King University Men's Wrestling

Sparks joined the King staff in 2014 with more than 35 years of experience in cycling, and has led the Tornado cycling program to new heights. He coached King's first individual national champion in 2015 and followed that with a pair of team national championships in 2015-16. He has guided the Tornado to three mountain bike conference championships, including consecutive titles in 2019 and 2021. Athlete Honors 4 USA Cycling individual national champions (Jennifer Caicedo, Cory Rimmer, Kaysee Armstrong, Fausto Crapiz) 1 USA Cycling relay national championship (Cory Rimmer, Emily Cox, Kyle Ellis, Kaysee Armstrong) 6 women ACCC mountain bike omnium titles 2 men ACCC mountain bike omnium titles King Highlights 2015 USA Cycling Mountain Bike national champions 2015-16 USA Cycling Cyclocross national champions USA Cycling College Mountain Bike national runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2018 2 Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference (ACCC) Mountain Bike champions (2019, 2021) Southeastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (SECCC) mountain bike champions in 2015 Year-By-Year Season Recaps 2021-22: The Tornado won their second Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference title, with five individuals accounting for seven conference titles. Kiley Krasley won both the category A crowns in gravity and endurance while Derek Maiden won the category A gravity title. Jeremy Boaz won hte category B endurance and category C gravity championships while Caleb New won the category C endurance title and Jesse Stidham won the category B gravity crown. 2020-21: The 2020-21 season was canceled by USA Cycling, but the Tornado still competed in five races throughout the season. 2019-20: King had a solid first year in the Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference (ACCC) winning the mountain bike conference title. Along with the seven conference individual omnium titles, the Tornado took eight other omnium podium finishes in the fall. King did not race cyclocross and competed in one road race before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic on March 12. 2018-19: King started with a runner-up finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships before taking ninth at the cyclocross national championships. The season concluded with a fifth place finish at the road national championships in May. 2017-18: The Tornado got the fall off to a good start with a runner-up at the USA Cycling Division II Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships. In the spring, King added another individual national champion, Fausto Crapiz in the individual time trial USA Cycling Division II Collegiate Road National Championships. 2016-17: A banner year for Sparks and the cycling team as he led the Tornado to pair of third place finishes at the USA Cycling Collegiate National Championships. King started with a third place finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships in the fall and followed that with a third place finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships in the spring. 2015-16: The season started with a Southeastern Collegiate Cycling Conference championship during the mountain bike season, King's first mountain bike conference title. Sparks then led King to the USA Cycling Mountain Bike national championship, the first cycling national title in program history in any discipline. At the event, Kaysee Armstrong and Cory Rimmer both took home individual omninum national championships as well as national titles in the short track and cross country races. Sparks kept the successful year going, winning a second national title in January at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships. The team relay quartet of Cory Rimmer, Emily Cox, Kyle Ellis and Kaysee Armstrong also took home a national title at the event. In the spring, Jennifer Caicedo repeated as a national champion in the road race at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, giving King eight individual national champions on the year. 2014-15: In his first year at the helm, Sparks led King to a very successful season, including their first individual national champion. In the fall, King finished fourth at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals, and followed that with a third place finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals in January. The success didn't stop there as he helped Jennifer Caicedo take home King's first cycling national champion honors when she won the road race at the USA Cycling Road Nationals in May. Prior To King Sparks served as the president and coach of the East Tennessee State University Cycling Club. In just five years leading the ETSU cycling program, it grew exponentially under his guidance. Under Sparks' leadership, ETSU has placed a rider on the podium at the USA Cycling Collegiate National Championpionships in four of his final five years. Sparks is a certified PMBIA Professional Mountain Bike Instructor and USA Cycling (USAC) certified coach and has experience as a competitive rider in mountain bike, road, cyclocross, and BMX disciplines. He has experience in all disciplines, and riders under his tutelage have had great success in recent years at USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals. Sparks has more than 35 years of experience in BMX and 23 years of mountain biking experience. He has been competing or coaching road cycling for 13 years and has five years of experience in cyclocross.

