Texas Wrestler Signs To Compete for HLG

Hannibal, MO - The Hannibal-LaGrange College Wrestling program is pleased to have signed Mitchell Burnaugh from Carrollton, Texas. Burnaugh will graduate from Creekview High School in May of 2010.

This season Mitchell Burnaugh compiled an impressive record of 38-1 with his only loss this season coming in the UIL Texas State Tournament. Burnaugh was champion of 10 regular season tournaments. Burnaugh is a 2 time state tournament qualifier qualifying in his junior and senior seasons. With only 4 seasons of wrestling experience Burnaugh’s finished in 3rd place at the UIL Texas State Tournament. “Burnaugh is a hard worker. Burnaugh has made it a point to be wrestling in the off season and it has shown with his improvement throughout his career.” I’m looking forward to him taking this next step of wrestling for HLG. I believe Burnaugh has the potential of being a force to be reckoned with. At 6’4” he is one of the tallest wrestlers I will have coached, and I believe Burnaugh has what it takes to be a competitive collegiate wrestler,” said HLG Head Wrestling Coach Scott Hawes. “Mitchell will be a great addition to our program on and off the mat. We are excited to see what Mitchell will accomplish as a freshman," stated Coach Hawes. Mitchell plans to wrestle at 184 or 197pounds for the Trojans.

Burnaugh plans on majoring in both Math and History at HLG.

Burnaugh is the son of Mark and Lisa Burnaugh.

HLG is a Division I NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) school and a member of the American Midwest Conference.

Secker Fieldhouse Photos

NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE HOSTED IN CEDAR RAPIDS FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS

Story courtesy of NAIA Sports Information Department

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The 2011 and 2012 NAIA Wrestling National Championships presented by the Cedar Rapids Area Convention & Visitors Bureau will be hosted by the U.S. Cellular Center, announced by National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) office on Thursday. The events will occur in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with the 2011 Championship from March 3-5 and the 2012 event from March 1-3.

"The NAIA is proud to send the Wrestling National Championships for the next two years to a place like Cedar Rapids," said NAIA President and CEO Jim Carr. "With the proud and storied tradition of wrestling in the state of Iowa, I have no doubt that the student-athletes and all involved will have a terrific experience.”

The U.S. Cellular Center is considered Eastern Iowa’s premiere venue. The 7,800 seat facility hosts several recognizable sporting events, including the 2010 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships and the Iowa State High School Dual Team Wrestling Tournament. In addition, ice shows, concerts and rodeos are a regular occurrence. The arena first opened in 1979 as the Five Seasons Center and in 2000, the name was changed to U.S. Cellular Center. For more information, click here. The Convention & Visitors Bureau specializes in attracting guests to the Cedar Rapids area. For more information, click here

"The city of Cedar Rapids and the U.S. Cellular Center have hosted successful collegiate wrestling national championships over the past few years,” said Scott McClure, NAIA Manager of Championship Sports. “They have the experience and the resources to put on outstanding NAIA championship events and we look forward to partnering with them for the next two years.”

The state of Iowa has hosted six previous Wrestling Championships with all taking place in Sioux City. Most recently, Sioux City hosted the event from 2005-08. The NAIA estimates that 5,000-8,000 fans attend the wrestling championships each year.

”The Cedar Rapids Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is excited to welcome the athletes, coaches, families and fans who will travel to Cedar Rapids for the NAIA Wrestling Championships in 2011 and 2012,” said Mary Lee Malmberg, Director of Sports Tourism at the Cedar Rapids Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We look forward to showing them our brand of Midwestern hospitality as well as our love for the sport of wrestling.”

The Championship consists of 10 individual weight classes with five different sessions during the three-day span. Wrestlers qualify for the Championships in one of three ways: placing in the top four in any weight class at the Qualifying Group tournament; having a .666 or better winning percentage against four-year accredited intercollegiate competition provided he participates in a minimum of 12 matches during the regular season; through an intercollegiate tournament during the season. For more information on qualification, click here.

