The Guillotine Grapevine

Episode 17 of The Guillotine Grapevine visits with John Thorn, the team leader for the Schoolboy Duals for Team Minnesota. Two teams in each style traveled to Indianapolis and each style would be won by a team from the Land of 10,000 wrestlers. Thorn talks about the formulation of the team, his background in the sport, individual successes and the organizational excellence seen within the Minnesota USA Wrestling chapter that contributed to the strong network able to put together a strong team. Thorn also breaks down the training camps and staff used to coach the teams to a pair of championships. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | Google Play Music | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

Episode 16 of The Guillotine Grapevine heads over to Augsburg College as two-time U.S. World Team member Jake Clark ran some visiting German wrestlers through a short practice. There's a tie with the Germans and why they're here in Minnesota training for a week and it's not necessarily what you might think. The Germans also had an opportunity to talk with Olympic wrestler and coach Alan Rice as he joined the practice in the wrestling room named in his honor. We also catch up with German coach Marcel Fornoff and Anthony Sanders. It's Sanders' father who is a Minnesota native and former St. Cloud State wrestler. They'll work out at PINnacle and Takedown up in Brainerd before heading back. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | Google Play Music | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

On May 3, the documentary "J Robinson: Full Circle" was released as it chronicled the life of J Robinson and his Intensive Camp system. Prior to the public release, a small gathering of friends and family attended a watch party at 508 Bar and Restaurant in Downtown Minneapolis and a pre-show was hosted by Jason Bryant with Coach Robinson and the director Ryan Leer. The pre-show was streamed on Facebook Live. This mini-episode of the Guillotine Grapevine contains the audio Q&A from the pre-show. Fans can watch the documentary at JRobinsonFullCircle.com. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | Google Play Music | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

Andy Bisek has endured the Minnesota Storm will have a representative competing in the Olympic Games in 2016. On Episode 14 of The Guillotine Grapevine, Bisek talks about his journey from third in the state to member of the U.S. Olympic team. The Chaska native also talks about overcoming the bad memories from the 2012 Olympic Trials in Iowa City and explains his development as a wrestler and how his family has shaped him to be the wrestler he is today. It's a great discussion with yet another Minnesota Olympian. His mustache had no comment. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | Google Play Music | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

St. Cloud State captured its second straight NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship last month in Sioux Falls, S.D. On Episode 13 of The Guillotine Grapevine, we'll talk with St. Cloud State head wrestling coach Steve Costanzo about the performance. St. Cloud State brought seven wrestlers to Sioux Falls and all seven placed, giving the Huskies an eight-point gap over second-place Notre Dame College. Brett Velasquez emerged as the lone individual champion, but the story there is much more than meets the eye. Velasquez had to beat returning Division II champion Tim Prescott in a wrestle-off twice just to earn the starting spot prior to the regional championship. We'll go weight-by-weight and also talk about the impact of St. Cloud State dropping six sports and limiting roster sizes will have on the wrestling program. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

Episode 12 of The Guillotine Grapevine rocks some historic talk as Apple Valley's Mark Hall made history winning his sixth individual state championship to go along with six team championships. Before we get to Hall, we caught up with St. Michael-Albertville's Mitchell McKee after he won his third championship, stepping on the mat a few weights after his brother Patrick claimed the crown at 106 pounds. Following McKee, we talked with New Prague's Griffin Parriott, who wowed the XCel Energy Center crowd with a 10-second fall in the state championship in AA. Then we get to Hall, who answered questions from loads of TV stations and newspapers. He talked about the goals he had coming in to beat Destin McCauley's five individual titles and six team titles as well as wrestling with his future college coach Cael Sanderson in attendance. We also got a few minutes with Sanderson and he gave his impressions about the quality and atmosphere at the Minnesota State Championships. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

Episode 11 of The Guillotine Grapevine features one of the top wrestling journalists in the country, Ben Pherson from the Rochester Post-Bulletin. Ben talks about how he gets the right stories to tell in the paper and how he's taken his passion for wrestling and worked it into his day-to-day job at the paper. Ben's got an interesting backstory, but the Minnesota State Championships have been a big part of it throughout his career. With newspapers constantly downsizing and sacrificing coverage for more national, cookie-cutter types of content, Ben's providing the local and state community with great features and coverage. We sit and chat with Ben, get off topic at times, but have some fun. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

Episode 10 of The Guillotine Grapevine features three college coaches who are in town checking out the action at the MSHSL Team State championships at the XCel Energy Center in St. Paul. Minnesota native Ned Shuck is currently the head coach at Division III UW-Whitewater and coach Shuck talks about the reasons he comes back to recruit now that he's closer to home. Previously the head coach at Division III Heidelberg in Ohio, Shuck talks about the differences between recruiting in Ohio and Minnesota. U.S. Naval Academy assistant coach Nate Engel is making his second trip to the state tournament. He'll talk about why he's out here and of course, the tie is with Minnesota native Joel Sharratt, the head coach at Navy. Also joining the show is Minnesota State assistant coach Marc Harwood to give the Division II perspective on the state tournament prior to the team heading to the Super Region 3 championships in Sioux Falls, S.D. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

On Episode 9 of the Guillotine Grapevine, the focus comes back to Minnesota wrestling and what makes it great at the Division III level. Jeff Swenson, current Athletics Director at Augsburg and the architect for 10 of the 12 Auggie national championships joins the program. Swenson talks about his two separate runs as the program's head coach, what he learned from coaching high school at Rosemount prior to coming back to the program as well as a number of things that Minnesota has offered to help make the program one of the crown jewels of college wrestling. We'll also visit with UW-La Crosse head coach Dave Malecek as he talks about why he recruits the state of Minnesota. There are numerous Minnesota natives throughout the Eagles lineup. We'll also catch up with former Auggie Donny Wichmann, who was in attendance as the school honored the 1991 National Championship team, the first wrestling title won by the school. Wichmann was an assistant coach on that team. Then we'll, as usual, make fun of Chad Johnson's mustache with NCAA Division III champion Donny Longendyke. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.

Episode 8 of the Guillotine Grapevine goes inside the nationally-respected J Robinson Intensive Camps with founder J Robinson and the camp's Executive Director Ty Eustice. Robinson and Eustice talk about the philosophy behind the camp system and the 28-day intensive camp specifically as well as the genesis of the system when it started back when Robinson was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa. With the annual Iowa-Minnesota dual set for this weekend, Robinson and Eustice also share a few stories about the rivalry and what each recalls from their time on each side of the battle. Eustice was a two-time All-American at Iowa. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINE iTunes | Stitcher | Spreaker | Soundcloud | RSS JOIN THE TEAM And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too. Looking to start a podcast of your own? Get a free month with Libsyn by using the promo code MTO when you sign up. You'll get the remainder of the month from when you sign up as well as the next month free. It'll be enough time to kick the tires and lights some fires.