grapplegirl

It’s my understanding that Rumph wasn’t cutting weight all season for 138. Actually, I doubt that he cut much, if any, weight for this Flo Tournament to make 132 (137) with the allowance. Dodging competition...get out of here. Also, I thought Flo followed college, not high school, rules. Wherein the back bow is legal. So, even if Rumph performed a back bow, which is unlikely since it doesn’t appear the pressure is being applied toward the head, it should not have been considered an illegal move in this tournament. While that is a bad call by the official, it’s incredibly disappointing that any wrestler or coach would take advantage of the bad call in a match in which the other wrestler was winning handily. The video is obvious. Bryant got up, adjusted his knee pad, appeared ready to go. Then coach says something, kid gets checked out, trainer appears to say it’s their choice, seems to be coaches decision to end the match. Will be very telling if Bryant is out there for the finals. If he is, I’d agree that the actions in the semifinals match were extremely poor sportsmanship. Sad situation for all of Indiana wrestling.

Portage got all 14 through.

Phenomenal wrestlers and even better human beings, completely deserving of all of their accomplishments and accolades. Portage is lucky to have guys like these to anchor their program and to be role models for the younger wrestlers.

There are numerous strong programs like this in the state with in-program club feeder systems. In those situations, it makes complete sense why the coach would expect to have some input or control over the off-season training of their athletes. The generalizations being made in this post of high school coaches as "part-time" and academy coaches as "professionals" are disappointing. Indiana is blessed with many high school coaches who are "good enough to make a living" at coaching and still choose to coach high school and club programs over starting or working for academies. Moreover, many of these same coaches do continue to dedicate themselves to their wrestlers (all their wrestlers, not just the ones who can afford the costs of a private academy) year-round by training and taking kids to off-season tournaments for much less than the academy coaches are earning.

Not a problem. This young man just made us, Portage Wrestling family, proud this weekend. And I want to make sure he gets the recognition he deserves for a great tournament.

Bondon is wrestling for 5th. He did not finish 8th.

Portage has 10 advancing to tomorrow (4 semifinalists and 6 in the consolation bracket). Compared to Detroit Catholic Central's 11 advancing (5 semifinalists and 6 in consolation), Lowell, MI's 10 advancing (3 semifinalists and 7 in consolation), Brecksville's 9 advancing (4 semifinalists and 5 in consolation), and Avon's 10 advancing (1 semifinalist and 9 in consolation). Exciting day and Indiana guys are making their mark. Team Scores after Day 1 1st - DCC 133 2nd - Portage 124.5 3rd - Lowell 113 4th - Brecksville 109.5 5th - Dundee 92.5 T6th - Avon 88.5 T6th - Elyria 88.5

Congrats to the teams too. Well-deserved honor for Portage and Brownsburg!

Awesome! Glad to see the trials of this year did not hold him back. Fantastic young man and family. Well deserved!

Congratulations to a great young man!

I remember a very well-reasoned, statistics-based analysis of the process that was written on this message board a couple years ago when a very solid Portage team was left out of consideration due to these multiplier/category issues. I don't know all of the specifics, but I believe some changes have been made every year to try to make this a fair process and predictor of dual team success, hopefully to remedy some of the early kinks that were identified with the multipliers. I appreciate what maligned and the selection committee do, but I take most issue with the fact that there is not one member of the IHSWCA State Duals selection committee who is from within 2 hours of Northwest Indiana. And without representation, I feel that NWI is judged more on the high percentage of early forfeits in sectionals, from the Gary/EC and rural Lake, Porter and LaPorte County teams, than the high end quality and depth that are coming into and out of Calumet/CP regionals and EC semi-state. I would like to better understand how the selection committee was comprised and why most areas of the state are represented on it, but not NWI. Specifically, I could be wrong, but I don't even think that any of the members are EC semi-state attendees. That is troubling to me, and I think it plays a part in categories potentially being lower than they should be for NWI.

This is brought up every year around this time. Wonder when it will happen again. Haven't looked at the brackets closely enough, which bracket this year has the most undefeated wrestlers, how many?

Yes, I believe that was the score at the Merrillville/Portage dual meet early in the season.

You're ridiculous! You know exactly what school he attends and has been attending the entire 2016-2017 school year. You've been involved in multiple other threads about this issue. But, keep trying to create controversy were there is none. As for navy80's legitimate question, Jacob Moran is the sophomore brother from Portage.

Apparently you have chosen to ignore the information that people purporting to be close to the Moran family have previously disclosed on this message board. No one, I repeat, no one has ever said that the Moran's have purchased a home in Portage, yet. The question was repeatedly asked if the brothers moved, which they did, in fact, before the school year started. Regionality, among others, has previously mentioned that the family has had their house on the market for well over 18 months prior to this season. He also indicated that Mr. Moran contacted Faulkens (a number of times, I believe) well before the planned relocation, attempting to be as conspicuous and forthright as possible. I don't know about you, but my family would not be able to obtain a mortgage on a second home prior to the sale of the first. And I know numerous families, including my own when I was a child, who have chosen to rent, move in with family or friends, or obtain other temporary housing prior to actually purchasing a home in a school district in order to begin the school year in that new district. Plus, how many families don't own the properties that they live in (i.e. rentals, living with family, or living in temporary housing). This is not about owning a property in Portage or whether or not their home in Crown Point has yet sold. Quick "investigative work" will reveal to you that a move has been planned for some time. At what point is it acceptable for parents to invoke their parental rights to do what is best for their children and move them out of a school district? I believe a parent should be able to make that decision whether or not their home has sold at the time of the move. Maybe you should make sure you have your facts correct before calling out others.

