Westforkwhite

Well, we can definitely agree that our state tournament is a great atmosphere. It just doesn't seem like the best way to make these kinds of decisions is a cool tournament.
 
We also agree that this is a healthy conversation. For those who hate the debate, understand that sometimes when you debate one problem, you indirectly find solutions to other problems. Or at least find common ground and can begin working toward solutions for other problems.

Nope. Clearly care.... Just dont think classing will be an option anytime soon for the IHSAA and am suggesting that we look at other options and solutions other than telling kids at small schools to work harder, stating stats and not taking action, and posting that we should class individual state.
 
As far as kids... I have some really bad kids on my team. Some haven't won a match all year. I assure you that I work with my sub 500 kids WAYYY more than my studs.  My studs get help at home and at academies, I spent much more of my time with the 5-25 kids, as we have those kids too. I love all of my kids and tell that to them daily. But.. I just coach middle school so that may not count. I choose to contribute at that level because most don't want too. Its fun!!!
 
BTW... I cant fill a whole team this year. I just couldn't get big guys. It sucks!!! Not high school, but I actually do feel the frustration. 

Nick Lee “Majors” is gonna be money in the bank this postseason!

Yes in a school of Cascades size many of your athletes will be involved in 1 if not 2 other sports. Us coaches have to be willing to work with these other coaches. Me and the football coach have a weekly conversation discussing schedules and other things so that these kids are able to attend every opportunity they want.
 
take these numbers for data my preseason workouts averaged 3 HS kids and 8 MS kids.
 
My HS squad had 20 wrestlers on it this season. Yes all 17 kids who were not able to be apart of our preseason were either on the football field, the soccer field, or the cross country team.
 
Also the first day of practice we only had 13 kids. I can promise you we would not have gotten a team state bid with just those 13. I challenged the boys to find a few new wrestlers by the end of the following week and we would take a day away from practice to play games and have fun. Without these extra kids Cascade would’ve been in a position they have found themselves in for a while. Competing without a full lineup. Not finding team success. Not having fun. 
 
Joe said it best some of us are great recruiters but not all of us keep all of those kids we bring in. I am happy to say all 7 extra boys who joined the team late were all at practice last week helping our first State Qualifier since 2014 prepare for the big dance.
 
At the end of the day I will say this. Building success takes a TON of time, effort, and support. From assistant coaches, parents, and even the kids. Take opinions some of them you’ll listen to and make changes some you won’t and that’s okay. My main thing would be as a coach be willing to change to help your athlete! Not every kid is the same!

These guys are very young coaches that mostly went to Avon during the programs best years. They have decided to take that successful big school mentality to a small rural community. These guys are making wrestling the cool thing to do at Cascade. They are getting all the good athletes in that community to buy in. They are also are putting egos aside and encouraging them to get additional training anyway possible. They are also creating offseason opportunities for the kids to keep wrestling year round. If a kid wants to wrestle, they make it happen one way or another.  No excuses, just make it happen. That my friends is how you build it. 
 
As far as lack of partners… these young dudes wrestle with the kids. If you don’t have a staff that can do this, it’s time to get the contact list for the last 5 or 6 seasons out, and let those dudes know that it is time to come to the room a few days a week to give back. 

Thank you Matt! We are headed in the right direction!
 
The Cascade team will be all over the place this summer. I think the difference is providing opportunities. Provide as many free opportunities as you can when it comes to practice/training. Offer to take kids to local RTCs and Open Rooms. Do whatever you can to give these kids every opportunity they could possibly want! At every single level from HS - Youth.

Pretty easy.  Other than a few kids who wrestle all year around at our local (small) schools, most of the other kids already have a bat and glove on (or doing that boring Track and Field "sport").  How many Crown Point or Brownsburg wrestlers compete in 3 sports yearly?  Maybe a lot?  I honestly don't know.  Our wrestlers often don't get in the room until late November because of football.
 
This is why, IMO, the 1A and 2A schools might have a few "hammers" on the team (all year wrestlers or just extremely athletic), but overall lack the upper tier quality that a 4A school can produce.

Kantola ends up 8th
Rodgers 6th
Rypel 7th
 
Osho wrestling for 3rd shortly
Servies wrestling for 5th
 
Conner Gimson wrestling for his 2nd consecutive national title at 133lbs tonight. For the 2nd consecutive year, he'll try to defeat the guy who upset his brother earlier in the bracket.  His teammate Eric Vermillion will join him in representing Indiana Tech in the finals at 184lbs.

Jordan looks great today. Here yelling my guts out for him. 
 
Carsons snake bit season was over when he busted his ankle first round. Battled for three more matches before calling it a season. He will get right and come back better then ever next year. 
 
Until then… Let’s go Sliv!!!! 

Best of luck to the Hoosier Bobcats!

At the MAC Tournament, Jordan Slivka won by TF in Opening round and 5-0 in the Quarterfinal advancing to the Semis against Ben Barton of Loch Haven.  The MAC only has 2 allocations at 157 so he'll need to win his semifinal to be ensured of an NCAA Berth.  At 24-5 I'd guess he'd have a good shot at an at-large bid if he doesn't finish top 2.

Carson Brewer won his opener then fell in the Quarterfinal to top seed Will Feldkamp, 7-1.  

 

This is starting to sound like a pyramid scheme to me.

Its good to see the General getting some extra cardio.

