If you didn’t know, we held a contest from SummerSlam to WrestleMania. Play our PPV Pick’em game and whoever has the most points at the end will win Three Free Months Of WWE Slam Crate.
Congrats to Oujie for the big win. It all came down to WrestleMania where Oujie got one point over Technodrome 2.0 to win it all.
Pete Buttigieg’s pre-K-12 education plan calls for raising teacher pay, addressing school segregation, and banning for-profit charter schools.
If those ideas sound familiar, that’s because they echo many of the proposals of his top Democratic rivals, who have also released education plans. The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg has risen from obscurity to be a top contender, particularly in early primary states, alongside former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
“My plan will empower teachers,” said Buttigieg, whose husband, Chasten, is a junior high teacher on leave from a private school in Indiana. “I’ve seen up close the incredible challenges that educators across the country face, from late nights grading papers to emptying their own bank accounts to pay for school supplies.”
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Buttigieg’s plan highlights how the leading Democratic candidates have converged on many key education policies, with one partial exception — charter schools. His proposal touches on the lightning rod issue only briefly, calling for stronger accountability, but without going nearly as far as his primary rivals, some of whom have called for halting all federal support for new charters. Warren has recently been embroiled in the debate, after being confronted by activists and parents critical of her stance on charter schools.
The campaign did not share whom Buttigieg sought guidance from in crafting the plan. But education activist Diane Ravitch said in a July blog post critical of Buttigieg that the campaign told her it had reached out to former Obama administration officials John King and Jim Shelton, as well as the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who praised the plan in a release Saturday.
You can read Buttigieg’s full plan here. Here are four things to know about it:
In many ways Buttigieg’s education plan matches his Democratic rivals — highlighting consensus on several key issues.
If you read Buttigieg’s or other candidates’ plan with their name blotted out, you would have a hard time knowing which Democrat’s plan it was. For instance, Buttigieg wants to triple Title I funding for schools that serve a high percentage of students from low-income families, which Biden and Sanders have also pledged to do. (Warren would quadruple it.)
Most or all of the major candidates have vowed to increase teacher diversity; raise teacher pay; reduce school segregation; close funding disparities; increase access to preschool programs; oppose vouchers for private school tuition; fully fund IDEA, the federal law for students with disabilities; strongly enforce federal civil rights laws, including reinstating regulations rolled back by the Trump administration; and replace Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
Buttigieg’s plan is no exception on any of these counts, though it varies on the specifics in some cases. For instance, he wants parents to pay for preschool based on how much they earn, with the poorest parents paying nothing — similar to his stance on higher education, which has been met with much debate — whereas others want to offer it for free to everyone.
And the plan also touches on a number of lower-profile issues — like increasing spending on schools for Native American students or expanding access to dual-language curriculum in early years — that some other plans don’t.
Like other candidates, Buttigieg promises to support the teaching profession by raising pay and status. “We need to honor teachers like soldiers, and pay them like doctors,” the plan states. More specifically it says that some of the new infusion of Title I dollars would have to be spent on raising teacher pay to ensure it’s competitive with that of other professionals.
Many of the candidates’ ideas, particularly on civil rights, are in line with those the Obama administration espoused. Notably absent, though, from any of the major candidates’ proposals, including Buttigieg’s, are concepts like more rigorous teacher evaluations and tying teacher pay to performance, which Obama’s Department of Education promoted. Those proved controversial, and the #RedforEd movement has turned focus — and public sympathy — away from performance evaluations and toward stagnant teacher pay.
Buttigieg isn’t promoting charter schools, but takes a less hostile approach than Sanders and Warren.
The plan runs 20 pages, but charter schools get just a single paragraph. Buttigieg seeks to “ban for-profit charter schools and ensure equal accountability for public charter schools.” This is in line with a number of Democrats who largely agree on these points. (We’ll hold aside that it would not be easy for the federal government to ban for-profit schools.)
