bomber_bob

This! All of this is true and accurate..and there’s more factors too. Many have been mentioned already.
 
i have been following this thread and enjoying the discussion.
Here comes the purely anecdotal part…worth nothing I know, but just wanted to share.
 
Background: I attended Hobart in the late 80’s and had the good fortune to be a part of 2 State championship teams. I know first hand the sacrifices and dedication it takes to be part of something successful at a larger school. (Only 5 classes back then).
 
I have 6 sons, all wrestlers for a 1A school listed in Y2s list, out here in no man’s land. Wrestling was always the top focus for all my boys, despite participating in football, CC, track, and baseball. Their high school does not have a strong wrestling culture or history. We were blessed to have a coach who was working his azz off to build one, and had built up numbers and some pride, but that somewhat evaporated when he left.
I sent the boys to some camps at Purdue, or even out in Ohio. My boys were very well respected in our area and experienced success at Sectionals and Regionals; however, upon multiple births to EC SS, they were all soundly sent packing…every time.
My boys harbor no sour feelings about any of these things and take great pride in their wrestling accomplishments…so, I have posted all this to relay:
 
I posed this very question to my boys (ages 29-19) and all but one  responded with a resounding NO to class wrestling in IN.  For them, one of the best parts about wrestling was finding out just who the absolute best is, even when they know it’s not them. One of my sons, who was a 3x ECSS qualifier, said it like this, “Yea, maybe I coulda made a deep run in a 1A state tourney, but I would have much rather went out on my shield at ECSS each time, knowing I was seeing the best in our part of the state.”
 
It’s  easier to experience success at a small school wrestling, presuming you work hard and do the grind, than experiencing success as part of a team at a small school.  Reasons like commitment from fellow team mates, injuries, harvest, etc etc all factor in for small rural schools that require 5, 9, or 11 athletes.  Now the success a kid experiences may not culminate in them landing on the podium at state, but it doesn’t negate the success leading up to the day they exit the tournament. Wrestling, ultimately is about preparing for life. The IN tournament is imperfect and downright mean sometimes. Just like life can be. I put my boys into wrestling shortly after their mom passed from cancer. My oldest was 12 at the time. Wrestling helped  them through the grief and prepare them to have the tools to deal with adversity, challenges and also develop character, humility, perseverance, integrity, discipline and determination.   112 athletes hit the podiums each year in IN, which means there are a host of athletes who do not, but are the beneficiaries of tremendous gifts such as motivation, fortitude, humility, perspective, and reality. None of those are bad things.
 
All anecdotal, and worth exactly what you paid for it!

Y2 and I are thinking about doing 16 regional shows giving insite to that specific area 
 
who do you guys think would be the best regional representatives? 

Do you realize the number of kids that didn't wrestle in those program's middle schools or only did for one year? 

And that is part about managing your weight that I think many HS kids and their parents don't get or at least aren't willing to fully buy into.  Some kids can eat 3 decent meals regularly, have occasional cheat meals, and even get stronger as the season progresses all while maintaining or even losing weight. But that's because they and their parents have made the effort to ensure they are eating better and continue to work hard during practice.   But, that's the off-the-mat dedication and mental game that some kids and parents have made the choice to buy into. 
 
We all hear about kids who say they can't make the weight though, but in some cases, I don't see that as a cutting issue, its poor off-the-mat decisions and lack of a buy-in to themselves, their team, and the sport.  We all have some kids who are choosing to routinely make poor food choice decisions, sometimes overindulge, and then trying to over-exercise and starve a day or two before weigh-ins.  We then often hear that same kid or parents say as the season progresses that they can't make the weight cut with most pointing out they are barely eating the last couple of days. To me, that is not a cutting weight issue it is a poor weight management issue.  We often have to concede this routine isn't going to change and tell the kid and parent they will need to move up a weight class.  But then low and behold most of those kids will balloon up close to the top of that new weight too and are still sluggish on the mat due to more bad eating habits. 
 
You can throw all sorts of nutrition talks and guides at them to help show that making better eating choices will improve their performance on the mat and make maintaining their weight all season possible.  You can even point out that this isn't about eating small portions or only choosing to eat "twigs and leaves" every meal, but about pre-planning food decisions to ensure you have good options available on a routine basis.  However, until the kids and parents (since they do provide some of those food choices to their kids have a better buy-in on the value of nutritious eating we will still hear some kids and parents talking about cutting too much weight and/or eating little days before the meet.   I also believe there are some effective ways to promote healthy eating habits and removing some of the extreme cutting, but part of that also comes from developing a culture where the other teammates and family understand what supporting each other really means.  

I think there is some validity to your frustrations and desires for improving the State Tournament. 
 
