Former IL HS Wrestler Leads Carroll at NCWA Nationals

[coachtomes]

About half of Carroll's population comes from Illinois. If you're a high school wrestler looking at Carroll, or still looking for a place to compete, contact Coach Tomes at coachtomes@hotmail.com for more info.

5 Pioneers Compete at NCWA National Tournament
Three of five Pioneers won matches, with freshman Ode Osbourne and sophomore Andrew Stolldorf finishing painfully short of finishing as All-Americans at their first ever NCWA National Tournament.

Osbourne (Palm Beach Gardens, FL/Dwyer) started off with a pin in the first round before pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the tournament when he defeated West Chester's Luke Bilyeu, the third place finisher in last year's tournament and the field's #1 seed. Osbourne used a takedown in the fourth and final overtime to secure the win. He would fall to Lindenwood's Jacob Janes in the next match and was eliminated by Cal Baptist in the wrestlebacks. Osbourne finished his freshman season 28-18 with ten wins by fall and defeated the national runner up and third place finisher at the conference tournament two weeks ago. Liberty's Scott Clymer won the weight class.

Stolldorf (Woodstock, IL/Woodstock) continued to pick up steam throughout the end of the season and finished the season in impressive fashion. After falling to Simon Fraser in the first round, he picked up and rattled off three consecutive wins to get to the meet's blood round. There he fell 5-3 to Marion Military. Stolldorf finished 14-9 for the season, with most of those losses coming in the early part of the season.

Nick Grady (Milwaukee/Custer) finished 2-2 in his first trip to the national tournament. The 26 year old freshman finished the season with a record of 17-8 at 235 lbs. The majority of his matches were wrestled at heavyweight. Grady was considerably below weight at the national meet and figures to be at 197 next season.

Dominique Karolczak (Beloit/Turner) and Josh Nelson (Cary, IL/Cary Grove) both finished 0-2 but were highly competitive in their matches and set themselves up for a big campaign next year.

Carroll accepted an invitation to join the NCWA's DI programs before the tournament began and finished in 27th amongst teams treated as varsity programs by their colleges. The Pioneers finished in 34th place overall with 16.5 points. Notre Dame College out of Ohio, who won the NAIA National Tournament last year and currently in transition to NCAA DII status, won the meet over Cal Baptist, also a team in transition to NCAA DII status. Liberty University, an NCAA DI program a year ago, finished in third, followed by Lindenwood and Simon Fraser, both former NAIA powers.

[mr1191]

Why is wrestling not listed on the Athletics page? I couldn't find any information about the program on the university website.

Originally Posted by coachtomes

About half of Carroll's population comes from Illinois. If you're a high school wrestler looking at Carroll, or still looking for a place to compete, contact Coach Tomes at coachtomes@hotmail.com for more info.

5 Pioneers Compete at NCWA National Tournament
Three of five Pioneers won matches, with freshman Ode Osbourne and sophomore Andrew Stolldorf finishing painfully short of finishing as All-Americans at their first ever NCWA National Tournament.

Osbourne (Palm Beach Gardens, FL/Dwyer) started off with a pin in the first round before pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the tournament when he defeated West Chester's Luke Bilyeu, the third place finisher in last year's tournament and the field's #1 seed. Osbourne used a takedown in the fourth and final overtime to secure the win. He would fall to Lindenwood's Jacob Janes in the next match and was eliminated by Cal Baptist in the wrestlebacks. Osbourne finished his freshman season 28-18 with ten wins by fall and defeated the national runner up and third place finisher at the conference tournament two weeks ago. Liberty's Scott Clymer won the weight class.

Stolldorf (Woodstock, IL/Woodstock) continued to pick up steam throughout the end of the season and finished the season in impressive fashion. After falling to Simon Fraser in the first round, he picked up and rattled off three consecutive wins to get to the meet's blood round. There he fell 5-3 to Marion Military. Stolldorf finished 14-9 for the season, with most of those losses coming in the early part of the season.