“He will work with states to ensure that policy innovations from charter programs that benefit students can be subsequently shared to strengthen the traditional public school system,” the plan promises, though it doesn’t explain how. Buttigieg also would “take action” against state and local entities that oversee low-performing charter schools.
Buttigieg is silent on the federal Charter Schools Program, a fund to support new charter schools across the country. Sanders and Warren have called for halting or eliminating it altogether. A spokesperson for Buttigieg said he would stop those dollars from going to for-profit charters. (Federal guidance already prohibits CSP money from going directly to any for-profit entity; it can, however, go to a nonprofit charter that contracts its operations out to a for-profit company, so long as there is an “arm’s length” relationship between the two entities.)
Buttigieg is taking a somewhat more favorable stance towards charters than Warren or Sanders — but a less favorable one than President Obama, who supported the expansion of charter schools.
“I think that the promise of charter schools has been that ideas can be piloted there that will then benefit the overall system and find their way into traditional public schools,” Buttigieg told Education Week in August. “But I’m skeptical that we’re going to gain a lot through expansion of charter schools when we still have such severely underfunded traditional public education.”
The charter issue is fraught politically for Democrats. Recent polling shows support for these schools has declined in the party among white Democrats, but indicates stronger, but still mixed, backing among black and Hispanic Democrats.
Meanwhile, Biden, another leading contender, did not even touch on charter schools in his education plan. But in a recently released interview with the National Education Association, he said, “No privately funded charter school or private charter school would receive a penny of federal money — none,” he said. Asked to clarify, campaign spokesperson told Chalkbeat that Biden would seek to stop federal funding for for-profit charter schools.
Buttigieg plans to tackle school segregation.
Buttigieg offers a number of proposals to address school segregation. He would create a $500 million fund to incentivize “community-led” racial and economic school integration. And he says school districts looking to make major changes to their boundaries would have to first seek clearance from federal officials, who would check to see if those changes would exacerbate racial and economic segregation.
The idea appears to be aimed at preventing so-called “breakaway districts,” in which whiter, more affluent communities establish their own school districts by leaving districts with more students of color from low-income families. (This issue attracted Warren’s attention, too; in her education plan she says the departments of education and justice would monitor attempts to create breakaway districts and possibly take action to stop them.)
Buttigieg also says he would direct the departments of education and housing and urban development to issue guidance to help states integrate their neighborhoods and schools using funds set aside to create more affordable housing in high-performing school districts. Buttigieg plans to reinstate Obama-era guidance that allowed consideration of student race in some circumstances to integrate K-12 schools, which was rescinded by the Trump administration. He would also “immediately remove” restrictions on using federal funds to bus students for desegregation purposes. But those barriers exist in federal law and would require Congress to take action.
These policy ideas come as Buttigieg has faced criticism for saying he “worked for years under the illusion that our schools in my city were integrated, because they had to be, because of a court order.” He added that that was “true within the limits of the South Bend Community School District,” but it wasn’t in the rest of the county. While South Bend’s school district does enroll a much higher percentage of black and Hispanic students from low-income families than the districts that surround it, South Bend has long struggled to fulfill the terms of a desegregation order, and even today some schools are not in compliance with it.
There’s a fund for that.
Buttigieg’s plan calls for large increases in federal spending on education, partially through specific grant programs.
In addition to the $500 million desegregation fund, he’s also calling for a $10 billion “equity fund” for early education. It would go to programs targeting low-income students of color and using “novel teaching methods and materials, targeted support services, school-family partnership programs, communication and personalization technologies, and other innovative strategies.”
There’s also a new grant program of unspecified size that would help school districts adopt new ways to discipline students, instead of suspending or expelling them. Buttigieg also says he would triple funding to $3.5 billion for an existing federal grant program that funds student safety, health, technology, and arts programs. And he would create a fund to help high-poverty districts prepare students for the workforce through apprenticeships.
