Mike Finn

Founder Ciolino made girls wrestling part of club’s diverse membership By Mike Finn Anthony Ciolino, the founder and head coach of Team Kong United, the club based out of Long Island, N.Y., but features young wrestlers from all over the country, is also a father of three daughters. None of them wrestled; perhaps because there […]

Photo: Gage Braun of Southeastern, an NAIA school from Florida, used this takedown to eventually pin Austin Silva of the Cumberlands at heavyweight. This also led to a 22-14 team victory that advanced Southeastern to Saturday’s semifinals of the 2025 NWCA National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa. (Tim Tushla photo) The following breaks down all […]

Photo: Illinois senior Lucas Byrd, who finished fifth nationally in 2021 and 2022, but was injured last winter, is now ranked No. 1 at 133 pounds with an 11-0 record. Jan. 13, 2025 NEWTON, Iowa — Lucas Byrd of Illinois has taken over the top spot at 133 pounds in WIN Magazine’s Jan. 13 national […]

High school wrestling has been growing on both the boys’ and girls’ sides in the last few years and WIN Magazine created a couple stories in its last issue about how many of these prep wrestlers don’t event start until they reach high school. Click below to read those stories. Click on this image to […]

Photo: Katie Pilcher of Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, an all-state catcher and college signee in softball, took up wrestling as a senior this winter. (Pilcher family photos) By Mike Finn Katie Pilcher knows something about hitting home runs in softball. In fact, the senior from Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, became […]

Photo: Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen (right), who beat Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott (left) in last year’s NCAA final are expected to meet this Friday in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in a dual meet between the nationally-ranked schools. (Sam Janicki photo) NEWTON, Iowa — Oklahoma State and Northern Iowa, set to meet this Friday, feature a pair […]

The month of January is especially important to wrestling in that it is when some of the most high-profile dual meets take place … and that is what happened at the NWCA Multi-Division National Duals that took place at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. WIN Magazine was there to capture the biggest moments where […]

Photo: WIN editor Mike Finn (right) started covering wrestling in 1988 when he was fortunate to have his late father, Martin, listen to one of many interviews. Mike is officially retiring on Feb. 7 from his position with WIN, which he took on in 2003. By Mike Finn As a journalist for the past 47 […]

This March, WIN Magazine, Culture House and ASICS will announce the winner of the 2025 Dan Hodge Trophy that will be presented to the nation’s top NCAA Division I wrestler, following the March 20-22 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia. Between now and then, WIN Magazine will provide a weekly update, every Tuesday, at WIN-Magazine on this […]

Photo by Lamont Photography: Wonder Women VI, Team Champions, Broken Arrow High School OK & runner-up Bixby High School OK. From the Mat to Scholarships, How a High School Tournament Founder Transformed a vision into empowering Futures Greetings, I am Mike Wakim Jr, the proud founder of The Wonder Women Girl’s Wrestling Tournament, established in […]