A trip to Pinnacle Wrestling School on a Tuesday evening will bring all sorts of characters to the mats. On Episode 43 of The Guillotine Grapevine podcast, we'll talk with Cadet World champion Greg Kerkvliet and Shakopee state runner-up Paxton Creese on their preparation for the upcoming summer circuit. Kerkvliet will try to make both the Cadet and Junior World teams, while Creese is also gearing up for a trip to Guatemala for the Cadet Pan Am Championships. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE...

John Peterson grew up loving wrestling out in the western part of Minnesota. With two twin brothers who excelled, it was easy for him to follow their opponents from around the state. As Peterson got older, he took his love for the sport and his passion for broadcasting and put them together. On Episode 42 of The Guillotine Grapevine, we talk to the Fertlie, Minn., native about his broadcasting career and how some graduate work at St. Cloud State led him to be named the National Wrestling...

St. Cloud State captured its third NCAA Division II wrestling championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 8-9. On the latest episode of The Guillotine Grapevine, Huskies head wrestling coach Steve Costanzo joins the program to talk about his team's rise to prominence in Division II and what went into the third championship in four years for St. Cloud State. The Huskies had six All-Americans and return eight of its 10 qualifiers from 2018. What's been the philosophy for Costanzo in his...

In the lore of Minnesota wrestling, Friday, February 2 might go down as one of the most important in the state's history. Not because the dual outcome impacted a state or sectional title, but because you saw two world champions collide as two of the state's power programs met in front of a capacity crowd at Simley High School in Inver Grove Heights. Episode 40 of The Guillotine Grapevine goes before and after the Gable Steveson-Greg Kerkvliet super match. Steveson, a three-time world...

The Minnesota Golden Gopher wrestling team current sits as the 14th-ranked team in Division I wrestling. After a 30-7 drubbing at the hands of Michigan on Sunday, January 21, Coach Brandon Eggum explains what has to be done and how the team is fighting through a litany of injuries. We'll open up Episode 39 of The Guillotine Grapevine talking with Simley alum Nick Wanzek. The senior 165-pounder is coming off a big win over Logan Massa and has been wrestling well of late. Then we get into a...

The PINnacle Wrestling School has been one of the nation's most successful in recent years. Co-founded by Jared Lawrence and a handful of former University of Minnesota wrestlers, PINnacle has evolved over the last 10 years into a program college coaches notice. Lawrence talks about the foundations of the club, the new location in Roseville, how college coaches trust he and fellow club runner Brandon Paulson and what the club opts to service and promote. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE...

Wrestlers coming home from college and getting a workout in is nothing new. On Episode 37 of The Guillotine Grapevine, we head over to the new home for the PINnacle Wrestling School and visit with Minnesota natives Griffin Parriott and Brady Berge. The two are in town for the holidays and decided to get a workout in before they compete at the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships. Here's the thing -- Parriott's wrestling at Purdue and Berge at Penn State. While Parriott is in the starting...

It's college wrestling season and here in Minnesota, that means one of the first major events is hosted by Augsburg University in Minneapolis. On Episode 36 of The Guillotine Grapevine, we'll chat with Augsburg head wrestling coach Jim Moulsoff about the team, the tournament and the landscape of Division III wrestling and we'll also get a chance to sneak into a back hallway to talk with new Minnesota State assistant coach Ty Eustice. Eustice spent the last several years working for J...

Over the summer, Daniel Kerkvliet's name, and his wrestling, rose to prominence with a gold medal at the 2017 UWW Cadet World Championships in Athens, Greece. On Episode 35 of The Guillotine Grapevine, Kerkvliet talks about his start in wrestling, his teammates at both Simley High School and the PINnacle School of Wrestling and the recruiting process. Earlier in November, Kerkvliet changed his verbal commitment from Minnesota to Oklahoma State. At 16, he's got a lot of high school...

The college season is here and on Episode 34 of The Guillotine Grapevine, we'll quickly run down Minnesota's 29-6 win over the Air Force Academy on Sunday in Minneapolis. Eight Gophers earned victories including the first home victories for Hunter Marko, Owen Webster and Rylee Streifel. We catch up with Sam Barber, head wrestling coach at Air Force, to start things off. Barber spent a lot of time in his coaching career in Minnesota with the J Robinson Camps as well as with Augsburg. Barber...

Episode 33 of the Guillotine Grapevine visits with "Canadian Joe" Joseph Dashou, a new wrestler training with the Minnesota Storm in Greco-Roman. Dashou, originally from London, Ontario, was living in British Columbia before deciding to make the move to Minnesota to get Greco-Roman training full-time. Despite only wrestling since his 12th grade year in Canada, Dashou has hopes to represent Canada in what some believe has been a forgotten style. The Canadians have a strong women's freestyle...

Centennial High junior Emily Shilson is representing Team USA at the Cadet World Championships in Athens, Greece this week. Her father Chad is part of the coaching staff with Team USA and is one of the active people within Wrestle Like A Girl trying to get state high school associations to start sponsoring girls wrestling at the high school level. On Episode 32 of The Guillotine Grapevine, Shilson talks about his own wrestling background, the relationship between Emily and her older...

In the 1970s, Minnesota was the center of Greco-Roman wrestling in the United States. With the Minnesota Wrestling Club continually developing talent with the aid of international coaches, athletes and training partners, the club that become the Minnesota Storm always had an international flare. While in Tampere, Finland at the 2017 Junior World Wrestling Championships, Jason Bryant talked with 1979 World champion and 1980 Olympic silver medalist Andrzej Supron about his trips to the...

One of the most dedicated forces to promoting wrestling globally is from Minnesota. No, he doesn't live there now, but LeSueur native Bill May has been steadily churning out news, notes and rankings for nearly four decades. May, who wrestled at St. Thomas and for the Minnesota Wrestling Club, left the U.S. decades ago and has been one of the most knowledgable wrestling journalists in the world. His career has taken him to numerous Olympic Games and World Championships and on Episode 30 of...

Before boarding a plane to Budapest, Hungary, North Dakota State graduate and 2015 NCAA Division I All-American Hayden Zillmer joined The Guillotine Grapevine for Episode 29. Zillmer has the unique distinction of being the first U.S. wrestler to make the National Team in both freestyle and Greco-Roman since Sam Hazewinkel in 2014. Zillmer was second at the U.S World Team Trials in April in Greco-Roman and third at the U.S. World Team Trials in freestyle last week in Lincoln, Nebraska. ...

Minneapolis was awarded the 2020 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on Tuesday. Episode 28 of The Guillotine Grapevine will get an immediate Minnesota-themed reaction about the championships coming to U.S. Bank Stadium in March of 2020. We'll see what went into the bid process with Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Minnesota Tom McGinnis, the reaction from head wrestling coach Brandon Eggum, the "what to do's" with Gopher alum and Minneapolis resident Mack Reiter...

Minnesota Storm Greco-Roman athlete Pat Smith is back in the U.S. after three months studying abroad in Sweden. The U.S. Open champion is gearing up for the U.S. World Team Trials and looking to make his first World Team. But since winning the U.S. Open back in December, Smith decided to study in Sweden while working on his Master's degree at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. On Episode 27, Smith opens up his doors to talk about the trip to Sweden, the prep for...

It was senior day for a number of Gopher wrestling seniors as Minnesota hosted Ohio State in the final home dual of the year at The Sports Pavilion. On Episode 26 of The Guillotine Grapevine, we'll visit with two of the best Gopher seniors, Michael Kroells and Brett Pfarr after the 24-20 loss to Ohio State on senior day. We'll also catch up with Gopher head coach Brandon Eggum about the team's performance and what he had to say about Ethan Lizak specifically. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE...

Episode 25 recaps the Iowa-Minnesota dual at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis as Iowa defeated the Gophers 27-11 on Super Bowl Sunday. We'll get the Iowa side of things with coach Tom Brands and polarizing 125-pounder Thomas Gilman and then we'll talk to Brandon Eggum after his first home dual officially as the new man who will lead the Gopher wrestling program. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Soundcloud | Google Play Music | RSS ...

Episode 24 of The Guillotine Grapevine talks with Gopher alums Mack Reiter and Jayson Ness as they look back on the 2007 Minnesota wrestling team that captured the NCAA Division I Championship. It was bittersweet for Reiter, who failed to place that season. Ness finished fifth as a freshman. Both outlined what made that team of various personalities a cohesive unit. Wrestlers from all over the country populated the lineup with one goal in mind. We'll then wrap up with some recent high...

Episode 23 of The Guillotine Grapevine welcomes Jeff Beshey back to the program as he talks a bit about the start of the wrestling season here in the Land of 10,000 Wrestlers. We'll talk briefly about the National Duals where St. Cloud State won the Division II title and Augsburg made it back to the Division III finals. We'll then pause to watch the match and then get post-match comments from Penn State head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson and Minnesota interim head coach Brandon Eggum...

Episode 22 of The Guillotine Grapevine visits with Class 3A Rankings Editor John Nalan as we preview the 30th annual Minnesota Christmas Tournament. While 3A teams are set to do some damage in Rochester, there's also nine out-of-state teams coming into this year's Christmas Tournament. Nalan previews the event in the December 9 issue of The Guillotine, but we also break down the fun things about this event, how it can signify the season truly is here in Minnesota and even what some people...

We'll head over to Augsburg College and talk with Augsburg assistant coach Chad Johnson, Southwest Minnesota State's Jesse Nelson and Rochester's Randy Rager on Episode 21 of The Guillotine Grapevine. We'll also start the show with a quick rundown of the weekend's action at Augsburg and the University of Minnesota, but this episode showcases Division II, Division III and the Junior College wrestling scene in Minnesota. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker...

Episode 20 of The Guillotine Grapevine was recorded at the Christensen Center at Augsburg College on Saturday, October 22. The night marked the seventh annual Alan and Gloria Rice Greco-Roman Hall of Champions induction ceremonies. Jason Bryant, host of this program, served as the Master of Ceremonies and welcomed Leadership Award winner Joe DeMeo, inductees Lindsey Durlacher and Jim and Dave Hazewinkel and Legacy Award winners, the Minnesota Storm, into the Hall. This episode is that...

We kick off the second season of The Guillotine Grapevine by heading down to Apple Valley and talking with two-time Cadet world champion Gable Steveson. Already a two-time state champion and three-time state finalist, Steveson brings an impressive 128-3 record into his junior year for the Eagles. Having clinched a state dual championship with his performance as a freshman, Steveson is fine with pressure and takes every match the same. Steveson talks about settling in Minnesota, why he's...