A new documentary was recently released via IMPACT Wrestling Official YouTube Channel and it features the company’s hottest rising star Josh Alexander. The new documentary looks at Alexander’s fandom of the sport, entering it in his early days, returning from a neck injury and more. The documentary was reportedly out together by Toronto-based Filmmaker Glen Matthews.
The official description for the special, which you can watch in its’ entirety below, reads as follows:
“Josh Alexander was once told his wrestling career was over. Today, he’s the hottest rising star in IMPACT! This documentary profiles his unlikely journey from early retirement to the big stage.”
The NCAA has released updated standings for the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Awards that will be awarded in March at the respective Division I, II and III Wrestling Championships.
The inaugural NCAA Wrestling Awards were presented at the 2012 wrestling championships. The three awards, given in each division, honor the Most Dominant Wrestler as well as the student-athletes that have accumulated the most falls and the most technical falls throughout the course of the regular and postseasons.
For falls and tech falls to be counted they must come against opponents in the same division (i.e. Division II vs. Division II). Ties in the two categories are broken based on the aggregate time.
Central Michigan heavyweight Matt Stencel has moved back into first place for falls in Division I with 14 in an aggregate time of 32:58. George Mason 165-pounder Colston DiBlasi also has 14 falls but is in second as he’s needed 26 more minutes to reach his total. Andrew McNally of Kent State sits in solo third with 12 falls, while three more wrestlers have reached double figures with 10.
Lake Erie heavyweight Evan Loughman has taken control of solo first in Division II with nine falls. Jacob Robb (Mercyhurst), Ryan Rochford (Adams State) and Justin Folley (Upper Iowa) are on his heels with eight falls.
Da’mani Burns of JWU (Providence) has ascended to first place in Division III and all divisions with 15 falls at 149 pounds. Wartburg 133-pounder Brennen Doebel leads a trio of wrestlers with 14 falls in 26:48, followed by Conner Homan of Mount Union and Izaake Zuckerman of NYU.
Oklahoma State 133-pounder Daton Fix has reached the top of Division I with 11 tech falls, one more than 2018 winner Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven. Fix’s teammate, Nicholas Piccininni, holds third place with nine.
Mercyhurst 165-pounder Logan Grass has taken control of the top position in Division II with five tech falls. His lead is tenuous as a quintet of wrestlers sit behind Grass with four tech falls.
Messiah 149-pounder Stephen Maloney remains in first place in Division III with 12 tech falls, but his lead has narrowed. Mount Union’s Jordin James and Heidelberg’s Jeremiah Slagle have also reached double digits with 10 techs.
The initial Most Dominant Wrestler standings will be released later this season to allow wrestlers to achieve the minimum amount of matches required to be eligible for the standings.
ROCKAWAY, NJ — She lost her 12-year-old daughter to bullying and is on the verge of losing a bill aimed at toughening New Jersey’s anti-bullying laws.
But Dianne Grossman is unbowed, undeterred and asking for everyone to join her fight to make “Mallory’s Law” a reality before time runs out on the legislative clock.
The bill is named for Grossman’s daughter Mallory, a gymnast and cheerleader from Rockaway, who took her own life in 2017 after relentless bullying, according to her parents. The legislation was approved unanimously in the Senate in June but stalled in the Assembly under the powerful influence of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, Grossman said.
“They are very kind. I believe their hearts are in the right place,” Grossman said. “But I feel as if they are disconnected down in Trenton.”
Grossman said she was invited by leaders of the New Jersey school administrators group to sit down and discuss the bill and changes they wanted to make to it. The Senate bill would require school and county officials to address bullying situations before an incident escalated. Its aim was to increase transparency and accountability, while standardizing the process.
The bill also provided for civil liabilities against parents and requirements to attend anti-bullying education classes if they showed “blatant disregard of supervising their child, [or] if their child has been judged to be delinquent of harassment or cyber harassment,” a press release says.