In the history of the sport, there have been 19 national team champions as first-time winner, Notre Dame (Ohio), won the 2010 Championship. The first NAIA Wrestling National Championship occurred in 1958, hosted in Mankato, Minn. The host school, Mankato State (Minn.) won the inaugural title. Currently, 38 varsity programs sponsor wrestling in the NAIA.

To learn more about NAIA wrestling, click here.

Watch for the HLG Wrestling Ad in WIN MAGAZINE

http://www.win-magazine.com/

Reflection on the NAIA National Tournament

The NAIA National Wrestling Tournament was a much anticipated new experience for HLG wrestlers. This year the five wrestlers who qualified for the national tournament were Kasey Cates, Tommy Pickens, Josh Smith, Jobi Hambrick, and Nathan Downs. All, with the exception of Josh Smith, competed in the National Tournament. Smith withdrew from the national tournament because of personal reasons. We entered the national tournament very banged up from the season. Kasey Cates injured his knee right before Christmas Break and it continued to bother him through the national tournament. He even took off much of the month of December to let his knee rest. After qualifying for the national tournament in the last tournament before Christmas Break Tommy Pickens had returned to campus second semester with a desire to be prepared for the National Tournament. But his hopes were dashed when he was diagnosed with having Mono just a week into the second semester. Having my own career cut short as a result of mono, I was pleasantly surprised to see Tommy Pickens have the will to come back from such a terrible sickness. As a coaching staff we did not make Tommy wrestle he wrestled because he had a will to compete. Jobi Hambrick struggled throughout the season with minor injuries as any wrestler would struggle. Towards the end of the season and especially in the consolations finals of our Central Regional Tournament Jobi injured his shoulder. Nathan Downs was thrown in the last tournament before Christmas Break and landed head first on the mat. As a result of the impact Nathan had nagging pain in his neck and shoulder region of his back. Nathan did visit the doctors and had them check it out and they told him that the injury was not serious but he would continue to have pain throughout the rest of the season until he healed completely. These injuries are not uncommon to our sport of wrestling although it is disappointing when the injuries do impact virtually every wrestler we had qualified for the national tournament. I do not bring up these injuries to make excuses for a poor performance at the national tournament but instead to highlight how these wrestlers worked through tough circumstances and continued to compete even thought they knew they were at a disadvantage. It was because of that spirit of competition I believe these wrestlers have the potential to accomplish even greater things in years to come. If anyone wants to see the individual results of the tournament follow this link. Two matches I want to highlight from the tournament were matches that Kasey Cates and Nathan Downs wrestled. Cates first match of the tournament was against a tough wrestler from MO Baptist who Casey had previously defeated twice in the regular season. The fact that he was able to stay mentally focused and defeat him a third time is very commendable. The highlight of that match was one in which no score was awarded as Casey completed the nicest lateral throw of his career. I think it is the only one that I have ever seen him do in a match. Unfortunetly the throw was completed out of bounds. Nathan Downs’s record in the National Tournament does not show the improvement on the season from the beginning to the end. Nathan wrestled Junior Robbie Hicklin from Lindenwood University who had pinned him at the Lindenwood Open at our first tournament of the season. Hicklin went on and claimed 3rd place. It was apparent that Downs had his work cut out for him at the national tournament having to once again face Hicklin. Downs demonstrated throughout the match that he had improved tremendously throughout the season. At one point in the match Downs had Hicklin flat on his back in a defensive pin situation which the official clearly missed. By the end of the match Downs’ conditioning showed as Hicklin was tiring. Even though Downs still lost the match he showed signs of great improvement over his previous performance against the same tough opponent. The final highlight of our trip to the National Tournament was watching Zach Fish’s participation in the Champions of Character wrestling clinic. Fish was honored with the nomination of HLG’s representative for Champions of Character. There were about 60 wrestlers who participated in this special wrestling clinic hosted free of charge for Oklahoma City area high school wrestling programs. After our return from Oklahoma City the wrestlers all went their separate ways as they had the opportunity to go on to their spring break.

Brackets Released for NAIA Championships

Click Here For National Championship Brackets

Watch the NAIA Wrestling Championships Live

There is a one time payment fee of $7.95 to watch the NAIA Wrestling Championships through this online offer. This is a service provided by the NAIA and not Hannibal-LaGrange College.