Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Nicholas Edward Gwiazdowski | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Duanesburg, New York, U.S. | December 30, 1992|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 125 kg (276 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Wrestling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Freestyle and Folkstyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | NC State | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Titan Mercury WC Wolfpack WC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coached by | Pat Popolizio Obe Blanc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Nickolos Edward Gwiazdowski (born December 30, 1992) [1] is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler. A two-time NCAA Division I National Champion for the North Carolina State Wolfpack, Gwiazdowski has won two bronze medals at the World Championships, a Pan American Games title, and two Pan American championships for Team USA. [2]
He was a two-time NYSPHSAA (New York) Division II state champion for Duanesburg High School in Delanson, New York, where he went 50-0 as a senior, and managed to not have a single opponent go the entire match with him. [3] He received the Dave Schultz and Junior Schalles Awards at the end of the season. [4]
Nick earned All-American honors as a true freshman at Binghamton University in 2012 (8th at 285). He then transferred to North Carolina State University and redshirted the 2012-13 season to preserve his NCAA eligibility. While there he was then a three-time All-American for the Wolfpack, twice a national champion (2014 & 2015) and once a runner-up (2016), while competing at the 285 lb. heavyweight division. He lost his last match to eventual Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder. [5] [6] [7]
Gwiazdowski competed at the 2017 Wrestling World Cup - Men's freestyle, losing in the take-all final match. [8]
Gwiazdowski qualified for the 2017 World Wrestling Championships at 125 kg by winning the U.S. Team Trials where he was an automatic finalist by being U.S. Open champion. [9] At the 2017 Worlds, he won a bronze medal. [10]
At the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin 2018 he lost to Muradin Kushkhov of Russia in the quarterfinals, but went on to wrestle back and win a bronze medal against Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur of Mongolia. [11]
In 2022, he competed at the Yasar Dogu Tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey.
On August 21, 2021, while still competing internationally, Gwiazdowski joined the coaching staff of Cornell University as a volunteer assistant coach. [12] He continued to coach the Big Red through the 2023-24 season. [13]
On November 8, 2024, Warren Central High School in Indianapolis announced that he had been hired as an assistant coach. [14]
The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1953–54 season. The athletic teams of the Wolfpack compete in 22 intercollegiate varsity sports. NC State is a founding member of the ACC and has won eleven national championships: five NCAA championships, two AIAW championships, and four titles under other sanctioning bodies. Most NC State fans and athletes recognize the rivalry with the North Carolina Tar Heels as their biggest.
The Indiana State Sycamores are the NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic teams of Indiana State University. Since the 1977–78 academic year, Indiana State has been a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). The Indiana State football team has competed in Division I FCS since the 1982 season, and has been a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) since it was spun off from the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (Gateway) when the latter league merged into the MVC in 1992. Past conference memberships include the Indiana College Athletic League (1895–1922), the Indiana Intercollegiate Conference (1922–1950), the Indiana Collegiate Conference (1950–1968) and the Midwestern Conference (1970–1972). The women's teams were Gateway members from the league's 1982 founding until its absorption by the MVC. In 1986, a year after the Gateway took on football as its only men's sport, the Sycamores football team joined that conference.
Brent Metcalf is an American former freestyle and folkstyle wrestler. Metcalf was a three-time member of the US World Team and two-time NCAA wrestling champion at the University of Iowa.
The Cornell Big Red wrestling team represents Cornell University of Ithaca, New York in collegiate wrestling. It is one of the most successful and storied collegiate wrestling programs in the nation with over 20 individual NCAA champions, 43 Ivy League championships, and 28 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships since the program's 1907 founding.
Jordan Ernest Burroughs is an American freestyle wrestler and former folkstyle wrestler who currently competes at 74 kilograms.
Kyle Douglas Dake is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 74 kilograms. He is a four-time World Champion, winning back-to-back titles twice, at 79 kilos in 2018 and 2019 and 74 kilos in 2021 and 2022. Dake earned bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kyle Frederick Snyder is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 97 kilograms.
The Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling program is an intercollegiate varsity sport at Pennsylvania State University. The wrestling team is a competing member of the Big Ten Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Nittany Lions compete at Rec Hall in State College, Pennsylvania, on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. The Nittany Lions have claimed 13 team National Championship titles and 55 individual NCAA National Championship titles.
David Morris Taylor III is an American former freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competed in the 74, 86 and 92-kilogram categories. He is the current head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
James Malcom Green Jr. is an American retired freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 70 kilograms. His most successful year came in 2017, when he placed second at the World Championships and the World Cup and claimed the Pan American Continental Championship and the US Open National Championship, as well as other international titles. In college, Green was a four–time NCAA Division I All–American and a Big Ten Conference champion for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
J'den Michael Tbory Cox is an American retired freestyle wrestler and folkstyle wrestler who competed at 92 kilograms. In freestyle, Cox was a two-time World Champion at 92 kilos, and while competing at 86 kilos, he claimed a bronze medal from the 2016 Summer Olympics and a 2017 World Championship bronze medal. During college, Cox wrestled for the Missouri Tigers, and was a three-time NCAA Division I national champion and four-time Mid-American Conference champion, becoming one of the most accomplished Tigers in the program's history.
John Michael "Yianni" Diakomihalis is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms and 149 pounds. In freestyle, he is the 2022 World silver medalist, a two-time US World Team member, the 2020 Pan American champion, the 2019 US Open national champion, and a two-time age-group World champion. As a collegiate wrestler, Diakomihalis was a four-time NCAA Division I champion and four-time EIWA champion out of Cornell University.
Amir Hossein Zare is an Iranian freestyle wrestler who currently competes in the heavyweight division. Zare became World Champion in 2021, and 2023. He was the 2019 U23 World Champion at age 18. He claimed a Tokyo Olympic Games bronze medal in 2021. In the age-group, he was the 2018 Cadet World Champion and claimed silver medals from the 2019 Junior World Championships and the 2018 Youth Summer Olympics.
Bo Dean Nickal is an American professional mixed martial artist, former freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler who currently competes in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In freestyle wrestling, he claimed the 2019 U23 World Championship and the US Open national championship, and was a finalist at the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials and a Final X contestant in 2019. As a collegiate wrestler, Nickal was a three-time NCAA Division I national champion and a three-time Big Ten Conference champion out of Pennsylvania State University.
Adam Jacob Coon is an American heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler. He was also a former professional football player, playing offensive guard for the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, notable for not having played football in college. Coon was an accomplished wrestler at the state, national, and international levels. He was a 2011 Cadet World freestyle gold medalist, 2014 Junior World double bronze medalist in both Greco-Roman and freestyle, two-time NCAA Division I finalist, 2018 Senior World silver medalist in Greco-Roman, and a Pan American gold medalist in 2019 and silver medalist in 2020.
Jason Michael Nolf is an American freestyle and former folkstyle wrestler who competes at 74 kilograms. In freestyle, he is a three-time U.S. national champion and a multiple-time medalist in international tournaments.
Gable Dan Steveson is an American wrestler. In freestyle wrestling, Steveson was a 2020 Summer Olympic gold medallist, and was also a three-time age-group world champion. In folkstyle wrestling, Steveson was a two-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner, a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, and a three-time All-American out of the University of Minnesota.
Vitali Arujau is an American freestyle and former folkstyle wrestler who competes at 61 kilograms. In freestyle, he was the 2023 World Champion, Pan American champion and US National champion.
Joseph Christopher McKenna is an American freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. In freestyle, he is a two-time Pan American Continental champion, multiple-time Grand Prix medalist, and a U23 World medalist and US National champion.
Nicholas Boone Lee is an American freestyle and former folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. In freestyle, he is a Pan American champion and a US National champion. Lee represented the United States at 65 kg at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships.