Short Time Wrestling Podcast

In 2002, USA Wrestling launched the first Junior Women’s Freestyle National Championships and the tournament joined the four men’s divisions in Fargo, North Dakota. The fifth tournament in Fargo would feature just over 100 young women. One of those first champions was California’s Malinda Ripley. Twenty years later, you’ll still find Ripley on the floor in Fargo, coaching the women of Team California. In July of 2022, I caught up with Ripley to talk about what she remembers about the...

Noted college women's lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte Hiller is in Fargo watching her daughter Harlee competed at the 16U Women's Freestyle National Championships. A fan of combat sports and multiple sports for athletes, Amonte Hiller talks about her daughter's time in wrestling, what the crossover is for mindset training for lacrosse and wrestling and what benefits she's seen from wrestling for her daughter. She also touches on what would make wrestlers good lacrosse players and what women's...

An All-American at Lock Haven during his college days, Shannyn Gillespie has been on the front lines of coaching women’s wrestling for nearly two decades. The Illinois native is currently the head wrestling coach at Lakeland University, a Division III school that offers both men’s and women’s wrestling. On Episode 708 of the Short Time Wrestling Podcast, Gillespie talks about his path from suburban Chicago to tiny Lock Haven, Pennsylvania and the path in life that led him to coaching women,...

The 72nd annual Headliner’s Night, hosted by the Peninsula Sports Club, took place on June 27 at the Omni Hotel in Newport News, Virginia. William & Mary football play-by-play commentator Jay Colley served as the Master of Ceremonies for the annual event, which featured Mat Talk Online’s Jason Bryant as the event’s Keynote Speaker. In 2021, Bryant received the Bob Moskowitz Media Award from the Peninsula Sports Club just hours after he left the Olympic Games in Tokyo. This year, he had a...

Brendan Buckley, Executive Director of Beat The Streets New York, talks about his path to BTS, the mission of the program and how the organization has grown and created opportunities since launching in what was once a barren landscape of wrestling. Oh, and that whole Final X thing coming to the Hulu Theater on June 8 in New York City! Prior to getting to the show with Brendan, I’ll give you a rundown on some points about World Team Trials attendance and wrestling attendance in general as...

Cody Garcia was a four-time NCAA Division II All-American and two-time champion at powerhouse Nebraska-Omaha under coach Mike Denney. Garcia, the son of a coach himself, started his career at his alma mater after finishing up with his eligibility in 2009. Most in wrestling know what happened in Omaha at the end of the 2011 season, but Garcia moved on to coach at two NAIA schools in Kansas. His first stop would be Bethany before spending the last seven years leading the Wildcats of Baker...

Jim Dutrow is back for another year of promoting wrestling at all levels with #WrestlingShirtADayInMay, a social media campaign aimed at showing your wrestling pride from every level of wrestling. This year, the month-long campaign is combined with the #BloodRoundPoundDown weight-loss fundraiser, so the wrestling social media community is losing weight, while repping their school or club of choice each day. Get your shirt via Rudis:...

J.D. Oliva is carving out quite the career for himself as a fiction writer. The wrestling coach at Illinois’ DeKalb High School is publishing a trilogy of books via Kickstarter with his new series, The Wolf Stone Saga. Link: http://kck.st/3EpOqae Oliva also writes on the topic of professional wrestling for FightGameMedia and the first half of our show talks about the crossover with professional wrestling and collegiate and international level wrestling, some of its origins and our thoughts...

For the past 16 years, Josh Rhoden has been leading the Cougars of Clackamas Community College to new heights in the NJCAA. After winning the program’s sixth national championship - and fourth in a row - Rhoden jumped at the opportunity to head to Division I, joining the coaching staff at Oregon State. Rhoden assumed the role at Clackamas as a 26-year-old alum of the school, leaving after Mike Haluska took to take the job at Portland State. Thrown into the fire, Rhoden taught himself how to...

Kenny Monday was an NCAA champion at Oklahoma State and won four medals at the World Championships and Olympic Games, including Golds in 1988 and 1989. He’s now the Director of Wrestling at the Geneva, Ohio private school, SPIRE Institute & Academy and is looking to create something new as he’s giving back to the sport by teaching another generation of wrestlers, but now at the high school level. Monday tells stories about wrestling in Tulsa, Oklahoma growing up, how Ray Lewis played a role...

