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Congratulations to this year's inductees

As stated previously this hall of fame is ran by crooked media folks who don't care. All rules are as valuable as the napkin they were written on.

This! All of this is true and accurate..and there’s more factors too. Many have been mentioned already. i have been following this thread and enjoying the discussion. Here comes the purely anecdotal part…worth nothing I know, but just wanted to share. Background: I attended Hobart in the late 80’s and had the good fortune to be a part of 2 State championship teams. I know first hand the sacrifices and dedication it takes to be part of something successful at a larger school. (Only 5 classes back then). I have 6 sons, all wrestlers for a 1A school listed in Y2s list, out here in no man’s land. Wrestling was always the top focus for all my boys, despite participating in football, CC, track, and baseball. Their high school does not have a strong wrestling culture or history. We were blessed to have a coach who was working his azz off to build one, and had built up numbers and some pride, but that somewhat evaporated when he left. I sent the boys to some camps at Purdue, or even out in Ohio. My boys were very well respected in our area and experienced success at Sectionals and Regionals; however, upon multiple births to EC SS, they were all soundly sent packing…every time. My boys harbor no sour feelings about any of these things and take great pride in their wrestling accomplishments…so, I have posted all this to relay: I posed this very question to my boys (ages 29-19) and all but one responded with a resounding NO to class wrestling in IN. For them, one of the best parts about wrestling was finding out just who the absolute best is, even when they know it’s not them. One of my sons, who was a 3x ECSS qualifier, said it like this, “Yea, maybe I coulda made a deep run in a 1A state tourney, but I would have much rather went out on my shield at ECSS each time, knowing I was seeing the best in our part of the state.” It’s easier to experience success at a small school wrestling, presuming you work hard and do the grind, than experiencing success as part of a team at a small school. Reasons like commitment from fellow team mates, injuries, harvest, etc etc all factor in for small rural schools that require 5, 9, or 11 athletes. Now the success a kid experiences may not culminate in them landing on the podium at state, but it doesn’t negate the success leading up to the day they exit the tournament. Wrestling, ultimately is about preparing for life. The IN tournament is imperfect and downright mean sometimes. Just like life can be. I put my boys into wrestling shortly after their mom passed from cancer. My oldest was 12 at the time. Wrestling helped them through the grief and prepare them to have the tools to deal with adversity, challenges and also develop character, humility, perseverance, integrity, discipline and determination. 112 athletes hit the podiums each year in IN, which means there are a host of athletes who do not, but are the beneficiaries of tremendous gifts such as motivation, fortitude, humility, perspective, and reality. None of those are bad things. All anecdotal, and worth exactly what you paid for it!

I can only speak for Adams Central, but the culture isn't just wrestling. The culture goes throughout the athletic department and in the classroom. I feel all 3 sports seasons try to work together to share the athletes & there has been a huge focus on the weight training end of being multiple sport athletes. There are a few wrestlers that wrestle year round, but more 2-3 sport athletes on the roster. The goal seems to be focusing on the team state duals, competing with the normal wrestling powers at sectional & regional in team standings, and then hopefully a few state qualifiers. If those qualifiers are just wrestling all year, then hopefully state placers. Though this year was abnormal with no qualifiers, it has worked out for the most part. 3 straight runner up finishes in football, 2 straight team state dual runner ups, won the conference team duals & individual tournament this year, and solid years in spring sports. Plus the prior 25 or so straight years of having a state qualifier in wrestling before this season.

Yea, small schools get the raw deal. But does the IHSAA care? They'll never change its part of the IHSAA "Hoosier" DNA. 50 years from now @Galagore grand kids will be posting on Indianamat futurama on why small schools have such a low success rate at the state tournament.

Yes! Mr Allred was a very dynamic man. He lived an amazing life and his journey and words of wisdom made an impact on many of us in our wrestling community. Mr Allred was wise beyond his years. He counseled me on multiple occasions and his words were from somewhere not of this earth. He was a very spiritual man who meant every word he said. He is and always will be missed by us all. I will be rooting hard for his son this weekend!!!

