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I actually feel like a lot of good things are happening off the mat. This weekend was high emotion, and that breeds tension. I saw kids that were finished staying to watch placement matches. Many of these kids weren’t from the same school, club, region or semi-state. I saw kids that don’t know each other talk and interact and support each other. I saw parents hug their kids and tell them how proud they were. I saw coaches tell a kid how much they’ve grown. I would argue there is more of that than the opposite. Bad things get a lot of attention, but I think we should focus on all of the good stuff instead. The future is bright in Indiana for wrestling. This tournament seems to get tougher every year, and that’s awesome.

If we want to dig even deeper into this point: I think our whole culture teaches us that being happy is the meaning of life. Which is all well and good. But the way happiness is defined nowadays has evolved into this: "obsessively chase what you think should be yours so you can be happy for you." That's a counterfeit happiness--it's a rigid individualism and potentially narcissism. True happiness doesn't happen on an island. It happens in relationships and in respect of community. Relationships involve self-sacrifice--the opposite of "get mine for me." As a parent, I'm trying to learn better how to teach "chase your dreams" in a way that also involves celebrating others' successes. It's tough to do!!

You can see it in the schools as well, parents coming in a cussing out teachers and principals right in front of the student. Parents are not trying to be parents anymore, in my opinion, but they rather be best friends with their kids.

Ill point out that the bad news always gets more attention, so this isn't necessarily so. In my interactions, 99% of the time I see good sportsmanship, good behavior and people enjoying the sport. Just like our news, the negative makes a good story, but it sure doesnt mean that its the norm. Ive been around wrestling for years, and crazy ***potty mouth*** has always happened. Not sure what happened in the IHSAA event, but maybe handled wrong, but the IHSAA doesnt look kindly on stuff described. Im sure this was investigated and acted on. Guns are so prevalent, people love them, but still this is an anomaly. On the ISWa tournament, there was a lot of brotherly wrestling love this weekend. 99% of people were great, appreciative and enjoying themselves. Its like a giant wrestling reunion. Yes, there was some incidents from passionate people whose behavior could have been better. But I dont think the original poster knows the full circumstances of the situation described. I say look at all the good this weekend, kids of all ages learning sportsmanship, making friends enjoying competing. It overshadows any negative, and that crazy behavior is not anything new. Always some bad apples.

Special Shout to Mendez! Winning the 141 Title by beating Woods & Bartlett on the way. His interview was sweet. It's clear he has bigger aspirations in mind. Here is a run down of all the Indiana native's that placed (please let me know if I missed anyone). 133 - C. Rooks 7th 141 - Mendez 1st, Lemley 4th 149 - G Rooks 7th 157 - Lee 5th 174 - Baumann 8th 197 - Allred 3rd HWT - Davison 3rd Brayton Lee could have been in the finals. He lost to Will Lewan in SV in the semifinals, but he had a TD all but secured in the final seconds of regulation. If he would have just covered Lewan's hips he would have gotten the 3. But he had Lewan almost on his back & went for that instead. Lewan was then able to scoot his hips out & square up. Hindsight is 20-20. Good luck to all these guys at Nationals.

Parents not being removed from the facility for out of control actions is unacceptable.

We, as adults talk about the "younger generation" and the lack of respect and accountability, and then we have people that act like this with no consequence. The mystery as to why these kids act this way is not hard to solve, in my opinion. If you want your kids to act and carry themselves in a particular manner, you must model what that looks like when things don't go your way. Kids only know what they're taught and seeing the way some "coaches" and parents carry themselves, those aren't the lessons I want to teach my young people.

What is going on in out community? A coach is physically restrained in a coach v parent altercation at an IHSAA event and not removed from the tournament. A parent brings a backpack to a tournament with 2 handguns, 1 accidentally discharges in the crowded gym. A wrestler responds to a hard club by throwing a punch at ISWA state and is allowed to continue wrestling. His dad is asked to leave by a referee but refuses and remains without any consequences. Have things gotten worse or did I just have my head in the sand before?

Sadly, Blake Boarman, Chattanooga (Evansville Mater Dei) 133, got put to his back and pinned when he was leading 8-0 in a match that he needed to secure a spot at NCAA nationals this weekend. Double sadly, even though he was in a good spot in the Coaches' ranking and RPI to get an at-large bid if he lost, the 133 results went haywire across the country. A full 8 of the 27 guys at that weight who earned automatic allocations for their conferences did not earn the automatic bids. There are only 6 at-large bids to be handed out, and, as it turns out, among those 8 unlucky losers, Blake is ranked 7th. He would be the final guy not to get into the tournament at 133 if the committee decides to stick to its pre-tournament assessments. Several of the other "losers" were ranked near him, and I'm not sure what's happening with the injury situation of Wells from Minnesota, so not all is lost. But it's not looking great. So here's a twist: In the Big Ten, Bouzakis of Ohio St. and Wells of Minnesota didn't earn their allocations and stand in front of Boarman in the line for that last NCAAs bid. One of the things that happened there was a seeding glitch: Brody Teske of Iowa didn't get a seed (well..automatically fell to 14th) because he won the Iowa wrestle-off too late for his information to be submitted for a seed. He takes out 3-seed Bouzakis, who falls into the wrestle backs and loses to 4-seed Van Dee. If Teske had been seeded, he would have been the #6, and he would have had a first round match with Cayden Rooks, who would have dropped a line from his given #10 to #11. Even if Cayden had wrestled lights out, he would have arguably lost that match to the hot Teske. Making a long story short...Bouzakis would have likely gotten 4th to 6th, even with how he wrestled this weekend; Teske would have placed about the same as he did; and Rooks would have had to face Van Dee of Nebraska in the Consi 2nd Round. Assuming he'd lost that match as he did this weekend (11-6), Bouzakis would have gotten the automatic bid and Rooks wouldn't have. ....And Blake Boarman would be sitting in the final NCAAs bid position instead of one spot out. Obviously, Cayden Rooks earned his spot, and Indiana wrestling fans who know his story--among whom I am one--are ecstatic. And obviously Blake Boarman put himself where he is by not finishing the job on Saturday. But what a twist of fate that one Indiana native who just lost 9-8 to another Indiana native just a couple weeks ago might have subbed in to his NCAAs spot in his last-gasp year--in part because of a seeding rule technicality!