Nick Grady (Milwaukee/Custer) finished 2-2 in his first trip to the national tournament. The 26 year old freshman finished the season with a record of 17-8 at 235 lbs. The majority of his matches were wrestled at heavyweight. Grady was considerably below weight at the national meet and figures to be at 197 next season.

Dominique Karolczak (Beloit/Turner) and Josh Nelson (Cary, IL/Cary Grove) both finished 0-2 but were highly competitive in their matches and set themselves up for a big campaign next year.

Carroll accepted an invitation to join the NCWA's DI programs before the tournament began and finished in 27th amongst teams treated as varsity programs by their colleges. The Pioneers finished in 34th place overall with 16.5 points. Notre Dame College out of Ohio, who won the NAIA National Tournament last year and currently in transition to NCAA DII status, won the meet over Cal Baptist, also a team in transition to NCAA DII status. Liberty University, an NCAA DI program a year ago, finished in third, followed by Lindenwood and Simon Fraser, both former NAIA powers.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by mr1191

Why is wrestling not listed on the Athletics page? I couldn't find any information about the program on the university website.

It is not a sanctioned sport at Carroll. It is a club sport. The NWCA is for club sports. Carroll just added wrestling as a club sport this past year. That is a positive development, indeed, in this age of wrestling programs going by the wayside.

[mr1191]

Thanks Jaguar! I know Josh Nelson and was glad to see that he's still wrestling. Any talk of them adding wrestling as a sanctioned sport at this or any other schools.

Originally Posted by Jaguar

It is not a sanctioned sport at Carroll. It is a club sport. The NWCA is for club sports. Carroll just added wrestling as a club sport this past year. That is a positive development, indeed, in this age of wrestling programs going by the wayside.

[coachtomes]

We are listed as a club and I don't anticipate that we'll be in the NCAA, at least not for a few years. We're building and if that happens, we'll all certainly be happy and embrace it. As an alumnus that is now coaching the program, I can tell you that at this point I am just happy that young men and women who want to wrestle can go to Carroll and have the same experience I did. I would expect to see us on the website next year. Until then, we're on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/carrolluwrestling

With the premiere of the Last Maverick coming this week, it serves as a reminder of sorts as to what the benefits can be in some cases of not being a varsity sport. I'd love it to be on one hand but with a student population that is by some counts over 75% female, survival amidst Title IX would be tough.

We are a club, but I think most people would be hard-pressed to notice much of a difference between us and at least some of the NCAA D3 programs. Our schedule was entirely varsity programs in the NCAA, NJCAA and the NAIA. The NCWA is getting to the point where I think wrestling fans are going to have to start seeing it for the talent that is there. With the transitional teams from NAIA jumping to DII, or like SIU-Edwardsville jumping to DI, the league is no joke. I thought it was interesting to see the results of the qualifying tournaments for comparison, as this is my first year working within the NCWA.

In most weight classes in our conference, it was easier to qualify for the NCWA meet, without question. The top 8 go, but with double entry possible and teams like Notre Dame, Lindenwood, Lindenwood (Belleville), McKendree, Minot State, and SIUE (as well as Grand Valley, who is a club but always tough), some weights filled up with talent. We had a wrestler beat the fourth place finisher in the Great Lakes Regional, and he took 8th in our conference meet at 157. We had another beat a NCAA DIII national qualifier who didn't make it out at 184. That's not to say that the NCWA is better. It still lacks depth overall but the league is improving. Nationally, there are a lot of programs in it now that are being treated as varsity programs but opt for this as their league of choice.

We are a club but at the end of this season, I was happy to learn that a few coaches from meets we were in had no idea after seeing us. We want to operate look like a varsity program, with a full, legit schedule, nice looking gear, good numbers and a talented roster. We've got a lot of that covered right now but we can use more depth. Illinois wrestlers, especially from the North-Suburban area, have been a little more college ready in my opinion than a lot of WI kids. I love my home state, but some of the leagues in IL are just silly with talent. We're not at a point to be selective so we'll take anyone who wants to come daily and work hard, but reality is we're not anywhere near exclusive yet.

With kids like Josh, we do have talent. It's like Jello though. There's always room for more.