@GWUWrestling Adds Cody Walters, Mack McGuire To Coaching Staff
May 09, 2016 | Wrestling
BOILING SPRINGS – Gardner-Webb announced a pair of staff additions Monday, hiring two-time Division I All-American Cody Walters as assistant coach and Mack McGuire as graduate assistant coach.
"We are excited to add two young men with outstanding wrestling credentials to our coaching staff," said Gardner-Webb head coach Daniel Elliott. "Both Cody and Mack earned great respect in the wrestling community for their success on the mat, but also for the way they conduct themselves. Their experience and character will be very important to the development of our wrestlers here at Gardner-Webb."
Walters (Macedonia, Ohio) competed as a collegiate wrestler for Ohio University, winning 115 matches during his four-year career with the Bobcats. He earned All-American honors with an eighth-place finish as a freshman in 2013 and became a two-time All-American when he finished seventh at the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Madison Square Garden.
Walters was a three-time MAC champion at 174 pounds and was named MAC Freshman of the Year in 2013 after leading the Bobcats with 39 victories that season. Walters won at least 30 matches three times in his four seasons on the collegiate mats and was a four-time NCAA qualifier.
Walters graduated with a degree in education from Ohio University earlier this month.
Prior to his career at Ohio, Walters was a three-time All-American at St. Peter Chanel (Ohio) High School and was a Junior National Runner Up. He won 171 matches on the prep level and was a state champion.
McGuire (Upper St. Clair, Pa.) joins the Gardner-Webb program as graduate assistant coach after wrapping up a well-decorated career at Kent State.
Also a four-time NCAA qualifier, McGuire won 109 matches during his time on the mats with the Golden Flashes. He went 26-7 as a senior at 133 pounds, including a 2-2 mark at the NCAA Championships, and placed third at the MAC Championships with a 3-1 mark.
He finished in the top-3 at the MAC Championships in each of his final three seasons and won at least 25 matches in each of his four seasons. As a junior in 2014-15, McGuire won 31 matches.
He prepped at Upper St. Clair (Pa.) High, winning PIAA and WPIAL state titles as as senior. He went an impressive 138-9 during his high school career and finished in the top-4 at the WPIAL championships all four seasons.
He recently graduated from Kent State with a degree in speech pathology and audiology.
Gardner-Webb recently finished its most successful wrestling campaign, winning a school-record nine dual matches and capturing a share of the 2016 SoCon regular season crown with a 6-1 mark against league foes.
Three men – Boyce Cornwell (285), Austin Trott (165) and Chris Vassar (149) – qualified for the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Madison Square Garden. That trio, along with previous NCAA qualifiers Hunter Gamble (184) and Ryan Mosley (157) return to the lineup for the 2016-2017 season.
