New Wrestlers Starting to Arrive on Campus

Today was an exciting day for many of our new wrestlers as those who will be living on campus moved their belongings into their dorm in preparation for the next step in their lives. Those who are living in Fletcher Hall were welcomed with the site and smell of newness. For those of our male readers who are HLG Alumni, you would love the accommodations that our new students find in Fletcher Hall. There are still some wrestlers living in the ever faithful old men’s dorms. It will be funny to hear some of the sophomores telling the freshmen about how it was living in the old dorms before Fletcher Hall as if it were back in the stone ages! On Monday we will see the arrival of the rest of our wrestling team. The first day of classes will begin on Tuesday. We will have our first formal team meeting for the 2009-2010 season Tuesday at 3 pm.

Coaches Profiles

Head Coach

Scott Hawes is entering his second year as head wrestling coach at Hannibal-LaGrange College. Hawes brings 12 years of coaching experience on all levels of competitive wrestling from middle school to the NCAA/NAIA collegiate level. Hawes wrestled during his high school and college careers receiving numerous team and individual awards, including several second and third place finishes in state and tournament matches, state champion for the Michigan Association of Christian Schools, and Freestyle Champion for the Can-Amera Games. In 1995, Hawes earned a fourth-place finish in the NCCAA Tournament. As a student-athlete at Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Hawes was coached by USA Olympic Gold Medalist, Ben Peterson. Following his graduation from Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Hawes accepted a full-time ministry position as assistant pastor for First Baptist Church, Rochelle, IL. While ministering in Rochelle, Hawes began to coach wrestling and soccer at the Rochelle Township High School and wrestling at Rochelle Middle School. After 7 years of coaching in Rochelle, IL, Hawes accepted the position of head wrestling coach and director of student ministries at Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Watertown, WI where he coached for 4 years. In his four years of coaching at Maranatha, Hawes experienced success coaching Maranatha's first-ever 2nd place finisher and NCAA All-American in the 2007-08 season. However, Hawes defines success more than earned awards and records. "As a coach, I want to help equip men to succeed on the mat, in the classroom, and in life, but more importantly, I also want every wrestler to know that they can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ." Along with his middle school, high school, and collegiate wrestling coaching experience, Hawes has trained coaches and wrestlers for the Rochelle, Illinois IKWF Wrestling Club, and coached soccer at RochelleTownship High School. Hawes and his wife Jenny have two sons, Austin and Chase, a daughter, Reagan, and reside in Hannibal, MO.
In a recent press release from the National Wrestling Coaches Association it stated, “The NWCA is excited to announce it has secured a $30,000 grant that can be utilized to scholarship “up-and-coming” college coaches who have been nominated by their peers to participate in a “one of a kind” Coaches Leadership Academy “focus group” in conjunction with this year’s NWCA Convention in Ft. Lauderdale. To a large extent, the future success of college wrestling lies in the hands of these aspiring young coaches.” Coach Hawes was one of 30 college coaches selected to participate in this first ever Coaches Leadership Academy.

Coach Hawes is also the advisor to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Huddle on HLG’s campus.
In his free—time Coach Hawes enjoys hunting, fishing, riding motorcycles and speaking at churches in the area.



Assistant Coach

Coach Ian Northcott is in his third year coaching at HLG. Coach Northcott was responsible for starting the wrestling program at HLG during the summer of 2007.

Specialty
Coach Northcott’s main responsibilities in the wrestling program are to work with the lower weight classes, recruiting, strength, conditioning and weight management

Education
Coach Northcott’s grow up in St. Charles, MO before attending HLG where he graduated with in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Recreational Management and then returned back to Hannibal in 2007 to help start the wrestling program. Along with Northcott’s coaching responsibilities he has taken on the task of completing a Master of Science in Exercise Science degree from California University of Pennsylvania. He is projected to finish this course in 2010. Northcott is also completing certification in Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention through NASM

Head Coach Scott Hawes had this to say about Coach Northcott,

“Coach Ian Northcott’s discipline and determination is what perpetuated what success we saw in our first competition season of HLG wrestling. Without Coach Northcott’s dedication our first season may not have happened. The burden I faced in transitioning in as the head coach was lightened by Coach Northcott’s humility, love for wrestling and HLG, and his desire to see HLG wrestling build a solid foundation for the future. After meeting Coach Northcott and spending countless hours communicating about the future of HLG wrestling it was apparent to me that we had similar goals in coaching but more importantly Coach Northcott loves God. Coach Northcott’s love for God also makes it possible for us to find cohesion as a coaching staff. We do want not to have our cohesion centered on just wrestling and our love for the sport. Our love for the sport naturally brings cohesion, but that cohesion is strengthened because of our mutual love for Jesus Christ and our desire to please Him in our lives and in our wrestling program. This is something that we both want to model and pass on to our wrestlers.”

2009-10 Wrestling Schedule

Hannibal- LaGrange College
Wrestling Schedule
2009- 2010

Lindenwood University Open……………..……October 30th St. Charles, MO/ All Day

University of WI-Stevens Point………………...November 7th Stevens Point, WI/ All Day

Knox College Invite………..……………………November 14th Galesburg, IL/All Day

Missouri Baptist University Dual……………….November 17th Hannibal, MO/ 7pm

Concordia University Open………..…………....November 21st Milwaukee, WI/ All Day

Milwaukee School of Engineering Dual………...December 4th Milwaukee, WI/ 7pm

Milwaukee School of Engineering Invite….……December 5th Milwaukee, WI/ All Day

Truman State University Dual…….……….…....December 10th Kirksville, MO 7pm

University of Dubuque Open…....………………December 19th Dubuque, IA/ All Day

Knox College Duels..…………………………….January 9th Galesburg, IL/ All Day

Central College Invite……………………………January 16th Pella, IA/ All Day

Oklahoma City Dual……………………………..January 21st Hannibal, MO/ 7pm

Calumet College of St. Joseph……………….…..January 26th Hannibal, MO 7pm

Grandview Open…………………………………January 30th Des Moines, IA/ All Day

Missouri Valley College Open………………..…February 6th Marshall, MO/ All Day

University of Central Missouri Dual……..............February 9th Warrensburg, MO 7:30pm

Missouri Valley University Dual……...................February 11th Marshall, MO 6pm

Bacone College Dual………….………………….February 11th Marshall, MO 7pm

Central Regional Tournament…………….............February 19th Oskaloosa, IA

NAIA National Tournament……………………....March 3rd -6th Oklahoma City, OK

2009-10 HLG Wrestling Roster

Below I have listed the names of those how have committed to wrestling for HLG this season.
For now I have only listed their names, probable weight classes and their declared hometown.
In a few weeks I will be posting a more detailed wrestlers profile along with a photograph of each wrestler . All of our new wrestlers will be arriving Thursday throughout the day and Orientation will go throughout the weekend.


Shane LeGrand – 125
Anderson, MO

Ryan Stark – 125/133
Quincy, IL

Seth Revelle – 125/133
Bonne Terre, MO

Zach Fish – 133
Ozark, MO

Nickolas McCollum - 141
Marceline, MO

Keith Adams - 141
Holland, MI

Kasey Cates – 141/149
Lake Sherwood, MO

Tommy Pickens - 149
Pineville, MO

Devin Smith-141/149
Barron, WI

Josh Smith-149
Belton, SC
Auburn, IL (moved to Auburn his senior year)

Daniel Yuraitis - 157
LaGrange, MO

Kyle Blankenship –165
Belton, SC

Curt Trimmell- 157/165
Republic, MO

Jobi Hambrick – 165/174
Lexington, MO

Nathan Downs –174
Hawk Point, MO

Shane Brandl –174/184
Clinton, WI

Jeff Kirwan - 197
Arlington, TX

Lance Gauch - HWT
Hannibal, MO

Ken Stanger - HWT
Troy, MO

Student Assistants
Logan Bowser
Neosho, MO

Craig Fedynich
Kansas City, MO

Looking forward to a new season and my thoughts on the NWCA Coaches Leadership Academy

Coach Northcott and I are looking forward to the return of our wrestlers to campus in the near future! We have spent countless hours strategizing and getting ready for the season and we are pumped up! I recently returned from the National Wrestling Coaches Association Coaches Leadership Academy in Ft Lauderdale, FL(It was tough, but someone had to do go. ;-) . While at the Academy, I gleaned wisdom from coaches like former Coach Dan Gable (Iowa), Tom Borrelli (Central Michigan) Brian Smith (Mizzou), Jim Beichner (Buffalo), Rob Koll (Cornell), Joe McFarland (Michigan) and Rande Stottlemyer (Pittsburgh). After attending the Leadership Academy and Convention in FT. Lauderdale I was encouraged to hear that most of our top college coaches in the sport today value what I have worked to make a priority in our new program. That priority many of us have in common is the development of CHARACTER in the life of the athletes which we coach. There isn't an easy way to develop character and like wrestling there is never an easy way to be the best, but through discipline of myself and HLG wrestling I hope to enhance what Character my athletes bring into the room. I will be saying more in the future about this idea of developing and demonstrating character through the sport we love so much.
Another area that was emphasized at the Academy was the Head Coaches need to get outside the wrestling room and do more to market the program. I must admit that this is an area I need to work on. I have some sat down with and wrote down some goals that I have to get the ball rolling. If any fans of HLG wrestling want to help me out with ideas or volunteerism, I would be happy to hear your thoughts and involve you in building up this program.
One of the last discussions the coaches of all NCAA divisions and the NAIA had together was concerning the change of wrestling season from a winter sport to a spring sport. I see the pros and cons behind the season change and perhaps there will be some sort of compromised, but I agree with Barry Davis (Wisconsin)that the change of season is only part of the solution to the marketing of our sport. Another important part of wrestling success is when coaches take responsibility for our sport and giving our athletes expectations to be professional, honest, and respectable in their appearance and conduct. However, this responsability is not just a college coach responsibility. This responsability needs to start out in our kids clubs all across the nation today. We as college coaches need to help coaches at the lower level see this if they don't already.