Didn't attend as many live wrestling events as I would have liked to have, but I did attend quite a few. Have some really good things that could happen between now and next season, and if they do, I'll double or even triple the number of college wrestling events I attend next year. Thought it'd be fun to remember the '24-'25 season in photos.
My first dual of the season was a NCAA DIII dual between MSOE & Augustana (ILL). I enjoy the hour drive to Rock Island. We have friends in Davenport we like to stop and see, and can make a pretty fun day out of going to watch the Vikings wrestle. This was a good dual meet full of some great action. Found out one of the MSOE wrestler's fathers follows me on Twitter. That was pretty cool.
My next dual meet was Stanford at Iowa. A great dual between two great NCAA DI teams. Had a dish of the Hawkeyes' famous raspberry ice-cream (like I needed it, right?) and ran into one of my all time favorite Hawkeye wrestlers, 1997 NCAA champion Jesse Whitmer! Made sure to tweet to the worthless Bernard Muir that I saw plenty of Stanford wrestling fans travel all the way from California to watch their Cardinal battle the Hawkeyes!
Next we went and saw the Iowa Women dominate against both William Jewell & Cornell (IA). We really enjoy watching the women & hope to get to more women's matches next season. This year our schedules just did not match up very well. Hopefully that is different next year.
Post the dual, we later ran into Coach Boston Jacobs at the Hu Hot in Coralville. Very happy to meet him. Nice man. Hope to see the lady Rams have more success in the future.
Iowa Vs Iowa State was the next dual I attended. Phone wasn't working real great this particular day, so didn't take many pictures. As it always is though, the crowd was electric & it was a great set of 10 matches in the Hawkeyes Vs Cyclones rivalry.
My first dual of the season at UNI was against South Dakota State. This particular meet was at the UNI-Dome. If you've never experienced the UNI-Dome, I highly recommend it. It's a magical place. Some good wrestling this dual. Always enjoy the 1 & a half drive up to Cedar Falls to watch Panther wrestling.
Nebraska Wesleyan @ Dubuque was my next dual meet of the season. I'd never been to a dual at Dubuque before & Ashley (my girlfriend) has never been to the city of Dubuque. So, it was sort of a first for both of us. I was a little annoyed at the fact that the dual started a good 10-15 minutes before the start time. We missed the 125 lbs match & came in about half way through the 133 lbs match. Normally I'm the type that's a good hour (if not more) early for events because of this very reason. The problem here was, Ashley wanted to go with me & by the time she got off work, it was going to be a "get there right on time" situation.
No bother, this was still a fun dual. Enthusiastic Spartan fans. I really, really liked the referee for this dual. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He was very fair, but very strict. Laid down the law. I enjoy those types of officials.
I tell you what. Northern Iowa doesn't get anywhere near the credit it deserves for the massive fanbase that it has. We hear a lot in the media about Hawkeye fans & Cyclone fans, but we don't hear as much about Panther fans. You're talking to a guy that supports all three programs, and I can tell you the Panther wrestling fans are every bit as electric and pumped as are the Hawkeye and Cyclone. This dual at the McCleod Center Vs Nebraska was packed. The fans were on their feet & they were yelling and screaming the entire dual. It was a lot of fun.
Always love going to St Ambrose to watch from Fighting Bee wrestling. Coach Bo Bettinson is one of my absolute favorite coaches in collegiate wrestling today & it is always an honor and a privilege to run into him. They wrestled Waldorf this night, with some really good matches on the card. Love the environment & atmosphere that Bettinson has created at St. Ambrose. His team is a truly a team & everyone of his guys cheers for their teammates. It's a cool place.
It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive to Dekalb, Illinois, so as soon as the St Ambrose Vs Waldorf meet was over, we jumped into the car & headed up to Dekalb. I had been to Dekalb once many years ago, but it was quick up and there and back trip so I didn't see much of the city. This time we spent the night at a hotel & drove around both the city and the University checking it out. A small town for a DI school.
I really hope that the MAC championships will come back to Northern Illinois soon. I'm definitely going the next time the Huskies host.
On this particular day the Huskies hosted the Purdue Boilermakers. No t-shirts, but posters, foam fingers, and other novelties were being given away as you walked in. I think more schools should do this. I thought I took more pictures here than what I did.
Back to St Ambrose for a dual Vs Southeast CC. I've been wanting to see Southeast CC live in action for a long time, but the 5 hour drive is a little far for me. Thankfully, they came to Davenport and I got an opportunity to see them. Got to run into Coach Terry Pack, another favorite of mine & pick up some SECC wrestling gear. Great dual meet & went to dinner with a good friend of ours after the dual was over.
Never been up to Platteville, Wisconsin before. Reminds me a lot of a town I grew up near, Oskaloosa, Iowa. This was a fun dual meet, one of the many I drug Ashley to this season. Trust me, I'm going to make up for it. I'm taking her to a BIG TIME RUSH concert later this year, my ears are already thinking of leaving my head.
This dual meet was between the Pioneers & the UW-Whitewater Warhawks. UW-WW showed their dominance, but the Pioneers put up a good fight in many of the matches. I again really enjoyed the officiating of this match. Officiating is one of the hardest jobs in collegiate wrestling, and it is rarely thanked. I actually got an opportunity to thank the referee for a job well done, and I did.
It was a little over a two hour drive down to Quincy, Illinois to watch the Hawks do battle with the Indianapolis Greyhounds. A different experience than what I'm used to. Here we sat in folding chairs to watch the action. We were right next to the mat. Like literally, could stretch your feet out and touch the mat with the end of your shoes. It was fun to be that close. Had an opportunity after the meet to get a quick picture with one of DII's best NCAA D2 champ Derek Blubaugh.
Drove 2 hours to Des Moines and made an entire weekend out of it. Went to a dual featuring Grand View, St Ambrose, Williams Woods & Missouri Baptist. Lots of good wrestling. Got to stop and say hi to Aden Reeves, my favorite NAIA wrestler. Reeves great Aunt dated my Grandpa Harry for 10 years. Thought of him as family when he was a baby, and a part of me still does even though my Grandpa and his aunt haven't been together for many years. Is always a pleasure running into him. Really hope to see him win the NAIA title this year.
Also got to run into Coach Bettinson again too. Love talking wrestling with him. Always a pleasure to get to do so.
While in Des Moines we went out with my best friend Joel and had a few drinks. I've taken Ashley to many Hawkeye events over the course of the year. Truth is, she grew up a Cyclone fan. So of course we had to hit at least one Cyclone meet. This one was against the Panthers of Pittsburgh. Again a very fun dual meet.
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Bittersweet moment for me as the Oklahoma State Vs Iowa dual was the last of the year for me. I'll be watching more wrestling via television & internet streaming, but this is the last live wrestling I'll see this season. (Small chance I may go up and watch day two of Regional 6 at Coe, but I've already got plans for that day that I promised I'd attend.)
What a way to go out though. Tremendous wrestling between two of the best teams in NCAA DI wrestling. On top of it, got to run into Coach Al Chapman, one of my favorite people in all of wrestling. If JT#1 isn't college wrestling's #1 fan, then Al Chapman is!
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So that's it for me. 15 college wrestling events this year. Not great, but not bad. As I said at the beginning, I'm hoping for double that number next season, but certain things need to happen in my life in order for that to be a reality.
I've got a new computer, a new camera, a new video camera & I've taught Ashley quite a bit about wrestling. I want to get a headset and microphone & I want to look into doing more actual coverage of wrestling next year. Of course, again it depends on other factors happening in my life.
My other thought here is....I sure as Hell ain't winning any beauty contest! That's for sure.
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