By any measure, Jake Varner had an incredible freshman season at Iowa State. A 29-7 record. A 2007 Big 12 finalist. A 2007 NCAA finalist.

2007 Rev Freshman of the Year
1st-5th-Place Votes: 9-7-5-3-1

1. Jake Varner, Iowa St.: 62 (4)
2. Jayson Ness, Missouri: 40 (1)
3. Lance Palmer, Ohio St.: 29 (1)
4. Max Askren, Missouri: 25 (1)
5. Adam Frey, Cornell: 12
6. Nate Carr Jr., Iowa Central: 9 (1)
7. JP O’Connor, Harvard: 8
7. Mike Pucillo, Ohio St.: 8
9. Angel Escobedo, Indiana: 7
The 184-pound Cyclone topped off a tremendous rookie season by claiming Rev Freshman of the Year honors for 2007. Each year, this award is given to the nation’s top freshman wrestler across all divisions of college competition, and is determined by a vote of RevWrestling.com writers and executives.

This is the second honor bestowed this season on the Iowa State wrestling program by RevWrestling.com. Two weeks ago, Cael Sanderson was named Rev Coach of the Year.

“Jake Varner was a big reason that Iowa State was a contender for the national title going into the final night,” said RevWrestling.com staff writer William Koe. “His win over Roger Kish in the NCAA semifinals was shocking and also deserving of the award for RevWrestling.com’s Freshman of the Year.”

This week’s edition of “On the Mat” featured United States Congressman Jim Jordan and Oklahoma State head coach John Smith.

Jordan is a member of the Republican Party who serves as a U.S. Representative from the Fourth Congressional District of Ohio. He defeated Democrat Rick Siferd in the 2006 congressional elections to replace retiring representative Mike Oxley.

As a wrestler, Jordan competed for the University of Wisconsin and was an NCAA champion in 1985 & ‘86. His career college record was 156-28-1. A 1982 graduate of Graham High School in Ohio, Jordan won four individual state titles and compiled a high school record of 150-1.

Smith, who is the head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State University, recently led his team to a fifth place finish at the 2007 NCAA tournament. The Cowboys had won four consecutive NCAA championships prior their recent finish.

The winner of six consecutive World and Olympic championships in a row from 1987-1992, Smith is considered by many to be the greatest American wrestler of all time.

“On the Mat” is a weekly wrestling radio program that airs every Wednesday night. This week’s broadcast can be heard live from 5-6 p.m. Central Standard Time. The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, hosts the show.

For years, the State of Ohio has wanted a crack at the USA Dream Team. This year, they’ll get the opportunity. It’s head to head competition between America’s top high school wrestlers and the best from the Buckeye State.

The dual meet will be held at 5 p.m. on April 21, 2007 at Austintown Fitch High School in Youngstown, Ohio. Any serious wrestling fan knows that this region is one of the country’s biggest hotbeds of our sport. The competition will be fierce. Anything can happen.

And if that weren’t enough, Cliff Keen Athletic and Wrestling USA Magazine also bring you the Ohio Border War, pitting top high school seniors of Ohio vs. top seniors of Pennsylvania.
USA Dream Team Members Record and Bios

Wrestling Paulsons: Journey through adversity
DWANE MCFERRIN, Staff Writer

Few wrestlers can claim the accomplishments of former Lewis Central wrestling standouts Trent and Travis Paulson.

The twins dominated Iowa high school wrestling with a combined 366-5 record and won five state championships. They earned All-American honors three times at Iowa State and sported a combined record of 221-52 against the rugged NCAA Division I competition.

Trent put an exclamation point on his collegiate career with a national championship at 157 pounds and Travis narrowly lost in double overtime in the semifinals and finished fifth at 165. The seniors led Iowa State to second place at the Division I National Wrestling Tournament for its highest team finish since 1987.

Click Here!
“It is unbelievable. From the moment that my hand was raised I thought of all the hard work and everything I’ve worked for had finally paid off,” said Trent who finished 18th in total wins in Cyclones’ history. “It feels really awesome because I know how many unbelievable wrestlers went through the program and there have been Olympic champions. To have my name among the greats is an overwhelming feeling.”

Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

NEW YORK and COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -– The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, and USA Wrestling, the National Governing Body for wrestling in the United States, today announced a strategic partnership between the two organizations aimed at increasing the awareness level and creating unique grassroots programs and branding opportunities for both groups.