Moorman and his staff continued to improve the men's squad while winning two more national titles on the women's side. As they were for the previous two years, the Tornado were ranked atop the WCWA poll for the entirety of the 2015-16 season, and they lived up to the billing, taking their third straight NWCA National Duals and WCWA national championships. As they did the season prior, King took on second-ranked Oklahoma City in the NCWA National Duals championship bout, and the Tornado avenged an early season loss to the Stars with a 27-19 victory to take their third straight title. A month later, King duplicated the feat, winning their third straight WCWA national championship, defeating second play Oklahoma City by 17.5 points. King had 11 All-Americans and Marina Doi, Samantha Klingel and Forrest Molinari also took home individual national titles. Following the collegiate season, King had 13 former or current wrestler compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, the second most competors of any school, which included men's teams. Alli Ragan finished runner-up at 58 kilograms while Haley Augello won the championship at 48 kilograms and later qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games with a runner-up finish in Mongolia. The Tornado men continued to improve in 2015-16 and sent their fifth wrestler in program history to the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Bryce Killian became the first Tornado to qualify for the event since four wrestlers did in 2012-13. Killian posted a record of 30-5 and finished third at the regional to qualfiy for the national championships. Andrew Lutterloh came up just short of a trip to the national championships, finishing fifth at the regional. 2015-16 was also King's first year as members of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) as they were inaugural members. Killan and Luttherloh both earned all-conference honors while Killian earned wrestler of the month honors on Febraury 4. Lutterloh was also selected D2Wrestle.com Region Wrestler of the Week on November 17. On the women's side were again ranked #1 in the WCWA Preseason Coaches' Poll and they stayed there all season long. The Tornado cruised their their second straight NWCA Nataional Dual championship, defeating #2 Oklahoma City 24-17 in the finals. One month later, King again repeated, this time at the WCWA National Championships. King had four individuals take national championships and 13 earned All-American honors whil the Tornado had the team title wrapped up before the championship matches started. The Tornado posted 269 points, obliterating the second place team by 73 points en route to their second straight WCWA national championship. Since the programs inception in 2009, Moorman had not only laid the foundation for but built King womens wrestling into one of the most recognizable and successful programs in North America and the world. In the past two years, Moorman led the nation's preseason top-ranked team, bringing the program to even higher heights in 2013-14. The Tornado captured their their first WCWA (Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association) national title in 2013-14, including four individual national champions. Just two weeks before their WCWA national title, Moorman led the Tornado to their first NWCA National Duals Championship. Haley Augello, Sarah Hildebrandt, Amanda Hendey and Julia Salata all won individual titles while Marina Doi, Hanna Grisewood and Jessi Kee all taking second. On the men's side, King earned three wins in dual matches as they faced a tough schedule. Two of those wins came back-to-back at the end of the season, topping Belmont Abbey 34-15 and coming back from 21-6 down to win at Limestone 22-21. At the NCAA Regional, King placed 11th and were led by Landon Reed who finished sixth, leaving him one spot short of advancing to the NCAA National Championships. In 2014, the Tornado were unstoppable as they were ranked #1 for the second straight year in the preseason poll, and remained their all season long. King won all five of their duals throughout the season, including three straigth victories at the NWCA National Duals Championship to take their the title, their first since the inception of the program in 2009. They defeated defending WCWA national champion Simon Fraser University 21-19 in the finals to take the title. Only two weeks later, King captured yet another national title, the illusive