Y2CJ41

I think the team race might be the most interesting of any of the semi-states, you have

Bellmont and Carroll with 11 wrestlers

Elkhart Memorial, Delta and Yorktown with 8 and some horses to put up big points

Jimtown has 7 and Prairie Heights has 6 and they are always dangerous

Should be a fun day from start to finish.

At least Fort Wayne will let me vape in the corner.

Here they are...we are determining the prizes soon for the winners

Fort Wayne

http://goo.gl/forms/LrLR9eGBsA

East Chicago

http://goo.gl/forms/Tqxe87d06g

New Castle

http://goo.gl/forms/tDGXvZYVvU

Evansville

http://goo.gl/forms/q1ZPi4jJVy

Don't hang Chad!

By STEVE KRAH

stvkrh905@gmail.com

It took a little convincing to get brothers Bo, Blake and Beck Davis to see that wrestling is for them.

But once they committed to the mat sport, success followed and Garrett has been the beneficiary.

Bo Davis represented the Garrett High School Railroaders twice at the IHSAA State Finals, qualifying as a junior in 2014 and placing third in 2015 — both times at 195 pounds. He became a collegiate wrestler at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne.

Blake Davis (220) was a State Finals qualifier as a junior in 2015 just won Carroll Sectional and Carroll Regional titles as a senior in 2016. He will be a No. 1 in the Fort Wayne Semistate at Memorial Coliseum.

Beck Davis, who was at 182 as a freshman in 2015, has won at the sectional and regional stages as a sophomore at 195 in 2016. He, too, will be a top seed at semistate .

Bo, Blake and Beck are part of a family athletic legacy that includes father Chad Davis and mother Lisa (Leichty) Davis (a pair of 1990 Garrett graduates) and grandfather Steve Dembickie (GHS Class of 1971).

In a family where they take their sports and their academics seriously (Bo, Blake and Beck have all excelled in football for Garrett and Blake and Beck are ranked in the top five of their respective classes), it took some serious coaxing to become wrestlers.

“In our school wrestling was the weird thing to do,” Bo Davis said after being recruited to wrestling in sixth grade following a less-than-satisfying basketball experience. “I was forced into it, but I loved it.”

Blake Davis soon followed his older brother into wrestling. But, at first, there was resistance.

“All of us thought wrestling was a joke,” Blake Davis said, speaking for himself and both his brothers. We didn’t take it seriously. Bo went out and we made fun of him.”

But something clicked for Bo and Blake. They began to really enjoy wrestling and the all work it takes to do well.

It took a little more work coaxing Beck to join them.

“We offered him $250 to come to one practice,” Bo Davis said.

No sale.

“I was probably the most stubborn at the start,” Beck said. “I thought it was weird.”

It was Garrett coach Nick Kraus, who had Beck in a weight training class, that persuaded him to became a wrestler.

Kraus, in his fifth season with the program and third as head coach, watched the oldest Davis brother grind to make himself into a decorated wrestler.

“Bo is very coachable and he hated to lose,” Kraus said. “He was very, very persistent.”

After not placing at Mishawaka’s Al Smith Classic as a senior, Bo bared down week by week and it paid off during the IHSAA state tournament series.

“He’s a strong kid with an athletic build who got very good at a couple things he did consistently,” Kraus said. “I’ve never coached anybody who worked as hard as Bo Davis.”

That kind of drive in the classroom turned Davis into Garrett’s 2015 valedictorian and he is now studying biomedical engineering at Indiana Tech. Blake and Beck are ranked in the top five of their classes at Garrett.

A mean streak has also served Blake well.

“Blake is the meanest of the brothers,” Kraus said. “He imposes his will on people. He’s almost a bully on the wrestling mat.”

Lisa (Liechty) Davis, a standout athlete during her time at Garrett (she is a 1990 GHS graduate) and the boys’ mother, has witnessed the rage.

“Blake is mean,” Lisa Davis said. “If Bo was beating them when they were wrestling, they might throw a punch or two. Five minutes later, they are each others’ best friend.”

Blake does not shy away from the mean label.

“I guess since I was little I had anger problems,” Blake Davis said. “I’ve gotten better over the years of channeling it. If you are a competitive person, you don’t want to lose. If you live with them, you’re going to hear about it.”

Kraus appreciates the hate-to-lose attitude.

“That’s not a bad thing in wrestling and it’s trickled down throughout the team,” Kraus said. “All the kids are getting that chip on their shoulder.”

Superior conditioning has been Blake’s calling card.

“I know I’m not the most talented wrestler, but I can outwork them,” Blake Davis said. “I prefer to pin the guy as quickly as possible, but I can go six minutes.”

After an injury-filled football season, Blake just reached the wrestling shape of his junior season in recent weeks.

Using his competitive nature, Blake has avenged early losses or beaten opponents even more convincingly in rematches.

“(Blake) does have finesse,” Kraus said. “But for the most part, it’s a physical brute style of wrestling.”

Even at 220, it’s not all bulldozer with Blake.

“He’s pretty slick,” Bo Davis said of Blake. “He’s athletic for somebody that size. He can pull off some lighter-guy moves that stop people in their tracks sometimes.”

Kraus said Beck has the potential to be the best wrestling Davis brother.

“He’s had his brothers to work with all the time,” Kraus said. “He didn’t want to do it at first. Once he started to do it, he was all in. Now he doesn’t miss summer sessions, camps or weight room workouts. There are high expectations with his brothers’ accomplishments, but he doesn’t let it get to him.”