A momentous day for women’s wrestling and wrestling as a whole came on April 9, 2022 as the NAIA approve women’s wrestling as its 28th championship sport. With the announcement, the NAIA becomes the first major college athletics organization to officially sanction the sport for an official national championship. On Episode 700 of the Short Time Wrestling Podcast, we’ll visit with two of the 2022 championship coaches, Lee Miracle of Campbellsville University and Ashley Sword Flavin of Life...

During the 2022 European Championships at BOK Sportcsarnok, I sat down with Illinois native and 1986 Division I All-American Ed Giese. Ed goes through his years wrestling in Illinois, competing at Minnesota in an era before J Robinson was coaching there, wrestling with Foxcatcher and help train the next level of wrestlers in Illinois through his work at Team Overtime with current Michigan head coach Sean Bormet. Ed will then chat about what he’s doing in Hungary and how he’s made the...

Sometimes we get an opportunity to put new gear to use and try to come up with new features to bring another perspective to coverage and content. Episode 698 of the Short Time Wrestling Podcast is just that. With some new wireless devices used to record audio, I hit record on Augsburg co-head coach Tony Valek during the annual Battle of the Burgs dual on January 27 in Minneapolis. What this episode highlights is Valek’s coaching style just as the meet begins, during the competition and how...

Central Oklahoma has long been a player on the national stage when it comes to small college wrestling. Having won national championships in both the NAIA and NCAA Division II, the Bronchos have returned to prominence after winning the National Duals for the first time in 20 years and are ranked No. 1 in Division II. This also marks the 50th anniversary of the wrestling program. What's been the key to bringing the Bronchos, with an H, back to the top? Recorded on February 8, 2022 at 12:30...

Brandy Green has been part of some of women's wrestling's most monumental firsts. She won a title at USA Wrestling's first Junior National championships in 2002, competed in the first U.S. Olympic Team Trials in women's freestyle and on Saturday, February 5, her school will be hosting a Division I showcase quad, highlighted by the first ever dual between Division I women's teams from Sacred Heart University and Presbyterian College. Links to Follow Daily Wrestling Newsletter:...

The top rivalry in Division III wrestling resumes on Thursday, January 27 at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis as Wartburg will visit Augsburg. The host Auggies have won 13 NCAA Division III titles while the Knights have won 14. Wartburg is riding a four-match win streak in the series. The two schools typically meet twice during the season, the scheduled dual that rotates between home sites and the NWCA National Duals. Due to COVID-related issues, neither team went to the National Duals in...

Iowa natives Justin and Josh Portillo have been battling each other their entire lives. The twin 125-pounders took that sibling rivalry to the next level on January 15 when Josh's Nebraska-Kearney Lopers hosted Justin's Grand View Vikings an a dual between two of the top programs outside of Division I. The bait? UNK was trying to snap Grand View's college wrestling record win streak, which stood at 111 going into the dual. The hook? The twin brothers would wrestle each other in the dual's...

Albert White grew up wrestling in the famed Harvey Twisters wrestling club in Harvey, Illinois. A high school wrestling legend and one of the nation’s top recruits coming out of high school, White had to go the junior college route before enrolling at Oklahoma State and wrestling for legendary coach John Smith in Stillwater. On Episode 693 of the Short Time Wrestling Podcast, White talks with host Jason Bryant about his path from Harvey to Iowa to Oklahoma to Arkansas, his relationship with...

Coming into this season, never before had Mt. San Antonio College came away from the California Community College wrestling championships with a championship. That changed on Saturday, December 11 when the Mounties and head coach David Rivera won the school’s first title, outdistancing second-place Cerritos College. On Episode 692 of the Short Time Wrestling Podcast, Rivera talks about his family wrestling history, his career in college, his staff and what it took to overcome a season away...

A non-wrestling tribute to my father, Grover Clinton Bryant, Jr., who passed away on November 24, 2021 at the age of 76. Full description at mattalkonline.com/dad