WCWA crown. The Tornado trailed nemesis Oklahoma City University going into the finals, but King came storming back with six women in the finals. Haley Augell, Sarah Hildebrandt and Alli Ragan all captured titles at their respective weight classes before Julia Salata capped the team title with a 5-1 decision over her competitor from Oklahoma City. In all, four Tornado captured individual titles, two finished as runners-up, 14 were named All-Americans and Moorman was named WCWA Coach of the Year. King was the preseason #1 ranked team in 2013 with hopes of claiming their first national title in their own gym at the WCWA National Championships. However, King came up just short, finishing in third place. The Tornado had a school record 14 individuals earn All-American status while Alli Ragan and Kat Perez both won individual national titles. King also earned the WCWA Team Scholastic award for the second straight year and Victoria Nguyen was named the 2013 Scholar Athlete. In 2012 Moorman and the Tornado reached new heights of success after much of the previous years roster returned and a few new faces help guide the team to its highest WCWA ranking in its history, topping out at No. 2 overall. King hosted the 2011 WCWA National Championships and gave the hometown crowd a finish to cheer for as they watched Emily Martin (109 lb.) and newcomer Krista Revelle (136 lb.) win national championships in their respective weight classes while two more were crowned runners-up. The Tornado finished second overall as a team, their highest finish at Nationals ever. Moorman watched as senior Emily Martin was awarded the 2011 WCWA Wrestler of the Year honor, the highest accolade in womens collegiate wrestling. Thirteen of his wrestlers were named WCWA All-Americans following the National Championship, one was named to the WCWA Scholar-Athlete Team, and King was recognized with a WCWA Team Scholastic Award. The teams successes continued to pour in after the 2011 collegiate season as six qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials, held in Iowa City, Iowa. Three were named to the World Junior team to represent the United States after taking first place at the Body Bar National Championships. Three more were named to the U.S. Junior Pan-Am team where two took home a gold medal at the games held in Guatemala in June 2012. In just its first season of existence, King made a statement by finishing 10th at the 2009 WCWA National Championships and had three team members named All-Americans under Moorman. In 2010, he helped train the Colleges first-ever national champion in Marina Lambert (197 lb.). Under his guidance, Lambert did not surrender a single point in her undefeated, championship-winning season and th Tornado finished fourth at the 2010 WCWA National Championships. He also helped train Alli Ragan toward a Body Bar National Tournament victory to secure her spot on the United States Junior World Team and earn the Colleges first World medal, earning the bronze at 63 kg (139 lb.). Moorman joined the King Men's Wrestling staff as an assistant coach in 2007. Moorman joined his younger brother, Nate, who had been named to head the new program the in 2006. After just two years at King, Moorman helped the program meet early success coaching four All-Americans including one national finalist at the NAIA National Championships. The Tornado reached a team ranking as high as 13th in the country and finished in the top-10 academically. He began his coaching career establishing a program at Union County High School (Maynardville, Tenn.) in 2000.  In a short time, Moorman was able to coach two Tennessee state champions, one finalist and two additional state medalists. After coaching at Union County, Moorman moved on and took the reigns as head coach at Farragut High School (Knoxville, Tenn).  Though Moorman spent only one season there before making the transition to coaching at the college level, he was able to leave a mark coaching three state medalists in 2007. Moorman made his transition to the collegiate ranks by becoming an assistant coach at his alma mater, Carson-Newman College for two seasons. While with the Eagles he focused on C-Ns recruitment efforts. A graduate of Carson-Newman, he has spent time over the last 11 years as a technician and counselor for prominent college and national camps. He resides with his wife Amanda and daughters Blakley (4) and their most recent addition Mackenzie Jo in Chuckey, Tenn.

