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Slivka is one of the best big match wrestlers in Indiana history. He had wins over multiple top ranked high schoolers last year. And has beaten more of those guys this year. He just gets the job done. Slivka is a hammer on top and underrated on his feet. I’m unaware of any national ranked kids that Dickens has beat. Slivka has beaten a handful. With that said, that’s the reason that Slivka gets my nod. I’m using logic and facts. EMD fans are pumped for their guy. As they should be. Again, silly debate but a fun one. Obviously the Dickens win is fresh and 90 percent of EMD fans will give Dickens the nod. It is what it is. With all of that said, most posters on here have never won a title and will never have family member win a title. They will never know the joy or help put the work in to win a title. So.. when you get on here and say a KID will smoke another KID, it is kinda insulting to a family that actually put in the work, took the kid to privates, took the kid to academy, took the kid all over the USA, the money that was spent, the sleep that was missed, the days of work missed, the tudors that were payed for, getting up at 5:00am to help the kid work out and meal prep, the “vacation” time that was spent in the middle of Iowa. So before you go off running your mouth behind your anonymous screen name, be considerate of what people went through and know that they are prideful. Make your logical picks or homer picks, but you need to be respectful of other people’s sacrifices. Calm down cowboys. Just my two cents.

Also the trainers asked me if I was ok, and I replied that it wasn’t my head, I just landed on my neck weird. I never even had the thought of taking the match from him like that. I have too much respect for him and his father to ever do that.

Hands down Tom Brady... 6x Super Bowl Champion 4x Super Bowl MVP 3x NFL MVP 14x Pro Bowler 3x First Team All-Pro 2x Second Team All-Pro 2x NFL Offensive Player of the Year NEVER won an Indiana Wrestling State Championship...

Gil Journey

oh....... my ......... god ...... @Mattyb on

My two cents: these threads are pointless.

How has no one mentioned Craig Macke??

Congrats to all teams that participated in yesterday's event. It was very successful and was well ran. With that being said obviously congrats go to the Champions Center Grove and the runner up Jay County and 3rd place finisher Brownsburg as well. I want to recognize another team for what I feel sometimes gets over looked and goes without mentioning too often. At the end of the day the voice on the microphone announced that we would ask all teams to do their part in cleaning up their area. While myself and a couple other ISWA directors, board members and the president were collecting our equipment someone commented to the Perry Meridian team and coaches that we appreciated them cleaning up their area. They advised us they had already cleaned up their area and were cleaning up another area on their way out the door. Then after that was completed 2 kids from that team came to the ISWA President and myself and very politely & respectfully asked if there was anything else they could do to help us and thanked us for the day. Keep in mind these are MS kids showing the maturity and grace of what we would expect from most if not all of our HS age kids. Now this is where I should and would normally make a joke at the expense of @lewdwar but in this case I feel its best to just keep it classy and say thank you and you are doing a great job mentoring and leading those kids and it definitely is showing !!!! Respectfully, Jason Miller ISWA Kids Director

Mainly only D1 programs, big tourneys in all the other divisions; like NCAAs regional, and nationals do they use this, as well as the Big Conference tourneys (Big 10, BIG 12, ACC, MAC, PAC 12, ETC). The problem with having it in high school is that coaches already take officials to the table enough for "clarifications" of a rule, having video review will only extend matches longer and will stop the flow of the match some more...

The coaches vote has merit, but also comes with some negative affects. I know of coaches who said their AD did their voting and they never knew about it. I have had an AD(not currently an AD) that would change the coaches votes. Those are just two experiences I have heard. I think there should also be a way for coaches to only vote for officials they have seen within the past 3 years. Personally I like Blane's idea on advancing the best officials from sectional based on voting and such. The wrestlers that are wrestling the best advance, why not the officials that are officiating the best advance? Sectionals and such are basically "seeded" for officials so barring something horrific you should still get the better ones to go on.

Tyrone Wilson used to have a sticker with his picture on it that he'd put in the book when he was starting out. It is a great idea for the newer or lesser known refs. It's also a reminder that when it comes time to vote to vote for that guy. For good or bad I know a lot of refs and even ask the senior ones who others are if I don't know. Coaches need to be a little more proactive to get the better refs to advance.

