IU89

By Drew Hughes
This year there will be 13 Indiana guys competing in St. Louis across 8 different weight classes. This puts only 7 other states ahead of us for the number of qualifiers. Out of these 13 qualifiers only 1 of them is not from the Big Ten.
 
Drew Hildebrandt will be competing in the 125-pound bracket for the Central Michigan Chippewas. This will be Drew’s 3rd NCAA tournament appearance and has earned the 4th seed. The Penn High School graduate also won his 2nd MAC title to qualify for the tournament and is undefeated on the season.
 
Nick Lee will be competing in the 141-pound bracket for Penn State and will be in the hunt to win a national title. Lee comes into the tournament as the 2nd seed just like he was last year for the cancelled championships. The Evansville Mater Dei graduate is 8-1 on the season with his 1 loss coming in the Big Ten finals to the 1st seed Eierman.
 
Chad Red will be competing in the 141-pound bracket for Nebraska where he will be looking to All-American like he has at every NCAA tournament he’s wrestled in. Red comes into the tournament as the 8th seed with his only losses this year coming from the 1st and 3rd seeds of the tournament. As most people have seen, the New Palestine grad has always showed up for the big show.
 
Cayden Rooks will be competing in the 141-pound bracket for Indiana where he will be wrestling in his first NCAA tournament. Rooks earned an at-large bid to qualify for the tournament and will be the 32nd seed. Cayden is a Columbus East High School graduate where he won 2 state titles.
Graham Rooks will be competing in the 149-pound bracket for Indiana, and this was his 2nd time qualifying for the NCAA tournament. After a 6th place finish at the Big Ten tournament, Rooks earned himself the 21st seed. Graham is also a Columbus East grad and is the older brother of previously mentions Cayden Rooks. 
 
Brayton Lee will be competing in the 157-pound bracket for Minnesota, and this was his 2nd time qualifying for the NCAA tournament. After being seeded 7th for last year cancelled tournament Lee will be 1 spot higher at the 6th seed this year. The Brownsburg native is coming off of an impressive 3rd place Big Ten finish.
 
Jake Tucker will be competing in the 165-pound bracket for Michigan State, and it is a little controversial to claim him for Indiana. Tucker went to Mount Carmel High School in Illinois BUT has lived in Lowell Indiana his entire life. Since he has an Indiana driver’s license, I think it’s only fair we get to claim the now 2-time NCAA qualifier. Tucker earned the 25th seed after finish 6th place at the Big Ten tournament.
 
Joe Lee will be competing in the 165-pound bracket for Penn State where he will be wrestling in his first NCAA tournament. The Evansville Mater Dei grad will be the 23rd seed of the tournament after placing 8th at Big Tens. While Joe didn’t get a top 8 seed like his brother Nick, he does still have 1 more state title then his older brother.
 
Donnell Washington will be competing in the 174-pound bracket for Indiana where he will be wrestling in his first NCAA tournament. The Portage grad has really proved himself this year and will be the 9th seed. Washington is coming off a 6th place Big Ten finish and holds a win over the 3rd seed.
 
Drew Hughes (also the person writing this article) will be competing in the 174-pound bracket and is the 32 seed. This will be his 4th NCAA tournament and holds one of the worst records in the entire tournament at 3-7 on the year. All that we can know for sure is that the Lowell High School grad is going to choose top and probably get hit for a few stalling calls.
 
Lucas Davison will be competing in the 197-pound bracket for Northwestern, and this will be his 2nd time qualifying for the NCAA tournament. Davison is coming into the tournament as the 12th seed after placing 5th at Big Tens. The Chesterton native will be looking to become an All-American just like his dad was back in the day.
 
Thomas Penola will be competing in the 197-pound bracket for Purdue, and this will be his 2nd time qualifying for the NCAA tournament. Penola qualified for last years cancelled tournament at 285-pounds. This year he’s down a weight and earned himself the 19th seed of the tournament. The Zionsville High School graduate finished 7th at the Big Ten tournament.
 
Mason Parris will be competing in the 285-pound bracket for the Michigan wolverines, and this will be his 3rd NCAA tournament. Parris will be the 2nd seed of the tournament for the 2nd year in a row. The Lawrenceburg native has placed 2nd at the big ten tournament the last 2 season and will be looking for a rematch of the Big Ten finals in the NCAA finals. 

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Great kid from an awesome family. We really enjoyed getting to know this kid and watching his journey so far! We will be following you champ! 
 
The Brewers

Congratulations to Cole Ross from Evansville Mater Dei for signing with Coast Guard. He is projected to wrestle 125.
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That would have been interesting to see if John was healthy what he could have accomplished. I remember being at the Holiday Classic and he was having trouble with his hip. Some lady was giving him all kinds of he11 while he was taking injury time “Make heem wrassel!” I wanted to go tell the lady that he really was hurt but I figured it wouldn’t do any good. 