The reporting and notification process for bullying incidents would be expanded: Any accounts of bullying would be sent to the executive county superintendent and the parents of any students involved.
Any student found guilty of bullying would have the incident placed on their permanent record. After three proven bullying incidents, a student and their parents would be required to attend an anti-bullying training session, and law enforcement would be notified to see if any crimes were committed.
Pat Wright, the executive director of the state Principals and Supervisors Association, said the group is working on amendments for the bill.
“We have been and will continue to work with the sponsors of this legislation to develop constructive amendments,” Wright said in an email. “We have been meeting in good faith with all interested parties to ensure that the law achieves its intended impact.”
Wright said she devoted much of her career to the anti-bullying issue and has engaged with members, teachers and board members on the implementation of the law since the first anti-bullying law was passed in 2002.
“I have researched this topic personally and was proud to chair the anti-bullying task force that studied implementation issues around the Anti Bullying Bill of Rights. I, and our organization, are dedicated to advocating on behalf of students to ensure their right to learn in a school where they feel safe and valued,” she said. “No student deserves anything less.”
Mallory’s Army
The Grossmans became anti-bullying advocates in the wake of their daughter’s death, launching the advocacy group Mallory’s Army. Dianne Grossman conducts workshops and speeches to share her daughter’s story and call for bullying prevention efforts. Mallory’s Army was previously honored in the Senate with a resolution recognizing its efforts.
The story of Mallory’s decision to take her own life and her family’s advocacy was among the factors spurring a long-running Patch national advocacy reporting project examining bullying and cyberbullying from multiple angles. One in three U.S. children is bullied, either in person or online, as Mallory was. Tens of thousands of kids stay home from school every day to avoid their bullies, and children who are bullied can carry the scars into adulthood.
Mallory’s parents said she took her life to escape horrific bullying. In a lawsuit against their daughter’s school, they said officials failed to prevent bullying by four classmates and that the actions of administrators made Mallory’s suffering worse.
According to the lawsuit, a group of four girls bullied Mallory at home via social media, in the classroom and in the lunchroom, actions the family claims directly led to Mallory’s suicide death on June 14, 2017. The suit says the school district fell short of a legal obligation to prevent bullying.
Three Points Of Contention
Grossman said the Principals and Supervisors Association had three concerns with the bill, which Grossman said were reasonable, noting she was happy to meet with the group to discuss a compromise. Specifically, the group did not want the school resource officers involved in a complaint made under a new law.
“They were concerned it would have the tone of a criminal complaint and could potentially violate their Miranda rights,” Grossman said, calling the concerns valid.
Grossman said she offered several versions of compromise, and all were rejected.
The group also opposed involving the county school superintendent in the process. Currently, a complaint from the district level is referred to an ombudsman in Trenton, which Grossman said puts residents for whom English is a second language at a disadvantage. She also said leaving it to local school boards to resolve complaints can lead to an underreporting of incidents. Looping in the county superintendent was designed to give local families access to local help.
Grossman thinks the reasoning is subterfuge and the real reason for the group’s opposition “boiled down to the fact that they don’t get along with the county superintendent.”
“Well, grow up,” Grossman said. “These are children’s lives we are talking about.”
The group also opposed the notification of parents if incidents of bullying occur in schools.
“How can we as parents do our jobs and be held accountable if we aren’t told what is happening? They want, as schools, to complete their investigations,” Grossman said. “They don’t want to be transparent, they don’t want to report, and they don’t want to be liable.”
Grossman said she used to blame parents for the actions of their children but now says parents cannot be blamed if they are not informed.
“The schools have a closed-door policy. They want to be 100 percent responsible and yet zero percent liable,” Grossman said. “You just can’t have it both ways.”
For her part, Wright said work on a bill like this by multiple parties is typical.
