Kookie953

Miss those days bro, wish we could rewind time do it all over again going all the way back to MS days when it was not so hectic . Actually watched a few of the battles on huddle a couple days ago . 2015-16 was some of the best back and forth wrestling . Asa would win one, next weekend Ty win. They wrestled each other 6x that year, I believe that Ty won (4), Asa (2) . 
Round 1,2,3,4,5,6 
Not going to lie that year I was worried, Ty coming off his Runner Up 106, I text you later that year in 2015 right before season. We’re going 106, I was thinking to myself maybe he’d say 113.... text ..... you said so are we. You said there can only be 1 State Champ coming out of Hendricks County at 106. I said damn it ! Laughed, then so be it . Lol. 
After they lose to each other they drop in the Rankings . I kept telling @ontherise219 i’d keep them where they started the year. Did he listen nope. Dropped them both cause they was beating the hell out of each other. I think he learned a lesson that year . Lol 
Good times & great memories. 
College match... ? Guess there can only be 1 NCAA Champ from Hendricks County to huh ?
 

Asa got it done when it mattered the most... the battles between Ty and Asa were both awesome and gut wrenching as a parent.  Those two were battle tested when it came time for the State Series and it shows with their results.  Neither had any fear when we saw each other in the Dual, County, Conference, Sectional, Regional, Semi-State and State!  @TeamGarcia and I would just smile at each other win or lose because there is no better way to get better than to see that type of competition week in and week out.  Do I wish a couple of those red rings were blue, absolutely... but I am extremely proud of those two boys since seeing them battle it out when they were 7 or 8 in the CWA room, partners in MS and rivals in HS!  
Congrats to Asa and his family on an awesome HS Career!!!  Now, we're gonna prepare to flip the script when it comes time for the NCAA's!!! 😃

If anybody wants to get ready for this thing. Multiple state champs will be training hard at Red Cobra until the event. Mondays and Wednesdays 6-8 tuesdays and Thursdays  7-8:30. Make your way to TheCounty and get that work in! 

Tournament Videos are currently being uploaded ... may take most of the day.   Free viewing.
Thanks again to Southport for hosting, and their team and club support.   It was a big undertaking.  Great job!
Thanks to all the Head and Assistant Coaches for supporting and promoting this event.  The first year it had 291 wrestlers, last year it was up to 390, and this year the event had 485 Wrestlers.  
Thanks to all of the great wrestlers who showed up to compete.  The level of wrestling was awesome!

And for the record, I am not a proponent of classing the individual tournament. I wish they would increase to 24 kids in the state bracket. 
Ticket round winners place top 4 at semi state. 
Ticket round loser wrestle to 5/6. This eliminates the death draw issue and basically assures the top kids qualify. 
Take 6 to state. 
Add 1 round Friday for 4 vs 5 and 3 vs 6. Semi state champs and runner ups have a bye. Somehow random draw in the first round like they do now. 
Keep the rest of the tournament series the same. 
I am a huge proponent of Class Duals. 

When coaches can see how cross training can help their athletes then everyone wins.  A week at Disney Duals wont take away from summer football and probably helps make them better football players.  All it takes is a little communication and working together for a kids to be successful as a multi-sport athlete.  Not gonna say it is easy but coaches working together is a big deal.
And Kudos for Coach Snyder and all the other coaches that promote being a multisport athlete!

Absolutely.... 
Many of the challenges kids have to being great in wrestling happen to coincide with small schools but big schools aren't necessarily immune to challenges.  They are just different challenges.
Ben Davis, Pike and Fishers (3 of the biggest HS in the State) had 3 SQ combined.  Oak Hill, Western, Wawasee, Jimtown all had 3 each.  
All that being said school size is probably the best way to divide schools into classes.  I would just be a bigger supporter of an "all-in" team state tournament series vs changing the individual tournament.