Mercado's wrestlers had immense success as he has helped coach four WCWA All-Americans, two USA Wrestling University Nationals All-Americans and four of his student-athletes have placed at the US Open. Along with his duties at Cumberlands, Mercado will also travel with the US women's national team to the Lady Klippan Open in Sweden where he will help coach the cadet, junior and senior age levels. Mercado hails from Chino, California where he was a graduate from Don Antonio Lugo High School.  After his completion of high school, Coach Mercado went to Cal State University of Fullerton where he was graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor's of Science in Kinesiology focusing on Sports Psychology and Strength and Conditioning and Master's degree with the same emphases in May 2012. During his time at Cal State University of Fullerton, Mercado excelled on the mat as he wrestled for the Titan Wrestling Club. Mercado wrestled in large scale tournaments as he competed in the FILA Jr. Nationals, US Open, won the Veterans Division in the 2013 US Open and most recently placed 4th in 2014. Prior to his position at Cumberlands, Mercado was the head coach for the wrestling program at Covina High School in Covina, California. During his two years at Covina, he led them to a 25-5 record and had three athletes qualify for various prestigious tournaments.

Morgan helped the mens wrestling program transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II membership. He qualified for the national championships all four years, twice when King was NAIA members and twice when the Tornado were members of NCAA Division II. He finished his career as an NAIA national finalist and an NCAA Division II All-American. He compiled a total of 100 wins during his career at King, and remained undefeated in all home dual matches. Prior to King, Morgan spent one year as the mens wrestling coach at his alma mater, Union County High School in Maynardville, Tenn. Morgan graduated from King in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Phyics.

Thompson re-joined the Tornado women's basketball coaching staff in 2024 after a two-year stint at Montreat College. In his first tenure, he led the Tornado to the 2017 Conference Carolinas championship, and a berth in the NCAA tournament.  Year-by-Year Coaching Records Athlete Honors 1 Conference Carolinas Scholar Athlete of the Year 1 Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year 1 Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year 13 All-Conference Carolinas selections 41 Academic All-Conference Carolinas honorees 1 USBWA National Player of the Week King Highlights 2016-17 Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year 100th win at King came in the 2016-17 Conference Carolinas championship game win over Limestone Won his 200th career game on January 31, 2019 with a win at North Greenville Year-By-Year Highlights 2020-21: King led Conference Carolinas and ranked ninth in NCAA Division II with an average of 9.6 three-point field goals per game. The Tornado finished the season with an overall record of 10-7, going 8-6 in Conference Carolinas play to finish fourth in the standings. King won their conference tournament quarterfinal, but fell at top seed Belmont Abbey in a semifinal. Trinity Lee earned second team All-Conference Carolinas honors while Ali Golden and Kiki Samsel garnered third team honors. 2019-20: The Tornado finished sixth in the Conference Carolinas standings with a league mark of 13-9, going 16-13 overall. King fell in the quarterfinals of the Conference Carolinas Tournament on the road for the second straight season. Trinity Lee earned second team All-Conference Carolinas honors while Kori West earned third team honors. King led the league in turnovers per game at 13.4 and ranked second with 14.8 personal fouls per game. 2018-19: The string of reaching three straight Conference Carolinas title games came to an end as the Tornado fell in the quarterfinals at Belmont Abbey. King was one of the top three-point shooting teams in the league, making 8.5 triples per game to rank them second in the conference. King also took care of the ball, leading Conference Carolinas in turnovers per game. The Tornado were young as they relied on five freshmen and sophomores, including four freshmen that saw regular action. Trinity Lee was selected Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year and senior Kristen Cupples earned second team All-Conference Carolinas honors. 2017-18: King reached the Conference Carolinas Women's Basketball Championship title game for the third straight year, but fell at third seed Barton College. The Tornado posted an overall record of 17-13 while going 12-8 in league play to finish fourth in the Conference Carolinas standings. Kori West was selected second team All-Conference Carolinas. 2016-17: Thompson helped the Tornado set new standards for the women's basketball program, winning 25 games, the most King has won since becoming NCAA members. The Tornado went 19-3 in Conference Carolinas play, finishing second in the league standings and Thompson was named Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year. King advanced to the Conference Carolinas Tournament championship game for the second straight year, and this time King came away with a 78-77 win at No. 22 Limestone to earn their first NCAA Tournament berth. However, the Tornado fell to No. 21 Wingate in the first round, ending their season with a record of 25-7. With the conference tournament win, Thompson earned his 100th win at the helm of the Tornado. Whitney Mitchell was selected first team all-conference and Jalan Harper garnered third team recognition. 