NCWA Hon­ors 147 Stu­dent-Ath­letes on All-Academic Team

DALLAS - The National Collegiate Wrestling Association announced its All-Academic members for the 2017-18 competition year honoring 147 student-athletes from its men's and women's divisions.

Brigham Young led all schools with eight honorees. The Cougars also won the top spot in the NCWA's All-Academic Team awards announced last month (see related story). Central Florida, second in the team academic listings, tied with Maine for second with six individual honorees. The Apprentice School and Liberty had five honorees each, while the teams at Yale, Utah State, Wayne State College, Florida, Rutgers, Emmanuel College and Clemson each earned four spots on the All-Academic individual list.

NCWA Rec­og­nizes 10 Pro­grams as All-Academic Teams

DALLAS – The National Collegiate Wrestling Association has awarded 10 of its Division I programs as All-Academic Teams for the 2017-18 season. The 10 programs honored have the highest composite grade-point averages among the association’s 34 Division I members. Six of the NCWA’s nine conferences had representation on the All-Academic Team, including three from the Mid-Atlantic Conference. The 10 members of the 2017-18 NCWA All-Academic Team are:

NCWA Lead­er­ship Returns to Flori­da for Annual Vision Forum

| NCWA

DALLAS, TX. - The National Collegiate Wrestling Association will again welcome it’s coaches and staff members to the Hilton Daytona Beach Resort for its annual Vision Forum Conference. NCWA representatives including conference chairman and commissioners from the nine NCWA Regions will discuss multiple segments of the upcoming season and future seasons over the three days of meetings and legislation slated for August 2nd through August 5th. The Vision Forum is held in conjunction with the annual National Wrestling Coaches Convention. Coaches may choose to attended both the vision forum and leadership seminars, briefings and social events with the rest of the nation’s NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA coaches. REGISTER HERE

Tole­do Earns Two Final­ists, First Nation­al Champ since 2008

The NCAA-D1 Wrestling Championships just wrapped up this past weekend at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Penn State won their 7th National Championship in the last 8 years besting The Ohio State by single digits for the crown. The crowds were huge, the matches were hyped and lived up to expectations, but there was a lesser known tournament that proceeded it the weekend before at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas…home of the D1 Most Outstanding Wrestler, Bo Nickal.

Itha­ca’s Van Valen Wins Nation­al Title for Alfred State

Ithaca High School graduate Ian Van Valen finished his wrestling career at Alfred State last week with a national title at 184 pounds at the NCWA Championships in Allen, Texas.

Van Valen finished the tournament with a 5-0 record, outscored his opponents 74-2 and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament for his dominating performance.

Maine woman claims her fourth collegiate wrestling title

| Steve Craig

For three years the background image on Samantha Frank’s phone has been a photo taken moments after she won her first women’s collegiate wrestling national championship as a freshman.

“I had upset the two-time defending champ. She was on the ground with her hands over her head and I was jumping in the air with

Rip­ley, Mer­ri­field, Fonger secure All-American mat status

| Mark Haskell

ALLEN, TEXAS — Three former Midcoast high school wrestlers — who now shine on the collegiate level — experienced stellar success on the mats at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) women's national championships on Thursday, March 8 at the Allen Event Center. The talented trio — Husson University’s Shannon

Lib­er­ty Win at 235 lbs. Clinch­es NCWA Championships Sweep

| Kevin McPherson

ALLEN, Texas—Liberty and Apprentice exchanged the team points lead three times over two days before the Flames clinched the National Collegiate Wrestling Association championship by the smallest of margins on Saturday at the Allen Event Center.

Appren­tice Push­es Through to Take Second-Day Lead

ALLEN, Texas – The last time The Apprentice School had a finalist on the Saturday night finals stage, three of its four current coaches were still in their singlets. Builders assistant coaches Marcus Chevres and Ty Holley split their finals matches in 2010, but with a semifinal blast from three wrestlers along with some scoring help in consolations, they and fellow alum and head coach Micah Amrozowicz, have their alma mater in the lead after the second day at the Allen Event Center.

NCWA Cham­pi­onships — Thursday Summary

ALLEN, Texas – Liberty University leads the NCWA Championships after the first day, advancing seven wrestlers into the quarterfinals but using its depth with nine other alive in the consolation rounds for a 74-point total and a moderate cushion over the field. The Apprentice School is comfortably in second place for the moment with 66.5 points, while Central Florida is 14 points back in third with 60 points. Two-time defending champion Emmanuel College is fourth with 56 points, with BYU just behind in fifth at 55.5. Grays Harbor College and Washington State are tied for sixth at 50 points.

NCWA Cham­pi­onships — Thursday Recap 285

We have broken down our first-day coverage into separate stories on each weight class on our site. Full coverage of the NCWA Championships is available to watch and follow along at www.arena.flowrestling.org.

Wrestling begins again at 9 a.m. Friday with the championship quarterfinals and the two rounds of 16 consolation matches. The championship semifinals are at 7 p.m.

The top two seeds in this class could make for a great championship bout between two two-time All-Americans. But there's another prospective matchup that could be even more appealing with two heavyweights battling each other in the tournament's final match with the team title on the line.

NCWA Cham­pi­onships — Thurs­day Recaps 125 and 133

We have broken down our first-day coverage into separate stories on each weight class on our site. Full coverage of the NCWA Championships is available to watch and follow along at www.arena.flowrestling.org.

Wrestling begins in the men's division again at 9 a.m. Friday with the championship quarterfinals and the two rounds of 16 consolation matches. The championship semifinals are at 7 p.m.

Seven of the top eights seeds are still alive into the quarterfinals at 125, paced by top-seeded Byron Smith of Middle Tennessee. Smith won three matches Thursday by tech fall, with combined scores of 48-2. Also, UCF has two keys to its championship run in this bracket.

NCWA Cham­pi­onships — Thurs­day Recaps 141 and 149

We have broken down our first-day coverage into separate stories on each weight class on our site. Full coverage of the NCWA Championships is available to watch and follow along at www.arena.flowrestling.org.

Wrestling begins again at 9 a.m. Friday with the championship quarterfinals and the two rounds of 16 consolation matches. The championship semifinals are at 7 p.m.

141 lbs. One of the featured quarterfinal matches will come at 141, where at the bottom of the bracket Liberty’s 2-seed Reid Stewart will face Apprentice’s 10-seed Shalek Colon. Stewart is the front end of the bulk of Liberty’s middleweight prowess, while Colon edged 7-seed and returning All-American Nick Reddy of Grand Valley State 10-7 in the round of 16. The winner there could play a big part of the championship picture.

NCWA Cham­pi­onships — Thurs­day Recaps 157 and 165

We have broken down our first-day coverage into separate stories on each weight class on our site. Full coverage of the NCWA Championships is available to watch and follow along at www.arena.flowrestling.org.

Wrestling begins again at 9 a.m. Friday with the championship quarterfinals and the two rounds of 16 consolation matches. The championship semifinals are at 7 p.m.

The top eight seeds all won in the 165 class to set up a quarterfinal series of matches where all four returning All-Americans in the bracket are still in the championship hunt, plus another match that will have an impact on the team title chase. In the middle of the bracket is a matchup of returning All-Americans as Javiair White of the Rutgers Wrestling Club, the 4-seed, taking on returning All-American JA Jones of Emmanuel. Jones took third in this class last year, while White was third at 174 in 2017. The White-Jones result will have team title implications.

NCWA Cham­pi­onships — Thurs­day Recaps 174 and 184

We have broken down our first-day coverage into separate stories on each weight class on our site. Full coverage of the NCWA Championships is available to watch and follow along at www.arena.flowrestling.org.

Wrestling begins again at 9 a.m. Friday with the championship quarterfinals and the two rounds of 16 consolation matches. The championship semifinals are at 7 p.m.

The team title will take an interesting turn following the results of the quarterfinals here. Three returning All-Americans are still alive in the championship side of the bracket, with two of the eight quarterfinalists from UCF and one from Liberty. And they're all on the same side of the bracket.

NCWA Cham­pi­onships — Thurs­day Recaps 197 and 235

We have broken down our first-day coverage into separate stories on each weight class on our site. Full coverage of the NCWA Championships is available to watch and follow along at www.arena.flowrestling.org.

Wrestling begins again at 9 a.m. Friday with the championship quarterfinals and the two rounds of 16 consolation matches. The championship semifinals are at 7 p.m.

The 235-pound bracket has been loaded from the start with eight returning All-Americans seeded in the bracket. Seven of them reached the quarterfinals representing a total of 10 All-American honors for what should be a great set of matches toward the close of the Friday morning session. The only reason all eight aren't the quarters is one of them lost to another when Luttere Eglaus of UCF edged Clemson's Danny Falconer 6-4 in the round of 16.

Women Cre­ate Their Own Lega­cy for CSU Wrestling

| Tyler Johnson

Two women are changing the culture of Colorado State wrestling – a space traditionally dominated by men. Juniors KaMele Sanchez and Kendal Davis are leading the way in one of the most successful seasons in CSU history. Sanchez and Davis’ wrestling journeys have led them on juxtaposing paths to become officers for the team as well as two of the most successful wrestlers to ever compete in