“It is not at all unusual for NJPSA, and the other educational organizations, to work collaboratively with the authors of important pieces of legislation throughout the process to ensure that the final version voted on in the Legislature can be most effectively implemented in schools if signed into law. In fact, this is our standard practice,” Wright said. “We, and many other organizations, have been working diligently and constructively with the sponsors of Mallory’s Law since it was first drafted and will continue to do so, to clarify language, to ensure that we protect student rights, to honor existing laws, and to provide administrators responsible for its implementation with clear direction and expectations.”
Wright also noted that the group’s responsibility in ensuring appropriate implementation of anti-bullying laws goes beyond advocacy.
“In addition, NJPSA continually provides legal training and professional learning opportunities for all administrators and anti-bullying specialists on the anti-bullying bill of rights and how to handle incidents of bullying in schools,” she said. “We also offer multiple training sessions on improving school climate and culture, and creating environments where bullying would be least likely to occur.”
A New Jersey Problem
Grossman does not lay all the responsibility at the feet of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association. The Assembly also shoulders some of the blame, she said.
“Unlike my work with the Senate, there is no fire in the Assembly. They pass a bill about banning plastic bags when I can walk into the store and buy a box of zip-lock bags,” Grossman said. “The problem is, the right child hasn’t died yet. That is what it will take. The right child has to die.”
The bill establishing Mallory’s Law, sponsored by Democrats Angelica Jimenez, Annette Quijano, Valerie Huttle and Carol Murphy, along with Republican BettyLou DeCroce, has languished in committee since May. At the end of the session, despite passing the Senate, Grossman will be back at square one.
“We have to start over in January. Everything we did gets scrapped, and we have to start with a new bill,” Grossman said.
Murphy said that work on the bill continues.
“Various members of the public have raised concerns about certain aspects of the bill and how it would ultimately be implemented. The Senate and Assembly sponsors of the bill, along with the leadership of both chambers, are in discussions on how to resolve these issues and continue to advance this legislation,” she told Patch in an email. “I believe that we need to keep this issue at the forefront, as it is something incredibly important to me.”
For her part, DeCroce told Patch she believes the bills will move forward before the end of the session, and she has urged her colleagues to move that legislation forward.
“Mallory’s Law, of course, expands the reporting requirements for bullying incidents, and equally as important, brings an accused bully’s parents into the process and holds them accountable if there is a blatant disregard for their child’s conduct,” DeCroce said. “I am confident my colleagues in the Assembly understand the importance of both bills and that we will get a consensus on them before the end of the session.”
Part of the changes, Grossman noted, could be the inclusion of digital responsibility being taught in the schools, something that other states have already done.
“We have no digital responsibility laws in this state. But we are considering passing a law about handwriting,” Grossman said, referring to an attempt to mandate cursive writing in the classroom. This is not regulation that Grossman is a big fan of.
“I wish I didn’t live in a world where we had to legislate behavior,” she said.
Grossman said she has encountered people in her advocacy work who consider bullying a rite of passage. Grossman adamantly insists it is not.
“No one became a better person because they were tormented in middle school,” Grossman said.
And it is not for herself or for her daughter’s legacy that she is fighting so hard for this bill. She said children currently struggling in school need a voice and she has a moral obligation to be that voice.
“This law isn’t for the places where people are following policy and best practices. It is for the places that aren’t and need to start,” Grossman said. “This isn’t a Rockaway problem or a Morris County problem. This is a New Jersey problem.”
Grossman said that should the bill not pass the Assembly, she will mobilize Mallory’s Army into action sooner rather than later.
“I will storm Trenton,” Grossman said. “I don’t need this law for Mallory’s legacy. I have a foundation and I have a big mouth. And I don’t care who I piss off.”
Grossman also spoke out on Facebook live on Monday, urging people to contact their representatives. You can see that video below:
This post contains reporting by Katie Kausch.