Following coaching advice, Beck tries to keep moving on the mat and believe in himself.

“I’ve been working on (constant motion),” Beck Davis said. “And to keep having fun and stay confident.

“I’m not really technical sound, but I have a decent gas tank and I like to shoot.”

Click here to view the article

No draws were given out at most regionals.

abc27.com has pretty good video footage of some of it as well

Here is the video

http://abc27.com/2016/02/06/district-wrestling-championship-ends-in-controversy/

I can't believe the coach didn't get dinged for unsportsmanlike or taunting for that chicken dance he did.

Isn't that the Carroll regional

I'd have to close the messageboard

http://highschoolsports.pennlive.com/news/article/5981954647243719663/chaos-reigns-between-central-dauphin-and-cumberland-valley-during-the-district-3-class-3a-team-wrestling-championships/

Here is my fun list of placer vs. placer and qualifier vs. qualifier/placer matches

I see 3 matches were a kid with a medal will be going home early

145 at Fort Wayne

Weimer vs. Laughlin

113 at East Chicago

Triana vs. Cummings

138 at New Castle

Ellis vs. Eldred 

I won sectional, but never state

At Fort Wayne

Brackets

http://indianamat.com/index.php/page/brackets.html/_/2016/state-series/

Individual Rankings

http://indianamat.com/index.php/page/rankings.html

I don't need to publicize reasons for my decisions here. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I try to keep a little bit of my life private.

Because I don't want to.

Matt Hurford no where on any of the lists but went on to place fifth, win a state title (in dominant fashion), then wrestle to JuCo national runner-up twice...

Wasn't Matthew a MS state runner-up or 3rd losing to Sliga?

I don't disagree with you that IndianaMat's relationship has nothing to do with team state.  In reference to this thread, I find it odd that you are commenting about the poor relationship between IHSWCA and IHSAA while you take stabs at the IHSWCA whenever possible.  I will admit that I have no idea what your private conversations are like with leadership of IHSWCA. In my opinion, your approach to criticism of them on your website is derogatory and not helpful and spreads a negative perception of an organization that you complain that has only 50% membership.  How are you helping to boost membership that you are complaining about?  It's more about the tone in which you decide to be vocal than the fact that you are vocal about their shortcomings.

The IHSWCA is our voice to the IHSAA. If our voice is weak we cannot improve the sport. I am very vocal about it because we need a strong voice for our sport with the IHSAA. Whether it's wrestle-backs, class wrestling, team state, or even something simple like updating sectional seeding criteria a weak voice will not help us achieve our goals for this sport.

When past presidents are regulars in the IHSAA Police Blotter, it does not help our sport. We need to look at our IHSWCA leadership and make sure it is sound and with that we can get things accomplished within the IHSAA.

IndianaMat's relationship with the IHSWCA could stand to be better.

That has NOTHING to do with team state. Plus someone needs to be able to be vocal about their shortcomings. I was a regional rep for a couple years and felt that nothing was getting done and it was a waste of my time to go to Indy once a month for a free lunch.

Bobby Cox has commented about the lack of true dual meets. It would not surprise me if they raise the standard to 6 in the near future. The number of two-day events has skyrocketed over the past 10 years also, which is not helping anything. It used to be the only two day events were Connersville, Al Smith, and State. 

As far as the IHSAA is concerned, I've said it numerous times, but the IHSWCA needs a better relationship with them. We need our state association to be proactive instead of reactive. We need our association to have more than 50% of the teams as members. The IHSAA will give us warning signs of issues and we need to attack them. They gave us many, many warnings about team state being on the chopping block. When did we FINALLY react? It was after they said it was dead! 

The communication within the IHSWCA is pitiful, when was the last time meeting minutes were posted on here? When was the last time any communication was sent to members? The last "IHSWCA" email I got was when Danny Struck was sending a plea for teams for the Jeff Classic. 

This year we are going to do FOUR separate Hangouts for our semi-state previews. Here is the schedule and links to each one

Monday 8:30pm New Castle Semi-State

with Y2, Mike Reiser, Dingo Brigade, and the Blue Monster

https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/crn91f3eho3f6tn1qeuvctec17k

Tuesday 8:30pm East Chicago Semi-State

I don't know what to tell you. If I coached at the biggest school in the state I would have voted the same way.

The notion that you believe teams care about having points next to their name is absurd. There are 40 teams that even with all state champions cannot qualify for the event yet you want to "include" them. Go ask coaches from Northrop, South Side, Heritage, Whitko, etc if they know about or care about being counted for team state. Only in your fantasy world to teams past the top 20 really care about team state.

Voting for teams to be included that have no chance is just watering down the event and if you don't realize that it's a shame. It doesn't look good when your team has been on the bubble of qualifying and if you had voted another way your team would NOT have qualified for the event.

Mat space or seating? Seating has to be GREATLY improved. It was terrible. 

100,000 sq ft of floor space for mats and seating

Coach McCormick already stated view from the stands would be improved.

Boo! Evansville would be better!!!

You voted to include teams that have no chance of making the event even with all returning champions. You greatly increase the fighting turtle's chances of making the event by doing so.

There is no merit in counting team scores for teams with less then seven wrestlers for two reasons. The first being they cannot win a dual with a full team and secondly they cannot score enough points to qualify. You might as well give them participation ribbons.