For the past 43 years, the National Wrestling Coaches Association has put on the annual showcase of college wrestling, the All-Star Classic. But with the event geared to place the nation's top wrestlers in a head-to-head dual, it's also taken different roles, one of fundraiser and awareness builder.
With the wrestling team at Cal State-Fullerton desperately trying to raise funds to sustain the program, head coach Dan Hicks landed the event in the hopes of using the annual All-Star Classic as a centerpiece to saving the program.
"Mike Moyer called and said he'd like to help us out, similar to the situation at Oregon and I said that'd be awesome," said Hicks. "It had never been in California before, so we'd like to have it here anyway."
The fundraising effort now had a vehicle.
"It gave us the opportunity to build momentum," said Hicks. "We've been working on several things to work on this year, some events, some tournaments and our camps for next summer, but when the All-Star came up in the late summer, I was happy to get it. Usually the NWCA splits the revenue after you pay all the expenses, but they're just giving us the revenue. I knew we could raise some money that way. One of our parents is a professional fundraiser and is trying to raise the $200,000 we need.
"California wrestling is really getting behind it and put together a model that can be used a lot of places. The A.D. doesn't want to cut us and we're doing things before the cut, not after," said Hicks.
In past years, the NWCA has put the event in Edwardsville, Ill., after the reinstatement of the SIU-Edwardsville program, in Oregon to help the Save Oregon Wrestling effort and in Dallas, Texas to try to show interest in starting wrestling programs in the Lone Star State.
"Fullerton's on the hook to raise $200,000 a year for five years to save its program," said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. "One of the things we have going for us at Fullerton is an A.D. who genuinely wants to save the program."
The NWCA promotional effort, which has sold over 1,800 advance tickets, recently held a luncheon for all the college coaches in California, highlighted by actor Billy Baldwin, author John Irving and Olympic champion and wrestling icon Dan Gable.
"The college coaches in California brought their AD's, key faculty and donors and sold the educational value of wrestling. That was the first big opportunity to leverage the event," said Moyer. "The second is the All-Star Classic itself, hopefully bringing in 4,500 people into Titan Gym and use it as a rallying point to get commitments to prioritize the commitment of the program. If they save the program, it's going to be because of the willingness of the Southern California wrestling community."
Unlike Oregon, where the Athletic Administration denied any efforts from the local and national wrestling communities, Moyer believes Fullerton is making an effort to keep wrestling in Southern California.
"Just because it (the effort) wasn't successful in saving the program in Oregon, doesn't mean it's not an efficient way to save Fullerton," said Moyer. "The one thing that's different in Fullerton than in Oregon is the Athletic Administration wants to genuinely save the program."
"It's an opportunity to showcase our sport's heroes and champions. There are so many stories, but the presenting sponsor is a story. There's a bunch of prominent business people trying to put their program (William & Mary) on the stage. Wrestling has added five new programs in the last four weeks; we have momentum," said Moyer.
The event comes to California for the first time in history and the 44th edition features several programs which have never previously had participants - two of which are from schools which had previously cut the sport - Binghamton and Bucknell. American is also in the event for the first time.
Arizona State would have been a third formerly dropped school represented, but earlier this week, Anthony Robles pulled out of the event to be with his team in Oklahoma.
The dynamic of saving wrestling and preserving opportunities is further detailed as this year's event is presented by the Wrestling Alumni of the College of William & Mary. The Williamsburg, Va., school cut the sport in 1995.
"When people see a bunch of guys from the other side of the country, from a school that no longer sponsors wrestling, do something like this, we are sending a message," said Kirk Hankla in a Friday story on TheMat.com. "This is something worthy to be saved. This is something we are passionate about. We also expect the administration at William & Mary to notice this. We want wrestling back at William & Mary and we won't turn our back to anybody else who needs help."
Hankla is one of the "ringleaders" of the W&M group, called The Spots (The Society for the Preservation of Traditional Sport), helping sponsor the event in California.
"I think it speaks to the heart of wrestling, where people love this sport and make sure it continues, even if it wasn't saved somewhere else," said Hicks of the W&M sponsorship effort. "They're willing to fight the battle. It says a lot about those people, they're not self-oriented. And it's not about just wrestling, but Olympic sports."
Along with three featured bouts pitting wrestlers from California colleges against one another, the 10 weights feature 20 nationally-ranked wrestlers, two top-ranked wrestlers and two returning national champions.
With Robles pulling out, a late-replacement had to be sought. For the second year in a row, Old Dominion's James Nicholson was added to the event just days before the event. Nicholson, a 2008 All-American, will face fourth-ranked Zach Sanders of Minnesota. Sanders, an All-American last season, beat Nicholson with a late takedown in the second round of last season's NCAA championships in St. Louis.
All-Americans Steve Bell of Maryland and Dan Dennis of Iowa will step to the mat at 133 pounds. Bell is one of two Maryland wrestlers in the event, doubling the total number of wrestlers the Terps have ever had in the event. Last season, Hudson Taylor got the nod at 197 pounds, becoming the first Terp in 39 years to compete in the event. The pair met once last season, with Bell winning at the Northeast Duals in Troy, N.Y.
Dennis is the only Hawkeye competing in this year's event.
Maryland's Alex Krom and Iowa State's Nick Gallick will face off at 141 pounds in a re-match from last year's NCAA consolation semifinal won by Gallick 5-1. Krom stormed into the semifinals last season after coming in unseeded. Gallick finished third and is joined by three Cyclone teammates in the event - 165-pounder Jon Reader, 197-pounder Jake Varner and 285-pounder David Zabriskie.
