JoshMed

This is showing my age but James Tannehill (sp?) was a big influence and figure in Indiana Wrestling when I competed and first started coaching.  Saw him almost every weekend!

2023 933 kids in qualifiers (I believe this may have included the kids that were Tulsa kids that were allowed in last year)
 
2024 903 kids in first week of qualifiers (4 more qualifiers to go)
 
I think that there may be less kids in the qualifiers this week due to MS State Duals and Kid's Folkstyle Nationals.  However, even if they have 150 kids per qualifier, that would put the number at around 1500 kids.  That would be a 60% increase participation from last year?  I will give you a little less than that for the kids that may try to qualify again this week.  But the increase can't be denied.
 
What is Indiana's weakest link for wrestling?  Is it youth?  No way, we have all kinds of training and events for these kids.  Is it HS?  No way.  We have 3 teams this year represented among the top of the nation.  It's middle school.  The red headed step child.  Middle School is where many start their career.  So they end up way behind our wrestlers who have grown up on the mat.  Then you have the all of the different weights, different starts/ends to the season throughout the state.  MS is just weird.
 
Now you have more of these middle school wrestlers getting USAW cards and competing against better competition.  We all saw kids that have never been and wouldn't think about competing at MS state.  Now they may have set a goal for themselves to get more training or train after the MS season ends.  They might just want to get more involved in going to USAW tournaments since they have a card now.
 
Let's continue to watch how this plays out.

I almost left my shoes on the mat.....
 
But I couldn't bend over to do it, so they came home w/ me. 
 
Thanks everyone for the kind words, it was pretty cool and that's a good group of guys in that picture. All very supportive of each other and wrestling movement!
 

All,
 
I want to share a story about the kind of people we have in this sport.  Last Saturday Greenfield had a young lady injured in a match at New Palestine High School.  It was a head and neck injury that required her to be transported to the hospital via ambulance.  She and her parents had never been through something like this before and were justifiably shaken.  
 
On Tuesday of this week I was called down to the athletic office.  We had received a package.  It was a box of flowers addressed to the young lady who was injured.  They were sent from the Columbia City Wrestling Program.  I know it's a little thing and some people may not understand, but it touched me and my program.
 
People think wrestling is about working hard, sweating, bleeding, beating on people, etc..., but it's not.  It's above LOVING each other.  I wan't to thank Columbia City for giving my program an example of how people are supposed to love each other.
 
Thank you!

I have had the opportunity to coach at a small school (North Montgomery), where we had a great run, and now at a big school (Center Grove). In my experience, I would say the biggest difference is small schools deal with a lot of multi-sport athletes with wrestling being their 2nd-3rd favorite sport. Once we were able to get our guys to commit to some offseason training we saw our results get better and better. I would say we did the majority of our offseason training in our wrestling room, we had a couple guys that traveled to academies (no academies within 90 mins) but not nearly as many as we have at Center Grove (two major academies within 30 mins). I do think that if we had an academy close to North Montgomery we would have had many more athletes taking advantage of that opportunity. Also, the classed team state tournament was a big help as well as far as getting kids to come out for the sport. The publicity of being "ranked" high as a team each year allowed kids to believe that there was a championship as a team that we could realistically win. This helped us pick up some of the better athletes and also convinced our guys that putting in some offseason training was important. As far as the individual tournament not being classed, I do not think that affected our success in a negative way. In my opinion, the key is getting the kids involved in wrestling early and hoping that wrestling turns into their top sport. There is no secret that the majority of the individual state placers start wrestling as elementary/middle schoolers and put in a fair amount of offseason training. For small schools, the earlier you can get kids involved and enjoying the sport, the more success you will have. That is easier said than done though as it is easier to be the "top" athlete at your school in the popular sports in elementary/middle school at small schools than at a big school.
 
Sorry for the long post

If this is the trade off for getting Reserved seating, I will take it. It is a step in the right direction in my eyes and hopefully can be tweaked in the future after this year to make it better for everyone involved. 
 
I personally would like to see the IHSAA set aside some seats for the parents of the wrestlers in the Finals Saturday night. An accomplishment that great deserves a front row seat for them to watch.

The bankers life crowd who wait in line for hours and rush to their seats vs the ushers that take forever to scan their tickets and ask them to slow down/walk. 
 
Annual rivalry that will only be stopped by getting rid of general admission tickets...

i'm not sure anybody really wants to watch a guy who gassed out and got pinned in the video clip he shared a while back vs a guy with a bad heart.  😛Unless it is out of morbid curiousity. 

Can't remember being so vocal for a match.  My wife, cat and dog were all looking at my like I was nuts!!

Congrats Nick Lee, National Champion!

Hard to argue with list but I’d slide Kody Wagner in at 152/145 as a 4th place finisher. 
 
Jacob Aven should be mentioned as at least HM. 

Market Square Arena.  
 
