SoCon Champs

[BUTCH1991]

App wins the wrestling title in an exciting last second victory by true freshman Stephan Moncherey! Winner of that match would win the team title.
https://x.com/AppWrestling/status/18984 ... yxRwA&s=19

[firemoose]

App wins the wrestling title in an exciting last second victory by true freshman Stephan Moncherey! Winner of that match would win the team title.
https://x.com/AppWrestling/status/18984 ... yxRwA&s=19

[firemoose]

[appstate24]

Our wrestling program is incredible.

GO APPS!!

[T-Dog]

Was there today. Got upset in a couple finals and overall didn't wrestle well. Was very defensive, pensive and nervy. Only one champion, the true freshman heavyweight who barely won as you can see above. That was the clincher. Thank for all the points gotten before the finals because we needed every one of them. The Citadel wrestled amazing this weekend and almost won the team title.

We got one NCAA auto bid and very likely at least one at-large bid, maybe two.

[BUTCH1991]

3 wrestlers going to the NCAA. https://x.com/AppWrestling/status/18999 ... CIugw&s=19

[Stonewall]

Unfortunately not a SunBelt sport.

[AppWyo]

Unfortunately not a SunBelt sport.

I have never understood why it is not more popular as a sport, because the teams cannot cost that much to fund. I guess it is easy to cut that sport, because it is considered a Men's Sport and title XI makes it a popular sport to cut.

However, Rugby is even worse with only 40 teams nationwide compared to Wrestling's 77 schools.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_1-A_Rugby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... g_programs

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Unfortunately not a SunBelt sport.

I have never understood why it is not more popular as a sport, because the teams cannot cost that much to fund. I guess it is easy to cut that sport, because it is considered a Men's Sport and title XI makes it a popular sport to cut.

I think it is not growing at the high school level. Not sure if that is due to MERSA fears, cauliflower ear fears, having to wrestle girls.

[Saint3333]

Let's add to the list of ridiculous reasons... it's the uniforms.

[T-Dog]

Wrestling is a very insular/tight-knit group. I think that can be seen as a negative by casuals.

It suffered when Title IX started getting enforced vigorously in the 2000s. Programs got cut left and right.

Also, I think there's a perception around it, especially in the south. You see it in threads here and in discussions on fan podcasts. Any wrestling discussion leads to a hayseed eventually saying "I know nothing about wrestling, but i remember seeing Ric Flair wrasslin on my TV.," or something of the sort. The connection to pro wrestling leads to many not taking it seriously. But if you go to a wrestling dual meet, you know that some take it very seriously.

Another negative is the lack of team sport rewards. There's no team NCAA national tournament. The highest scoring teams in the individual brackets win, but there's no dual team vs dual team, which IMO is more fan friendly and could draw in more viewers.

Womens wrestling is coming up. Stats show that invested womens sports can draw crowds, sell tickets and merchandise. It can draw in new crowds and is worth looking at.

Overall, App State has a great wrestling product. Varsity is a great facility for it and there's been investments by alums and admins. I just wish there were more dual meets. Every team should have 20 dual meets a season IMO.

[NewApp]

Unfortunately not a SunBelt sport.

I have never understood why it is not more popular as a sport, because the teams cannot cost that much to fund. I guess it is easy to cut that sport, because it is considered a Men's Sport and title XI makes it a popular sport to cut.

However, Rugby is even worse with only 40 teams nationwide compared to Wrestling's 77 schools.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_1-A_Rugby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... g_programs

For one thing, the mats are very expensive and hard to store. They are usually used on the basketball courts and can't stay there between meets and practices.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Unfortunately not a SunBelt sport.

I have never understood why it is not more popular as a sport, because the teams cannot cost that much to fund. I guess it is easy to cut that sport, because it is considered a Men's Sport and title XI makes it a popular sport to cut.

However, Rugby is even worse with only 40 teams nationwide compared to Wrestling's 77 schools.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_1-A_Rugby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... g_programs

Rugby is also not an NCAA sport. It may or may not be part of Title IX. It may be considered a club sport, and almost all those 40 schools. And though that also is part of Title IX in the broad scope of the law, club sports tend to be self funded so they are also different.