You're absolutely right. Extra-curricular participation is a privilege, not a right. However, I don't see anybody governing a student's right to transfer for participation in the robotics club, the marching band, student government, or any other non-athletic extra-curricular activity, and transfers of those natures happen as well. Also, right or wrong, if our legislature decided to enact laws permitting open enrollment, the IHSAA rules should be similarly changed. Regardless, the power should not be in the hands of the coach, administrator or school system that is bitter about a student's departure from their district. And to simply say, "don't participate," is short sighted. Many athletes rely on their athletic pursuits as much as their academics in making it to college and/or in pursuing their own path after high school.

The flaw in the system is that the IHSAA generally only investigates eligibility when either the old or new school attempts to block transfer on their portion of the transfer report. That is why a vast majority of transfers are eligible without any pushback or without the IHSAA batting an eye, because both schools signed off. In cases where transfers are blocked by one school, the IHSAA then relies upon the resentful school from which the kid has transferred (or in very rare cases, the school that doesn't want to allow the athlete to transfer in) to build and present their case for ineligibility. It is not that the IHSAA does or does not micromanage the transfer process, the problem is that the entire eligibility investigation system is prejudiced against the athlete from the beginning. If you do any actual research into the IHSAA or case review panel decisions, you tend to see the same schools attempting to block transfers by any decent athlete, across all sports, leaving their school system. Because how dare anyone attempt to leave their school. The irony, like many have already said, is that we all know those same schools are more than willing to accept athletic transfers into their program without self-reporting or attempting to block those incoming transfers' eligibility. I am not making statements as to the Morans case specifically, because I, like 99% of the people on this message board, do not know all the facts, have not spoken to any of the involved parties, and have not been present to hear the evidence, hearing, or appeal process. From what I do know, I believe the brothers should be eligible to compete and that this was a decision made by the parents in the best interest of their children and the family as a whole. It is also my opinion that the Morans are also caught in the middle of bad blood that CP feels toward Portage for one reason or another. One specific circumstance that I know of is that CP felt bitter and slighted by Portage sending their second team to the super dual last year, so that Portage's varsity could travel to Michigan for a competition with nationally ranked teams. The CP administration has also made an issue of that situation. Makes one wonder if the Morans weren't high caliber athletes or if they had moved somewhere other than Portage, would the IHSAA even be involved? Also ironic is that while CP is celebrating the college eligibility victory of Jason Tsirtsis, they're also working to steal high school eligibility from the Morans. Just plain sad. Here's a link to an article from 2010, which addresses the implementation of the case review panel and eligibility rules as the pertain to open enrollment. It's an interesting read. However, a quick overview the case review panel rulings shows that it has been less successful than hoped by Tony Bennett, in that it upholds the decision of the IHSAA a vast majority of the time. I guess that's why there's always the opportunity to appeal to state court as well. http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/new-law-expected-to-increase-appeals-of-ihsaa-eligibility-decisions/article_cc057e79-6261-5f78-843c-831a30f8f112.html

Yes, let them wrestle!

These quotes are cut and pasted directly out of the November 3-4, 2016 IHSAA Review Committee minutes, which the above article clearly states that the Morans were appealing. While I do not have any information whatsoever about what happened at the December 15, 2016 Case Review Panel, it is inaccurate to post those quotes as current status of the Morans' appeals and eligibility status following last week's review panel date. I have no information or connection to this matter, I just think it's harmful for all involved parties, especially the kids, for outdated information to be spread as the ultimate decision.

My understanding is that they absolutely did enroll before the season. The brothers have been students at Portage High School this entire school year.

After watching this young man all season, I guarantee that this was not just a hot tournament run. It was merely the state's introduction to an impressive wrestling career. As the article posted above discusses, Coaches Keith and Vega (and all the Portage staff) are just beginning to scratch the surface of Rumph's talent. I look forward to being thoroughly impressed by this young man's development over the next few years as his experience and wrestling knowledge increase. The best part about it is that he is an even better person than he is a wrestler. Shout out to all the Portage wrestlers and coaches...the next few years should be fun! Can't forget to mention Kasper's impressive showing this post-season too. And thank you to Bam, Gaige and the other seniors for setting a tremendous example for the future of Portage Wrestling. Very proud to be a long time Portage Wrestling fan!

Wow, you've really got some major Region hatred.

Steven "Bam" Lawrence from Portage. Saw an article that said he never wrestled until 8th grade.

Actually, I believe that Portage beat Merrillville in their dual last year.

Congrats Cody! Great job!