RevWrestling.com recently went one-on-one with Casber to discuss the past, present, and future of Takedown Wrestling Radio.

Talk about the history of Takedown Wrestling Radio. When did it start? And how did the idea come about?

Casber: It started six years ago. Originally, Takedown Wrestling Radio was called Saturday Night Slam. It was on a different radio station called The Jock, here in Des Moines, and it was played 10 p.m. to midnight. I had a partner named Scott McLin who wanted to do a professional wrestling show. The only way that I would agree to it — the only thing that it would give it any kid of legitimacy — is if we have a section or element of amateur wrestling, which is exactly what we did. My favorite guys to talk to in the pro ranks were the guys with the amateur backgrounds. I fell in love with the sport back at Iowa — when I went to school there in the early 80’s. The fresh recounting of it really started when we had Dan Gable on the show. He suggested that maybe we should do a show that is all amateur and no pro. And that’s exactly what we did.

Andrew Hipps, Senior Writer
andrew@revwrestling.com

Travis Lee is unbelievable.

Entering last weekend, the 22-year-old Hawaiian had wrestled just one freestyle tournament since high school — and had only been on the mat a month since winning his second NCAA title last March. He took the summer off because he had a hernia which required surgery. Nonetheless, we went on to defeat Olympic silver medalist Stephen Abas en route to his runner-up finish at the always-competitive Sunkist International Open in Tempe, Arizona.

“After my freshman year of college, I went out to Colorado Springs (to the Olympic Training Center) for a week,” said Lee, who wrestles at 60 kg. “I had a chance to wrestle with Stephen Abas, Eric Guerrero, and some other great wrestlers. Obviously, I was getting beaten up at the time, so I didn’t really know what to expect when I went out to the Sunkist. I knew that I had developed over the course of my college career. But I guess that I was kind of shocked by how it went, especially since I hadn’t wrestled freestyle in a long time. I didn’t really feel too comfortable the entire tournament. It has been a slow process getting back into my freestyle game. I’m still making that transition from collegiate style to freestyle. I felt like I made some of mistakes out at Sunkist.”

By JIM NELSON, Courier Sports Writer

WAVERLY — A national runner-up trophy is nothing to shake a stick at, but one bad day at St. Olaf College last spring has left an awful aftertaste in the mouths of the Wartburg College wrestling team.

It has the Knights hungrier than any other year as the 2005-06 season approaches.

Seeking a third consecutive national championship a year ago, the Knights stumbled on day one of the Division III national tournament and lost sight of eventual national champion and archrival Augsburg College.

Wartburg rebounded, earning seven all-American awards, including two wrestlers — Dustin Hinschberger and Akeem Carter — who won their second individual national championships.

But the what-ifs still linger and are being used as motivation.

“I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth left over from last year’s nationals,” said senior Scott Kauffman, who took fourth at 197 pounds. “Not only for myself, but especially for the team.”

Kauffman has just one semester of eligibility remaining, meaning he won’t compete until second semester. He is one of six all-Americans returning for head coach Jim Miller.

By DAVID W. CHEN
Published: October 26, 2005
“Carl,” a 30-second commercial from United States Senator Jon S. Corzine, the Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, began running on Monday on cable and network television stations in Philadelphia and New York.

PRODUCERS S.D.D. Media and Message & Media

ON THE SCREEN The ad opens with a close-up of a young man identified as “Carl Riccio, Warren, N.J.” He talks about being injured three years ago in a high school wrestling match that left him quadriplegic as the ad opens to a wider shot of him in a wheelchair. The ad then cuts between images of Mr. Riccio, talking about the differences between Mr. Corzine and his Republican opponent, Douglas R. Forrester, on embryonic stem cell research, and still photos of Mr. Riccio in a wheelchair on the beach, surrounded by relatives and friends.

THE SCRIPT “Almost three years ago now, I was in a wrestling match for my high school. I went to do a move and I was paralyzed from the neck down. Quadriplegic. Right now the most hopeful thing for spinal cord injuries is embryonic stem cell research. Doug Forrester doesn’t support embryonic stem cell research; therefore, I don’t think he supports people like me, and doctors who say a cure is coming. Jon Corzine supports embryonic stem cell research. I think he’s the best candidate for our governor.”

Carl Riccio of Warren, NJ was going to do a move some three years ago during a high school wrestling match, and ended up a quadriplegic. He is currently in a prominent gubernatorial ad for the Democrat’s campaign, promoting stem-cell research. After about a week or so of running the ads on the big networks in the metro NYC area, the Republican candidate has come out saying that he was now also in favor of stem-cell research!

Source Unknown

Ben Elder
Sports Editor

As the weather gets colder in Stillwater, the heat of the wrestling room approaches a championship level, leaving egos and sweaty bodies aiming in one direction: an NCAA National Championship.

For 10 lucky starters, the most important part of becoming a champion is preparation and as of now, preparation remains in full swing for the Cowboy wrestling program.

