BE A PART OF WRESTLING HISTORY
For More Information Contact: Bart Freidenberg at
[email protected] or 614-833-5885
OHIO TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS AIMS FOR WORLD RECORD
***8 NCAA CHAMPIONS ARE TOFC ALUMS***
March 20, 2012...Columbus, OH......YOU can be a part of wrestling history, as The Ohio Tournament of Champions aims to set a new World Record, with 4000 individual entries. This year's event, scheduled for April 21 at the Columbus Convention Center, in Columbus, OH, will mark the TofC's 20th Anniversary. Already, entries from 22 states, and as far away as California, have been received and submissions have been entered from several others (registered but not paid yet).
According to Event Chairman Bart Freidenberg, the entries are coming in better than the past few years. "There are so many national level events that kids can do these days, that people now tend to wait to the last minute to enter any of them," Freidenberg said. "Still, we are ahead of where we have been the past several years. Plus, we already have at least 100 more wrestlers that are part of large groups that won't show up as accepted until the group administrator pays for the entire team."
"I'm starting to hear from several more groups that are planning on coming and just wanted to know how to do the group registration process," said Freidenberg, adding that recent groups contacting him have come from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Hawaii.He also added that submissions (those who have entered individually, and have not yet paid) are also way ahead of past years as well, and include wrestlers from at least 10 additional states not already represented.
The TofC has always been known for the quality of the wrestlers competing and that was proved at this weekend's NCAA Division I National Championships, as eight of the champions, and four of the runner ups, were past TofC competitors.
125 pounds: Nico Megaludis, 2nd place
133 pounds: Logan Stieber (6X TofC Champ), CHAMPION; Jordan Oliver, 2nd Place
141 pounds: Kellen Russell, CHAMPION
149 pounds: Frank Molinaro, CHAMPION
157 pounds: Kyle Dake, CHAMPION
165 pounds: David Taylor (2X Ohio TofC Champ), CHAMPION
174 pounds: Ed Ruth, CHAMPION
184 pounds: Steve Bosak, CHAMPION; Quentin Wright, 2nd Place
197 pounds: Cam Simaz, CHAMPION
285 pounds: Zachery Rey, Runner Up
"Right after Kyle Dake won the NCAA's this year, I messaged his dad and told him that we would love to have Kyle as guest at our 2013 event (college wrestlers cannot appear until after they have used up their collegiate eligibility)," Freidenberg said. "He messaged back and said that he would let Kyle know, but also said that he had recently been looking at some of our past programs and that they were like a "who's who of college wrestling."
***Dake wrestled at the Ohio TofC several years. According to past results, he placed four times, with his lone Championship coming in 2005, at Schoolboy 92. In other years, he placed 4th in 2002, at Junior 73 (Collin Palmer, from Ohio took first and future NCAA Champion Jordan Oliver took second); 4th in 2003 at Junior 80 (Trey Adamson, of NM took first); and 6th in 2004, at Schoolboy 84 (NCAA Champion David Taylor took first).
To register for this year's Ohio TofC, you can go to ohiotofc.com and click on registration. Among the various ways to qualify are:
*All past TofC Champions
*TofC top 8 (past two years)
*All High School Wrestlers
*All Cadet Wrestlers (those born in 1997 or earlier)
*All Open (Post High School) or Girl's High School Division
---Open Division Entries and Submissions are currently way up based on past events
*Any wrestler with 10+ match wins this season (includes open tournaments)
*Top 6 at any National Level event (past 2 years)
*Top 4 at any state or regional event (past 2 years)
*Top 3 at any League Championship (past 2 years)
*Champion at ANY Tournament (other than those specifically for beginners) this season
*Top 3/4 at any Official Ohio TofC Qualifier
*Any wrestler that has qualified for their State Youth Tournament that has a qualification process
*Wrestlers who resides in a state with no qualifiers, or that lives more than 50 miles from the nearest qualifying event.
Groups entering 8 or more wrestlers are also eligible for a Group/Team Discount this year. However, one individual needs to enter all of the wrestlers in, under one user name/password, and pay for them with one transaction. For more information on group rates, go to:
http://ohiotofc.com/TournamentInformation/ClubTeamInformation
All entries are due by April 14, at 9 pm (EST), unless the event reaches its maximum number of competitors prior to that.
So if there is only 3 or 4 guys in hvy open will they do round robin style? 40 bucks is a bit much for 1 or 2 matchs