That’s a lot of if ands and buts, and always happens every year to more than one wrestler. I’m amazed at how you did all this placement diving to get to a conclusion! Did you graduate at the top of your class?

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a parent cuss at their kid this weekend, I'd have lunch paid for this whole week. Apples and trees

He's so physical. I did not expect that he'd become such a physically dominating 141. It feels like the sky's the limit for him.

Howe wrestling school has added drop ins. If in town or around come get a workout in.

Not defeated...more like an injury time.

Relentless pressure from Mendez to claim that B1G title.

Sam Riesen vs. Andy Oberlin

Having spent a bit more time in Iowa over the past few months, I've spoken to quite a few other UI athlete's parents about how Iowa HS sports offered and believe there's some interesting tidbits that Indiana may wish to ponder. 1. Schools let athletes compete in more than one sport in a season. 2. Track and baseball are not in the same season. 3. There are four sport athletes (and a few 5 sport athletes) given #1 & #2 above. 4. Not every team or individual makes the post season, decreasing number of tournament weekends. 5. They play state final games and wrestle state finals series during the week due to multiple class structure. My kid wanted to play MS basketball but was told by school admins he had to choose btwn wrestling or basketball and wouldn't be allowed to do both. Choice made for him. During late elementary years, he really liked baseball. Could bang them over the fence before anyone else in Little League, but daddy ball politics soured that really quickly. Started wrestling GR/FR during "baseball season" and a few years later placed at Fargo... Do think that multiple sport participation can help combat burnout for athletes later in HS - often different friend/teammate circles, pressures/expectations are different, etc. However, if the kid desires to get to an elite level with aspirations of making it to college to compete, then extra time, practices and sacrifices have to be made to reach that dream. In Division 1, football offers 85 full "headcount" scholarships and basketball has 13; then all the rest of the sports have equivalency scholarships: wrestling 9.9, baseball 11.7, etc. So, if the goal is to go on a ride to college, play the numbers math -- baseball is not it if you're not a pitcher or Babe Ruth... My kid was lucky he had a choice whether to play football or wrestle collegiately in the B1G, but the wrestling training in the "off season" is what prepared him to be able to make that choice and specifically with the training that Chad Red (C-Red) provided which is so much more than what is only on the mat... So rather than pressure kids that have dreams to wrestle after HS to play baseball, run CC/track, etc., help them find a way to train and travel to get those opportunities presented to them through their body of work. When speaking to parents with young kids, I often suggest 1 team sport and 1 individual sport to narrow down to as they get closer to middle school which usually works except for baseball where the pressure is for year around training and travel teams. (There's a good reason DSG and other companies are heavy promoters of youth sports... hahaha...) The intense schedules of basketball travel & baseball travel are atrocious... At least w/ wrestling off season tournaments, you get to choose whether or not to go and it doesn't impact the team, etc. So, circling back around to the divisions question... How's this sound? Make 2 divisions, Eliminate sectionals Must qualify for a regional and add wrestlebacks (maybe throw a "true second" round in for seeding purposes and extra drama) & advance 3 to state Run state over multiple days w/ wrestlebacks but no true second round for state finals

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.

Peru regional 4 life.

FC Fighter. Great Supporter of his Alma Mater and his guys!

Thoughts on how Lucas Boe, Veazy and Rojas would have done this year?

Ok so I was wrong on a couple Boe- really good I had a lot to of people tell me that he would make the biggest impact of the incoming freshman I was disappointed to see him leave at 150 I think I would still go Kresja and May but just makes Evansville more nasty at 157 I think he would be more in the mix here Betz and Brabender look like grown men at 57. Pellot has a solid style that is difficult to wrestle I think he medals both weights 175-Rojas really talented that’s Is a tougher spot I know he has a win over whetsel who medaled. I also think he medals I would love to see some results against Harden or Costello 190- Veazy- absolute monster I heard he really improved in the ponderosa room. I heard he was coming back I would love to see him and Penola I know Gunnar has beat him before I think he is probably a semi finalist a couple others 113- Justin Williamson Hobart split with 5th place finished Gavin Lewis this year has had tight matches with Boyd in the past 132- Evan Stanley Lowell took 4th in illinois big class with the number 1 ranked wrestler there probably gave Jake his toughest Indiana born match. Has former wins over Demarco and thrine possibly semi finalist 138- Damien Resendez Crown Point wrapping up a solid career in Illinois has beat solid Indiana guys lost lopsided to Shep I say SQ at minimum 144- Jairo Acuna Portage very solid wrestler former illinois Medalist has also beat a lot of solid Indiana kids I think medalist or at minimum SQ