Crowning more state champions per weight class will raise number in the sport…… butttttt we should concentrate more of growing the sport at youth instead of high school. If you really want the sport to grow it starts with the kids. A 5 year old newbie will wrestle potentially 13 more year vs a high school freshman that will only be potentially in the sport for 4years. 

I’m going to say it since nobody will!
 
I like it how it is now…., keep 1a 2a state on the off-season just like frosh soph and it be okay. If anything keeping it on the off-season will promote  off-season wrestling more to those smaller programs or just for everybody in general. There was 41 teams at 1a 2a state last week. I promise you that at least 80% or probably even higher then that have never competed at an off-season tournament in there life. Now not only did they go home but also there parents/ guardians went home knowing there is more out there in the wrestling world then just 4 months out of the year. 
 

Nick Lee “Majors” is gonna be money in the bank this postseason!

Nick Lee “Majors” is gonna be money in the bank this postseason!

Some of the ideas that I have heard thrown around to improve the event.
1.  Have it on a different weekend than freshman / sophomore state
2.  The obvious internet / wifi problems
3.  Making this a 2 day event so as it grows, it will not be such a long day on Sunday
 
There were many people that worked very hard to make this happen.  Thank you to the table workers (usually a thankless job) for working hard all day.  It was a very good event, especially for the first year.  

Coming from coaching a 6A school from a multi- class state to a 1A school here in Indiana, I’ve seen the major differences from a coaching perspective as well as seeing the athletes’ perspective firsthand. There are pros and cons to having a multi class state series. And there are pros and cons to having a single class state series. Participating in the 1A/2A state tournament brought back some memories from the past. A lot of small school athletes lose motivation past sectionals. Keeping small schools and small school athletes motivated throughout the whole series can only be a positive. The top kids in each weight in the 1A/2A tournament were very good. You add more kids the next few years and this tournament will be on fire for the teams, coaches, athletes, and families. There was a buzz about it for sure. Get the scheduling and qualifying tweaked…everything is golden. It was a great experience. After all, kids can only do frosh/soph for two years. 

This was the first year and was a prototype,  or  you call it a pilot.    I think this pilot was pretty awsome and its brand is going to grow.   The whole concept is great,  and Greg Hughes (Lutheran Coach) took an idea put into action.   He put a lot of work and recruiting and wore a lot of hats to make this happen.  Lets also thinks to the job the Coach Welliever and the Southmont staff did to make this happen.
 
Agreeing with Hogleg,  and the reason the idea so good it gives the small school kids a chance to shine.  IMO, the IHSAA tournament is good, and not to get into the class wrestling argument,  but the small school wrestler in Indiana is overlooked and mistreated.   This give the kid a chance at a state title and an obtainable goal to be a state placer.     Yes, this year we didnt have full participation,  because just getting the word out or kids not buying in.   In my opinion,  the kids that won this tournament are State Champions.  So what if it doesnt have the IHSAA stamp on it   Yes they didn't face the whole population of 1A and 2A but these kids were the first to buy in participate.  I think in future years you'll get a higher percentage participation.   And it fills the big whole that the  IHSAA leaves out and gives these small kids some visibility.      Too bad it had to compete with Frosh/Soph state,  but i think the whole concept is something wrestling community will eventually come to embrace. 

Was a Great day of Small School wrestling!!  There were kids that beat kids that got further in IHSAA tournament just because of draws and facing those large schools..  it was a day of ups and downs and a day where Thoughts and Prayers were needed for a wrestler that had a very serious medical issue in his finals match..  I can't elaborate as I don't know that much but was a very very worrisome moment....  hope he is recovering quickly.  
 
To get to come back to our little community of 3,000 people and say that we had 3 placers and the Inaugural 1A/2A State Championships was very VERY cool...  and the kids were already buzzing about it on social media and messaging each other with pics of the plaques....  THATS the kind of buzzing our sport needs in our little community!!!   NO DOUBT this will transition into 1-2 more kids next year and maybe 3-4 more kids year after....  so excited to watch this grow!!  
 
To see the look on our wrestlers faces that got to feel this accomplishment...  you can't replace that feeling.....  Great Stuff!!!

I second this with the addition of splitting into 2 Regional Sites and bringing the top 8 from both sites to make a 1 day 16 man tournament.  Maybe do it on a Saturday and Sunday or back to back weekends.  

I'll second that!!! I thought the folks that put this together did a fantastic job of managing this tournament. Great idea! I'm sure this will grow even more in the coming years. I know it sucks having it the same weekend as Frosh/Soph. State but I don't like the idea of having it to far removed from the actual state tournament either. I feel like the weekend following the State Tourney is the best time. If the folks in Southport can't fix the internet service they may loose numbers to !A/2a State in the future.

Indiana 1A/2A Individual State was a great idea. Regardless of how anyone feels about class wrestling, from a fan perspective, this was great. I come from a large program, one of the most storied programs in Indiana history, and I know how sometimes it’s like being in a bubble as we only see other big schools more often than smaller ones. This event opened my eyes to many names, though. Some names were familiar, while some weren’t, and those who didn’t really stand out saw this as a chance to put their names on the map. It also helped that medalists and qualifiers of the IHSAA state tournament participated because it added stakes and provided a great measuring stick for kids to see where they are, and now they know and have a course of action to get better. The only bummer was that it took place during Frosh-Soph State weekend, but it already had a great turnout. I hope next year it’s even bigger!

Local 219 films followed Mendez going for his 4th title and Crown points journey to a state title.