Leaderboard

My kiddo Baxter Annakin has decided to "retire" from wrestling his senior year. He as had too many concussions and values his brain more than one more year on the mat. He has loved wrestling ever since he joined Castle Wrestling Club as an 11-yr old. It was 100% his decision, which I think is important to mention. His Mom and I were crushed, but very proud at the same time. Concussions are a scary thing and not to be taken lightly. He will be at Castle's matches rooting on his teammates, especially his senior class. I've become a big wrestling fan as a result of Baxter's involvement in this great sport, and an even bigger fan of Baxter after watching him grow into a fine young man. Good luck to all our wrestlers out there this year. May they stay injury free. Doug Annakin

I dont have a clue why Jaden Sonner of New Albany isnt not only on there but not in the top 8. He is 59-1 in his last 60 High School matches. Has quite a few noticable wins over that period also. He got upset in the ticket round last 2 years. Had a few good tourneys in the offseason also.

Unranked senior 182 Aaron Conde of Avon bumped up to 195 and pinned #13 Andrew Irick of HSE. Conde is Avon’s most improved wrestler.

Dilly ! Dilly !

Dilly Dilly !!!!

Sarcasm font and in Blazing Saddles voice.."Credentials?? He don't need no stinkin' credentials.." 1. He's from #TheCounty 2. He trains in the #PainTrain room 3. Fabio... 'nuff said. That being said..I do concur that Boarman seems to be a bit underranked.

This is the clear result of things like Contenders, RWA, MCWC, Elite Athletic Club, Pride, Red Cobra, ISWA Team IN trips to compete nationally, even things like Trackwrestling coverages and as bad as its product is FLO !!! These are great times for the sport now with that said come to BBurg tonight and watch a HS dual meet that is exciting and fun to be a part of for the athletes and entertaining for the crowd. Snyder does great things to take a normally boring (for the average spectator) wrestling dual and turns it into an exciting spectacle that students and people in the town not usually interested in the sport want to come out and see !!!!

Tonight Portage welcomes Chesterton and I am interested if anyone has any predictions. Both teams have studs, but Portage is just deeper and I predict they will win pretty easily. Thoughts?

OK I hate the new uniforms. We were called for numerous technical violations for "grabbing the uniform" where the shirt sleeve is and where the bottom of the shorts are. These uniforms were supposed to be "tight fitting" but they are very loose fabric and kids are getting their fingers and hands stuck in them. I hope they rescind this rule quickly or stop calling the violations due to loose fitting uniforms. Any one else having this issue?

By JEREMY HINES Thehines7@gmail.com Center Grove senior Gleason Mappes comes from a very tough family. His three brothers were all outstanding wrestlers and his dad was a state champion. But, his mom has taken more wrestlers to school then the rest of the family combined. “She is our team bus driver,” Center Grove coach Cale Hoover said. “She’s the toughest one in the family. She’s extremely competitive.” Gleason Mappes is the last in a long line of great wrestlers in his family. His dad, Donald, was a 1978 state champ at Roncalli. His brother Sean won state in 2012 for Center Grove. His oldest brother Shelby placed third in state and his brother Rhett is currently recovering from a knee injury, but is part of the University of Indianapolis wrestling team. “Gleason is the last of four very good wrestlers,” Center Grove coach Cale Hoover said. “I’ve coached them all. I’ve had at least one Mappes in the room for the 12 years I’ve been here.” Gleason has been able to learn from his family’s strengths. He’s a three-time state qualifier and a two time placer. He has finished fourth the past two seasons. “Coach tells me I have a little bit of the attributes of all my family,” Gleason said. “Sean was a very funky wrestler. I try to be funky like that. He also has naturally good hip position and I’ve tried to emulate that as well. Shelby was more of the type of wrestler that just wanted to go in and beat you up until you give in. He’s really good on his feet and good at riding. I’m working to be that good on my feet as well. All of them were mentally tough.” Mappes has worked on improving his takedown ability since last season. “My main goal is to make an offense that is dynamic and that can’t be stopped,” he said. Mappes says the biggest thing his family has taught him is that you move on, no matter what. “You don’t get hung up on things that happened,” Mappes said. “You keep moving on. You don’t dwell on those things because they will just hold you back. If you dwell on what you could have done, you aren’t going to go much further.” Coming from such a strong wrestling family, Gleason doesn’t remember a time when he didn’t wrestle. But, he hasn’t had the number of career matches that are normal for a wrestler of his caliber. “Gleason entered high school with less than 100 matches in his career,” Hoover said. “He wrestled three years in middle school and a handful of club matches. He was a short little fat kid, but you could tell he was gifted and that he had a lot of talent.” As a freshman Gleason had a rough season. He lost 20 matches that year. Gleason is the only wrestler in at least five years to lose 20 matches and make it to the state finals. Reaching state lit a fire under Gleason. He came out the next year with a 37-11 record and finished fourth at 160 pounds as a sophomore. Then, as a junior he was 41-3 and finished fourth at 160 pounds. “Gleason has a tremendous upward climb,” Hoover said. “I really have no idea where his ceiling is. He isn’t even close to it yet.” Mappes is hoping to be Center Grove’s first four-time state qualifier. Ultimately, he is wanting a chance to wrestle under the lights. “That’s my goal,” Mappes said. “I want to finish under the lights.” After high school Gleason is going to wrestle for the University of Indianapolis and he will study nursing. Losing him from the Center Grove room will be tough on the Trojan family, especially on coach Hoover. “I just feel so fortunate to coach him,” Hoover said. “When I first came here he was in first grade. I’ve known him most of his life. I know for sure I’ll be dominating their family for the wrestling Hall of Fame.” View full article

