grappleapple

I think Hayden Lohrey from Shenandoah might crack the rankings at 160.

Indiana mat didn't give me a trophy for placing somewhere along the lines of 65th in the State Pick'em contest. I'm on the hate wagon now too. 

This year's state meet was great, as always - but, what is your favorite state finals and why?

For me, it was probably Chad Red's senior season. The electricity in the air for that Lee/Red match was one of the coolest things I've experienced in the sport.

Last year the most fun was the third-place heavyweight match.

4 minutes ago, Hornet Coach said:

Fattore impressed me the most and it had nothing to do with his wrestling.  This young man carried himself like a champion after a questionable call.  Nicely done young man!

Absolutely. Not knowing him personally at all, he carried himself extremely well even when faced with that questionable call. I was also really impressed with the attitude of Sam Hansen of Roncalli. He seemed to be having the time of his life, and was very polite. I talked to him for a second after the finals and he was just a very gracious kid.

18 minutes ago, DrunkJoeNamath said:

Three guys stood above the rest for me. 2 are obvious. 

 

B Lee and Parris had some great careers. Can't say enough about these studs. I'm excited to see what they can accomplish at the next level. 

 

KRIS RUMPH - super impressive. They just don't make raw athletes like that very often. Kid impressed me every match he wrestled and was the most entertaining guy to watch in the tourney.

Yeah - of course Lee and Parris were impressive. I had seen them wrestle several times though. I was referring to wrestlers I hadn't seen in action yet.

What wrestler at state, that maybe you hadn't seen before, impressed you the most?

I have watched most of these guys at some point or another. But, probably the one that stands out for me was Manzona Bryant. He was pretty fun to watch, and I think he'll be a force next season for sure.

New Castle's Dalton Clouse might possibly be the only person to have a lead on Mason Parris this season. 

Clouse stepped to the mat, and strategically didn't remind Parris that he hadn't taken his t-shirt off yet. Clouse was awarded the point and the lead.

Somehow Parris recovered, but man, what a start for the Trojan senior.

If I interpreted what I saw correctly, it looked like Yorktown's assistant coach told Hunt that it was his decision. He chose neutral right away. I like the call. He was going for the win, not the field goal for the tie. It didn't pan out - but he put it all on the line.

If I remember correctly there was a point in the state championship match years ago between Jason Tsirtsis and Connor Mullins where it looked like Tsirtsis shoulders were flat for much longer than Fattore's - in a defensive pin situation. I am getting old though and my memory may be off. Anyone remember this?

What a match. That call might be debated for years...could help shape team state title and individual title.

Maybe the Banker's Life ushers should crack down on seat saving. If you see a big blanket taking up multiple seats -  tell them to take it down. The people who get there early and wait in line absolutely have a right to their seat - but not seats for 15 of their friends.

A few years ago my sons sat near the top with five of their friends. One of my sons got up to use the bathroom and came back down and a man was sitting in his seat. My son's friends had told the man that someone was sitting there - and he just said that it's open seating and no seats get saved. My son came back and asked if he could sit with his friends, as there were plenty of other seats around - and the man refused.

I went from near the floor level up to the balcony and asked the guy if he would mind moving - he was dead set on not moving at all. Finally the guys mother (I am assuming) told him it wasn't worth the fight and they moved a few rows up.

I know this has nothing to do with sprinting to seats - but it's my seating nightmare story.

27 minutes ago, aoberlin said:

As far as State seeding goes it would be pretty simple I would think for criteria for the top 2 only guys.

Last years placing at that weight.

Last years placing at another weight.

If neither one of those 2 things come into play.  Do like we do now.  I get it you will get some stud freshman come through or a kid that go beat out in the ticket round last year.  But at least we don't see 2 kids that were under the lights last year see each other in the semi finals and this takes any judgement calls out of the equation.

 

Say both wrestlers placed fifth. They are wrestling at 170 pounds - but they placed fifth at 152 and 160 pounds the year earlier. What happens?

57 minutes ago, Kookie953 said:

As a newbie, why is this continued to be allowed to happen?  Why is everything else seeded / placed except for the most important day?  

