WIN Awards in latest issue of WIN

Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine (WIN) celebrated the past academic year in amateur wrestling by announcing its award winners — including the Junior Hodge, Mike Chapman Impact Award, Dan Gable Coach of the Year, Schalles and Junior Schalles, and Journalists of the Year — in the latest issue of WIN, printed on May 27.

The following are the selections for those awards, (Click on each one to read short story on each winner and listing of past winners):

• Junior Hodge Trophy (named in honor for the former three-time NCAA champ from Oklahoma and present to the nation’s most dominant high school wrestler by WIN and the AAU) — Mark Hall, Apple Valley High School, Minnesota
• Mike Chapman Impact Award (named in honor of the founder of WIN Magazine) — Tom Brands and Iowa Wrestling
• Dan Gable Coach of the Year (named in honor of the legendary coach who led the University of Iowa to 15 NCAA team championships between 1977-97) — Kevin Dresser, Virginia Tech
• Schalles Award (named in honor of Wade Schalles, the former NCAA champ from Clarion, where he pinned 109 foes, and presented to the nation’s best college pinner) — Zain Retherford, Penn State
• Junior Schalles Award (presented to the nation’s top high school pinner) — Luke Weber, Forsyth High School, Montana
• WIN Journalists of the Year — Christian Pyles and Willie Saylor, FloWrestling Radio Live

WIN also announced its Prep Wrestlers of the Year in all the states that offer high school wrestling, as well as its NCAA Division I Recruiting Rankings … as well as a look back at Oklahoma State’s Alex Dieringer receiving the Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation’s most dominant college wrestler … in the most recent issue of WIN.

To read complete stories on all these award winners, including a listing of WIN’s past award winners, and to subscribe to WIN Magazine, call 888-303-0606 or go to WIN-magazine.com at https://subscribe.win-magazine.com.

More Information on WIN’s 2016 Award Winners

• Mark Hall became the first high school wrestler to win six state championships for Apple Valley, the first coming as a seventh grader at 130 pounds in 2011 and the last coming at 170 pounds this past winter. Hall, a native of Michigan who moved with his father to Minnesota, won 278 of 283 high school bouts and ended his high school career on a 171-match winning streak. The two-time Junior World Team member also spent his summers at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., and competed in this year’s Olympic Trials.
• Tom Brands, the University of Iowa and Hawkeye fans made international news in November when the school produced the “Grapple on the Gridiron” before a record crowd of 42,287 fans in Kinnick football stadium in a dual meet with Oklahoma State. This happened in a six-month period that also saw the university host the Big Ten Championships and Olympic Trials before large crowds in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• Kevin Dresser, who won an individual NCAA championship and team title under the tutelage of Dan Gable at the University of Iowa in 1986, has spent the past 28 years in the state of Virginia, including the past 10 years in Blacksburg, Va. Dresser led the 2015-16 Hokies to a school-record fourth-place finish — and first-ever team trophy — at the 2016 NCAA Championships in New York City in March, where his Hokies edged his alma mater by one point in the team race.
• Zain Retherford, a runner-up to in the 2016 Hodge Trophy, pinned 15 of his 34 opponnets in an undefeated 2015-16 campaign that saw the Penn State sophomore win the 149-pound NCAA championship. This came after Retherford pinned just four opponents as a true freshman All-American in 2013-14 and after he redshirted in 2014-15.
• Luke Weber, one of five brothers who have and will continue to wrestle for their father, Scott Weber, pinned 50 of 54 opponents in capturing his fourth straight Montana state championship.
• Christian Pyles and Willie Saylor, who were a former coach/teacher in Virginia and fiction writer from Pennsylvania, respectively, have united to create a national audience to their provocative and entertaining podcast program that is presented live on Flowrestling.org.