Read More About Mallory Grossman:
6 Of The Most Disturbing Claims In NJ Bullying Death Lawsuit1 Year Later, Mallory Grossman Lives On In Anti-Bullying EffortsMallory Grossman’s Mom Shares Painful New Bullying DetailsBullying Of Mallory Grossman, 12, Detailed In Wrongful Death Suit’Mallory’s Army’ Fights Back Against Bullying After 12-Year-Old’s Sudden Death
In the long-running “Menace of Bullies” series, Patch is looking at society’s roles and responsibilities in bullying and a child’s unthinkable decision to end their own life, in hopes we might offer solutions that save lives.
Do you have a story to tell? Are you concerned about how your local schools handle bullies and their victims?
Already a Minnesota prep wrestling legend after four state championships at Apple Valley High School, halfway through his freshman season with the Gophers Gable Steveson is now taking college wrestling by storm.
Steveson is off to a 22-0 start and has ascended to the #1-ranking in the NCAA’s heavyweight division.
Last week former Gopher and WWE, UCF and NCAA Champion Brock Lesnar stopped by his alma mater’s wrestling practice. View/continue reading at kstp.com
RAW & SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch was recently interviewed by the folks from The Gorilla Position Podcast on a number of topics. During the interview, Lynch talked about her personal & professional rivalry with Ronda Rousey. Lynch also talked about whether or not it is her goal to unify The RAW & SmackDown Women’s Title into one.
“Nope, absolutely not,” Lynch said. “Nope, I want to defend both of them and I don’t see a point for them to be unified because we have two different brands, we have RAW and SmackDown.”
Lynch then pondered the possibility for a moment before ultimately concluding with her initial gut feeling of keeping two belts.
“If we go back to one brand, maybe,” Lynch started. “But maybe not. Nah. No! I’m ‘Becky Two Belts!’ I need two belts and also I just like there being more things for people to fight for.”
Lynch also talked about her new potential adversary in Lacey Evans. As previously reported, Evans took a cheap shot on Lynch during both RAW & SmackDown LIVE this past week.
“I haven’t really seen Lacey Evans do anything,” Lynch said of her potential new foe. “I’ve seen her walk down a ramp a few times. She hasn’t slipped — fair play to her — but that’s all she’s done in this company. She hasn’t achieved anything.”
Lynch continued with, “Has she main-evented WrestleMania? Does she have two championships? Has she ever had a championship? Who has she ever beaten? I’ve beaten the toughest opponents in this industry. Lacey Evans can’t say nothing. Yes, she hit me with the first punch [on RAW]. I’ll hit her with the last.”
You can check out the entire interview of Becky Lynch with The Gorilla Position Podcast in the video below:
WOODSTOCK, GA — A teen from Woodstock received the ultimate Christmas gift this year when he got a call on Christmas Eve telling him that he would be receiving a new kidney. While the kidney is a joyous occasion for the family, friends said the timing felt weird. Kincaid Eaker received the kidney a day before the three-year anniversary of his mother’s death — at the hands of his father — and she had planned to be his kidney donor.
Kincaid was born with polycystic kidney disease, a chronic, genetic condition requiring a kidney transplant. His late mother, Audra Eaker, previously lost two other sons to this same disease, said her best friend, Brandy Love.
On Christmas Eve, the family received word that Kincaid would get a kidney in a matter of days.
“For Christmas yesterday eve, Kincaid got the ultimate gift of receiving word that he had a kidney waiting for him!” Love wrote on GoFundMe. “After the drive from Knoxville and a sleepless night, surgery started at 9:30 a.m. for that gift. He is still in surgery but doing well. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he continues on this journey. These kids have had a road to travel. Also, please keep the family of the donor of this special gift in your thoughts and prayers as well.”
Because he was born with the condition, Kincaid’s family knew that a transplant was in his future. They just didn’t know when. Kincaid once thought he had a possible match, but the unthinkable tragedy in 2016 changed his entire life.