Sawyer Miller from South Adams 2012-2015 4th, 3rd, 2nd place finishes at state NAIA All-American x3 and NAIA 125 champ last year

The coach voting is an interesting system in practice. In theory it is smart. Coaches feedback is important and should be taken into consideration. But I have also noticed that I get votes from schools I didn’t even know existed. Any ranking (1-5) from a school/coach that hasn’t seen you officiate is a bad vote for a true assessment. I’ve also heard about refs getting repeated bad scores from the same coach for years that is holding a grudge. Just like wrestlers, officials get better with mat time and experience. If you are a coach still giving a good ref a 1 or a 2 because of a questionable call a decade ago, you are part of the problem. Same goes for if you are giving your buddy a 5 because he has been a great official in the past but maybe his officiating career is on the decline. Base rating off of how they officiate in the present, not the past, and don’t vote for someone you haven’t seen. I think I heard the NCAA had official evaluators, where some of the top older officials rank and assign the younger ones for major tournaments. I wonder if the IHSAA could get feedback from some of the heads of the associations or some of the more seasoned state level officials. Maybe they could also rank the eligible officials and that could be added to the score for evaluation. At the end of the day, the IHSAA’s goal is to crown a state champion—the best wrestler in the state. Shouldn’t we also be working to get the best crew of refs to help in that process? I don’t say this implying the guys there this weekend weren’t the best officials for the job. I know a handful of them and I’d agree they are some of the top officials, much better than myself currently--they are the ones I’ll go to to help get better. But this thread has brought up flaws with the process so I figured I’d offer my take on it and how to maybe improve it.

What if I told you I was BETTICH he deserves the title No foul play intended at any point

Brewer over Walker any day, he straight handled his partner last year and beat Donahue who is now a national prep champion... Kinda clueless on why anyone would say walker.

Slivka was hurt with a broken rib last year and still beat Donnell Washington who was nationally ranked, considered the best in the state at the time, and lets not forget he got 6th in the midlands this year at 174, there is not another Slivka than A game Slivka while under the lights.

Zack Davis Penn 9th-SQ 10th-6TH 11th- 2nd (Micic in Finals) 12th-2nd (Micic in Finals_ 4x Letterman at the Naval Academy 100+ wins Naval Academy 1x Ncaa Qualifier 4x Academic All American Currently Flying Jets for the Navy in Pensacola, FL

Eli and Jordan have only wrestled once that I recall. It was in middle school and Slivka a year older. Final score 1-0. Slivka. It would be a fun match in my opinion.

Dickens NOR slivka smoke either one. They are both great wrestlers. Dickens would control neutral game, slivka would control the top game. The kid was down by 5 to my buddy DJ at state and came back to win because of his brutal top game. It’s really a toss up. Dickens could win 5 and slivka could win 5 in 10 matches.

Slivka beat #2 in the nation and Penn State commit Trey Kibe at Disney Duals, and of course beat a seemingly unbeatable DJ Washington at state. Dickens is good, but I would choose Slivka to win that match without even thinking twice.

This seams like a silly topic to me. Why are we blaming the victim of an illegal move for wrestling later on if they feel like they can. Hears an idea, don't do the illegal move then you wont have a problem. Maybe its just the cop in me but penalizing the victim and rewarding the offender seams wrong.

You guys are probably still spent from the weekend, so I thought I would help a little with the results I could find for college: Friday Chad Red pins Mitch McKee (Minnesota) in 3:53. If Mitch McKee never sees another Indiana wrestler, that will probably be alright with him. Brayton Lee tech falls Christian Miller (Nebraska) 23-8 Mason Parris earns a 10-1 major over Jon Spaulding (Edinboro) Garrett Pepple loses in a 7-3 decision to Drew Marten (Central Mich) Cayden Rooks earns a 12-2 major over Wade Cummings (Chattanooga) Graham Rooks loses 12-8 to Tanner Smith (Chattanooga) Diego Lemly gets pinned by Hunter Fortner (Chattanooga) in 4;16 Nick Willham loses in a 14-4 major to Rodney Jones (Chattanooga) Rudy Streck loses a 6-3 decision to Grayson Walthall (Chattanooga) Sunday Nick Lee earns a 7-3 decision over Salvatore Profaci (American) Bonus Cross Over Content Could be college. Could be high school. Is both. Matt Lee enters the Mat Town II tournament as a high school senior and takes home third at 157. After beating Jonrocco Kazalas (Binghamton) 11-3 in the round of 16 he lost to red-shirt junior Elijah Cleary (Ohio State) 8-1. On the back side he had consecutive wins over Benny Baker (Finger Lakes) by a score of 16-3, Garrett Fisk (Maryland) 3-2, and Wyatt McCarthy (Rider) 4-3 before receiving third in a no contest victory of number 1 seed Jon Ross (Lock Haven).