2015-16: King nearly reached the 20-win mark for the second straight season, finishing 2015-16 with a record of 19-12. In Conference Carolinas play, the Tornado posted a record of 16-6 and earned the third seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament. Thompson guided the Tornado to a pair of wins in the Conference Carolinas Tournament, giving King their first appearance in the conference tournament championship game. In the title game, King squared off with league champion and second-ranked Limestone. Playing on the road, King held a lead late, but the undefeated Saints came back to defeat the Tornado 56-53. Jalan Harper was named Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year while Amy Van Deventer and Whitney Mitchell both earned all-conference accolades. 2014-15: Under Thompson's tutelage, the Tornado won nine straight contests in the middle of the season and finished second in the Conference Carolinas standings behind Limestone who advanced all the way to the NCAA Tournament Final Four. King posted a league mark of 15-7 earning the second seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament and ended the year with a 20-9 overall record after falling in the conference tournament quarterfinals to Mount Olive. The Tornado only allowed two teams to score more than 70 points in their defense and King led all of NCAA Division II in personal fouls per game, only committing 12.6 per contest. That marked King's first 20-win season as NCAA Division II members and first since 2007-08. 2013-14: King improved their win total from the previous year again, racking up 17 wins. The Tornado went 17-11 overall while going 10-8 in league play to earn the fourth seed for the Conference Carolinas Tournament. King defeated Lees-McRae College 46-37 in the quarterfinals to earn their first-ever Conference Carolinas Tournament victory. However, in the semifinals, King fell to top seed Limestone College who won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. 2012-13: After winning just five games in 2011-12, Thompson led the Tornado to a 14-13 overall record and a Conference Carolinas Tournament berth with a league mark of 10-12. However, King dropped their first game of the conference tournament to home standing and regular season champion Limestone College by a narrow 67-61 margin. The Tornado won the Conference Carolinas Team Sportsmanship award for women's basketball and had five student-athletes earned Academic All-Conference Carolinas. 2011-12: In his first season with King, Thompson spent the year implementing a brand new offensive and defensive system that progressively improved by year’s end. The Tornado defense showed dramatic improvement through the months of January and February, limiting its opponents to 60 points or fewer in seven of their last 12 games. Under Thompson, six members of the team were named to the Conference Carolinas All-Academic Team, contributing to King’s conference-leading 190 honorees. In July 2012, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) recognized the Tornado as having the second-highest team grade point average among NCAA Division II schools with a 3.692. That mark ranked the team third overall among all collegiate athletic divisions including NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA, and NJCAA institutions. Prior to King Thompson came to King University from Nyack College (N.Y.) where he served as head coach for their women's program from 2002-2010 and took the Warriors to new heights at the Division II level. While at Nyack, Thompson led the women's basketball program through the school's transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II. He took over as the head coach of the Warriors prior to the 2002-03 season and from 2003-10 began a stretch where his teams won more games than their previous year. In 2009, Nyack claimed the NCCAA East Region Championship and Thompson earned NCCAA East Region Coach of the Year honors. The following year the Warriors finished a program-best 21-12, their first 20-win season in its history. Thompson's squad won both the regular season and conference championships with a school record 21 wins, earning the program their first-ever berth to the NCAA Division II National Tournament. Following the program’s best season to date in 2010, Thompson was voted Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Coach of the Year. For a five-year stretch from 2003-07, his teams received the CACC Team Sportsmanship Award.  Personal He played for the Nyack men's basketball team, serving a key role as starting point guard and co-captain of the 1999-2000 team that won the CACC Tournament and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament. That year he led the league in assists and was also named MVP of the CACC Tournament. Thompson received his Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in youth ministry and psychology from Nyack in 2000.