“Audra, early on, got tested and was a match for Kincaid for when he was ready for a transplant,” Love said in October. “She knew that there was no question where her son was getting that kidney from. It was coming from her.”
On Dec. 27, 2016, Audra and her husband, Darrell, were at a Christmas gathering at Love’s house. After they left, Darrell shot and killed Audra as she was driving.
Darrell shot Audra while they were westbound on Georgia Route 92 at Indian Valley Drive, the Woodstock Police Department previously told Patch. The woman’s body was found inside the SUV around 9:30 p.m. at the intersection in front of a convenience store.
Darrell, who was 43 at the time of his arrest, was indicted in March 2017 in connection with the shooting. According to the indictment, Darrell fired a .45-caliber handgun at his estranged wife, and the bullets struck her five times in the face and head.
Following the shooting, Darrell dropped the firearm inside the vehicle and walked away from the it “without even attempting life-saving actions,”according to warrants obtained by Woodstock police. The shooting also damaged another vehicle. Darrell was convicted of murder in 2018.
“A couple of days after his mother’s death, Kincaid made reference to, along with losing his mother, he lost the kidney that was intended for him,” Love said. “This was a 10-year-old boy. Even though their roots are here, they now reside in Knoxville, Tennessee, with their grandparents, but have to make the trip here often for his medical needs. The transplant will be done here in Atlanta.”
In addition to the search for a donor, a GoFundMe was established to help support Kincaid and his sister, Olivia.
205 Live General Manager and former AOP manager Drake Maverick is engaged to Renee Michelle, a competitor in the 2017 Mae Young Classic.
The wedding will take place in June and WWE Superstars Braun Strowman, EC3 and Jeremy Borash will serve as groomsmen for Maverick. On the bride’s side, Cheerleader Melissa will serve as a bridesmaid. Here is an Instagram post of the couple:
View this post on Instagram
Happy Valentines Day Hunny Bunny @wwemaverick ??????????// ?? @jeffmadorephotography #happyvalentinesday #hunnybunny #smiles #kisses
A post shared by RENEE MICHELLE ?? ???•????? (@ladyrm) on
MINNEAPOLIS — In a “Battle of the Burgs” meeting of traditional NCAA Division III wrestling powerhouses, No. 3-ranked Wartburg College edged No. 1-ranked Augsburg University 16-15, in a battle that ended up being decided on tiebreaker criteria before 1,004 spectators on Thursday night at Si Melby Hall.
Both teams won five bouts, all by decisions, with the team score ending up 15-15. But under the NCAA’s third tiebreaker criteria, Wartburg gained the bonus point for the dual victory by outscoring Augsburg 47-43 in total match points scored by wrestlers.
Wartburg, winners of the last three NCAA Division III national titles, now leads the all-time series with Augsburg 20-16. The annual “Battle of the Burgs” dual meet features the two teams that have dominated Division III wrestling over the last three decades. Since 1995, every Division III national title has rested at either Augsburg or Wartburg, with Augsburg winning 12 titles since 1991 and Wartburg winning 14 titles since 1996. The Auggies entered Thursday’s dual ranked No. 1 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III national rankings, while the Knights were ranked No. 3.
The Auggies opened the match with two straight victories. At 125 pounds, Augsburg’s No. 3-ranked Victor Gliva (JR, Farmington, Minn./Farmington HS) and Wartburg’s No. 4-ranked Brady Kyner staged an epic battle, with the pair exchanging takedowns and escapes, with the bout tied 5-5 after two periods. Kyner took a 6-5 lead with an escape with 1:03 left in the third period, but Gliva rallied back and scored a takedown with 22 seconds left to claim the victory, improving to 18-4 on the season.