Yes!!! Perfect post from this dude! Going hard after his own teams fan base and alumni. Now he has insulted or pissed off 100 percent of the Indiana wrestling community. Dude is a savage.

I have noticed in multiple instances ( for example the 120lb semi finals of state this Year) the referee didn’t call the illegal move until he realized Bettich was slow to get up. I’ve realized the referees won’t call illegal moves unless they notice the wrestler looks injured and they change the call.

You bet, Jason. Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you at State Finals. Hope you are doing well.

On top of that it would be easier for coaches to vote. There are hundreds and hundreds of refs to vote for. I'd much rather have the list narrowed down to ones I have seen. Heck, I saw names that I didn't know they were refs! It would make it easier to vote for refs if the list is narrowed down to 100 that you have seen recently.

Brewer ws a absolute monster at 182 and the picture of him flexing like the hulk after he won gives me nightmares and I'm not even wrestling him And he's gotten even better and is 19-3 as a redshirt freshman with some really good wins and open titles!

That's a possible idea, but then somebody would request it at team state or the Al smith or team state or some other big tournament, then down slippery slope. Also, think about this, if we didn't have experience in the season with replay, you wouldn't get the bugs worked out. You would have officials, coaches, and filmers and tech people inexperienced with using this technology. You would have a lot of problems with inexperienced camera men and tech issues. You would have coaches and referees with no experience on what situation you could review. I think you would have serious problems at sectonals and regionals. Who would play for the equimpment to be used a few weeks a year. The other issue is that could add a lot of time to wrestling meets which generally are already to long. You potentially could add hours to a meet with more bored fans in the stands watching nothing.

PM has a strong MS group, but not likely that any make the lineup. Our last practice had 68 wrestlers. We return, Cottey, Koontz, and Warren. Semi-state returners: Morton, Haggerty, Mckivitz, Dale, and McClure. Add to that group Toby Billerman and Ronin Hammond. We will be right with the best of them.

Darden Schurg, Crown Point 2012-15 4th, 6th at SS behind Forte, 2nd & 2nd D3 Nat. Champ at Wabash Andy Hobbs, Tipton 4th and 3rd in 1985 & 86 with losses both years to Yorktown’s McCormick if my memory is correct. The online archives should be updated to go back further.

All GREAT picks but they all take runner up to the White Sox of North Posey High School!!!

Clayton Fielden...two time Runner Up. Fargo Freestyle All American

We don't need to have replay review to get calls correct on the mat. what we need is consistency across the whole state on situations that each official may come across during the season and be better prepare to make those calls with the second officials support or opinion. The disconnect that I have seen the last couple of years is the inexperience of some officials that do not get to see enough of those crazy situations often, and not preparing or anticipating those situations... which could be illegal cutbacks, cut blocks, hands to the face, hip to hip early take downs, take downs not beyond reaction time. I believe we could truly improve the sport of wrestling by preparing thru having monthly calls statewide and discuss situations, topics, and how to call them consistent across the state. Those are my two sense. We have a tremendous amount of good officials across the state but I believe we could always improve. And it all starts with us.

Here is the post season yearbook info from that season if you want some extra reading. https://www.ihsaa.org/archive/b-wrestling/03WrYearbook.pdf

Am I the only one thinking that the best seats are in the corners of the mats Friday and Saturday? Best way to get them is by having kids place top 4 at Semi-State and then winning on Friday night. In all seriousness, when our kids are not competing, I enjoy sitting in the second level, sections 103-105, along the glass. Getting and saving seats is stressful. Everyone wants good seats. I don't mind saving seats, but if you are trying to save an entire section and you only have a handful people doing so, forget about it. Get everyone on the same page, have them show up, and go to work. Trying to save seats for people that want to show up in a couple hours after the start of each round because they are at the mall or eating lunch....forget about it. No sense in that. Show up early and enjoy the best state finals event Indiana offers.

Mr. Barroquillo had a pretty strong resume. Lost to Neal Malloy in semi finals in senior season

Unless the IHSAA brings back the Real Shaved Ice none of this Kona Truck 6oz of goop bull crap! WHO IS WITH ME!

