Coach Nieman

One of the things that's really helped us at greensburg is taking the whole team to a camp early in the summer. We usually go in June before football is in full swing. It helps the incoming freshman get exposed to the higher competition, but more than anything else it helps build team unity. We've got a pretty tight group of guys on the team, and once the incoming freshman see what it's like, they seem to stick around a lot better. Obviously a strong youth and middle school program is important too. But building that team culture has been very helpful for us too.

I would've gone to a smaller school had I known I could walk on to a d3 program.

It would be interesting to see the demographics of each side. Coaches, wrestlers, parents, fans, age, etc.

I feel like every team has one of those though. My mom may or may not have been ours...

Best I ever saw not win it was (chris?) Barnheiser of union county.

What is the likelihood the ihsaa would allow middle schoolers to compete here in Indiana? Has it been brought up to them in recent memory?

I don't think it's the ideal solution but allowing schools to practice together *could* go a long way towards eliminating the notion that kids from small schools have fewer quality practice partners

I'd guess it will look pretty solid. Just a hunch though

You even stated it is a perfect part time job for college students...

I also acknowledged that class wrestling benefits those state qualifiers by improving their exposure. "On the pro-class side, I totally see where a classed individual tournament would help improve the national exposure of Indiana wrestlers who may not be D1 material, but more than capable of going to a smaller program and competing." I wasn't trying to use one piece of anecdotal evidence to support single class wrestling. I was saying the experience as a whole when dealing with multi-class states allowed me to see both sides of the argument, and then share that perspective.

We've taken our team to the iron sharpens iron camp in Iowa and Illinois for the last 3 summers. Every year that we've checked in, we're asked the same question: how many state qualifiers and state champs did you bring? Greensburg is by no means a powerhouse, but we send 6 or so guys to semistate every year here recently. We haven't had a qualifier since 2008 though. During the dual meet portion of the camp, coaches try to match the wrestlers up evenly. And it always seems like there is a coach from Kansas or Nebraska or somewhere else with class wrestling that is frustrated that their team full of state qualifiers has to waste it's time matching up with all of our regional and semistate guys. Then they come to find out that the indiana state tournament series is an absolute buzz saw. We once had a jv heavyweight absolutely run a train on a state qualifier from Kansas. These experiences with teams from other states have really openedy eyes to both sides of the class argument. On the pro-class side, I totally see where a classed individual tournament would help improve the national exposure of Indiana wrestlers who may not be D1 material, but more than capable of going to a smaller program and competing. But on the single class side, I'd hate to give up that level of achievement that comes from being a qualifier or placer in our state. That isn't to say that being a qualifier/placer/champ in a class system wouldn't be an achievement. I think the better compromise would be to find a way to allow 5th/6th placers to advance to state and give semistate finalists a first round bye. That in itself presents its own challenges as far as logistics and will surely rile up the "why don't you just give everyone a trophy" crowd, but I think that would be the best compromise between the 2 sides

What is the likelihood that a team eligible for one of the vote-in spots that has fewer points leapfrogs one of the higher scoring vote-in teams? Does it happen often or are the two highest scoring vote-in teams usually selected?

I thought of the Larimore/Streck matchup during the finals. Would have been an epic big man match

Because at small schools like ours, if athletes picked only 1 sport to play, we'd lose at everything. I agree that wrestling in the offseason is preferable, but that isn't realistic at all schools. Hence my original question.

So what you're saying is that if a wrestler came to you and said "I will either run cross country this fall, or do not sport/conditioning at all", you wouldn't tell them to stay off the couch and run?

It helps more than flippant remarks that offer no contribution to a topic of discussion. Starting a season with any level of conditioning, be it from running, tennis, or walking up and down a golf course, is preferable to having your first day of practice be your first day working out for the season

I ran track and xc as well. It is a different kind of conditioning but I know it helped me a great deal

I was a multi-sport athlete in high school, and I feel like it really helped me as a wrestler. I was just curious as to what sport coaches would most like to see their wrestlers participate in during the offseason. I feel that the most obvious answer is football, so I ask that we try to stay away from that.

Th is is called click bait and is in violation of the Geneva Convention

Doug Cain made it to semistate for us after being jv for 3 years. Proud of him. Tough to stick through jv tournaments for 3 years

Hype =/= advertising. Red going for his 4th state title and having a legitimate threat to his undefeated run= hype

I thought everyone our of ecss was from the refion? *I can already feel the anger of the region pointed at me*

Hopefully this year's recruiting class is a sign of things to come for Purdue

Biggest one I remember was Eppert vs. Wright. But that was my senior year, so it holds a bit more of a sentimental value for me

Does the 6 pm start time mean actual wrestling or is that the parade?