I agree and appreciate the fact that 6A schools have multiple sport athletes as well and are successful at that. 
My point is that is is much more common in smaller school settings. 
My varsity line up: 113, 120, 138- cross country. 126, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220- football. 132 was football until this year. 106 first year kid that was literally the only one I could find to make weight in the school. 
So if you can tell me that Brownsburg had 11-12 varsity wrestling starters that played a fall sport, then I will stop trying to post about the differences we face. They get much better year round buy in and that is the advantage. 
I give Snyder props for what he has done. Brownsburg came to our duals for a couple years prior to his head coaching. We actually won the two duals we had with them. Then last year we faced them at the Bellmont main event and took a whooping. He has changed their culture and elevated that program. 

Yes, I had a plan, I grew wrestling Steven Bradley, I asked back then when we was wrestling AAU, what do you do to make yourself better ? He told me, I train everyday . I knew right then the formula . You either train everyday or everyone else catches up to you. All the great wrestlers know that. My family now didn’t have vacations, our vacations was wrestling they still are. I can’t remember the last time we didn’t wrestle on a vacation. Holidays was spent training. Only day he took off was his birthday, or his siblings birthday . He and his Brother  Train at a high level, I’d drive him to the best Academy around to get the best training . Even if it’s 2 hours away.  He’d still travel the Country getting feed to the wolves over & over & over . When we lived in Muncie, the Pal Club went everywhere in the State Wrestling. We we moved to Avon area, I put him in the best academy in the area in 2011. I made a commitment early I was going make him into the best wrestler he can be. 
I’d 100% yes, if we move anywhere else in Indiana he’d still be the wrestler his is today cause I knew back then what it took to be great . Everyday 24/7/365 . You can ask him yourself if you like. He’ll tell You get what you put into this sport.
It starts with the kid wanting to get better, then you add a training partners.  In Muncie Pal Club days we started out with Austin Gonzales, if your kids wrestled back then kid was good for his age. Then I moved my Family to Avon to be closer to my job. Put him in Contenders Wrestling Academy, back then they was just getting their feet wet as a Academy Wrestling lots of “kiddie killers” as others would call us . He trained in elementary with Trey Lane, Ray Rioux, Ty Mills to get better. They was making him better as well themselves. 
We just did what we always done, wrestle. If there was a tournament we wrestled in it. If there was a open room we practice, practice, practice. 4 hour practices . Everyday ! 
 

Well, there goes that......

And to add to my above post...if you truly are "elite" and have been and as a parent you want you child to be successful, then many times that's why those families migrate to a major metro area or move in to a school system with a great wrestling program. So success breeds success within this topic that nobody wants to acknowledge.  Just by the nature of the size of the program, if you're wrestling varsity for Avon, Brownsburg, Cathedral, Perry Meridian, Warren...you have to be pretty damn good just to make one of those 14 spots.     
And another kid that comes to mind is Gavinn Alstott.  His family sacrifices and gets him to the best gyms hours away because the kid wants to work and get better.  So they go to extraordinary circumstances to make that happen.  He's a fun kid to watch have success.  Or is Floyd Central too big?  

I think you're missing what the point was in that post.  Someone correct me if I am wrong....
The IHSAA sees the purpose of the State Tournament as the means to determine the Champion, both team and individual.  They do so within the manner they have set forth based on how they handle all sports.  Wrestling is a different sport and many wish it was treated more specifically than generically.  It seems the IHSAA treats in as it does with other individual sports.    
 That does not mean the IHSAA doesn't care about wrestling.  

There. 
We. 
Went. 

I remember the Indianapolis Star doing these years ago, last I remember 2012, but I’m not sure if these are a thing anymore. It’s been awhile since I’ve followed wrestling and this was the first state tournament I’ve seen top to bottom in years. With that being said, here’s my crack at it.
106 - Alex Cottey of Perry Meridian
113 - Zeke Seltzer of Cathedral
120 - Brayden Littell of Center Grove
126 - Ray Rioux of Avon
132 - Asa Garcia of Avon
138 - Tyce Freije of Roncalli
145 - Alex Mosconi of Cathedral
152 - Elliott Rodgers of Cathedral
160 - Jordan Slivka of Cathedral
170 - Elijah Mahan of Roncalli
182 - Carson Brewer of Avon
195 - Nick Willham of Greenwood
220 - Lawson Aiken of Brownsburg
285 - Dorian Keys of Brownsburg
 
A pretty solid squad I’d say, don’t ya think? 6 state champs, 6 runner-ups, a third, and a fourth place. I’d like to see this team against like a Team Indiana from every area. If anyone could put one together, please do.

