Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion College Joe Johnston wins Big Ten Sportsmanship Honor!

Minnesota wins 2006 Big Ten Championship

March 5, 2006

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For the second time ever, the conference gave team sportsmanship honors to one inidividual from every squad as selected by his head coach. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. These student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the Conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.

The wrestling nominees for the honor include: ..., Iowa senior Joe Johnston, ...

It appears that Joe was unable to equal last years run and make it to the big dance.

However, the sportsmanship award is very well deserved by Joe!

Does anyone know if Joe is okay? It said that he had a medical forfeit in the fifth/sixth place match.

That bracket was crazy in that he had to wrestle Henning, the 2 seed in the 5/6 match. It looks like he started off with a pretty good tournament beating Becker who ended up taking third.

I says that the top 7 wrestlers from each weight class make it to the tournament, so didnt joe make it back to the big dance if he is able to wrestle.

I'd think he'd get a wild-card. I'm not sure how many the Big 10 get, but I know the Big 12 has Dyer going in on a wild card bid.

Seeing that he was the Ruuner-Up last year and beat the kid who took third I'm guessing if he isn't seriously injured that he would be a good candidate for their conference to return a former All-American/Runner-Up National Champion.

Unfortunately, DIconferences like the SoCon where Josh Carroll (Appalachian State) wrestles only get their conference champions and 3 wild-cards for the NCAA's (Josh took 3rd by the way, only losing 2-0 to the 197 champ).

That is correct - The Big Ten qualifies the top seven (7) place winners and two (2) wildcards. The Big Ten has a total of seventy two (72) qualifiers.

When Joe qualified for the NCAA tournament in his sophomore season he also was battling injuries at the Big Ten Tournament and went on to wrestle at the NCAA Championship Tournament.

I expect we will be watching Joe compete at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City on March 16, 2006.

Top seven qualify, and Joe will be there. He was wrestling very well up until his knee "popped" against Alex Tirapele in the semi-finals. 10 days is a lot of time to heal and I think he will be competitive at nationals.

This is Joe's second nomination for the Big 10 sportsmanship award which he ended up winning last year.

Thanks to all for your concerns and prayers for quick healing for Joe.

Mr. Johnston:

Our best wishes to Joe for contiuned success at Nationals this year. I cannot think of a finer young man, who is more deserving of any award with the word sportsmanship in it. A true warrior, who remains humble and well grounded. Was also good to sit with my "bleacher mate" at the Classic on Tuesday. We have filled many brackets out together over the years. Was good to see you again.