The Great Taste Section vs. The Less Filling Section.   
 
 

Although I’m disappointed I didn’t win the fastest thumb and acquire tickets to championship Saturday, the first time in over a decade, I’m proud to be a part of supporting, encouraging, teaching, coaching and influencing the sport of wrestling. Proud to be a mentor. Proud to be a role model. Proud to be involved in a sport and lifestyle that carries on well past the day they wrestle for a championship, or the day they get their first win, but the day they are proud of themselves, the day they gain the confidence to face their fears and overcome their insecurities. Win or lose on the mat, I know these wrestlers will be better prepared, better equipped and more confident to set higher goals to achieve in their path. So as I watch from the comfort of my living room this year, I will watch with a full heart, a sound mind and a proud soul that I am blessed to be a small part of these young athletes lives. Wrestle hard, wrestle smart, enjoy and remember this day. You are creating memories. 

Congratulations to Logan Wagner from Zionsville for signing with Marian. He is projected to wrestle 141, 149.
View full signing

Former Zionsville Wrestler Tyler Mantel is the co-founder of the Ventilator Project where a team of individuals is working to create a ventilator that can be manufactured quickly and cost effectively in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Ryan Mantel, former Zionsville wrestler and coach, and Preston Mantel, former Zionsville wrestler are also helping on the project. 
 
You can visit theventilatorproject.org to learn more or donate to this amazing project being lead by former Indiana Wrestlers. 

Former Zionsville Wrestler Tyler Mantel is the co-founder of the Ventilator Project where a team of individuals is working to create a ventilator that can be manufactured quickly and cost effectively in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Ryan Mantel, former Zionsville wrestler and coach, and Preston Mantel, former Zionsville wrestler are also helping on the project. 
 
You can visit theventilatorproject.org to learn more or donate to this amazing project being lead by former Indiana Wrestlers. 

Former Zionsville Wrestler Tyler Mantel is the co-founder of the Ventilator Project where a team of individuals is working to create a ventilator that can be manufactured quickly and cost effectively in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Ryan Mantel, former Zionsville wrestler and coach, and Preston Mantel, former Zionsville wrestler are also helping on the project. 
 
You can visit theventilatorproject.org to learn more or donate to this amazing project being lead by former Indiana Wrestlers. 

Former Zionsville Wrestler Tyler Mantel is the co-founder of the Ventilator Project where a team of individuals is working to create a ventilator that can be manufactured quickly and cost effectively in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Ryan Mantel, former Zionsville wrestler and coach, and Preston Mantel, former Zionsville wrestler are also helping on the project. 
 
You can visit theventilatorproject.org to learn more or donate to this amazing project being lead by former Indiana Wrestlers. 

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.

Great topic. Cool to see all the great coaches/competitors on the list. Here is another;
 
Kevin Troy, Roncalli High School
215-92
 
I will try to get year-by-year breakdown and send to the email that was provided above. 

I would admit that there are some things that are difficult with having the IHSAA as our sports sanctioning body, but I think it would be a horrible detriment to the sport if we did not have them.
Without the IHSAA the sport at the high school level would resemble the sport at the youth level. So teams would become all-star travel teams with-in a few years.  Not to mention that schools would not put the same funding and care into their programs... Why would a school keep and maintain a wrestling room for a club team that isn't IHSAA sanctioned?
I also think that overall numbers would take a huge hit.  Think of how many kids come out for wrestling to just be a part of the team you would lose all of those kids.  Busing, uniforms,  gym schedules all would play a role as well.
Finally no IHSAA no state tourney like we have now.  There would be no semi-states in great facilities, no state finals at Banker's Life.  
This isn't to say that the say that wrestling would die if we went this route, it would just look much different and be much worse imo.

Purdue up 20-3 at 125. Graham Rooks with another upset at 149 over an injured/gassed Griffin Parriott. Everything else Purdue after that match

Any updates?

Back in 2011, Doug Welch (152) would beat up on Chad Welch (160) everyday in practice.

Friday night at Maconaquah was filled with some great action and a lot of young ladies putting themselves on the line, but I wanted to share with all of you a photo I took that really hit me. 
 
Heritage High School hasn't (according to IndianaMat results) won a dual meet in the last four years and they are 0-47 in that time. But every time I see coaches Lockett and Martin, I am impressed at the way they run their program. They are full of energy and passion for their kids. I have seen it at home dual meets, at the ACAC duals and I saw it on Friday night. 
 
Heritage had one girl wrestling. One girl. Yet the entire team (almost, I think) and both coaches were in attendance and coaching their hearts out and laughing with their kids. This made a huge impression on me and I will be rooting for the Patriots the rest of the year. 
The whole team spent six hours in a gym to watch Amber Hoy wrestle four matches. 
 
Kudos to the Heritage team and to both coaches for the role they are playing in their program and congrats to Amber Hoy on her placement Friday night.