“This is a great day for the IFL and for the sports of Mixed Martial Arts and wrestling,” said IFL Commissioner and Co-Founder Kurt Otto. “This partnership will give us the platform to reach a very passionate demo with one of the most respected National Governing Bodies. This cooperative program will help us further our mission to expose these great IFL athletes to a larger audience and show how they can use their wrestling skills as part of MMA.”

“USA Wrestling is proud to partner with the IFL in this project,” said Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director. “Wrestling is a core discipline of MMA and many of the greatest athletes in the sport have a strong wrestling background. This will help us expose wrestling fans and athletes to a much larger audience and grow this Olympic sport by reaching an expanded audience.”

Little weird, but cool.

Kyle Klingman, Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute & Museum

WATERLOO –- Former University of Iowa wrestling standouts Simon Roberts and Sherwyn Thorson are among seven men who will be inducted into the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame of Iowa, class of 2007. The inductions will be held April 14 in Waterloo.

This will be the sixth class of individuals inducted in the hall of fame. The hall of fame honors those individuals who have achieved greatness in the sport of wrestling and competed in the state of Iowa during their careers.

At the 1956 NCAA tournament Simon Roberts broke new ground in the college wrestling world. As a junior, competing at the 147-pound weight class, the former Hawkeye became the first black wrestler to ever win an NCAA title. Entering the tournament seeded sixth, Roberts upset the second and fourth seeded wrestlers on his way to a hard-fought championship victory.

A native of Davenport, Roberts was also the first black wrestler to win an individual state title in Iowa. He was a state champion in 1954 at 133 pounds. He is retired from a long career in education and lives in Los Angeles.

NCAA Division I Championship, Final
From Auburn Hills, Mich. 609 ESPNU Fri 4/13 2:30 AM

NCAA Division I Championship, Quarterfinal
From Auburn Hills, Mich. 609 ESPNU Wed 4/18 12:00 PM

NCAA Division I Championship, Semifinal
From Auburn Hills, Mich. 609 ESPNU Wed 4/18 3:00 PM

NCAA Division I Championship, Medal Round
From Auburn Hills, Mich. 609 ESPNU Wed 4/18 5:30 PM

NCAA Division I Championship, Final
From Auburn Hills, Mich. 609 ESPNU Wed 4/18 8:30 PM

Olympic gold. Four NCAA titles. Undefeated in college competition. Now Cael Sanderson adds to his list of accomplishment s by being named Rev Coach of the Year in his very first year as head wrestling coach of the Iowa State Cyclones.

On Wednesday, Sanderson was named Rev Coach of the Year by RevWrestling.com. The award is given annually to the nation’s top collegiate coach across all divisions of wrestling as voted on by the writers and executives of RevWrestling.com.

“Cael Sanderson has a burning desire to be the best, whether it’s as a wrestler or as a coach,” said RevWrestling.com senior writer Andrew Hipps. “He has already established his legacy as one of the all-time greatest wrestlers. Now he’s in the process of establishing his legacy as a coach. Based on what he accomplished in his first season, the sky is the limit.”

When Sanderson was hired to replace Bobby Douglas as Iowa State’s sixth head coach just over a year ago (March 31, 2006), many wrestling fans around the country questioned whether his on-the-mat success would translate into coaching success. After all, he spent only two seasons as a special assistant in the athletics department before joining the ISU coaching staff as an assistant coach for the 2004-05 season.

OK all of you moms and dads out there who are bending, folding, molding and manipulating your sons and daughters with visions of scholarships and big paydays dancing in your heads, a word of advice: You’re probably chasing smoke.

Your odds of hitting the lottery are almost as good as the chance that your offspring is going to be awarded a grant-in-aid to an NCAA school.

And if you’re thinking beyond that, you’re sadly misguided. Better to make sure your kids get their BS or MBA than to spend all of that money on trying to get them to the NBA, NFL or MLB.

The NCAA has just released the results of a study that ought to have you monitoring your kid’s GPA instead of his or her ERA.

You’re out there and you know who you are. We know you, too. We hear all about how the perceived lack of publicity is hurting your child’s chances of getting a scholarship. The write-ups aren’t big enough, the headlines aren’t big enough, there are not enough pictures. So you’re offspring is destined to a life in some menial job. But that’s fodder for another column on another day.