Sesker's Slant: Talking NCAA, Super 8, Shane Sparks, and much more
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by Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
Ohio State senior Logan Stieber has been a dominating force this season. Tony Rotundo photo.
The NCAA Wrestling Championships is still one of my favorite sporting events.
I’ve been to two Olympic Games, nine World Championships, a World Cup and the Pan American Games, and the NCAAs are every bit as exciting as any of those events.
I’ve been to 20 NCAA tournaments and I’ve never walked away disappointed.
In my previous Slant, I came down pretty hard on college wrestling for not having enough action in their matches. And some of that still holds true.
But this past week convinced me that there is still some great action in the sport as well.
I watched the Minnesota-Michigan dual last week on the Big Ten Network, and it was an entertaining dual between two top programs.
I loved seeing Michigan heavyweight Adam Coon charge out aggressively with a quick body lock and pin in his match. Coon flexed and screamed in celebration.
And Minnesota’s Dylan Ness is rarely boring. He somehow locked up a cradle, in typical unorthodox Ness fashion, to record a fall in his 157-pound match.
I’m looking forward to seeing the match this weekend between the top-ranked Ness and third-ranked Isaiah Martinez of Illinois. Martinez, a freshman, is unbeaten and has the same go-for-broke mentality that Ness does.
Throw in Nebraska star James Green and the Big Tens are going to be fun to watch at 157.
Ohio State’s Logan Stieber, gunning for his fourth NCAA title this season, has been putting on a show all season. He’s dominating everyone, including some very strong competition, in rolling to an unbeaten start at 141.
Stieber is the overwhelming favorite to win the Hodge Trophy this season. He’s been a joy to watch over the past four seasons. He’s part of a very good Buckeye team that will be in contention for the team title at March’s NCAAs in St. Louis.
Stieber will be in the mix to make the World and Olympic Team in freestyle over the next two years.
It was fun to see the Iowa Hawkeyes wrestle more wide-open in their lopsided win at Oklahoma State. Junior World bronze medalist Thomas Gilman was on the attack early and often in his major decision win over Eddie Klimara. His teammates followed suit in their impressive win.
Hawkeye newcomer Brandon Sorensen has emerged as a force at 149 as well after knocking off 2014 NCAA runner-up Josh Kindig of Oklahoma State.
With Nathan Burak now out of redshirt, top-ranked Iowa is looking very strong and deep as a team.
Super 8 campaign great for wrestling
Chances are you’ve seen United World Wrestling’s innovative “Super 8” campaign. It focuses on the development of women in wrestling worldwide.
The “Super 8” campaign launched on Wednesday, with a special presentation at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. It will conclude on International Women’s Day on March 8 at the Women’s World Cup in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The eight-week program brings together eight women from the sport of wrestling for a two-month focus on increasing female participation in the sport.
IOC President Thomas Bach attended the event earlier this week. He met with the eight women featured in the campaign and watched as several Olympic wrestlers demonstrate popular techniques of the sport.
USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender also was in Switzerland for the event.
The exhibition at the Olympic Museum included panel discussions with the ambassadors, sports demonstrations, and interactive features to showcase the development of women’s wrestling.
UWW President Nenad Lalovic has made a strong push to give women a bigger voice and bigger role in international wrestling. That was a big key in wrestling keeping its spot in the Olympic program.
Women’s freestyle wrestling now has six Olympic weight classes, up from the four they had at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. And the women now have eight weight classes at the World Championships after previously having seven.
Women’s participation also continues to grow worldwide. The skill level also has improved significantly. Japanese legend Saori Yoshida, a member of the Super 8, is as good of a technical wrestler that you will see at any level.
It’s great to see two-time World medalist Helen Maroulis of the U.S. involved with the Super 8 program. She’s a great representative of our sport.
The Super 8 Ambassadors include:
Edith Dosca (Italy) – United World Wrestling referee
Fanny Echeveryy (Colombia) – President of the Colombian Wrestling Federation
Carol Huynh (Canada) – 2008 Olympic champion, United World Wrestling Bureau Member
Helen Maroulis (USA) – 2012 World silver medalist
Sofia Mattson (Sweden) – 2012 World champion, Olympic bronze medalist
Isabella Sambou (Senegal) – 2012 Olympian
Natalia Vorbeyva (Russia) – 2012 Olympic champion
Saori Yoshida (Japan) – Three-time Olympic champion, 12-time World champion
Can’t get enough of Shane Sparks
How can you not love the Big Ten Network’s Shane Sparks?
He’s definitely the most intense, most fired-up announcer I’ve ever seen.
Shane’s enthusiasm is infectious. Sparky has been huge in helping promote the sport from his work at Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo to his superb work covering college and international wrestling.
Shane is very passionate and he loves the sport, but he’s also very knowledgeable. Nobody is more prepared for a broadcast than he is.
I love the description Sparks uses for Minnesota standout Dylan Ness: “Highly combustible material. Handle with extreme care.”
Sparks works well with BTN veterans Tim Johnson and Jim Gibbons.
NWCA National Duals in Fort Wayne provide drama
It’s great to see the NWCA continuing to hold the non-Division I National Duals in one venue again this year.
The event, held Jan. 9-10, in Fort Wayne, was a big success.
Maryville’s 16-15 win over Notre Dame in the Division II finals was an excellent dual between two programs that have quickly become very successful nationally.
Kudos to Maryville coach Mike Denney for building another top program in Division II. His Nebraska-Omaha teams won seven national titles before the program was inexplicably dropped in 2011. There isn’t a better person in the sport than the high-character, high-integrity Denney.
Dual meets provide plenty of excitement, and I’m looking forward to seeing the Division I National Duals next month in Iowa City.
I just booked my flight today to cover the event Feb. 21-22 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
I miss having all the divisions under the same roof for the National Duals. Maybe that can happen again someday.
Perry, Pariano make big contributions to wrestling
How could you not love wrestling for coaches like Mark Perry and Drew Pariano?
I had a chance to talk on the phone with Perry, the associate head coach at Illinois, and Pariano, the head coach at Northwestern, the past two weeks while doing feature stories on athletes from their teams.
Both guys are not only excellent and passionate young coaches, but they are two of the best people we have in the sport.
The commitment they have to college wrestling, and developing their post-college athletes on the international level, is impressive.
Their athletes believe in what they are preaching and that’s great to see.
I could talk wrestling all day with either one of those guys.
Feel free to provide any feedback to me at csesker@usawrestling.org
The NCAA Wrestling Championships is still one of my favorite sporting events.
I’ve been to two Olympic Games, nine World Championships, a World Cup and the Pan American Games, and the NCAAs are every bit as exciting as any of those events.
I’ve been to 20 NCAA tournaments and I’ve never walked away disappointed.
In my previous Slant, I came down pretty hard on college wrestling for not having enough action in their matches. And some of that still holds true.
But this past week convinced me that there is still some great action in the sport as well.
I watched the Minnesota-Michigan dual last week on the Big Ten Network, and it was an entertaining dual between two top programs.
I loved seeing Michigan heavyweight Adam Coon charge out aggressively with a quick body lock and pin in his match. Coon flexed and screamed in celebration.
And Minnesota’s Dylan Ness is rarely boring. He somehow locked up a cradle, in typical unorthodox Ness fashion, to record a fall in his 157-pound match.
I’m looking forward to seeing the match this weekend between the top-ranked Ness and third-ranked Isaiah Martinez of Illinois. Martinez, a freshman, is unbeaten and has the same go-for-broke mentality that Ness does.
Throw in Nebraska star James Green and the Big Tens are going to be fun to watch at 157.
Ohio State’s Logan Stieber, gunning for his fourth NCAA title this season, has been putting on a show all season. He’s dominating everyone, including some very strong competition, in rolling to an unbeaten start at 141.
Stieber is the overwhelming favorite to win the Hodge Trophy this season. He’s been a joy to watch over the past four seasons. He’s part of a very good Buckeye team that will be in contention for the team title at March’s NCAAs in St. Louis.
Stieber will be in the mix to make the World and Olympic Team in freestyle over the next two years.
It was fun to see the Iowa Hawkeyes wrestle more wide-open in their lopsided win at Oklahoma State. Junior World bronze medalist Thomas Gilman was on the attack early and often in his major decision win over Eddie Klimara. His teammates followed suit in their impressive win.
Hawkeye newcomer Brandon Sorensen has emerged as a force at 149 as well after knocking off 2014 NCAA runner-up Josh Kindig of Oklahoma State.
With Nathan Burak now out of redshirt, top-ranked Iowa is looking very strong and deep as a team.
Super 8 campaign great for wrestling
Chances are you’ve seen United World Wrestling’s innovative “Super 8” campaign. It focuses on the development of women in wrestling worldwide.
The “Super 8” campaign launched on Wednesday, with a special presentation at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. It will conclude on International Women’s Day on March 8 at the Women’s World Cup in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The eight-week program brings together eight women from the sport of wrestling for a two-month focus on increasing female participation in the sport.
IOC President Thomas Bach attended the event earlier this week. He met with the eight women featured in the campaign and watched as several Olympic wrestlers demonstrate popular techniques of the sport.
USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender also was in Switzerland for the event.
The exhibition at the Olympic Museum included panel discussions with the ambassadors, sports demonstrations, and interactive features to showcase the development of women’s wrestling.
UWW President Nenad Lalovic has made a strong push to give women a bigger voice and bigger role in international wrestling. That was a big key in wrestling keeping its spot in the Olympic program.
Women’s freestyle wrestling now has six Olympic weight classes, up from the four they had at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. And the women now have eight weight classes at the World Championships after previously having seven.
Women’s participation also continues to grow worldwide. The skill level also has improved significantly. Japanese legend Saori Yoshida, a member of the Super 8, is as good of a technical wrestler that you will see at any level.
It’s great to see two-time World medalist Helen Maroulis of the U.S. involved with the Super 8 program. She’s a great representative of our sport.
The Super 8 Ambassadors include:
Edith Dosca (Italy) – United World Wrestling referee
Fanny Echeveryy (Colombia) – President of the Colombian Wrestling Federation
Carol Huynh (Canada) – 2008 Olympic champion, United World Wrestling Bureau Member
Helen Maroulis (USA) – 2012 World silver medalist
Sofia Mattson (Sweden) – 2012 World champion, Olympic bronze medalist
Isabella Sambou (Senegal) – 2012 Olympian
Natalia Vorbeyva (Russia) – 2012 Olympic champion
Saori Yoshida (Japan) – Three-time Olympic champion, 12-time World champion
Can’t get enough of Shane Sparks
How can you not love the Big Ten Network’s Shane Sparks?
He’s definitely the most intense, most fired-up announcer I’ve ever seen.
Shane’s enthusiasm is infectious. Sparky has been huge in helping promote the sport from his work at Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo to his superb work covering college and international wrestling.
Shane is very passionate and he loves the sport, but he’s also very knowledgeable. Nobody is more prepared for a broadcast than he is.
I love the description Sparks uses for Minnesota standout Dylan Ness: “Highly combustible material. Handle with extreme care.”
Sparks works well with BTN veterans Tim Johnson and Jim Gibbons.
NWCA National Duals in Fort Wayne provide drama
It’s great to see the NWCA continuing to hold the non-Division I National Duals in one venue again this year.
The event, held Jan. 9-10, in Fort Wayne, was a big success.
Maryville’s 16-15 win over Notre Dame in the Division II finals was an excellent dual between two programs that have quickly become very successful nationally.
Kudos to Maryville coach Mike Denney for building another top program in Division II. His Nebraska-Omaha teams won seven national titles before the program was inexplicably dropped in 2011. There isn’t a better person in the sport than the high-character, high-integrity Denney.
Dual meets provide plenty of excitement, and I’m looking forward to seeing the Division I National Duals next month in Iowa City.
I just booked my flight today to cover the event Feb. 21-22 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
I miss having all the divisions under the same roof for the National Duals. Maybe that can happen again someday.
Perry, Pariano make big contributions to wrestling
How could you not love wrestling for coaches like Mark Perry and Drew Pariano?
I had a chance to talk on the phone with Perry, the associate head coach at Illinois, and Pariano, the head coach at Northwestern, the past two weeks while doing feature stories on athletes from their teams.
Both guys are not only excellent and passionate young coaches, but they are two of the best people we have in the sport.
The commitment they have to college wrestling, and developing their post-college athletes on the international level, is impressive.
Their athletes believe in what they are preaching and that’s great to see.
I could talk wrestling all day with either one of those guys.
Feel free to provide any feedback to me at csesker@usawrestling.org
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