Bitter sweet for Anakin! Was looking forward to watching him this year!

Badges? We don't need no stinking badges! Originally in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" starring Humphrey Bogart 1948.

I Think that’s 106 to 138-45... big jump

Team Balboa (Columbus East) wrestled in about 40 duals and another 10+ individual matches in a two piece this summer and I only remember one instance where there was even remotely an issue and it was very minimal. A kid got his shorts wrapped up in a shoe, match didn't even need to be stopped. No penality points, no tangled body parts, etc.

Cliff Keen's uniforms look to be pretty good. We are using our alternate 2 piece tonight v. LaPorte.

this post is 100% true on all points made including the Boarman underranked !!!!! Thanks UJ, @fabio you are up now really attack MD92 in your response with the venom you surely posses !!! (LOL---its all in fun MD92)

Hi Danny !!!

I will only assume that your post and certain words in the post will garner numerous responses so I will allow the wolves to feed......uncle jimmy you are up

We did not have any problems at all. Wrestled 5 dual meets and not one violation of any sorts. Uniforms look good as well to the new fan. I asked a few students that were in attendance, who had been to maybe one or two wrestling matches previously, each thought visually the uniforms were much more fan friendly than the singlet. Most said the singlet looked stupid. Just like most of the die hard fans, I love the singlet and have no problem with it, but to the casual fan the new uniform looks much better.

The Shamrock Slam should be a good one http://www.trackwrestling.com/teamtournaments/VerifyPassword.jsp?tournamentId=262708009 Teams include: Yorktown, Roncalli, Carroll, Zionsville, Shenandoah, Ben Davis, Lawrence Central, and MORE!

side note, love that profile pic 3B

I had heard as recently as last year that there was a big push to try to use weight classes starting at 70 and going every 5lbs up to 100 and then using HS weights after that. This seems to make a lot of sense to me but its getting everyone to agree and be on same page that is the issue.

New Haven's Luke Watson beat Fairfield's #15 Vince Yoder 5-1

Yes in 2A. I think Portage is wrestling everyone up a weight class though.

In addition... If you don't know Joey Walker 152 from Mishawaka you will soon. Sat out most of last year due to a football injury. Skipped football this year and focused on popping cans of whoopa$$ on the weekends! Crossword puzzle clue: 6 letter word for hammer - Levitz 170 Prairie Heights. If you see a Levitz in a fight with a bear, help the bear. 195 & 220 will be fun to watch from the first match on Friday thru the final. Gonna be a gauntlet. 275... I am very curious - no love for the Blazer from Elkhart time will tell

If you don't know Joey Walker 152 from Mishawaka you will soon. Sat out most of last year due to a football injury. Skipped football this year and focused on popping cans of whoopa$$ on the weekends! Crossword puzzle clue: 6 letter word for hammer - Levitz 170 Prairie Heights. If you see a Levitz in a fight with a bear, help the bear. 195 & 220 will be fun to watch from the first match on Friday thru the final. Gonna be a gauntlet. 275... I am very curious - no love for the Blazer from Elkhart time will tell

This is true. AJ is at New Castle now, where he lives right next to the school

Now I need to get on semi states oof

By STEVE KRAH stvkrh905@gmail.com A willingness to work toward constant improvement has helped raise Elkhart Central High School’s wrestling profile on the bigger stage. The 2016-17 Blue Blazers forged an 11-5 dual-meet record, beat crosstown rival Elkhart Memorial in a dual meet for the first time in many years then raised an Elkhart Sectional team trophy for the first time in 28. With Nick Conner (285 pounds), Tykease Baker (160) and Xander Stroud (145) winning their respective weight classes Blue Blazers edged Northridge by two points. It was the ECHS program’s first sectional team title since 1989. The Blazers won the sectional with a come-from-behind pin victory in a consolation match. “It takes a lot of team effort,” says Central head coach Zach Whickcar, now in his sixth season of leading the wrestling program at his alma mater. He grappled for four seasons, graduating in 2006. “Everybody needs to pull their weight. “We won sectional with 14 guys, but it was the 14 behind them were every bit as important. They needed someone to practice with.” “It’s been a total buy-in. We took 11 kids to the Jeff Jordan’s State Champ Camp (during the high school off-season). The kids genuinely like being around each other. “It’s consistency and being present that gets you to where you want to be.” While they want to win during the regular, everything the Blazers do is focused toward the postseason. “I’m always telling them that we want to be peaking at sectionals,” says Whickcar. “We want to put out a product that’s competitive. But we want to do what is best for the kids. We want to win a sectional (team title) and we want to do well (as individuals) in the state tournament.” Since Whickcar took over as head coach for the 2012-13 season (the Blazers were 2-16 in duals that year), Central has produced five IHSAA State Finals qualifiers — Johnny Tredway (eighth place at 160 pounds in 2013), Eliseo Guerra (sixth at 220 in both 2014 and 2015), Stroud (eighth at 145 in 2017) and Chaz Boyd (did not place at 138 in 2017). Whickcar calls Stroud a “mat junkie.” “He’s always wrestling,” says Whickcar of a grappler who regularly attends Indiana State Wrestling Association Regional Training Center sessions at Jimtown High School and Midwest Extreme Wrestling Club events at Penn High School besides going to places like Virginia Beach and the Iowa Nationals during the summer. “He takes advantage of those opportunities.” Stroud said competing in big tournaments has one effect and practicing against good wrestlers has a another. “The wrestling is done in the RTC’s,” says Stroud. “The tournaments help you with your mindset. It’s about not being worried about who you are facing and just working on your stuff. You wrestle like how you want to wrestle. “It’s just you wrestling that other kid.” Plenty of time in the circle has led to acute mat awareness for Stroud. “He has a real feel for what he needs to do,” says Whickcar. “Like all of our wrestlers, he is able to find a couple of good things he is good at and uses them. He has pretty good leg attacks. But he definitely can get better.” The wrestler talks about what mat awareness means to him. “Where I’m at on the mat and the moves I chose to make depends on where I’m at,” says Stroud. “If I’m we’re the outer edge of the mat and I’m on the inside part of the mat and he’s closer to the line, I might shoot him out to get him out-of-bounds to re-set my position to the center.” “Or maybe he has my leg, I’ll watch my position and step out so we can re-set and go back to the center.” A rule change this season also allows wrestlers to get pins outside the circle. Before they could get “back” points but not falls. “You still have to have a supporting part (of your body) inbounds,” says Stroud. “Now you can go for a pin instead of just getting points. “You have to really watch your position more now since you can get pinned out-of-bounds.” The current Central lineup features Sean Johnson (106), Eric Garcia (113), Brad Felder (120), Jacob Hess (126), Tony Lopez (132), Raul Martinez (138), Peyton Anderson or Austin Garcia (145), Nathan Dibley (152), Xander Stroud (160), Carlos Fortoso (170), Peterson Ngo (182), Alex Lucias (195), Omar Perez (220) and Nick Conner (285). Stroud, Conner, Lucias, Martinez, Perez and Ngo (back after wrestling for Central as a sophomore) are seniors leading the 2017-18 Blazers. “Those six seniors have busted their butt,” says Whickcar. “They love the sport.” Stroud, who is planning to study biomedical engineering in college and may wrestle at the next level, says he prefers to lead by example. “Omar Perez and Alex Lucias — They are pretty vocal,” says Stroud. “I only yell when I have to. “Our team is pretty good about doing what they are supposed to (be doing). During the season, we do larger things. At the end of the season, we fine-tune things. That’s when you want to peak — at the end of the season.” The Blazers opened the 2017-18 varsity season Saturday, Nov. 25 by placing second to Central Noble at the Elkhart Central Turkey Duals. Before the New Year, the Blazers have home dual meets slated against Northridge Dec. 5 and Mishawaka Dec. 7. Then comes the Jim Nicholson Charger Invitational at Elkhart Memorial Dec. 9 and dual meets at Elkhart Memorial Dec. 12 and South Bend Adams Dec. 14 followed by the 32-team Al Smith Classic at Mishawaka Dec. 29-30. Coming down the stretch of the regular season, there’s a dual at Penn Jan. 4, East Noble Invitational Jan. 6, Northern Indiana Conference meet Jan. 13 and dual at Jimtown Jan. 18. Besides Whickcar, ECHS wrestlers are pushed by a coaching staff with Central graduates Abe Que, Trevor Echartea and Zack Kurtz, Elkhart Memorial graduates Carson Sappington and Steven Vergonet and Concord graduate Brian Pfeil. View full article