He did not live in the best neighborhoods and now he lives behind the Lee family. Also, no offense to the Evansville schools, but take a moment to look up where Brownsburg ranks in the state (academically), it’s near the top. Lastly, his dad got an incredible job opportunity here as well. 
Curious to hear why his future was better there.

The Indiana state tournament series already doesn’t mean much with the way it’s ran. The lack of seeding or wrestlebacks kills our potential. You want to see a good single class tournament? Watch the CIF State Championships. Excellent from top to bottom.

Little known fact, but Estell Ritter was held back solely for wrestling.  Also for farming because it was a tough crop back in 1924, but none the less his parents seemed to be concerned with his wrestling career.

No hancock and two johnsons....      
There HAS to be a dirty joke in there somewhere!

#GrowTheSport
Make dual meets cooler.  We aren’t wrestling in Ancient Greece or Rome.  Use a DJ or play music, dim the lights or use spotlights, glow sticks, wrestlers come out of tunnel or down bleachers, throw shirts out - something!  My first year here when I was an assistant we had 25 people in the stands for senior night.  A lot different now.  Last night our high school hosted our middle schools wrestling each other.  A lot of fans were there.  We made it an exciting atmosphere.  The Head Basketball Coach at Brownsburg is Steve Lynch.  He pulled me to the side and said, “Dude you gotta be doing something right to get so many people here at a middle school meet.  How do you do it?”  Make it more interesting!
Snyder 

The biggest thing is to get rid of the stigma that wrestling is a 2nd tier sport or "not cool". Wrestling is the thing to do on the westside of Indy. Most kids wrestle year round. Our academies are awesome. Our newspaper does a real good job covering our sport. Almost every day since mid October, our local paper has written about wrestling. And Garcia is right.... go to any club or academy on any night. They are packed. Bottom line... we got soooo many kids wrestling and wrestling hard. 

2006- Contenders Wrestling Academy  
Red Cobra made its home in Avon I’d say in 2015-
CIA had something going at Ben Davis & Danville HS 2014
you got these Academies . 
Back in 2015 when I said on here 
(“It’s Coming”) #TheCounty 
The Well isn’t dry either, your going to see these results coming for a long .... long time and only getting better. 
Chris Garcia 
 
 
 

This is the point of the conversation where Y2 post pictures of state champs from other states and asks if they look less happy b/c it's a class state championship. 
 

And get a watered down medal from a tournament nobody attended.  Leave it alone.  It's the best high school event in the nation.  
If you're worried about your kid getting recruited, get to the national tournaments and do some marketing with where you want to go.  There's not a whole lot of full-ride wrestling money anyway.
Side note Joe...just IMHO a chance to "medal" is not going to be the deciding factor of whether a kid wants to wrestle or not.  You either like this sport or you don't, and no amount of hardware is going to change a kid's mind.  So forfeits won't go down simply because the tournament is classed.  The only thing that goes down is the excitement in mid-Feb.

I just simply don't think it will matter...but it will make the Indiana tournament less meaningful.  It's the same arguments as class basketball, except basketball is actually a team sport.  
That kid at the small school that "has to" go do other sports is not gonna all the sudden say "Yup, I'm going to bust my ass at wrestling and maybe have another dude's junk in my face while he cranks on my shoulder because I now have a chance for a 1A SQ.  Yay, wrestling!"  I just can't make that leap.  Wrestling is not track or tennis or golf.  You either can do it or you can't mentally.  So it doesn't matter...so don't mess with the coolest high school event there is for participants AND fans.  

I think Coach P from Carmel had a post a few weeks ago regarding the struggle of getting kids to wrestle in the BIGGEST high school district in the state, so there is more than likely more to the central issue than just enrollment. The degree of training required to compete at the highest level in this sport has to be a factor with kids shying away from competing due to the inherent difficulty.