I assume not many of us are doctors or in the medical field. For that reason I don't believe we should be the ones determining if someone can wrestle or not after being injured or injury default. I have heard trainers or on site doctors say "Ice it and see how it feels" pain can heel and go away in time. Tournaments like state you may have 2 hours or more in between matches that is enough time feel better. With a Head injury it takes time to determine if one has a concussion sometimes more time then whats allowed during a match. Medical personal may have time after the default to make a better decision. The point is it should be up to someone with a medical back round to decide whether someone can continue a match or even continue wrestling after a default not Refs, coaches, parents, or fans.

To all the people saying you shouldn't be able to wrestle after defaulting please answer this: If a wrestler is in a tight match and is injured due to an illegal move, why should he feel it necessary to continue wrestling at a disadvantage? Why should he feel he can't try to wrestle his next match at a disadvantage? I have coached for almost 20 years, and have never won a match defaulting. I have had a kid, getting drilled, get injured by a slam a few times and just gave the win to the other guy. I know you are going to say that some coaches or wrestlers take advantage of the situation just for a W. I just don't think you can make a rule that could possibly keep a kid from participating after an illegal move.

Maybe, but do you know what is said to a wrestler when it’s just him, the coaches, and the medical personal? Because I don’t. Maybe there are some that I’ve met that have, but I would never know. I’m too busy focusing on my wrestler rather than what the opposing coach is saying.

That Allred match looks juicy

I’ve never met a coach that will allow a kid to injury default just to get to the finals. The look our what’s best for their kid. Now I’m not saying there is t a coach out there that would just take the injury default when their kid is fine. But again if it’s serious and they can’t wrestle then forfeit.

I would say me with the obvious business in the front and in cutoff boo jeans and sleeveless flamal, and sum Nikee pumps. Sware to God I only bring my Sunday best to the Bank. Franklin Central rocking the white beard and blue flame shirt that looks like BBB trying to button his shirt after a 3 hour intermission in da streets of Inday

Same thing happened with Calhoun and Deters , Calhoun had the takedown called and it got removed and he lost in OT to Deters

I wasn’t in the room but have a lot of buddies who were. I’d say the lack of D1’s stemmed from a lot of them being country boys who joined the family business. They had zero aspirations of college but would’ve excelled at wrestling if they chose that path.

Wheeler has Jose diaz jr class of 2018- Franklin & Marshall D1 Isaiah Mohmed class 2019 - Wisconsin whitewater D3 Trey buhler class 2018- university of Indianapolis D2 Clay Turpin class of 2016- Indiana tech university NAIA Giovanni Diaz class of 2020- Franklin and Marshall D1 Just remember wheeler has about 530 students enrolled and we only had a wrestling program for the last 7 years

First, we are splitting hairs here with the D1 vs the other divisions. Yes, there are many solid wrestlers at the D2, D3 & other levels that are beating the mid-to-lower level D1 guys at open tournaments. And there are even a handful of guys that start at the D2 level or below that wind up transferring to a big time D1 program & end up being successful at college's highest level, but those guys are the exception not the rule. The vast majority of the true studs are at the D1 level. Second, the idea that MD's style does not translate to the next level is shortsighted. I don't know the numbers but I'd bet that MD is pretty comparable to anyone in Indiana when it comes to producing successful college wrestlers (especially if you take school size into consideration). But more importantly I believe there is an significant point that is being missed in this discussion. And that is that MD's tradition of excellence at the HS level is not built on the occasional true stud that comes through but rather on the tremendous amount of overachievers who possess the exceptional work ethic & dedication it takes to excel at something as tough as wrestling. And this stems from the excellent coaching & immense community support they have in place.

The good thing is it takes less years now, as semi-recently(within the past 5-10 years) they changed it to the 7 year minimum. Before that it would take 10-12 years to get a state tournament. When it was 10-12 years it really hurt a lot of people that wanted to referee, but didn't want to wait out 10 years to maybe get a state finals. That is basically telling a kid while he might be good enough, he can't go to state his freshman and sophomore years. In all honesty, I want the best refs at semi-state and state and don't care if they have been reffing for two weeks or 50 years. If a guy is good enough to ref at state they shouldn't be handcuffed because they are young. While there needs to be a "learning" period with the exposure people have to the sport now they can be well prepared to take the mat younger and younger. I would be in favor of having the advancement period allowing a minimum one year needed at each level to advance. Thus the first year a ref can do sectional, second year(pending votes and such) they can do a regional, 3rd year(pending votes and such) a semi-state, and 4th year a state. If the referee is good enough they should be able to advance faster with the coaches votes.

Best response this year

No referee-backs either!