This will be my 3rd state finals watching and this never makes sense to me on why there are these ridiculous draws?  Under the lights should be the best two wrestlers...not one that went through a meat grinder to get there and another that had an easier path.  To be certain, I'm taking nothing away from anyone that has or will get there...just seems like something is wrong with this picture (and especially since everything else is seeded in some manner).

I don't know how you can determine who the "best" wrestlers are. No disrespect to those that do the awesome rankings here, but those aren't gospel. You can't say kid A is ranked higher than kid B, so he must be better. If that was the case, only the No. 1 ranked guy should win each year. Ultimately, the best wrestler in the state tournament that weekend will be the one that wins, no matter who is in front of them.

The first round draws aren't so bad here, but 182 is loaded on one side of the bracket. You have No. 1 Walton, No. 2 Cressell and No. 3 Allred all right there together.

1 hour ago, V and M's Dad said:

In one six minute match he stopped being top 5 material?

 

Who said that? I never discredited him at all.

2 minutes ago, aoberlin said:

I don’t really care if you like them because you enjoy watching kids get screwed by being a part of a flawed system. Bottom line is this isn’t how the sport of wrestling is setup so get the corn out of your teeth and wake up. Congrats on all that qualified and good luck next week. The fight will continue. 

So if you like the current system you have to be in favor of kids getting screwed? Comments like this are ignorant, plain and simple. We are all here because we love this sport and want what is best for it. We don't have to agree on everything, but to pretend we don't care about those participating because of whether or not we like wrestle backs is just plain dumb.

1 minute ago, V and M's Dad said:

When Brayton Lee was a Freshman and undefeated was he one of the top 16 in the State at his weight? 

Those crazy losses are what makes it fun. Bethel upset one of the greatest Indiana wrestlers in decades and shocked the state. Sure Lee was top 5 material - but on that day in that match he didn't end up on top. I'm sure you can look at every sport and one team that is better than another gets put out and another team moves on.

I, personally, like the win or go home drama the ticket round at semistate brings. It's the most fun-filled round, hands down. There will always be people we know are more deserving of getting to state than someone else, but that's the beauty of the system. Yes, the draws can be brutal to some. Yes, it's not 100 percent fair, but that's life.

Probably my favorite moment at the New Castle semistate was in the ticket round watching Dru Berkebile. This kid absolutely is better than some others moving on. He had some brace on his leg and wasn't able to bend it. He barely could get in the down position and he had to take shots practically standing up. But when he lost, knowing his career was over, he saluted the fans and moved on. I'm sure that was tough for him, in a perfect world he would be healthy and advancing to state - but he moved on. A career isn't defined by one loss.

8 hours ago, Juggernaut said:

Hall vs Viduya was a rematch from last year, Viduya won 17 - 11.  Hall does a great job of figuring his opponent out  &  then creating openings to score. Smiley did a great job of slowing him down & controlling the tie up. Maybe Hall figured something out in the 3rd period with that opening to a quick double leg .  Smiley wrestles very tight & smart. I believe Smiley pinned Viduya in there 1st bout this year but Viduya figured him out & beat him closely the next two matches.  Hats off to the two freshman that made it through in the deepest weight class in the state . If I remember correctly the Cathedral 126 Wilson is also a freshman.

Am I missing something? Hall is listed as a freshman and Viduya is a returning state champ. How did they wrestle last year? Are you talking off-season?

Yeah I think Smiley's style was perfect against Hall. That kid has been a monster in the tourney though. Pins Ragle in first period, beats Phillips then Evans, dominated Viduya before getting dominated by Smiley. He's funky and it appears very strong. Didn't seem like he had much in the tank in the final though. This kid is definitely on my watch list at state.

Freshman Bryer Hall beats Viduya 11-5. Kid can flat out wrestle.

Pendleton's Jared Brown up 14-3 in third on undefeated Brendan Mattingly, but Mattingly cradles him in the third for the fall.

You mean except Ft. Wayne, right?

Kidding - they all have great wrestlers. Just couldn't resist the jab.

10 minutes ago, gogoplata89 said:

I heard they will change Saturday morning.

They obviously don't care about my chances of winning these semistate pickem contests then.