Leaderboard

Speak for yourself.

Point your car east and don't stop until you're in Ohio. We don't want it.

Once again the wrestling community forces the media to do it's work for them. Sent e-mails to the 4 hosts with our area teams involved, asking for results and only got results from 1 of them. Tom Cameron Duals Round 1 Merrillville 75, Morton 3; Plymouth 59, Penn 24; Harrison 61, Highland 9; Kankakee Valley 66, South Bend Clay 11. Round 2 Merrillville 65, Plymouth 8; Penn 56, Morton 21; Harrison 69, Kankakee Valley 9, Highland 59, South Bend Clay 15. Round 3 Merrillville 65, Penn 6; Plymouth 69, Morton 12; Harrison 78, South Bend Clay 0; Highland 40, Kankakee Valley 36. Round 4 Merrillville 72, Highland 0; Harrison 60, Plymouth 17; Penn 54, South Bend Clay 24; Kankakee Valley 63, Morton 9. Round 5 Merrillville 35, Harrison 30; Plymouth 39, Highland 39; Kankakee Valley 40, Penn 39; South Bend Clay 48, Morton 26.

So why couldn't someone in the wrestling community post these scores yesterday??? Sure NWI Times didn't have to walk around and compile them by themselves! Chris Traicoff Memorial Tournament 1. INDIANAPOLIS CATHEDRAL 5-0, 2. PORTAGE 4-1, 3. CROWN POINT 3-2, 4. MISHAWAKA 2-3, 5. LAWRENCE NORTH 4-1, 6. FLOYD CENTRAL 3-2, 7. FRANKLIN 2-3, 8. SOUTHMONT 1-4, 9. LOWELL 4-1, 10. WESTFIELD 3-2, 11. CALUMET 2-3, 12. SOUTH BEND RILEY 1-4, 13. VALPARAISO 3-2, 14. LAKE STATION 2-3, 15. MUNSTER 1-4, 16. HANOVER CENTRAL 0-5. Round V: Indianapolis Cathedral 36, Portage 21; Crown Point 48, Mishawaka 29; Lawrence North 37, Franklin 36; Floyd Central 52, Southmont 24; Lowell 35, Westfield 31; Calumet 42, South Bend Riley 36; Lake Station 55, Hanover Central 21; Valparaiso 66, Munster 9. Round IV: Lowell 53, Calumet 18; Portage 66, Mishawaka 12; Valparaiso 58, Hanover Central 18; Lake Station 46, Munster 30; Lawrence North 46, Southmont 27; Indianapolis Cathedral 49, Crown Point 13; Floyd Central 43, Franklin 24; Westfield 55, South Bend Riley 10. Round III: Valparaiso 60, Lake Station 17; Munster 42, Hanover Central 21; Franklin 43, Southmont 28; Lawrence North 43, Floyd Central 30; Lowell 55, South Bend Riley 20; Westfield 48, Calumet 27; Indianapolis Cathedral 57, Mishawaka 9; Portage 44, Crown Point 18. Round II: Calumet 39, Valparaiso 36; Lowell 69, Hanover Central 9; Crown Point 71, Southmont 6; South Bend Riley 59, Munster 21; Floyd Central 36, Miishawaka 34; Portage 58, Franklin 15; Westfield 63, Lake Station 15; Indianapolis Cathedral 65, Lawrence North 6. Round I: Lawrence North 32, Westfield 28; Franklin 35, Lowell 31; Portage 81, Hanover Central 0; Crown Point 78, Munster 3; Indianapolis Cathedral 77, Lake Station 0; Southmont 54, South Bend Riley 26; Floyd Central 46, Calumet 27; Mishawaka 49, Valparaiso 25.

Tyler Turley HOBART over #15 Scott Fitts EVANSVILLE MD OT 7-5

Our first time being in this tournament.... all I can say is that we are very please on how the tournament was handled. I enjoy been around good people and Elkhart memorial staff and coaches have plenty. Thanks for having us and .... I loved the food!!!

Brewer vs carson could happen atleast 4 more times too.. Brewer looked good considering he's been sick for 6 weeks and carson was going after him the whole match.

