Minnesota State High School League is suspending wrestling for eight days due to an outbreak of Herpes Gladiatorum.

The league is ordering no competition or direct contact from Tuesday the 30th through February 6. Coaches are allowed to continue running and conditioning, but no direct contact is allowed.

The skin infection is caused by Herpes Simplex type-1 virus. There have been 24 confirmed cases of the disease involving wrestlers on 10 teams in weight classes of 285, 215, and 189. The first outbreak was noted on December 29 - 30 following a national tourney held in Rochester.

Herpes Gladiatorum is quite common among wrestlers and is the reason for pre-match skin inspections. Wrestlers who have the disease usually have small blisters similar to those of chickenpox. They are usually found on the athlete’s head and neck. When the blisters come in contact with another wrestler’s skin, the disease is easily spread.

Unfortunately, the virus can be transmitted up to 2 - 3 days before blisters form.

The league is asking coaches to check for lesions daily during the suspension.

Scot Davis, who coaches wrestling at Owatonna High School, has been involved in wrestling in Minnesota for more than 40 years and says he can’t remember the league completely shutting down.

Hartland’s Ben Askren has a not-so-quiet confidence
By GARY D’AMATO

Columbia, Mo. - You can see it on the videotape, just after the referee raises his hand. University of Missouri wrestler Ben Askren leans over and says something to Pittsburgh’s Keith Gavin.

Thanks for not ducking me. That’s what Askren is saying. Thanks for not moving up or down in weight to avoid me, for having the guts to wrestle me, for putting it on the line when you know deep down you can’t win.

The problem for Askren these days is not extending his unbeaten streak, which has reached 72 matches. It’s a given the senior from Hartland, Wis., will win every time he steps on the mat. The problem is finding opponents who will push him, something he needs in his all-consuming quest to be the best.

Askren is the defending NCAA champion at 174 pounds. He won the Dan Hodge Trophy, wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman, after dismantling previously unbeaten Jake Herbert of Northwestern, 14-2, in the championship match to complete a 45-0 season.

This year, he is even better.

By Andy Hamilton
Iowa City Press-Citizen

The ovation for Barry Davis was more than casual applause Saturday night before the former Iowa star-turned Wisconsin coach led the Badgers to something they hadn’t done in 42 years.

Davis became a fan favorite for the Hawkeyes by wearing out opponents and dominating the final period on his way to three NCAA titles from 1982-85, and the heartfelt reception from the 6,225 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena showed they clearly haven’t forgotten the imprint he left on Iowa wrestling.

“I got a little emotional,” Davis said. “I have a lot of good memories of this place, and for those people to remember me after all these years, that’s very special, and I appreciate that very much. It’s nice to have the support still, and it’s nice to be remembered like that.”

Saturday night, however, will be remembered as the night the ninth-ranked Badgers brought Iowa’s longest winning streak to an end.

Wisconsin (16-1) won six of 10 matches, and just like Davis used to do, the Badgers controlled the third period for much of the night in a 21-14 dual victory against the No. 5 Hawkeyes.

Wildcats squeak past Badgers 19-18

Northwestern 19, Wisconsin 18
125: Precin (NU) dec. Cudd 3-2 OT (3-0)
133: Metzler (NU) dec. Tanelli 3-1 (6-0)
141: Ruschell tech fall Kohlberg (NU) 22-6, 3:12 (6-5)
149: Turner fall Gould (NU) 3:51 (6-11)
157: Henning maj dec. Marella (NU) 11-1 (6-15)
165: Donar dec. Hagel (NU) 6-4 (6-18)
174: Hayes (NU) dec. Maciag 8-4 (9-18)
184: Herbert (NU) maj dec. Brandvold 16-5 (13-18)
197: Tamillow (NU) dec. Herbst 5-0 (16-18)
285: Fox (NU) dec. Massey 3-2 (19-18)

EVANSTON, Ill.– Dustin Fox’s (Galion, Ohio/Galion) escape in the third period of the final match proved to the be the difference as the Wildcats defeated ninth-ranked Wisconsin Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, 19-16. The Wildcats trailed 18-6 heading into the last four matches, but the ‘Cats won all four to claim their first Big Ten victory of the season and hand Wisconsin its first dual loss.

The win improves the Wildcats to 11-5 on the year, 1-2 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin picked up their first loss to drop to 15-1, 1-1 in the Big Ten.

Brandon Precin (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) started off against Wisconsin’s Collin Cudd at 125 lbs. and after furious action for the first three minutes, the match still remained scoreless heading into the second.

Bucky Maughan’s Bison Were a Division II Power, But Now Must Endure the Growing Pains of Moving to the Division I Level. Still, the Future is Bright For Maughan and The Bison

By Andrew Berglund – TWM Freelance Writer

The numbers North Dakota State and head coach Bucky Maughan amassed at the Division II level are staggering: 17 conference championships, four national titles, 158 All-Americans, 21 wrestlers capturing 30 individual national championships and 408 coaching victories by Maughan in his 40-year tenure at the helm of a Division II national power.

