Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association

The Bulldogs of Marysville High School have emerged this decade as an established power in Kansas 4A Wrestling under the direction of Cole Frederickson. The Dawgs broke through with their first State Wrestling title in 2019 and show no signs of slowing the pace. Frederickson has the club, middle school and high school programs on the same page and making noise in north central Kansas that is being heard throughout the state. For his efforts, he has been named 2019 KWCA 4A Coach of the Year.

Tyler Mies continued the success from his days at Andale High with success on the national stage at Newman University. His career as a Jet concluded last spring with a Super Regional Title and two All-American finishes. He joins Preston Wiegel in earning the honor of 2019 KWCA College Senior Wrestler of the Year.

Meet Jerry Fraser, 2019 Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association (KWCA) Hall of Fame inductee. Fraser spent nineteen seasons as Clay Center Community High School Head Coach, where he built a successful program that included eight Regional Titles and a State Championship in 1981. He also spent time at Derby and Riley County. He played baseball at K-State and was introduced to wrestling by his college roommate, who was on a Fritz Knorr’s coached team. He was influenced by Tommy Chesbro and the OSU program, along with the philosophy of Vince Lombardi.

Topeka and northeast Kansas are lucky to have Rick Peterson of the Topeka Capital-Journal on the job supporting and recognizing its wrestling teams and individual athletes. For his efforts, Rick has been named 2019 KWCA Media of the Year award winner.

For those who know Coach Cody Parks, get your popcorn ready this interview will be more like a Country Mile than a New York Minute! Great reflections from the 2019 KWCA 5A Coach of the Year. Learn how he has built the Blue Valley Southwest program in to a perennial power and listen to his reflection on his high school coach, Jeff Giles, who will be posthumously inducted into the KWCA Hall of Fame this year. Lots of food for thought in this one.

Dayton Porsch is off to the Cedar Valley and the University of Northern Iowa after winning four Kansas State Titles. Listen as the 2019 321A KWCA Wrestler of the Year checks in with the podcast.

Ark City's Chad Beeson and Jim Ramirez are your 2019 Media of the Year award winners for their coverage of the Bulldogs on KSOK Radio. Chad joins the podcast.

He's headlining the 2019 KWCA Fritz Knorr Fall Clinic, but first he's heading to Nur-Sultan to corner Jordan Burroughs and James Green! Catch up with Coach Manning as he prepares to travel to Kazakhstan and the 2019 World Championships. Coach also gives a preview of the Huskers 2019-20 season.

Meet 2019 KWCA Senior Wrestler of the Year, Preston Weigel. 3X Big 12 Champion, 2X All-American.

Kicking off the 2019 KWCA podcast series is Andy Albright (Chanute High School), Kit Harris (Baldwin High School), Nathan Broeckelman (Great Bend High School), Conor Fitzgerald (Olathe South High School), and Doug Vander Linden (Burlington High School) talking about spring and summer wrestling. It's long, but valuable information for any coach! Albright 0:00, Broekelman 19:45, Harris 35:20, Fitzgerald 48:02, Vander Linden 1:13:07. My apologies for the echo in some of the audio, especially in Coach Harris’ interview. The material was just too good to edit further or leave out… get your notebook out for this one. Lots of great ideas from these great coaches!

KWCA President Nate Naasz joins the program to promote the clinic and give a last push to attend the 2018 Fall Clinic.

Nathan Butler graduated from Stanford University last spring with a Master's degree in Computer Science. Along the way the 2013 Leavenworth High School graduate, who was a four-time State Medalist and three-time State Champion as a prep, also became the most credentialed heavyweight in the history of the Stanford program.He claimed over one-hundred career victories, qualified for the NCAA Championships all four years, and was crowned PAC 12 Champion in 2015 for the guys in Cardinal. He also represented the US at the 2015 Junior World Championships in Brazil where he claimed a Bronze medal. Additionally, he placed seventh at the 2017 US Open qualifying him for the Senior World Team Trials, where he placed fourth.His academic exploits earned him the PAC 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year award last spring.Butler has moved on from a lifetime competing in wrestling and has embarked on his professional career. After spending the past summers interning at Bloomberg in New York and at Apple's headquarters in California,

A must-listen episode for all coaches!

Jim Beltch was a 1958 graduate of Goodland High School where he was also the Senior Class President. During his final season on the mat, Jim won the State Championship in the 98-pound weight class while leading the Cowboys to a fourth-place team finish in the era when Kansas competed in a single-class system in wrestling.He went on to compete for Ft. Hays State University. Beltch became a three-time Missouri Valley Conference Champion. As a junior in 1961, he placed third at the NAIA National tournament in Golden, Colorado at 115 pounds. He followed that up with a Runner-up performance in the same weight class when Winona, Minnesota hosted in 1962. At the time Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania was a powerhouse. The Bald Eagles were led by Beltch's finals opponent, Gray Simons. Simons, who still gets mentioned among the all-time greats of wrestling in the United States, was a four-time NAIA National champion, three-time NCAA Champion, and two-time Olympian.

Damon Parker is about to begin his eighth season as head coach at Washburn Rural High School. He took over a program that finished near the bottom of the 6A standings at the 2012 State tournament to a program that finished just shy of the 2018 6A State Championship. Along the way, he has collected a dual mark of 95-36 and has been recognized as city coach of the year three times in addition to the Kansas Wrestling Officials Association Coach of the Year. He was named Co-Coach of the Year for the 2017-18 season by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association, sharing the honor with Josh Carroll of Olathe North.

Ark City's Marcus Robinson was selected as the 2018 4A Wrestler of the Year after finishing his career with what most only dream of… four State Titles. The honor student and current University of Buffalo Bull finished his high school career in the familiar simply adorned gold singlet with large purple block lettering with a 177-25 record to go along with the four State Titles.The 2017-18 season was special on several fronts for Robinson. Ark City won its state-leading twenty-first State Championship, but first during Robinson's high school days. His brothers Montez and Christian were also part of the title run, with Montez (a current senior) winning his second straight title. The team put six in the finals and left the Bicentennial Center in Salina with four individual titles and a cushion of nearly sixty points over Runner-up, Andover Central.Marcus now has his sights set on continuing his winning ways at the college level at the University of Buffalo.

Sarah Bollinger was named Head Coach for Southwestern College's new Woman's wrestling program last spring after a national search. She comes with a wealth of both competitive and coaching experience.Prior to Southwestern, Coach Bollinger spent three years as an assistant at her alma mater, Missouri Baptist, under the direction of long-time coach Brian Jackson and also served as a national age-group coach for both Team California and Team Missouri. She was a 2X Fargo All-American as a prep while wrestling for California, her home state, where she was also a Freestyle State Champion. Sarah went on to earn three All-American finishes in the multi-divisional Woman's Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) national tournament. Coach Bollinger will be presenting at the 2018 KWCA Fritz Knorr Fall Clinic, slated for October 5-6 in Salina.

10X NCAA D3 Champion coach, Jim Miller of Wartburg College joins the program. Coach Miller will serve as the headliner for the 2018 Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association (KWCA) Fritz Knorr Fall Clinic, slated for October 5-6 in Salina.

Undoubtedly one of the first names the come to mind when considering the most successful wrestlers from the Sunflower State is Melvin Douglas, who will be officially welcomed into the KWCA Hall of Fame at this year’s banquet. Melvin was inducted in 2009, but wasn’t able to attend the ceremony at that time.Douglas’ highlights include; three State titles at Highland Park High School, two NCAA titles at Oklahoma University, and four medals at the World Championships, including Gold in 1993. He also has the distinction of being part of two team titles for the USA at the World Championships (1993 and 1995).

Wyatt Bechtel had an outstanding high school career, finishing as a 2X State Runner-up for Eureka. After graduating from K-State he has made a career in agriculture journalism. Wyatt has served as the ranker for 321A for the past several years, for his efforts he has been named KWCA Contributor of the Year.