Very interesting the topic is posted this week and today there were a bunch of match ups between top ranked wrestlers. 106 #1 Moran vs #3 Bailey 160 #2 Lemley vs #3 Mappes 138 #2 Rumph vs #3 Melloh 195 #1 Davidson vs #3 Penola 152 #3 Washington vs #3 Slivka (145) 170 #3 Brewer vs #8 Carson Looks like not much dodging today

Just let the kids wrestle. We have had 15 matches so far this year and 6 were ff and most of those teams had kids at that weight. You don't ever dodge a match. Heck you can be 0-40 going into sectionals and earn your #1 ssed for regionals and so on. You should always want to wrestle the good kids. A good example is, Tommy's freshman year he was undefeated going into the finals match at semi state. He ended up losing to Nathan Boston 1-0. He came off the mat with a big grin. His coach says," Tommy, why are you so happy, you do know that you just lost, right?" Tommy responds with, " yep and that was fun!" Let the kids go out there and have fun. It's ok to lose. These kids are learning a lot more than wrestling from this sport. Personally I would rather my kids learn that anything can happen if you just go out there and try instead of your not good enought so why bother going out there.

Since Graham Calhoun is the original example, if you were wrestling Plymouth and had a pretty good kid, possibly ranked at 152, everyone would expect to see that match. If for some reason your kid did not wrestle that particular dual or was bumped up to wrestle 160 (for the good of the team) it may be perceived as a dodge? Again being impartial to both sides of the argument....if you bump your kid to 160 and win (or lose) the dual by six or less...justified coaching move.

I'm back on topic.... I was coaching back before the 'Super dual' format etc.... In Colorado we used to be at 'individual tournaments' every weekend and dual meets with our conference during the week. The 'Super Dual' and subsequent varieties have been great for getting more matches (nobody going 2 and out anymore). However, they have created a coaching dilemma: Do I put out the line-up that gives each individual the best experience? Or Do I put out the line-up that gives the TEAM the best chance to win? Sometimes this means trading off pins.... Just wondering what folks think about this vs. true "dodging to protect a record".

Back to topic...agree. If a wrestler (or his coaches) are more concerned with win/loss record and/or ranking I believe it will undermine the achievement of goals. Now to be totally objective...not everyone has the same goals. For some it may be to qualify for Semi State, punch a ticket at State, place at State. A great win/loss record or high ranking will still not help you achieve those goals. If a wrestler's goal is to wrestle under the lights, the best way to achieve that is to have first hand knowledge of the other 15 guys in the state bracket! It is rare to go undefeated, and those that have ended their season without blemish, are the least likely to have ever "dodged" a match up to get there. "Best way to make a name for yourself...is by taking someone else's name away" aka "if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best". Great example is Jacob LaPlace-Mishawaka 138# who placed 4th at State as a freshman. Jacob had 13 losses on his record going into State. The reason that Jacob placed that high as a freshman WAS the 13 losses. That is what prepared him to reach his goal. And I've never heard anyone stick an asterisk next to that accomplishment with a note that says....yeah but he had 13 losses. Is there a wrestler out there that will not admit that they have learned more from a tough loss than from an easy win? From a fans standpoint, we respect a wrestler that steps up for a challenge...win or lose.

So the answer then, is no? Is that what I am gathering from the responses so far? Classing the tournament would not be deemed a reasonable trade for allowing teams to enter two wrestlers in the state tournament?

If you want the best competition.... It's simple......Keep it Classless....

No no no no NO NO NO We are not going to turn another unrelated topic into a classed wrestling debate.

In my opinion for a kid that has a chance of being a placer and maybe even a shot at the finals getting that goose egg off his record can do more good than bad. I have seen it just eat kids up and it is hard to mentally prepare them for big matches because they are wrestling not to lose. I can't count how many times I have dealt with this and I hate it. Now there are the Brayton and Redd's that don't have this issue because they get out of our small mud hole and wrestle at the national level.

Not a debate. Just a question. If the answer is no, then I have no intention on trying to sway opinion. Just wondering where the opinion is.

And so it begins.

All of these are excellent reasons for not converting to class wrestling. Beautiful.