John Carroll University Men's Wrestling

A former National Coach of the Year (2011) and three-time OAC Coach of the Year (2009, 2011, 2012), Mark Hawald '05 enters his 11th season at the helm of JCU Wrestling in the 2025-26 academic year. In July 2022, Hawald founded the Women's Wrestling program. He serves as the head coach for both JCU Men's & Women's Wrestling. Hawald successfully oversaw the first season of the Women's Wrestling program in 2023-24 and more success in 2024-25. In Hawald's first 10 seasons coaching his Alma Mater, JCU Men's Wrestling has a dual meet record of 86-42. A total of 21 wrestlers have qualified for the NCAA Championships, with 8 earning All-American honors during the past 10 seasons. In his most recent season, Hawald guided JCU Men's Wrestling to an improved 13-5 dual record. Wills Bronson made the National Championships. Three Blue Streaks earned All-OAC honors and three tallied NWCA Scholar All-American recognition. In April 2025, Hawald helped to establish the Kerry Volkmann Endowment for Wrestling. In 2023-24, Hawald guided the Blue & Gold to a 5-4 dual record. Aiden Ashburn and Patrick McGraw punched tickets to the National Championships for JCU. McGraw made history as a College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® selection, only the third wrestler in program history to win the honor twice. Hawald steered the Blue Streaks to a 10-3 dual record in 2022-23, along with a fourth-place finish at Regionals. Three Blue Streaks qualified for the NCAA Championships.  After losing out on two NCAA Division III Championships, Hawald's Blue Streaks enjoyed a banner 2021-22 season. John Carroll tabbed four national qualifiers with a third-place finish at Regionals. At Nationals, Andrew Perelka became JCU's first NCAA Runner-Up since 2005, and Luke Reicosky also earned All-American honors with a seventh-place finish.  Due to the pandemic, the Blue Streaks were only able to participate in two meets in 2021, finishing with a 1-1 record. Despite the shortened season, six John Carroll wrestlers were named to the All-OAC team and six more earned NWCA Academic All-American status.  The 2019-2020 season was successful despite an abrupt ending. The Blue Streaks finished 12-4 in dual meets and third in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Seven wrestlers placed at the NCAA Central Regional, with 4 qualifying for the 2020 NCAA Championships. For the second year in a row, the Blue Streaks finished in 5th place at the regional tournament. After the cancellation of the 2020 Championships due to Covid-19, 3 Blue Streaks (Andrew Perelka, Jarrod Brezovec, and Sammy Gross) were named NWCA First-Team All-American and Luke Reicosky was named Third-Team All-American. In the 2018-2019 season, Hawald led the team to a 9-3 dual meet record and a 4-2 record in the OAC. The team finished 5th out of 19 teams at regionals and tied for 30th out of 74 teams at nationals. Hawald was able to send three wrestlers to the NCAA tournament, including one All-American (Jarrad Lasko). Hawald finished the 2017-18 regular season with a 7-6 dual meet record, and 2-4 mark in OAC matches. The Blue Streaks also placed seventh out of 18 teams at the Central Regional, as four JCU grapplers earned regional placing honors, with two qualifying for the NCAA Championships. In Hawald's second season in 2016-17, the team posted a 7-9 overall record, with a 1-5 mark in OAC duals, taking his current JCU coaching record to 13-14 (5-6 OAC). The 2016-17 Blue Streak team featured three wrestlers earning All-OAC recognition, while the team also won the Jim Crytzer Invitational for the second consecutive year. In his first season at the helm of the Blues Streaks, Hawald led the team to a 6-5 dual meet record which included a 4-1 record and second place finish in the OAC. The Blue Streaks won tournament titles at the RIT Invitational and the Washington and Lee Jim Crytzer Invitational. Hawald mentored the team to a fourth place finish at the NCAA Mideast Regional with 6 place winners which included two NCAA Qualifiers. At the NCAA Championships, Dan Mirman became a three-time All-American with his third place finish at 149 lbs and became the highest placer for the Blue Streaks since 2005. Prior to JCU, Hawald was the head coach at Case Western Reserve University and the University of Mount Union. In three seasons at Case, Hawald forged a 12-31 dual meet record in a rebuilding effort. The Spartans had lost 24 consecutive dual meets prior to his arrival. Hawald led Mount Union to a 42-25 dual match record over five seasons and a program-best eighth-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Championship Tournament. Also during the 2010-11 campaign, Hawald was tabbed as the D3wrestle.com National Coach of the Year in Division III.  After a 3-13 record in his first season, Hawald led the Purple Raiders to 14-0 and 10-4 dual meet records in his final two seasons. A 2005 John Carroll graduate, Hawald qualified for the NCAA Championships four times and stood as an All-American in 2004. He was only the fifth wrestler in OAC history at the time to win four individual league titles. Hawald was inducted into the JCU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015. Men's Wrestling Year-by-Year Results: Year Overall Conference NCAA's 2024-25 13-5 5-2 9th in Central 2023-24 5-4 3-4 7th in Central 2022-23 10-3 5-2 4th in Central 2021-22 7-2 6-1 3rd in Central / 16th in DIII 2021* 1-1 1-1 N/A 2019-2020 21-4 5-2 5th in Central 2018-2019 9-3 4-2 30th in DIII 2017-2018 7-6 2-4 45th in DIII 2016-2017 7-9 1-5 12th in Mideast 2015-2016 6-5 4-1 T-25th in DIII JCU Totals 73-37 31-22 *COVID-19 Shortened Season Women's Wrestling Year-by-Year Results: Year Overall Conference Nationals 2024-25 4-11 N/A 10th at Regionals 2023-24 3-7 N/A 3 qualifiers for Nationals JCU Totals 7-18 0-0

