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Thursday, January 25, 2007
Ga. college wrestling rides new wave
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There aren’t a whole lot of in-state opportunities for high school wrestlers to continue pursuing the sport at the college level. All Georgia colleges and universities that offered varsity wrestling have dropped the sport for various reasons. However, the NCWA (National Collegiate Wrestling Association) provides opportunities at eight schools — Augusta State, Darton College, East Georgia College, Georgia Tech, Gordon College, Kennesaw State, Mercer and the University of Georgia — and more than 60 Georgia high schools currently have wrestlers in the NCWA. We talked with Eagle’s Landing coach Mike Hutchings, who has four former wrestlers on NCWA teams, to shed some light on the new wave of collegiate wrestling in Georgia.
Q: What happened to collegiate wrestling in Georgia?
A: “The big thing was Title IX; it was a dagger. With football having so many scholarships, the minor sports were the ones that were on the chopping block. Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia both had programs in the 1970s and ’80s and they were dropped. Georgia State did as well in the early- to mid-’90s and their program was dropped shortly afterwards.”
Q: What needs to happen for a college or university to have an NCAA wrestling program?
A: “The big thing is, you have to have backing from the school. I don’t know if it’s something the school administration is going to take on, or if a private donor is going to have to come in to hire a head coach. For example, Gordon College was offering $4,000 (for a head coaching position), so for someone to do that, they would have to have another job. They would need to find someone where (coaching wrestling) is there job.”
Q: Do you think the lack of wrestling programs has something to do with Georgia being regarded as a second-tier state when it comes to wrestling? And that, in turn, affects the recruiting situation?
A: “[Georgia’s] just not a hot spot for wrestling, but it’s growing year by year. A lot of the kids aren’t recruited in Georgia because we’re a southern state and a lot of the recruiting goes on in the Midwest and the north and some in the west. There’s not a lot of respect for Georgia wrestling throughout the country. But it’s picking up steam. Kids who wrestle, a lot of them are just hungry to wrestle, they don’t really care if its club or anything.”
Q: What do you think are some of the advantages of having NCWA teams in Georgia?
A: It’s like [former Eagle’s Landing wrestlers Derrick and Brandon] Arrington, [Emmanuel] Osho and [Herlon] Fayard — they could have wrestled somewhere else but the money wasn’t there. Instead of a $20,000 private school, you can go to a smaller school in Georgia for $10,000. The Arringtons didn’t have much ambition to wrestle in college, but the team started at Gordon College and here we are.
Time for you to tackle this subject. Speak your mind. Got a wrestling-related issue for Kurt to take down? Send an e-mail.
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Macon duals drama-rich
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The AJC’s Kurt Aschermann Jr. talks H.S. wrestling each Thursday. Feel free to talk back.
Wow. What an exhilarating two days at the state duals in Macon. A 64-team field whittled down to 10 by nightfall Saturday. And of the five finals, three — Class AAAA, AAA and AA — were all-out battles. But some things stood out more than others. Here’s a sampling.
• The Cass-West Laurens quarterfinal match in Class AAA was a classic. Some of the highlights:
West Laurens’ 215-pounder Dondricus Anderson, hobbling around with a leg injury and facing obvious fatigue from a match that looked like it would never end, still managed to stick Cass’ Nick Cordell in 5:29. Plus, Anderson’s determination, and eventual claim of six points, kept the Raiders in the match (they trailed 12-0 coming in). If Cordell gets the pin, it’s a completely different story.
During the pivotal 112-to-130 stretch, Cass got lightning-quick pins from two-time defending state champion Justin Martin at 119 pounds and Damon Cadle at 130 pounds. West Laurens’ duo of Blaine Harvey (112) and Michael Slaughter (125) could only muster a tech fall and a major decision, respectively, and Cass led 27-21 with three weight classes left.
With West Laurens up 29-27, the dual came down to the 145-pound match between Michael Gordon of Cass and the Raiders’ Germany Coleman. Each wrestler was put on their back once late in the second period, then Gordon dropped Coleman again, completing the pin in 4:36 and clinching the dual for Cass. Amazing.
• In the first round of the Class AAAA bracket, Stockbridge manhandled Northside-Warner Robins, 82-0. The only Tiger not to collect a pin was 145-pound Corey Harper, who won a 14-0 major decision.
• Look out for T.J. Mitchell, Wesleyan’s 103-pounder. He’s tormented opponents all season, including a pin that clinched the AA title and Wolves coach Jeff Bedard called Mitchell the best wrestler in the state regardless of classification. That’s high praise from one of the sharper minds of the sport.
• Hats off to Jefferson, which won its seventh consecutive Class A duals title. Taking nothing away from the talented, well-coached Dragons, but it might be time to combine Class AA and A. Imagine a bracket with Jefferson, Lafayette, Wesleyan, Dublin and Lovett.
Wrestling writer Kurt Aschermann Jr. ranks the top wrestling teams in the state, regardless of class: Week of Jan. 25 (last week’s ranking in parenthesis)
1: McEachern (3)
2: Parkview (1)
3: Collins Hill (2)
4: Stockbridge (10)
5: Walton (4)
6: Gilmer (9)
7: Jefferson (11)
8: Cass (NR)
9: West Laurens (5)
10: Eastside (6)
11: Lafayette (7)
12: Harrison (12) / Union Grove (8) — tie
On the cusp: Wesleyan, Whitewater, Henry County, Columbus, Northwest Whitfield, Hardaway, Lovett, Cherokee
Pin it down and rank the rankings: Let us know who your Top 12 are and how they stack up against Kurt’s picks.
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