“Practice is going great,” assistant coach Pat Smith said. “We are just coming in here every day and trying to get in a little bit better shape and just getting ready for the season.”

With two All-Americans and four national champions returning, most have already written the Cowboys off as the 2006 NCAA National Champions.

Although that might be easy to say, a room full of national champions would tell you different.

“This year, it is almost tougher than the year before because people are gunning after you,” said 149-pound national champion Zack Esposito. “This year it is time to prove that you are the No. 1 guy out there. I think it’s even harder to repeat than it is to win it the first time.”

Throughout the season, IUHOOSIERS.com will take wrestling fans back in time into the rich past of IU Wrestling. Since the beginning of the program in 1909, the Hoosiers have produced one National Championship (1931), 10 NCAA Champions (Last: Joe Dubuque, 125 lb., 2005), 66 All-Americans (Last: Joe Dubuque (125 lb.), Brandon Becker (157 lb.), Pat DeGain (HWT)) and 52 Big Ten Champions (Last: Roger Chandler, ‘97, 142 lb.). Throughout the season, a different year will be highlighted showcasing the season’s All-Americans. This week, IUHOOSIERS.com looks back at 1940.

Indiana Wrestling’s 1940 All-Americans

Joe Roman (1938-40,45)
After he finished second in the Big Ten Tournament, Joe Roman won the NCAA Championship in 1939 to earn his first All-America nod. Roman helped IU win the Big Ten title and earn a berth in the 1939 NCAA Championship. In 1940, he tallied his second All-America honor, helped the Hoosiers to a Big Ten Championship and second at NCAAs. Roman completed his career by winning the 1945 Big Ten Championship (155).

Bob Antonacci (1939-41)
Bob Antonacci joined Joe Roman in earning All-America honors in 1940. Antonacci helped lead the Hoosiers to a Big Ten title and a second-place finish at NCAAs that year. In addition to winning the NCAA Championship at 121 pounds, Antonacci earned three letters as a Hoosier.

State College, Pa. – Local radio station WBLF 970 AM will broadcast the entire season of Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling. Continuing a long-standing tradition of full season coverage, each of Penn State’s dual matches and three major tournaments will be carried by the station.

Head coach Troy Sunderland and his Penn State wrestlers will take part in over 14 dual matches, including the regular-season opening Pennsylvania Dual Championships in Rec Hall on Nov. 13. Jeff Byers, long-time voice of Nittany Lion wrestling, will be at each event to call the action. In addition to the full schedule of duals, WBLF will air the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 18, the Big Ten Championships on March 4-5 and the NCAA Championships on March 16-18.

Nittany Lion wrestling fans have been treated to a full season of radio coverage for over 25 years.

WBLF is owned by Magnum Broadcasting, which owns and operates four stations locally, including WPHB 1260 AM in Philipsburg. WPHB will also carry select wrestling events.

Penn State opens up the 2005-06 season with Wrestle-Offs on Nov. 6, starting at 1 p.m. The regular season and WBLF’s coverage then commences on Sunday, Nov. 13, with the 10 a.m. start of the Pennsylvania Dual Championships.

by Becky Plevin

Members of the Northwestern wrestling squad are paired up and sparring off, rolling around in the new, 7500-square-foot Ken Kraft Wrestling Complex. Pulsing music pumps through the training room, which is three mats deep and has purple mat-lined walls.

The new digs, part of a $9-million Anderson Hall addition, are a far cry from the Patten basketball courts where the team has trained in past years. And the practice room is just one element of the buzz surrounding the team this season.

“You could take this whole place away and just give us a couple of mats and we’d still be ready to go this year,” said senior John Velez.

The rest of the buzz is this: Entering the 2005-2006 season, the Cats are ranked in the top 20 by each of the major wrestling polls. Amateur Wrestling News ranked the squad No. 12, The Wrestling Mall and W.I.N. Magazine put NU at No. 13 and the National Wrestling Coaches Association slot the team at No. 18.

By Jason Bryant
jbryant@intermatwrestle.com

Things seemed to be getting better for Delaware State’s wrestling program.

Traditionally a doormat amongst teams in the East, Darren Archangelo seemed to have the Hornets moving towards gaining confidence and winning.

Archangelo, a NCAA Division III runner-up at York College in 1993, resigned as head coach on October 18, citing personal and family reasons.

“I have two children Ryan, 8, and John, 11,” Archangelo said in an e-mail statement to InterMat. “My visits with my children were a clear conflict on my ability to manage this team effectively.”

Archangelo had been recruiting heavily into the untapped resources that tiny Delaware has on the wrestling mats and had been making progress.

Articles both in the Delaware News Journal and InterMat last season talked of the program’s promise, but last week, allegations of academic fraud against Delaware State surfaced, adding to hurdles Archangelo had to face as a coach.

“Coaching at DSU has been extremely difficult,” Archangelo said. “Being a part-time employee for the university certainly makes the task of achieving very difficult.”