Ryan Monk enters his first season as the Associate Head Coach for JCU Women's Wrestling in 2025-26. Monk comes to John Carroll after a stint at Stevens University. Monk spent the 2024-25 campaign as an assistant coach with the Ducks, coaching a pair of NCAA Division III All-Americans. Monk guided the Ducks to the Region II Championship, including Luke Hoerle (141) and Ryan Smith (157), who went on to place eighth and seventh respectively at the NCAA Tournament. Monk won Region II Assistant Coach of the Year honors.  Previously, Monk spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Baldwin Wallace University. During his time in Berea, the Yellow Jackets notched a 33-4 dual record and tallied two Ohio Athletic Conference titles. Monk mentored 16 national qualifiers, 7 All-Americans, and 2 National Champions. BW finished third at the 2023 NCAA Division III Championships, as well. Off the mat, Monk oversaw BW’s student managers as well as the program’s social media accounts. He completed his Master of Business Administration degree from Baldwin Wallace in May 2024. Monk began his coaching career at the University of North Carolina Pembroke, where he served as a student assistant for one year. During his time with the Braves, Monk coached six Division II national qualifiers and one All-American. Prior to joining the Braves’ coaching staff, Monk competed on the mats for two seasons, winning 21 matches and qualifying for the 2021 national championship after winning a Super Regional championship at heavyweight. Off the mat, Monk earned Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Communications (formerly CoSIDA). Monk earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from UNC Pembroke in 2022.   Prior to transferring to UNC Pembroke, the Dallas, Pennsylvania native spent three seasons as a defensive lineman for Penn State University. He appeared in seven games and earned co-Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year honors during his first season in Happy Valley. Monk was a member of the 2016 Big Ten champions.  

Jack Stanley enters his second season on the coaching staff for John Carroll Wrestling in 2025-26. Stanley enjoyed a prolific collegiate wrestling career. He began at Baldwin Wallace, receiving NWCA All-American honors in 2020 after the cancelation of the national championships. Stanley then transferred to Mount Union, competing for three years for the Purple Raiders. Stanley qualified for the 2022 and 2024 NCAA Championships.  

Mitch Tikkanen '19 enters his second season as an assistant coach with the JCU Women's Wrestling program in the 2025-26 academic year.  Tikkanen enjoyed a successful wrestling career in University Heights. In his career, he won 52 matches and finished as an All-OAC Second Team member in the 2016-17 season. In his senior year, shortened due to injury, the Jackson-Milton product went 2-2 at the JCU open, finishing in fourth place at 133 pounds. Tikkanen graduated from Carroll in 2019 with a degree in Cell and Molecular Biology.  Currently, Tikkanen is a full-time firefighter, serving his community in Howland Township, where he has been for a number of years.