That is interesting. J. Ross from wrestlestat is putting out results predictions based on their algo and he agrees with you. He has Lee against Demas in the finals. He has Demas upsetting Wilson in the quarters and Eierman in the semis. On the other side he has Hart upsetting Rivera in the quarters. Based on Hart's performance in the MAC championships, that may be a bridge too far.

I don’t think Eierman will survive to get to Lee. 
Also, Rivera won’t get to Lee. 
Lee gets to the Championship match. From looking at the brackets. 

I'd like to see a 2nd and at least 3rd team. Curious how deep you could go with Mater Dei.

I have watched Eierman in 3 matches now, and I don't recall him taking a single shot.  Everything is a counter....I can see a few guys changing up their strategy to get him off his game.

I'm not saying Eierman didn't deserve the victory &/or that he won't be able to repeat it. But IMO he clearly didn't 'take him to the wood shed'.
 
In Folkstyle, the ability to ride & not be ridden is huge. And Eierman is clearly the better mat wrestler. Thus it is no coincidence that he has won their 2 folkstyle matches but lost their last freestyle matchup. My point is it was not like he turned Lee or even seriously threatened to turn him. That is why I think it is erroneous to claim 'he took him to the wood shed'.
 
Eierman's lone takedown came on a counter of one of Lee's attacks. Even the announcers recognized that Lee new he didn't want to be in that position & was trying to get out of it but it was too late. If Lee can avoid a mistake like that & keep from going under Eierman than the outcome might be different next time.
 
Snatch singles, go behinds & slide-bys are the kinds of attacks Lee needs to stick to. What Lee & pretty much anyone wants to avoid against Eierman is getting caught under him on a leg attack. Eierman is masterful at letting you in & cutting the corner. It was pretty obvious Lee understands this & simply made a mistake & it cost him.
 
I for one am really looking forward to their rematch at Nationals. IMO, It will be must watch TV for a wrestling fan.

If that was a trip to the wood shed, what do you call what he did to Red?

I must of watched a different match . If they meet again , My money is on Lee to make the adjustments and win a close one . One of them will have to go through Rivera , no easy feat . 

Pretty sure Lee had more or equal takedowns, he only got ridden. And it was with the bull crap double boots in. I think that should be stalling, he looked to get a turn, but he wouldn’t have been able to. Lee beats him if he doesn’t end up underneath. Nothing close to a woodshed. 

It was a closer match last year.  Gable seems to score whenever he feels like it.  I think he is not just a little more athletic, he is a lot more athletic.  And as strong as mason is, Gable seems to be at least as strong.  They've wrestled 2x now and the only TD mason has gotten was a meaningless TD at the end of the match last year.  I don't see this result getting reversed anytime soon, unfortunately.

Former Yorktown wrestler Alara Boyd wins the 155 weight class at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships for McKendree. Her school also repeats as team champions. 

Leroy Vega vs Greg Schaefer met 3 years in a row on Saturday.  1995 freshman Schaefer wins in semis, 1996 Vega hip toss in final seconds to win in the quarters.  1997 Vega wins in title match.  Schaefer wins as freshman and again as a senior.  Vega wins his final 2 years. They would go on to wrestle each other in college and sit in opposite corners as coaches.  Two of Indiana's best!  If someone has a video of any of these matches please post!

No offense intended to the folks in East Central Indiana.  I know you guys are tough.  In the end, I am jealous of you and want what you've got...the ability to wrestle schools of a similar size in the first couple rounds of the tournament.  I believe it would help me better retain wrestlers I'm currently losing and better build up a tough program and culture...the same way you guys have been able to. 
 
And if you are interested in wrestling us, we'd love it.  LMK.

I'm going to make a very bold prediction and say that it will be an all Hoosier final at 141 with Lee over Red 9-6. And call me overly optimistic, but I also think we will have 2 Hoosier champs in Lee and Parris.

Avon Athletics pays for a State Championship Ring and a Runner Up Ring. Blue and Red. They are very nice. 

Thanks for the suggestion.  I went ahead and created a new thread.  I named it, "Growing Small School Wrestling - with or without classing".

The intent of this post is to start a dialog about growing wrestling in Indiana.  I believe there's an opportunity to significantly increase participation in small schools.  There are currently 213 1A/2A schools with wrestling programs and many of these programs currently struggle with participation and retention of their student athletes.  That has absolutely been my experience as head coach of a 1A school. And I know I'm not alone because I've spoken with 45 coaches who have all shared they face the same challenges. 
 
A little about me.  I grew up in Illinois.  They had two classes when I wrestled.  I went to Naperville North, a large school in Chicago burbs so I wrestled in the 2A class.  Naperville North had a deep wrestling tradition.  My senior year, we had two state champs and we were the runner up in dual team state.  
 
I currently am the head coach at Lutheran High School.  We're a 1A school in Indianapolis.  220 total kids at the school.  I restarted their wrestling program 6 years ago.  It was previously cancelled due to lack of participation.  I started the program because I love wrestling and I wanted my sons to be able to wrestle.  In the first two years, the program nearly failed due to lack of participation and poor wrestler retention of the few kids I successfully recruited.  But we hung on and we went 17-6 this year in dual team competition and had our first state champ, Hayden Filipovich. 
 
