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Middle Schoolers Competing for their High School


purdue02

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I know that a handful of states allow 7th/8th graders to compete for their HS team.

 

1. Do you know how common this is?

2. What is the rationale for this?

3. Is this something Indiana would ever look into adopting?

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3 hours ago, purdue02 said:

I know that a handful of states allow 7th/8th graders to compete for their HS team.

 

1. Do you know how common this is?

2. What is the rationale for this?

3. Is this something Indiana would ever look into adopting?

It lets kids that can and want to wrestle at a higher level be able to accomplish that during the season instead of the off season. In the state that I have knowledge of they do have an early middle school season also to allow the kids who choose not to wrestle high school stay within there age range. I personally, from my expeirence, think its a great idea. 

Edited by mcnorthcarolina
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I coached in a state that allowed 8th graders to compete in high school. They were only allowed to be on the high school team if they were varsity. This worked great for the elite wrestlers who would otherwise not be using their time in the most efficient way continuing to wrestle middle school.  It also greatly helped with the lower weights. 

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We had middle schoolers on our team in high school (out of state). Usually they ended up being our 103 or 112. The middle school season was different timing than ours and they could only come once there season was over. Would definitely be a good idea for the elite kids. 5 year state champ??

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2 hours ago, SIwrestling said:

Kentucky allows it. The Raney twins from Union County both won state this year as 8th graders. Jordyn Raney also won it last year as a 7th grader at 106. Saw them win the Mater Dei Holiday Classic this past season. 

They put on a clinic at the Classic this year

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Mark Hall who was an NCAA champion and 3 time NCAA finalist for Penn State has to be the ultimate middle school wrestler.    As a 7th grader,  his dad moved him to Florence, KY and he made the state finals but lost to the returning state champ.  The following year, he moved to Apple Valley, MN and basically redshirted as he started as a 7th grader there.  This time he won the state championship as a 7th grader and went on to win 6 Minnesota state championships.  He had a high school record of 278 wins.   Very extreme to wrestle high school for 7 years. 

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I'm not a fan of it. While it would be great for our top tier kids, I think it would hurt the sport more. We have kids that are not varsity ready already and now we'd add in some middle schoolers who aren't ready on top of that. 

 

I also believe this could hurt participation when good athletes that are middle or upper weights are regulated to middle school wrestling while a smaller kid will fill the lineup and get varsity letters/experience. 

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27 minutes ago, R. Kendrick said:

How does this affect high school eligibility?  Lots of top tier Indiana kids, compete for a different high school then they do for middle school, how would IHSAA handle eligibly,? Would your freshman eligibility be based off where you competed in 7/8th grade? 

How would the IHSAA handle it?  Obviously, they wouldn’t handle it.  I don’t think the IHSAA would ever even consider it.  Our IHSAA sees their mission to be a lot different than some other states’ organizations.

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23 hours ago, piscis1956 said:

How would the IHSAA handle it?  Obviously, they wouldn’t handle it.  I don’t think the IHSAA would ever even consider it.  Our IHSAA sees their mission to be a lot different than some other states’ organizations.

What @piscis1956 said. Guaranteed if you brought it up you would either get laughed at or treated like you aren't that intelligent. 

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