It's October. That means wrestling people are getting excited about the
upcoming season. The buzz around the coaching changes at Iowa, Iowa
State, Ohio State and many other schools have people talking about an
exciting year of wrestling. Kids clubs, junior high programs and
colleges will all be in the practice room this month honing their
skills for competitions starting next month.
I am proud to have the opportunity to help RealProWrestling promote
is Northern Region qualifying tournament which will be held on
Saturday, November 4 at Cornell College in Mt Vernon, IA starting with
a rules clinic at 9:00 and wrestling at 10:00.
Hopefully most of you had the opportunity to watch at least one of the
eight episodes telecasted by PAX and FSN for the Season 1 tournament.
Many Olympic caliber wrestlers competed and the action was outstanding.
Doug Schwab, who won an NCAA title in 1999 as an Iowa Hawkeye, emerged
at 145lbs in a bracket that included former NCAA champions Chris Bono,
Eric Larkin, Jesse Jantzen and Tony Davis. Schwab was also named
Outstanding Wrestler.
Season 1 Champions included:
121 - Sammie Henson, who placed third in the World Champions in China
last week at the age of 35.
132 - Tony DeAnda
145 - Doug Schwab
163 - Joe Williams
185 - Mo Lawal
211 - Daniel Cormier
264 - Pat Cummings
RealProWrestling matches are a mix of folkstyle combined with scoring
for throws and turns/exposure similar to the freestyle/greco format of
today. Takedowns are scored for two with successful throws earning four
or six points. The wrestling takes place on an elevated mat and
wrestlers are rewarding for staying in the center circle and also
offers the one point push-out rule adapted last year internationally.
Escapes and reversals are worth one and two respectively.
Post collegiate wrestlers now have another outlet to showcase their
talents with the opportunity to make some money while they continue to
pursue Olympic and World Championship aspirations. Speaking of, how
about Bill Zadick and Joe Warren! Both became World Champions last
week; Zadick in freestyle at 145 and Warren in greco at 132.
The event at Cornell College is the second of four regional qualifiers.
The first takes place in San Jose, CA on October 28. Philadelphia and
Tulsa are the other sites on November 11 and 18. Regional winners at
each of the seven weight classes will have their expenses paid to
compete at the Super Challenge in San Jose on January 7.
Winners of the Super Challenge will wrestle against each of the RPW
defending champions from Season 1 and to determine the roster of all
eight teams for the dual meet portion of Season 2 which will be in the
spring.
The timing for the event on November 4 should be good for wrestling
people in Iowa. Friday October 27 is the final regular season high
school football date and the state coaches and officials convention is
October 28-29 in Des Moines. Most college squads start wrestling in
open tournaments on either Nov 11 or 18.