To get there, I coach our youth team, I coach our middle school team, and I coach our high school team.  From my experience at Naperville North, I am absolutely aware of what a quality program looks like.  But there are some things I can't duplicate at a small school.
 
Despite the successes we've had, participation and retention are still a problem.  The biggest problem is our sectional, which kills our ability to retain new wrestlers.  We face 5 large schools, Warren Central, Franklin Central, Greenfield Central, New Palestine and Shelbyville...as well as several other quality small schools.  When my new guys see that sectional, they quit.  In six years, all by one of my new wrestlers has quit.  Then my tougher, more committed guys have less training partners the following season...a vicious cycle. We had a 17-6 dual team record this year and only two of my wrestlers made it through sectional. This sectional also makes it virtually impossible for us to ever get invited to dual team state. 
 
Coming from Illinois, classing seems natural to me.  But I understand the culture in Indiana values the single champ tournament.  If you're an elite wrestler, it is about as cool as it gets.  (Is it possible that most of us coaches were elite wrestlers in our day?)  However, the practice of putting small schools up against large schools, especially right away in sectionals, has significant negative impact on wrestling participation at small schools.
 
Coaches asking for classing are simply looking for a solution to this problem.  But there is a way to keep the single tournament AND grow wrestling at Indiana's small schools.  
 
Attached is a proposal that 45 small school coaches have worked together to develop.  The goal is to address some of the challenges small school programs and ultimately grow wrestling at small schools.  I look forward to your feedback. 
 
Greg Hughes
Indianapolis Lutheran
    
 
      
ImprovingWrestlingforSmallSchools.pdf

I believe this proposal deserves its own thread - it is well thought out and strikes a balance between traditionalists and small school class proponents
 

Herff Jones is the official provider for the IHSAA Championship Rings.  Herff Jones is Head Quartered in Indianapolis, and has serviced Indiana, as well as the rest of the country, for over 100 years.
 
You can get the tradtional State ring, or you can design someting else.  You're local Herff Jones Rep. would be glad to help you.  If you or your school does not know who your Representative is, you can contact the IHSAA or me.
 
I've been a Herff Jones Rep. for over 21 years, servicing Northeast Indiana, but have coached wrestling and been a member of the IHSWCA for over 31 years.  I love the sport of wrestling, and would be happy to help you guys out in any way that I can.
 
Rod Williams
Herff Jones Rep.
Leo Head Wrestling Coach
rwilliams@herffjones.com
 
 

That's the point us small school coaches are trying to make. Kids at all schools want to work hard and have fun. If they can have that chance at success in a state tournament they will be more motivated. Why have any class sports? Watch FB numbers and teams disappear. Are kids going to play if they have to play CG or WC to have post season success? No! But All kids have the same opportunities to succeed no matter what school they attend or sports they are competing right.

I think the part you seem to be grossly missing is that it's not about next year. Or the year after that. Wrestling, as a funded High School sport, won't die in the next 2-5 years. It's in the next 10+ that it may be in trouble. 
 
I think all class wrestling supporters would concede that you're correct, not too many non-wrestlers will suddenly decide to come out just because the tournament is classed and then place that year (though there would probably be a handful). HOWEVER, now we have a situation where success breeds desire to be a part of something. 
 
Let's play a hypothetical: Indiana goes 2 classes for this past season and Cael Albaugh of Clinton Central qualifies and places (made it to semi-state this year, won his sectional, so not too much of a leap). Those other Clinton Central Bulldog football players see this about him and think to themselves "That looks fun, I like Cael and I think I could make it that far as well." Not all of them, mind you, but 2-3 of them. 
 
The following season, 2 Bulldogs make it to state and place. 3-4 others are in the semi-state. Then 3-4 new kids want to come out, and maybe one of them has a little brother or 2, then suddenly those kids are in club, where they would usually just be playing basketball. This sets up Clinton Central for some long term success that they can point to.
 
In 3-4 years, a small school that has 1-2 semi-state qualifiers every 2-3 years, suddenly has a program that can fill most, if not all, weight classes with competitive wrestlers instead of just bodies. The whole sport is better off for it.
 
Will there be programs that struggle no matter what? Yes. And will this scenario play out at every school? No, for sure, not. BUT, if it happens at 1-2 dozen schools in cycles it helps grow the sport in places it's not been flourishing recently.
 
There will always be exceptions of small school kids that overcome the odds and small school programs that find success. But Geography plays a HUGE role in which of those programs find massive success too. But that's a post for another time.
 
 
 
 

California participation:
14-15: 26374
15-16: 23945
16-17: 22383
17-18: file won't work for some reason
18-19: 22602
Their participation looks to be following a similar trend as Indiana
 
There are several small school coaches who have active feeder programs, help out with MS and/or youth and usually run one or the other. We don't just "make appearances," we actually run practices, organize schedules, and communicate with parents.