When the NCAA Division II championships wrapped up in Mankato, Minnesota in March of 2004, and the mats were rolled up one last time following the Bison’s runner-up finish, so too was a storied history of NDSU wrestling at the Division II level.

NDSU’s 36th straight winning season marked the last time that Maughan would pencil into his schedule the names of North Central Conference foes that he’s become so familiar with over his past four decades of coaching.

A new era began.

And now, after a two-year hiatus due to reclassification, NDSU has become eligible to compete at this year’s NCAA Division I championships in Detroit.

Wally Johnson was Minnesota’s coach for 34 years, winning two conference titles.

By Roman Augustoviz, Star Tribune

Wally Johnson, the coach of the University of Minnesota wrestling team for 34 seasons, died Wednesday at the age of 91 in an Edina hospice from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

Johnson coached the Gophers from 1952 until he retired in 1986. He had a career record of 392-209-11.

His teams won Big Ten titles in 1957 and ‘59 and finished either second or third 13 other times.

“Wally had a personality everybody liked,” said Pete Veldman, a Gopher wrestler in the mid-1950s. “He could be very tough, demanding, but he was also very thoughtful. He worked hard to get guys through school and to get them good jobs in the summer.”Wally always said that only one guy who lettered for him at the ‘U’ did not earn his degree,” said Don Meyers, another wrestler for Johnson in the mid-1950s. “… And at one time 10 or 12 of his wrestlers had some of the best [high school] wrestling coaching jobs in the metro area.”

Meyers started the wrestling program at Fridley High School.

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No Politics in Wrestling for U.S., Iran
By NASSER KARIMI

One day, the spectators were shouting obscenities at American wrestler Mo Lawal after he beat his chest tauntingly before tackling his Iranian opponent. The next day, Friday, they were kissing him as he shimmied to Iranian music and passed out U.S flags after winning a gold medal.

In the southern port of Bandar Abbas, a few miles from passing American warships, rising political tensions between the two countries were put aside this week for sheer enthusiasm over wrestling, a sport Iranians have been passionate about and excelled in for centuries.

There was a glow of friendship between 20 U.S. wrestlers and hundreds of Iranian spectators as the two-day Persian Gulf Cup, also called the Takhti Cup, came to a close.

“It has been great here,” said the executive director of U.S. Wrestling, Rich Bender. “We have been treated with the utmost hospitality.”

“Sport brings people together. It is in keeping with the ideals of the Olympics,” Lawal said in a written answer to questions passed through security guards to him. “The wrestlers are highly skilled and the tournament is very well organized.”

Amateur Wrestling Enjoys Long and Rich Tradition in United States

“Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy,” U.S. wrestler says

By Howard Cincotta
USINFO Special Correspondent

Washington – Mention “wrestling” and most Americans think first of the highly publicized spectacles featuring such characters as Hulk Hogan and The Rock. Even its most devoted fans, however, recognize that “professional” wrestling today is purely escapist entertainment that has nothing to do with the real sport that flourishes across the country among youths.

Amateur wrestling in the United States has a long and rich tradition. Moreover, the United States has developed a number of remarkable athletes and champions in the sport of freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, and continues to be a powerful national competitor in the international arena.

At the 2006 World Championships in Guangzhou, China, the U.S. team finished third, after Russia and Iran, by winning nine medals – four in men’s freestyle, three in men’s Greco-Roman and two in women’s freestyle. Two American athletes won their first World Championships: Joe Warren (Greco-Roman, 60 kilos) and Bill Zadick (freestyle, 66 kilos). Bill’s brother, Mike, is competing in the 2007 Takhti Cup in Bandar Abbas, Iran. (See related article.)

FARGO, N.D. - The North Dakota State University wrestling team is beginning its first season in the Western Wrestling Conference, and athletes say it is giving them extra motivation.

“The level of wrestling has been way up knowing we have something to wrestle for in the end,” Bison redshirt freshman Ryan Adams said. “We want to get into the big stage and show everybody what we’ve been working for.”

The “big stage” is the NCAA Division I championships. To get there, wrestlers have to qualify via the West Regional, which is made up of the Western Wrestling Conference teams and Eastern Illinois, which has chosen to remain a wrestling independent.

NDSU left the NCAA Division II North Central Conference three years ago, and has been a Division I independent the last two seasons. The new WWC consists of former NCC teams NDSU, South Dakota State and Northern Colorado, and former independent wrestling programs Northern Iowa, Air Force and Utah Valley State.

The last time the Bison wrestled a conference match was February 2003, when they defeated St. Cloud State. Their last league loss was against Nebraska-Omaha in 2001.