Three-time All-American Lance Palmer of Ohio State comes in ranked third at 149 pounds and will face American University's Kyle Borshoff, an All-American for Mark Cody's Eagles last season. Palmer was an NCAA semifinalist last season. Borshoff is American's first participant in the NWCA All-Star Classic.
Returning NCAA champion Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska will face Bloomsburg's Matt Moley at 157 pounds. Burroughs went undefeated last season, winning arguably the nation's toughest weight class for coach Mark Manning. Moley, a two-time All-American for coach John Stutzman, is the first Huskey wrestler in 20 years to make an appearance in the event. Dave Morgan lost to Michigan's Joe Pantaleo back in 1989.
Reader will step to the mat as the second of four Cyclones as the Davison, Mich., native will face Bucknell's Andy Rendos. Reader finished fourth in last year's NCAA championships and beat Rendos 7-4 in the consolation semifinals. Rendos finished fifth, becoming the first All-American for coach Dan Wirnsberger since the program was reinstated three years ago. Rendos is also the first Bucknell wrestler ever to appear in the event.
Nebraska's second entry, 174-pounder Stephen Dwyer, will take to the mat against Virginia's returning All-American Chris Henrich. Dwyer is moving up from 165 pounds after missing out on placing in 2009. Henrich is the first Cavalier to appear since 2004, when current U.Va. assistant Scott Moore was in the event. The only other Cav to appear was current head coach Steve Garland in 2000.
Missouri's Max Askren drops down to 184 pounds after two straight All-American finishes at 197 pounds. With the recent loss by Mike Pucillo of Ohio State, Askren enters the event ranked No. 1 by InterMat. Askren will face first-timer Josh Patterson of Binghamton. Patterson, like Rendos, was his school's first All-American since the program was reinstated, but Patterson also become Binghamton's first Division I All-American in school history. It's the first appearance for a Binghamton wrestler in the event and joins Nicholson as a representative of the CAA.
Two Big 12 foes will square off in a re-match of the Big 12 and NCAA finals. Varner, the returning NCAA champion and U.S. World Team Member will face Nebraska's Craig Brester. The Howells, Neb., native came into the 2009 NCAA championship as the top seed after beating Varner in the Big 12 championships, but beat Brester 2-1 to claim his first NCAA championship. Brester is from the same hometown as U.S. Greco World Silver Medalist Brad Vering.
A late scratch from Missouri on Friday has kept returning NCAA champion Mark Ellis from competing in the event. Cal State-Bakersfield's Mitch Montiero, ranked sixth by InterMat, will be the first Roadrunner to wrestle in the main event since 1999, when another heavyweight, eventual World champion Stephen Neal, took to the mat. Montiero will face All-American David Zabriskie of Iowa State. Zabriskie, ranked second in the nation, is the fourth Cyclone who will step on the mat on Sunday.
Team Notes
Iowa State, with four participants, raises its overall total of participants to 69. Iowa's Dan Dennis is the 74th Hawkeye to compete in the event, but it's notable that the event's all-time leader in participants, Oklahoma State (81), doesn't have a wrestler in the event for the first time since 2000. … Maryland only had one previous participant in the All-Star Classic prior to last year - Gobel Kline in 1969. With Alex Krom and Steve Bell this year, and Hudson Taylor last year, Maryland's total is up to four…
Three Big Ten wrestlers is the fewest in the All-Star Classic since 1990, when Brian Dolph (Indiana), Marty Morgan (Minnesota) and Jon Llewellyn (Illinois) all competed … Virginia and Maryland combined for three ACC participants, the most in that conference's history…
Cal State-Fullerton, Cal State-Bakersfield, Stanford and California Baptist are the schools represented in the featured bouts. Fullerton's Wade Sauer competed in the event in 2007 in Oregon. He's the only Titan to have appeared in the All-Star Classic's main event. Cal State-Bakersfield has now 15 appearances in the main event. Stanford has two main event participants in its history, the most recent coming in 2007 with three-time All-American Tanner Gardner. UC Davis is in the mix with, too. California Baptist, an NAIA program in Riverside, Calif., is in its second season of intercollegiate wrestling. They're coached by former Embry-Riddle and Northwestern (Iowa) College head coach John Petty. …
There are over 27,000 high school wrestlers in California, but only eight four-year programs for them to attend to compete in their home state on the college level.
All-Star Classic Line-up as of Nov. 20 (Rankings by InterMat)
125: #4 Zach Sanders (Minnesota) vs. #5 James Nicholson (Old Dominion)
133: #4 Dan Dennis (Iowa) vs. #8 Steve Bell (Maryland)
141: #2 Nick Gallick (Iowa State) vs. #4 Alex Krom (Maryland)
149: #3 Lance Palmer (Ohio State) vs. #4 Kyle Borshoff (American)
157: #1 Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) vs. #5 Matt Moley (Bloomsburg)
165: #5 Jon Reader (Iowa State) vs. #6 Andy Rendos (Bucknell)
174: #5 Chris Henrich (Virginia) vs. #6 Stephen Dwyer (Nebraska)
184: #1 Max Askren (Missouri) vs. #9 Josh Patterson (Binghamton)
197: #1 Jake Varner (Iowa State) vs. #2 Craig Brester (Nebraska)
285: #2 David Zabriskie (Iowa State) vs. #6 Mitch Montiero (Cal State-Bakersfield)
Participants by Team
Iowa State (4)
Nebraska (3)
Maryland (2)
American (1)
Binghamton (1)
Bloomsburg (1)
Bucknell (1)
Cal State-Bakersfield (1)
Iowa (1)
Minnesota (1)
Missouri (1)
Ohio State (1)
Old Dominion (1)
Virginia (1)
Participants by Conference
Big 12 (8)
ACC (3)
Big Ten (3)
CAA (2)
EIWA (2)
EWL (1)
Pac-10 (1)