In a rematch of last year’s 133-pound national championship, Augsburg’s No. 4-ranked Sam Bennyhoff (SR, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) scored a 7-4 triumph over Wartburg’s defending national titlist, top-ranked Brock Rathbun. Bennyhoff surrendered a reversal early in the second period, but rallied back to tie the bout at 3-3 after two periods. In the third, Bennyhoff converted an escape with 1:35 left, then a takedown with 1:12 left, and used 1:13 of riding time to improve to 16-3 on the season. Rathbun suffered his first loss to a Division III opponent this season, falling to 21-3. The all-time series between the two wresters is now even at 2-2.
Wartburg tied the match at 6-6 with wins in the next two bouts. At 141, a takedown with nine seconds left in the third period enabled Wartburg’s No. 7-ranked Brady Fritz to claim a 3-1 victory over Augsburg’s No. 3-ranked David Flynn (JR, Jordan, Minn./Jordan HS (Scott West)). The loss, just Flynn’s second to a Division III opponent this season, sent him to 17-3 on the season. At 149, Wartburg’s Kris Rumph rallied from a 3-2 second-period deficit to score a 6-4 win over Augsburg’s No. 2-ranked Alex Wilson (SR, Oak Grove, Minn./St. Francis HS), moving Wilson to 24-5 on the campaign.
The featured match of the evening came at 157, in a meeting of two defending national champions — defending 149-pound champ and current No. 1-ranked 157-pounder Cross Cannone of Wartburg, and defending 157-pound champ and No. 2-ranked Ryan Epps (JR, Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls HS) of Augsburg. Cannone used two takedowns to take a 4-1 lead after one period, then scored another takedown and built 1:37 of riding time in the third period to score an 8-4 win over Epps, improving to 21-0 with his 56th straight victory. Epps fell to 24-3 with his first loss to a Division III opponent this season.
At 165, defending national champion and top-ranked Lucas Jeske (JR, St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville HS) remained unbeaten at 10-0 on the year, rallying from a 3-0 first-period deficit for a 4-3 win over Wartburg’s No. 4-ranked Michael Ross. Riding on top the entire second period, Jeske forced Ross into three stalling calls, resulting in two penalty points. Jeske then scored an escape 19 seconds into the third period, and his 1:26 of riding time gave him the bonus point for the victory.
The 174-pound bout was a back-and-forth battle between Augsburg’s No. 5-ranked Tanner Vassar (JR, Maple Lake, Minn./Maple Lake HS) and Wartburg’s No. 4-ranked Kyle Briggs, with Briggs breaking a 4-4 third-period tie with a takedown with 1:17 left, and overcoming an escape 27 seconds later to score a 6-5 victory. Both wrestlers had a takedown and two escapes leading up to the 4-4 tie early in the third period.
Augsburg claimed victories in the next two bouts to take a 15-12 lead into the final match of the evening. At 184, No. 10-ranked Auggie Solomon Nielsen (SO, Luverne, Minn./Luverne HS) staged an impressive third-period rally for an 8-3 win over Isaiah Cox. Trailing 3-0 after two periods, he scored an escape six seconds into the third period, then scored a takedown with 52 seconds left, collected a stalling bonus point, then finished the bout with a strong move for a four-point near-fall — the only back points of the night for either team — to improve to 16-3 on the season.
At 197, No. 4-ranked Lance Benick (SO, Scandia, Minn./Totino-Grace HS) improved to 18-3 on the season with a 3-2 win in a tight battle with No. 8-ranked Kobe Woods. Benick gained the lone takedown of the bout with 31 seconds left in the first period, which proved to be the difference in the match.
Wartburg’s Bowen Wileman closed the match with a 6-0 win at heavyweight over Augsburg’s Ethan Hofacker (JR, Spring Valley, Wis./Spring Valley HS), scoring two takedowns and building 4:55 of riding time in the victory.
UP NEXT Augsburg returns to action on Saturday (2/2) at 10 a.m., competing at the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Don Parker Open.
Thursday, January 31, 2019 — Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn. Time of match: 2:42. Attendance: 1,004. Officials: Zach McGillis, Spencer Beach.