RAJR

Hard for me to argue against any of them. Based on criteria, not sure it "has" to be anyone. So many great seasons and careers, not to mention great matches tonight. Kind of glad I am not a voter.

Based on new rules, thought the call was right.

Ah, didn't realize that it was filler, agree, could have saved some stress with a better splice. Had flashbacks to watching DVR'd B1G wrestling re-broadcasts and getting womens basketball or B1G live. :-)

Thought it was a pin and not nearly as quick as that near fall given at 182. Not to mention the missed locked hands and judgement no takedown call.

Hard to pick Pepple because he wrestles 14 and 15 year olds while he's 18. Gotta give it to someone 120 or higher, imo.

 

Don't agree, not his fault he is lighter or who he wrestles. He beat 2 juniors and there were 2 other seniors in the bracket. Not to mention highly regarded underclass man.

Was I the only one starting to sweat at 7:30 when college basketball was still on? Whew....

What would be the argument for classes in track and in cross country?  Bigger schools get to practice on better surfaces?  Proximity to Dick's Sporting Goods allows larger schools a better opportunity to purchase top of the line track shoes.  What disadvantages are faced by the small school kids in track or CC?

 

Ill bet he was kicking himself in the butt for having a quitters mentality when you guys beat the adversity holding your athletes back and won two state titles in the last five years.

 

Numbers for one thing. Bigger programs have many quality runners that focus on one or two events. Smaller ones have no chance to win meets unless there runners do 3 or 4 events. Big difference, takes a lot out of a kid doing that many events. Also training partners just like wrestling. It's much easier to improve when you have faster and better runners to train with, makes everyone better. Not to mention if someone is off or injured, that can devastate a smaller team. Bigger programs just reload with another runner. There have been many times in CC were top runners don't even compete in sectionals because the team will still advance due to depth. And as several coaches have stated to me, many individual sports take more athletes than basketball, so why not class them all.

Good and consistent! Thanks for all the time and effort!

Yes, I really enjoy Friday night. May be my favorite session and always a few upsets.

I was following on track and it looked like James scored the first td. Parris escaped, and took James down. After that it disappeared from track so I don't know if it was straight to his back or what.

It is kind of hard to describe, was exciting. I will try and others may have a different perspective. Parris attempted a head and arm, James scored the takedown. Paris escaped, both were fighting for position and went into a scramble. Looked like Paris caught his head and pulled him over. Then collected the arm, settled and cranked for tha fall. I was impressed all day by Parris, looked strong, athletic and solid technique. Not to mention, Freshman and still undefeated. As always, some very good wrestlers not going to state.

Yeah, basketball is ruined. Wait, wasn't there just an article in the star about all the college and pro players from Indiana? How did that happen in that classed watered down sport?

Let me clarify.  The NCAA does not separate divisions based on whether or not a school can fill rosters for sports.  Meaning you can be a D1 school and still be small and have a good sports program.  You can also be a D1 school and completely suck (i.e. IU).  There are small D1 schools out there with less athletes and less money that can compete with the best out there.

I didn't say that.

 

Wow, look it up. There are contest and participant minimums for each sport. Meaning roster minimum. Don't recall filling rosters as a reason to class Wrestling in Indiana anyway.

The NCAA has separate divisions based on the school, not the sport.  You can have a small D1 school.  It is also widely known that a D2 champion is far less superior to a D1 champion.  Also, athletes usually choose where they want to go.  If an athlete is good enough to win in D1 he is not going to choose to go to a D3 school.

 

Not true, look it up. NCAA classifications are based on sports, number sponsored as well as other criteria. Basically, more money is needed for Div 1 which is likely why they are normally large schools. Just like larger public schools normally have more money.

Indiana doesn't.  What does a qualifying time have to do with it?  In swimming if you win your sectional you go to state, even if the winner doesn't pass the qualifying time.  The qualifying time is only used if you don't win your sectional but are still good enough to place at state (similar to a wrestleback).

I wouldn't give IU enough credit to call it a D1 wrestling program.  I know a couple high school JV programs that could probably split matches with them in a dual.

We don't have full wrestle backs. Also the qualifying time is across sectionals, it is not similar to a wrestle back. You are the one saying these sports are like wrestling, I was pointing out some uniqueness.

Isn't one of the reasons team state was taken away because the IHSAA made the excuse that wrestling is an individual sport?  When a wrestler wins in Indiana they are crowned THE state champion.  What would be the point in diluting the field if a small school has just as good of chance of having a state champion?  Sports like swimming and track are not classed because they shouldn't be.  Just because your school is bigger than mine doesn't mean you can run or swim faster than me.  Just because your school is bigger than mine doesn't mean you are a better wrestler.

You realize most states class individual sports. Not to mention stopwatch sports have qualifying times as well.

I'll take Michigan.

Nice work and interesting to see it written out. I think soccer is 2 classes based on number of programs participating and that it would change if more schools started teams. Thanks for sharing this breakdown, am sure a lot of work was involved!

Yep, Check the bracket or HH sectional results.

I consider predictions to be a form of handicapping and gut feelings, so a few "upsets" are always needed.  Here's mine:

106 - Bryant, Bauer, Young, Brady

113 - Turner, Barrantes, Lowe, Upperman

120 - Bailey, Castro, Sikorski, Fetters

126 - Cole, ONeal, Melloh, Seats

132 - Smith, Kitko, Stewart, Lazzara

138 - Cash, Hoel, Smith, White

145 - Kitko, Motley, Miller, Cowan

152 - Noon, Bagwell, Gibbons, Angelopoulos

160 - Gooding, Ray, Jones, Bryant

170  - Harvey, Jones, Simmons, Ream

182 - McCool, Stewart, Samuels, Trammell 

195 - Rypel, Stone, Haire, Mayfield

220 - Guhl, Stephens, Ogorek, Franklin

285 - Phifer, Samuels, Saylor, Kessler

Some are already available, in case you haven't checked. Gotta love trackwrestling, Already thinking about possible match ups!

Qualifying weigh ins aren't weight class specific. So you either have enough for sectionals or not.

That's why I said it was a gray area. I never stated anything about the number or names of the teams a school can have. The ihsaa focus is the tournament series and it's as you said one team, normally referred to as varsity and maybe I should have been more specific. Based on that, it seems very challenging to meet all the other ihsaa guidelines around number of matches, points, weigh- ins... Not saying it isn't possible, but like the weight management program, somewhat unenforceable. Would a "varsity 2" basketball team be allowed to play another school's "varsity" team on the same day? I don't know, a different sport as we know, but, I have never heard of it happening. I agree that when done properly it is a positive. I don't think this is a uniqueness to wrestling, but many ihsaa individual sports. I know cross country has similar situations and discussions.

This is a gray area that has been "allowed" in sports the ihsaa considers to be individual sports. Technically a school can only field 1 varsity team to participate in a sport. You don't see this allowed in basketball for example. There are good and bad points to allowing this and in my opinion it's up to the event host and participating teams.

Yes, thanks for all the work on these! I really enjoy reading the updates and adds a lot to the season. At the Madison County Tournament last Saturday, Dakota Cole from Elwood wrestled at and won 126. He beat Tyler Flood of Pendleton on a late 3rd period take down in an exciting 5-3 match.

Elwood High School according to the schedule and news paper.