But to say it's subpar?? c'mon man. 
 
I think the wrestling community is it's own worst enemy and likes to fixate on everything that is wrong with the sport and takes for granted many of the great things about our State tournament, and sport in general. There are so many things that are special about our State Tournament and compared to other some other states, is something that we need to cherish and be proud of. 
 
Is it perfect? No....wrestle-backs would be great, arguments can be made for a 3 week tournament, class wrestling, a new alternate protocol, more state qualifiers, etc.....but I think it's a little over-the-top to suggest that our tournament series is subpar. 

besides not having wrestlebacks, what about the Indiana State tournament series is subpar?

I think there is some validity to your frustrations and desires for improving the State Tournament. 
 
But to say it's subpar?? c'mon man. 
 
I think the wrestling community is it's own worst enemy and likes to fixate on everything that is wrong with the sport and takes for granted many of the great things about our State tournament, and sport in general. There are so many things that are special about our State Tournament and compared to other some other states, is something that we need to cherish and be proud of. 
 
Is it perfect? No....wrestle-backs would be great, arguments can be made for a 3 week tournament, class wrestling, a new alternate protocol, more state qualifiers, etc.....but I think it's a little over-the-top to suggest that our tournament series is subpar. 

besides not having wrestlebacks, what about the Indiana State tournament series is subpar?

Are you kidding me!?
This is the most badass, and miserable, 4 weeks of the year.
I feel blessed my boys have this opportunity to try and advance week after week.
Make it through and get rewarded with the next tournament where it becomes tougher and tougher to advance. 
No safety-net wrestlebacks, win or your crushed. Misery or relief.
It is not for the soft.
This is what makes placing in Indiana really mean something.

besides not having wrestlebacks, what about the Indiana State tournament series is subpar?

its crazy when a school that is known for accepting transfers, starts contesting kids that wanna leave ...and actually block a kid who was gonna be a senior.
 and make him miss his senior year. 

What facts is this opinion based upon?
 
The IHSAA has had very little changes to the transfer process in the last 20 years.

Out of curiosity, how did the IHSAA make it easier to transfer?

How about the best wrestler that day. He wins he advances. The best have bad days. Not separating so called best kids to please the big programs. Separating big programs only helps them and takes away from smaller programs ability ro have success.

Our enrollment is way down. We should be 1A

This is with the new numbers for the 2024-25, 2025-26 cycle. Numerous teams moved up and down between 1A and 2A. Cascade is so far up into 2A and Rensselaer so far down into 1A that neither is even really a cut line team.

Or just seed all 8 wrestlers and if you replace your kid, you become the 8 seed. Seems like that would solve most of the problem.

Matt, I don’t completely understand your position here, I’m not trying to put words in your mouth.  By what you said above it seems like the issue is with the way a bracket is seeded if a replacement wrestler can beat the 2 and 3 seeds.

Requiring all teams to use trackwrestling as a scorebook would solve many issues.  Every result would be public for everyone to see.  I don't understand why teams don't use it already.  All your matches are online, you can look back in previous years anytime you want.
 
This would solve the issue of questionable records, asking about commons, etc.

Believe me I know you represent Hobart. 

🤮 
 
Write your own story Cesar. No one wants to see you in red. 

Rochester is far and away the best team in 1A this year and would make some serious noise in 2A.  As far as seeding went, West Central went into this tournament in a no-win situation.  I was honestly just hoping for a top four seed after edging out a banged up Rochester team at the Joe Burvan Duals.  If we would’ve been seeded below Rochester, I guarantee there wouldn’t be one West Central supporter complaining about that.  
WC belonged in the small gym all day long with the product we put on the mat today.  I do not post on Indianamat, I just look like thousands of others do.  

However, being from one of the smallest schools in the state, competing with the great programs we did today (and in 2014, 2015 and 2023), it’s always been humbling and great for us.  Congratulations to all teams that competed today. 
 
Nathan Williams
West Central Assistant Coach

I'm not really the biggest fan of adding wrestlers to the bracket like this.
 
1. It creates confusion
2. Since there are no wrestle-backs, the 5th or 6th placers might actually get a better draw than the 3rd or 4th place finishers and advance.

I'm confused how the placement seeded the brackets. 
 
At Penn Semi-State 115, our girl (Kaylee Cates), who placed 5th at the Regional was seeded as a 4 seed. After the brackets were redrawn, she is now seeded as a 2 seed?

Now that the brackets are back up, will we get an explanation as to why some of the draws changed from this morning even though none of the girls changed?  Why were they moved around?  I am looking at Penn and the following weights changed 100, 110, 115, & 235.  What was the reason for rearranging the wrestlers?  I guess I should contact IHSGW