manchwrestlingdad

I know I am not the only one who enjoys this weekend the most in the state series.  For some, I know they expect to be here and at next week's slamdango for the precious metals.  Yet, I think a lot of wrestlers making it here for perhaps the first or the last times have to be gratified to see their hard work paying off.  Every lap, sprint, shark tank, four-hour drive, close loss and quick pin....the growing wrestler has endured so, so much on this uphill journey.  Some will reach a career highlight in the second round, while some will not.  Others, again, will expect to be here and will move on.  Yet, some expectations will be unmet.
 
Oh, how well we know this is an individual sport!  By this time, the wrestler has pushed their body and mind to their known limits in hopes of attaining success.  Many may not realize that during this pursuit, greatness has already been achieved.  Acts of perseverance, willingness, and respect for the sport and those who continue to carve legacies add up.  The discipline it takes to properly nourish the mind in the classroom and the body at the dinner table does build the toughness needed to get to this stage as well.
 
Clearly, the spirit of victory can be felt by flesh and blood and the pain of loss can likewise be as deeply known.   As exhilarating and stark the extremes may be for the wrestler, the coaches, parents and teammates have played a game or two of Chutes and Ladders themselves.  They will continue to venerate your name and deeds no matter the outcome.  May you continue to profit both in wrestling and in every facet of life from your priceless sacrifices.
 
 
 
 

Darn, that's two wrestlers out for Mater Dei!

Fort Wayne Semi State
 
Neal Mosier vs Ethan Halloway at 120
Chase Leech vs Brant Beck at 160
Deaglan Pleak vs Conner Watts at 160
Tye Lisner vs Gavin Cook at 132
Robert Dinn vs Brock Hagewood at 138
Ethan Reiley vs Brody Hagewood at 132
Jaquan East vs Easton Arsini at 170
Greyson Gard vs Gavin Davis at 152
Braylon McIntire vs Levi Johns at 113
(Braylon's only loss this year is in the regional finals against Jalen May, I think he is capable of beating Levi.)
Aaron Swango vs Cody Rowles at 126
 
and finally, this one is gonna come as a surprise, but...
 
Will Warnock (a 4 seed) vs Matt Levitz at 160. Will Warnock beat Jordan Aryes at regionals 6-4, and Jordan pinned Levi Abott. I think Will is gonna go to ticket round at the bare minimum.
 
If you want me to be honest, I don't think there is any formula to a semi state (besides the 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3), I think the IHSAA looks at the ranked kids and puts the higher ranked kids against each other every chance they get, and if you don't believe me, look at how many returning state qualifiers and placers are gonna be seeing each other in the ticket round.

Kudos to Peru for what I thought was another very well ran tournament.  Great refs and the best announcer in the state.
Of what I saw  all day ran smoothly!!!!!!

Kudos to Peru for what I thought was another very well ran tournament.  Great refs and the best announcer in the state.
Of what I saw  all day ran smoothly!!!!!!

Kudos to Peru for what I thought was another very well ran tournament.  Great refs and the best announcer in the state.
Of what I saw  all day ran smoothly!!!!!!

Kudos to Peru for what I thought was another very well ran tournament.  Great refs and the best announcer in the state.
Of what I saw  all day ran smoothly!!!!!!

Kudos to Peru for what I thought was another very well ran tournament.  Great refs and the best announcer in the state.
Of what I saw  all day ran smoothly!!!!!!

Kudos to Peru for what I thought was another very well ran tournament.  Great refs and the best announcer in the state.
Of what I saw  all day ran smoothly!!!!!!

Kudos to Peru for what I thought was another very well ran tournament.  Great refs and the best announcer in the state.
Of what I saw  all day ran smoothly!!!!!!

Kudos to Peru for what I thought was another very well ran tournament.  Great refs and the best announcer in the state.
Of what I saw  all day ran smoothly!!!!!!

Fort Wayne has hosted Team State. Might as well host individual State!! Premier venue for all fans and wrestlers. 

You had to say that now it’s going to Fort Wayne 😄

Please make it the War Memorial.

I have an email from the man himself telling me that our "Coaches Association developed and presented the idea of this "new" head to head criteria."  I have it on good authority that his statement is false!

That's just ignorant.

Absolutely the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard.

I’d just like to say this may be the most talented pool of Ft. Wayne wrestlers I’ve ever had to rank in the last 7 years. Top ten really doesn’t do some weight’s depth(113, 120, 195) any justice as there are some very quality kids on the outside looking in. The top ten at 152-170 are absolute meatgrinders that could go plenty of different ways. The gap between being #5 and #10 is so marginal at over half the weights. 
 
Extra shout outs to:
 
The Maconaquah regional as a whole. A few years ago they were the butt of a lot of jokes on this forum, now they’re possibly the deepest of the four. Don’t think people want to draw into that #1 as much as they used to.
 
Freshman, who just seem to keep popping up on the radar more and more each week. I don’t have numbers for proof, but I’m feeling confident that this year probably has the most freshman I’ve ever put in the rankings/on the watch list.
 
Garrett, who seems to have a knack for “upsetting” kids with great resumes this year and giving me an aneurism trying to figure out what to do.

Kudos to the Peru/Maconaquah regional. 
Glad to see them making noise !!!!!

Kudos to the Peru/Maconaquah regional. 
Glad to see them making noise !!!!!

It absolutely should be seen as an accomplishment. Getting to semi state is still hard, and you still have to beat good kids to get there. And I get how it varies school to school and wrestler to wrestler, but for every one kid disappointed he lost in semi state, thinking he should be a state qualifier, are five kids excited they made it as far as they did.   

I absolutely think it's a major accomplishment, with Indiana not having multiple classes for wrestling the chances of making it to SS are low. Schools should absolutely celebrate that accomplishment for their wrestlers. Every wrestlers goal should be to make it to Gainbridge, but celebrating moving on to SS doesn't harm/detract from that goal.

We seriously need to kill this “watered down” narrative. So, the state champions, medalists, qualifiers, and semi-state qualifiers who opted to either go Division II, III, NAIA, or NJCAA all just suck now or compete for watered down titles in college because they aren’t NCAA Division I? If wrestlers’ only option after high school were Division I, you’d lose A LOT of participation. Kids in their minds would think, “I’m not as good as Spencer Lee or Gable Steveson, so I’m no longer wrestling.” Fortunately, that is not the case. That needs to be the same scenario at the high school level as well. Give kids an opportunity to face off against kids they are actually competitive with. Too many of y’all don’t like change simply because you just don’t like change, even when the new outcome has no negative affect on you whatsoever.

But is it really watering down? The top schools are still going to be the top schools. Nine of the top ten scoring teams at the state finals last season were all 4A or 3A with a 2A coming in tenth off of the strength of two wrestlers (one of whom transferred in from a 4A school). Immediately behind that 2A team were three more 4A/3A teams with a single 1A team finishing 14th with one wrestler winning and more 4A/3A teams following behind. As it stands, the 1A and 2A teams are never going to beat out the top nine teams ever, and one wrestler winning a title and scoring 26.0 points is not indicative of a 1A team overall being competitive, it just means that wrestler alone is. It’s the same story year after year. Give 1A/2A their own class to bring more involvement and spotlight and I guarantee you we’d end up becoming more competitive as a state overall. Everyone wouldn’t want to just flock to Brownsburg, Crown Point, or Perry to win a championship, they’d stay where they are and they’d be more willing to go out of state to compete at these bigger tournaments with the confidence boost.