I would say Adam Central and Prairie Heights had more qualifiers and medal winners 15 -20 years ago. Both of those schools have a wrestling culture and kids that wrestle year around. Basketball despised going to a class tournament. Let's ask and see if they want a single class back. Probably not. Being able to compete in a sectional or for a state title is within reach.

You are advocating on behalf of your school's athletic department, not for your individual athlete. We can not blame the athletes and their family for making a different choice. I think you would be hard pressed to find any of our 14 champions saying they didn't have to make a sacrifice to earn their title. This seems like the classic "have your cake and eat it too" situation. You want to win an individual state title but you also want to participate in other sports. You do not want to have to choose between focusing on being good at a single individual sport or playing other team sports. So instead of class/divisional wrestling, perhaps the policy should be all individual athlete's need to participate in at least one other sport in order to compete at the state series. Would that alleviate the decision making for the wrestler at a small school? Would that bring the parity that is being asked for? It is a choice.

This is a choice you are making. Your son participates in multiple sports for his school. That is great. But it is a choice you are making. I don't see a difference in athletes in either case. We can't blame the wrestler at any school for focusing on one sport while another athlete is making a choice to participate in several sports. Is this a loyalty issue then? Loyalty/pressure for the athlete to do multiple sports because they go to a smaller school? If they want to be multisport athletes, awesome, but the trade-off will likely be not reaching the level of performance that the athletes that focus on a single sport may achieve. There are always exceptions. I wonder if Weaver from Rosseville only focused on wrestling.... That is a small school and his size would have been welcomed in many other sports. But did he choose to focus on wrestling in order to become a champ and prepare for the college level?

I get what you are saying. However, this does not take into consideration the trade-off it takes to get better. Those that are wrestling year round are giving up something. Seems like your argument is that there should be class/division wrestling so that smaller school athletes do not have to make a choice between wrestling or the other sports. If an athlete wants to focus on one sport, they will sacrifice the same way the wrestlers at bigger schools do.

This guy from sports illustrated gives Indiana a lot of love…. https://highschool.si.com/wrestling/2024/02/29/national-top-25-high-school-wrestling-rankings-for-every-weight-class-2-29-2024

Full wrestle backs for individual tournament no classes. class team state series. Bam done. Put a bow on it. Time to move on. Next topic.

Somebody needs to find a dead horse, we're gonna need it.

Y2 and I are thinking about doing 16 regional shows giving insite to that specific area who do you guys think would be the best regional representatives?

Maryland has a super fan, have you ever heard of him? He’s f not you will be hearing a lot of him at this event.

I had a thought, which led me to crunch some more numbers (sorry guys). Maybe the numbers I was crunching earlier were biased ... Maybe the majority of kids attends larger schools so we should expect them to win more. So here's what I did ... And again, this is just data, so take it for what it's worth ... 1. I grabbed the school population data based on the current 6 class system used for football. I totaled up all the students in the state to determine how many students attend each class. For example, over 30% of the student population in Indiana attends a 6A school whereas only 6% attend a 1A school. 2. Then, I looked at the top 4 placers over the last 3 years, using the same classes as football. 3. In theory, you would expect the percentages to be about the same. In other words, if 30% of students attend 6A schools, then you would expect 30% of the top 4 placers to come from 6A schools. 4. The data suggets (for whatever reason) that a wrestler is more likely to place in the top 4 if he is at a 6A or 5A school. Surpisingly, 4A kids are actually worse off than 1A kids (just based on the data). Maybe kids at smaller schools aren't as focused on 1 sport like kids at the bigger schools. Maybe kids at smaller schools just haven't been exposed to see how hard you have to work to place in the top 4. Maybe kids at smaller schools don't get access to the same resources as kids at bigger schools. But for whatever reason, it does appear to be disproportionate. That doesn't necessarily mean that classes/divisions are the right answer ... A lot can be said about the beauty of just having 1 class and seeing the champs wrestle under the lights. But just something to consider.

Watching from home this year. Enjoy and look forward to your thoughts on the atmosphere and overall feel in Maryland. BTW, if you get near Frederick, MD, you want to eat at Dutch’s Daughter restaurant. It is worth the drive north from College Park.

So hardcore you forgot it was the Maconaquah regional for a couple years.

Mike and Joe are joined by Nicky Dubs and we go over the Hall of Fame and some grade rankings. View full article

i do believe your first go around at a school that had a cougar mascot was at the bottom of the sectional and near the end had 4 SQ’s, 2 medals, regional team title, and a semi-state 2nd place finish . takes work to build these programs up as a coach.

Geez Zach, do see what you did. @Galagore job productivity went to zero the last two days. For sure he's been saving content for this post all season. We dont want it to go to waste.

You make really good points, and you aren't wrong. Coming from a big school, the mindset of the coaches is to get the athletes to focus almost solely on their sport. The baseball coach doesn't care to have their player wrestle. In a small school, there is a good chance you are friends with all the coaches and know them by name when you see them. I would imagine you have talks about each of the athletes and the their strengths and weaknesses. You share the athlete. I don't think that happens at big schools too much so there are some advantages you have if the kids do multiple sports. Not saying it wouldn't be better if they totally focused on wrestling but at least there is that. I also truly believe that, for the bigger boys, wrestling is a huge asset to football. I think if you are 165ish and above and your main sport is football but you still get some offseason and mat time when you can you can still be very successful. I do hear you when you say even your mid weights and smaller wrestlers play football, since it is a small school, so that can be tough, but it can also make them tougher. One of my best wrestlers is football first and wrestling second and I am okay with that. Currently, he is one of a few of my wrestlers with a real competitor mindset but he has been that way since sharks in minnows as a little kid. My stance is that either we class the state or we add more qualifiers and have wrestle backs. Our wrestlers deserve more opportunities because of how hard they now have to work now. I also really do see the advantage of classing for a small school and helping drive the numbers up. One of the reasons I would like to coach at a smaller school would be to get invited to Team State and be a part of that. Doing that at a 4A school while you are still trying to build a culture is a challenge. So don't get me wrong I don't disagree with you. I will keep saying it's not rainbow and butterflies in big school land. We all have battles we are fighting. Keep up the good fight.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwisto-1pNyEAxUYv4kEHeyRBEsQFnoECAYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbigten.org%2Fnews%2F2024%2F3%2F4%2Fbig-ten-wrestling-pre-seeds-announced.aspx&usg=AOvVaw0aPgnWRg86P8ELkh55I8Kt&opi=89978449

Let's hope the injured Hoosiers are getting back to full strength. I think losing Spangler hurts some points scoring.

The room was rocking last night, over 40 total kids with 6 different schools represented. Coach Runyan ran a great workout in preparation for ISWA state, thanks a million coach. Next week we will have Joey Butler for the freestyle kickoff night. Indiana state champ and currently wrestling for the Hoosiers. Enter door #9.

You have to do the rematch... Brooks gave him a rematch and lost the title back to him via BS DQ... PACIO didn't take anything back, it was given to him

One interesting possible matchup, will be on the same side of the bracket is Lee (IU) 3 seed and Blockhus (Minn) 2 seed. X team mates.

I have been told that top 5 make it in. If that is the case, I have finished 5th. With that said, I would like to decline my 1st ballot honors to ensure that the best story teller ever, and friend to many, Tom Clark @grecoref ,be honored as a 1st ballot entrant to the IndianaMat Poster HOF. We miss your amazing stories friend!!!!! My time will come and until then my County brother @TeamGarcia will hold the HOF down for our community!!! Congrats to all the great posters that make this site so much fun!!!

Punisher Skull wearing, Just say it having, The Most Notorious Indianamat Poster making, #TheCounty President being, Thee Innovating & Entertainment producing, The People’s Champ ….. !! TEAMGARCIA IS IN THE HOF !!

Do you realize the number of kids that didn't wrestle in those program's middle schools or only did for one year?

I am counting more than 2 state champs in the last 3 years from 1A and 2A - Betz, Leech, Weaver, Fishback, Carroll. Maybe it's a difference of you using the basketball classes vs the classes that are used for the team wrestling championships. Also how many of the champs and top 4 placers are from just 3 schools - Crown Point, Brownsburg, and Center Grove (who are doing a great job of drawing the best talent in the state)?

Having coached at a small school, and a medium sized school I think the following are possible advantages to the small school. More one on one focus from coaching staff. Better chance to be varsity for four years. Better recognition for "smaller" accomplishments- one the wall for sectional champ at small school, state placer at bigger school. I was able to have more coaches at the smaller school. If all of the athletic programs are solid and on the same page, the athlete is in a great strength and conditioning program year round... this is generally the same at EN as almost all of our wrestlers are 2-3 sport athletes. On the team side our teams have generally been better at EN, but at Busco it was easier to get a random kid from the hallway to fill in if we needed a weight class filled than at EN. Winning team state is more attainable at a small school imo , where the competition is not as dependent on having a lot of state level kids, and more on just producing a squad of 14 solid wrestlers.

Man it is hard to figure out when someone is serious and when they are joking. Like the buddy of mine who used to post that cannibalism wasn't so bad. You think you know someone.

Weaver would be an animal at football if Rossville had a football team.

Being referred to as "this Galagore" is my favorite thing about today so far.

Just work harder, if you put in the time during the off-season you are the bad draw and don't have to worry about losing. The ticket round is a part of our culture and the most exciting round. Semi-state would be boring with wrestle-backs. Life isn't fair, get over it.

Many states have tried some sort of champions tournament and they all have failed. It would be the same thing as us running state back two weeks later and asking everyone to "prove it" with their title runs. I would guess there are around 100 wrestlers who would love a redo on their state finals and to improve their placement or get revenge for a loss they took. If a kid wants to prove he's the best in a classed state he will prove it at events during the season such as Al Smith, Mooresville, and others, prove it at ISWA events, or go out and place high at national events. Why aren't we having Rochester, Delta, and Floyd Central wrestle Crown Point after team state? Do we want to crown them champions, but then the next week say... "well you aren't really the champion?" How asinine is that?

Next year I’m nominating my guy @Galagore for HOF for his perseverance on these Topics . About every year some rookie poster brings it up and this Galagore throws some haymakers on these “CLASS WRESTLING” “DIVISIONS” He’s right, only time he posts is State Time and his most popular topics being , I hate to say it. I may not like what I’m reading but …. You got my respect

Thanks guys. I very much appreciate the support I’ve gotten from the Brownsburg wrestling community, and the Central Indiana wrestling community as a whole. I’m firmly convinced that being involved in this great sport has been a key factor in my fight. “Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.” -Dan Gable I don’t know about easy, but it definitely helped!

I never realized my first post on Indianamat would cause such a stir!

It's different this time...this isn't about class wrestling...it's about divisions.

For the Individual Tournament? But they do need to bring back the Team Tournament Series, then...

No

Metcalf is a bomb waiting to go off...... That is exactly what I thought about Brands too, so not exactly a longshot IF Iowa wanted a change. My money stays with Brands for now.

I’m pretty sure the rest of us (8) nominated would agree to give them Automatic Shoo-in and only take Top 3 after them this year .

Jason Tsirtsis NCAA champion Jesse Mendez Future NCAA champion Darden Schurg D3 national champion

Columbus North Orrin Kleinhenz Sophomore 189# 34-12 state Qualifier Junior 189# 37-8 state runner up. All his losses this year came from Heath VanDeventer. Senior 189# 49-0 State Champ. Thadeus Douglas-The always under weight takedown machine. If they kept the 98# weight class I would be righting different stats down. Senior 103# 3rd Fargo Greco 7th Fargo Greco 6th

I’m telling ya, we should have a Battle Royal Character & Personalities of Posters Roast . Invite the Indianamat best . @MikeTython, @donniebaker, @3xStateChamp, @Wrestling Bill Walton, off the top of head . Who else ? BE EPIC !