Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Clear Lake, Texas, U.S. | October 25, 1982|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home town | Williamston, Michigan, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Wrestling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Freestyle and Folkstyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | Michigan State | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | USA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Nick Simmons (born October 25, 1982) [1] is an American former wrestler, who represented the United States at the 2011 World Wrestling Championships. Simmons was known as the "East Lansing Strangler" for his ability to pin at a high rate, partially due to his above-average height for a wrestler at his weight. [2]
Simmons attended Williamston High School in Williamston, Michigan from 1998 to 2001. Simmons was one of the most successful high school wrestlers in Michigan history, finishing his prep career 211-0 with 178 pins, including 54 consecutive pins in his sophomore year. His performance in 1999 earned him the Junior Schalles Award for top high school pinner. [3] Williamston also won team state championships in Simmons' sophomore and junior years.
At Michigan State University, Simmons was a four-time NCAA All-American and three-time Big Ten Champion. At the NCAA Tournament he finishing third in 2007, fourth in both 2006 & 2005, and seventh in 2003. Simmons was second All-time in wins at Michigan State, with 138 wins, and first All-time in pins, with 46. [4]
Simmons took an Olympic redshirt during the 2003–2004 school year, winning the Pan American Championships. In 2005, Simmons competed in the University World Games, finishing in 5th place after losing in the bronze medal match. Simmons continued to make U.S. National Teams (top 3 at the World Team Trials) for most of the next decade, including making the U.S. Freestyle World Team in 2011. At the 2011 World Wrestling Championships, Simmons took 5th place, going 4-2, with losses to eventual silver medalist Radoslav Velikov and bronze medalist Hassan Rahimi. Simmons competed for but failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, placing second at the U.S. Olympic Team trials. [5]
Cael Norman Sanderson is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler who is the current head coach of Penn State's wrestling team. As a wrestler, he won an Olympic gold medal and was undefeated in four years of college wrestling at Iowa State (159–0), becoming a four-time NCAA Division I champion (1999–2002).
Chris Pendleton is a former American wrestler who competed collegiately for Oklahoma State University. Pendleton won NCAA Division I wrestling titles at 174 pounds in 2004 and 2005 and was a three-time All-American.
Established in 1999, both Schalles awards, one for the best collegiate pinner in America and the other, for the best scholastic pinner, are annually presented by WIN Magazine, Cliff Keen Athletics and the NWCA. The award is named after Wade Schalles, one of American wrestling's most storied pinners and a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. During his collegiate career (1970-1974) Schalles set the NCAA record at 109 pins.
Kyle Frederick Snyder is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 97 kilograms.
David Morris Taylor III is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 92 kilograms. He is the current head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
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.
Thomas Patrick Gilman is an American retired freestyle wrestler and folkstyle wrestler who competed at 57 kilograms. A Summer Olympic medalist and World champion in 2021, Gilman was most notably also a three-time World Championship medalist. Out of the University of Iowa, he was a three-time NCAA Division I All-American.
Nickolos Edward Gwiazdowski 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.
Kyven Ross Gadson is an American amateur wrestler. Currently a senior competitor in amateur freestyle wrestling, earlier Gadson, while wrestling for the Iowa State Cyclones, was a three-time All-American in NCAA Division I collegiate wrestling and won the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in the 197-lb weight class by pinning future Olympic and World Championship gold medalist Kyle Snyder in his final collegiate match.
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.
Zain Allen Retherford is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 70 kilograms. In freestyle, he is a gold and silver medalist at the World Championships, as well as a Pan-American champion.
Nicholas Raymond Suriano is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 57 kilograms. In freestyle, he claimed the 2021 Henri Deglane Grand Prix gold medal and the 2021 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series silver medal. As a folkstyle wrestler, Suriano was the 2022 NCAA Division I national and Big Ten Conference champion at 125 pounds for the Michigan Wolverines, repeating what he accomplished in 2019 at 133 pounds at Rutgers University, where he also was an NCAA finalist in 2018.
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.
Jordan Michael Oliver is an American professional mixed martial arts fighter and former freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes in the featherweight division of Bellator MMA.
Zahid Valencia is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 86 kilograms. As a folkstyle wrestler, he was a two-time NCAA Division I national champion and three-time Pac-12 Conference champion out of Arizona State University. In freestyle, he was the 2019 US national champion and has competed at multiple international tournaments, winning gold at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2021 and 2021 Poland Open and bronze at the Grand Prix de France Henri Deglane 2021.
Alec William Pantaleo is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 70 kilograms. In freestyle, he is the defending U.S. Open champion, was the 2021 Pan American Continental champion, claimed the 2021 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series and the 2021 Poland Open titles, earned silver and bronze medals at the U.S. Open, and was a 2019 U23 U.S. team member. As a folkstyle wrestler, Pantaleo was a three-time NCAA DI All-American and a Big Ten Conference champion out of the University of Michigan.
Kollin Raymond Moore is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 97 kilograms. In freestyle, he won the '21 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series title, defeating Iran's Alireza Karimi in the final, is the reigning US national champion, and was the '18 U23 World Championship and '19 US national runner-up. As a folkstyle wrestler, he was a four-time NCAA Division I All-American, three-time Big Ten Conference champion, and the 2020 Dan Hodge Trophy runner-up for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Gabriel Curtis Dean is an American retired freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who formerly competed at 86 kilograms. In freestyle, he was the 2020 US National Champion, a '17 Pan American Championship medalist, and a '14 Junior World Championship medalist. He was also the '15 Pan American Championship runner–up in Greco-Roman. As a collegiate wrestler, Dean was a two–time NCAA Division I champion, a four–time EIWA Conference champion, and a four–time NCAA Division I All-American for the Cornell Big Red.
Mason Mark Parris is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 125 kilograms. Parris is a 2019 U20 World champion, and a 2023 Pan American Games gold medalist. He represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics.