC member Wartburg in heading to Iowa State to compete. The Duhawks took on the host Cyclones as well as Nebraska-Kearney in a tri-meet featuring many extra bouts on the side.
Eighth-ranked Iowa State took a 44-0 victory in the first match of the day for Loras and D2 #2 Nebraska-Kearney topped them 25-14 in the second. Jacob Krakow, Shane Liegel, and Slade Sifuentes won against the Lopers.
Each team brought a full second squad that competed as well. Results for all matches at the link below. Loras begins their ARC schedule in two weeks with a tri-meet at Coe on the 23rd.
The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin put out a conference wrestling schedule yesterday with competition set to begin on January 23rd and 24th with a conference quad on each day. The schedule wraps up with the nine team CCIW Championships on February 13th.
CCIW Dates: Saturday, January 23rd at Concordia Sunday, January 24th at Millikin Friday, January 29th at Wheaton & North Central Friday, February 5th at Carthage & Elmhurst Saturday, February 13th – CCIW Championships
Danny Song has resigned his position as head coach at Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland, Ohio, school announced today. Song spent 5 1/2 seasons with the Spartans, joining Case for the 2015-2016 season. Case will not compete this season, as the school announced October 27th the cancellation of winter sports competition for 2020-2021.
Danny Song has announced his resignation as the Head Coach of the Case Western Reserve University Wrestling Team, effective as of December 31, 2020.
“I want to thank Danny Song for his exceptional work with the CWRU Wrestling program,” said James C. Wyant Director of Athletics and Chair of Physical Education Amy Backus. “Throughout his tenure, the team continued to improve, cultivating a culture of good sportsmanship, academic and athletic excellence as well as community service. I wish Danny and his family all the best in his future endeavors.” Click for more…
The 2021 portion of this strange season kicked off yesterday as Wartburg and Olivet took on a pair of in-state Division I teams for their first competitions of the year. Wartburg took a pair of matches from the Cyclones, while Olivet came up empty against the Chippewas.
Zane Mulder and Kyle Briggs won at 165 and 174 for Wartburg. Mulder won in his return to ISU where he wrestled the past two seasons before transferring.
According to their schedules, both teams have some time off with Wartburg starting the ARC schedule January 23rd and Olivet hosting the MIAA Championship January 30th.
The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin announced plans to begin competition in all winter sports no sooner than January 23rd.
“[I]f federal, state, local and campus conditions are at a point that student-athletes can return to competition safely and proper testing can be secured, then winter competition can commence.”
Augustana, Carthage, Elmhurst, Millikin, North Central, and Wheaton are full members with wrestling, while Concordia Wisconsin, Lakeland, and MSOE are associate members.
The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference released a plan to return to competition for winter sports. Full schedule details will come at a later date, but the release outlines plans for conference-only competition beginning on February 1st. This plan is contingent on WIAC schools securing ongoing testing. “The plan requires all WIAC institutions to secure testing for student-athletes, support staff and game officials in order to provide safe competition environments during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
WIAC schools with wrestling include UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-Stevens Point, and UW-Whitewater.
The Centennial Conference has canceled conference competition and championships for the 2021 season. As of this article’s publication, it was not stated if conference schools could attempt to compete in non-conference contests or the NCAA postseason. There are five full wrestling members and two associate members.
Associate member Washington & Lee is part of the ODAC, and that conference has released conference schedules for men’s and women’s basketball, though wrestling is not a conference sport. Merchant Marine is in the Skyline Conference which has not made any statements about moving forward with winter sports.
Gettysburg, Johns Hopkins, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, and Ursinus are the five full members with wrestling. Stay tuned to see if these schools will ultimately cancel winter competition.
The Ohio Athletic Conference has published a two week conference schedule where all eight teams will meet at Mount Union (1/23) and Ohio Northern (2/6). Baldwin Wallace is also hosting duals on 1/30, but the teams involved are TBD. Over the two weekends, each team will get seven duals. They join the American Rivers Conference in sponsoring conference wrestling competition in 2021.
Yesterday, the Middle Atlantic Conference announced the cancellation of their conference tournament in wrestling. Since the MAC does not have a conference dual schedule, teams will be free to schedule other competition as they are able. The MAC plans to have conference play in basketball starting in mid-February.
The Midwest Conference canceled conference play in winter sports, but is allowing schools to make their own decisions. Cornell is the only MWC school with wrestling, so it will be up to the college to determine a path forward.
The American Rivers Conference has released schedules for winter sports and fall sports that were moved to the spring. The wrestling schedule is comprised of four tri-meet weekends from January 23rd to February 13th that will allow each team to wrestle the other eight ARC teams. Teams can also schedule outside competition as long as the other competing schools follow COVID-19 protocols equal to those followed by conference schools.
Loras won the ARC championship last year, breaking a 27 year streak for Wartburg. The conference title could come down to the final weekend this season again when Wartburg hosts Loras and Nebraska Wesleyan on February 13th.
Emory & Henry College announced plans today to leave the DIII ranks and join Division II. The school will leave the ODAC and join the South Atlantic Conference over the next few years. This year was set to be the first season for men’s and women’s wrestling at the Emory, Virginia, school.
If approved, the Wasps would earn provisional status in 2021-22 and would play full conference schedules the following year. The South Atlantic Conference sponsors men’s wrestling as a partnership with the Conference Carolinas. Emory & Henry would be the ninth school in the conference with men’s wrestling.
Emory & Henry College has around 950 full-time undergraduate students and announced the addition of men’s and women’s wrestling in January of this year. Pete Hansen was named head coach in February. Under the expected timeline, the Wasps will become postseason eligible in Division II for the 2024-2025 season. Should there be an NCAA DIII postseason this year, the school will be eligible to participate in its first and last DIII wrestling postseason.
Projected Timeline of Emory & Henry’s Realignment from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division III November 2020 – Approval from E&H Board of Trustees to pursue membership in NCAA Division II — COMPLETED November 2020 – Invitation received from the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) to become a member — COMPLETED January 2021 – Submit formal application to the NCAA for realignment to NCAA Division II July 2021 – Expected decision from the NCAA regarding application for realignment August 2021 – Start of first NCAA Division II provisional year August 2022 – Start of second NCAA Division II provisional year (anticipated full SAC schedule) August 2023 – Start of final NCAA Division II provisional year August 2024 – Full NCAA Division II membership and eligibility for postseason play
The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference has canceled winter sports, and the schools have canceled all winter competition. This includes Bridgewater State wrestling.
“After an in-depth review of the information from the state and NCAA, consultation among the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) presidents, athletic directors, and athletic trainers and after exhausting all possibilities, including a review of the risks involved, the eight MASCAC presidents have made the difficult decision to cancel all winter sports competition. This includes the sports of men’s and women’s basketball, men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s indoor track and field. The MASCAC Council of Presidents has confirmed that this will include all non-MASCAC sports as well.“
There are now 10 teams that will not compete in 2021.
Zach Binkerd has been named interim head men’s and women’s wrestling coach at Pacific University, the school announced yesterday. Binkerd has spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Boxers and wrestled for four seasons at Pacific from 2009-2013.
The Boxer wrestling program is now in the hands of former Pacific wrestler and former assistant coach Zach Binkerd as he’s officially been named interim Head men’s and women’s wrestling coach.
Binkerd knows first-hand how Pacific and the ability to compete in a sport you love at the college level can make a significant impact in one’s life. “I think some of the things that I learned as an athlete helped me in my professional career. The things that I learned in the classroom pushed me above my peers. I truly believe that Pacific University has a great education. I did both my undergrad and graduate work here, and I came out of my graduate program feeling like a professional – like I was ready to attack the world. I owe that a lot to the education that I received at Pacific and the culture that was created through the wrestling program,” said Binkerd.
Athletic Director Keith Buckley is excited to have Binkerd lead the way for the Boxer wrestling program moving forward.
“Coach Binkerd has a tremendous connection to the Boxer wrestling community and is eager to take the necessary steps to move our program positively forward into the future. He is a proud wrestling alum of Pacific University who is excited to lead our current student-athletes through this challenging time,” said Buckley.
A pair of events with DIII wrestlers are set to go off this weekend. First the UWW Junior/U23 National Championships take place in Omaha, Nebraska, from Friday to Sunday. Freestyle and Greco-Roman will be contested in each age group, and a good number of DIII wrestlers are already registered. Live Results | Event Schedule
The Adrian Invitational is Saturday as well. The five team event features the host Bulldogs along with Trine and three NAIA schools. This may be the only intercollegiate competition at a DIII school in the fall semester. The event will take place with no fans, though video and live results are available. Adrian hosted basketball games this past weekend where players from both teams wore masks in compliance with Michigan’s mask order for sports with close contact. This weekend’s event will be a challenge and possibly a model for how to host DIII wrestling events in 2021.
The New England Collegiate Conference the Liberty League have both canceled winter conference play and championships for the 2020-21 season. As with other announcements like this, both conferences will leave decisions on outside competition up to the individual member schools. Wrestling is not a conference sport in either league, but New England College is in the NECC, while Ithaca and RIT are in the Liberty League.
RIT has subsequently announced that they will not compete in any winter sports this season. Ithaca’s director of athletics Susan Bassett has “noted that the Liberty League decision does not preclude individual institutions from engaging in athletics competition, and Ithaca College will continue to explore potential opportunities.” Dave Decew, athletic director at New England College, has stated that the school “will continue to look for outside competition opportunities at a more local and state-wide level.”
There are now 9 teams officially out of the 2020-2021 wrestling season: Brockport, Case Western Reserve, Chicago, Cortland, Johnson & Wales, NYU, Oswego, RIT, and Williams.
WrestleStat has added results and rankings for Division III. Matches from the 2018-2019 regional and NCAA championships and the entire 2019-2020 season are on the D3WrestleStat site. WrestleStat also generates rankings based on a variation of the Elo system used in chess and other rankings. When a wrestler wins, his Elo rating goes up based on the Elo rating of the opponent and the margin of victory, and the rating of the losing wrestler goes down.
The rankings allow for team rankings and simulated team duals and will list common opponents for the matchups in each dual. The best way to learn about the site is to go there and see the information that is available.
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference has canceled winter sports for 2020-2021, but individual members can make decisions about winter participation. The conference does not sponsor wrestling, though Norwich and Johnson & Wales are member schools with wrestling programs.
Norwich has stated that, “At this time, all seven Norwich winter sports teams have the opportunity to pursue non-conference athletic intercollegiate competition beginning Jan. 1 if NCAA and State of Vermont health guidelines and regulations permit it.”
Johnson & Wales has not made a statement regarding wrestling or other sports. The Providence Journal has an article entitled “No winter sports at Johnson & Wales,” but the only citation is the GNAC release. The paper seems to have jumped the gun unless they have a source not noted.
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