John Carroll University Athletics

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:

*COVID-19 Shortened Season

Women's Wrestling Year-by-Year Results: