graham

Crown this guy poet laureate of Indiana Mat

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.
 
 
 
 

Dark horse out side the top 10 to make a run at a title. 
 
132 Griffen Van titchel crown point is coming on strong with big wins over Hayden Demarco the last coming by fall 
 
152 Bryce Denton Penn moving up 2 weights overcoming injury. With Rinehart out Denton put himself in position to possibly win a semi state
 
unranked 
 
Baylor Milan is on fire! He has put himself in a great position to qualify 
 

Cathedral 14

Cathedral's 2019 State Title run as a team was pretty magical, so I will tell the story from a Cathedral fan's point of view.
 
Coming into state with only 5 guys (Zeke Seltzer, Lukasz Walendzak, Alex Mosconi, Elliott Rodgers, and Jordan Slivka) it was an uphill battle from the beginning to defend our 2018 state title! 

As a result, the Irish came to wrestle with us placing all 5 wrestlers and putting 4 guys in the finals (including two champs). However that was not the only thing that made this run so phenomenal, as it was the manner in which we did it. To get the fun started, on Friday Night we saw Elliott Rodgers defeat Nathan Conley via a last second takedown that ultimately decided who won the state!
 
Upon returning on Saturday, we knew that we needed to not only put at least 4 guys in the finals, but also pick up some bonus along the way to win as a team, and we did just that with both Jordan Slivka and Alex Mosconi picking up a fall in the semis and heading into the finals we held a narrow lead to an Avon team that was on fire. However, in the finals is when the real magic happened. 
 
Following Zeke Seltzer's narrow defeat to Jacob Moran at 113 and Asa Garcia's 3rd state title at 132 - as well as knowing that Avon's Carson Brewer was almost a lock to win at 182 - heading into the 145lb weight class we knew that in order to win as a team, one of our remaining three wrestlers needed to win state, which was a daunting task considering that all three of our remaining guys had lost to their opponent earlier in the season. 
 
Consequently, after a 145lb match that saw Alex Mosconi lose to a nationally ranked Matt Lee, Irish fans were now on the edge of their seats as all that we had left to try and win the state title as a team was Elliott Rodgers vs. Cooper Noehre - where Rodgers had lost to Noehre the week before in Semi-State - and Jordan Slivka vs. the nationally ranked Donnell Washington - where Washington had beat Slivka 8-2 earlier in the season. This is when things got crazy
 
At 152 after a scoreless 1st period Rodgers chose down and gave up 3 back points before reversing Noehre with 30 seconds left to make the score 3-2 heading into the 3rd with Noehre on bottom. In the 3rd things started to heat up with Rodgers cutting Noehre and taking him down to tie up the match 4-4 with a little over a minute remaining, and this is when the match got really interesting. With only a minute to go to decide the state champ Noehre got an escape and a takedown to make the score 7-4 with only 50 seconds left to go, when Rodgers somehow managed to get an escape and a takedown with less than 10 seconds left to tie things up 7-7, sending the match to overtime. As if the match was not already crazy enough, Rodgers then iced the match with an Inside Trip takedown on the edge of the mat to win the match in 9-7 in OT, also somewhat securing the team state title for the Irish (Permitting that Brewer did not pick up bonus point at 182).
 
With state title in our grasp, the Cathedral section was on their feet but as if the night was not already crazy enough, we still had one wrestler remaining, Jordan Slivka... and his match turned out to be one of the best finals matches I have ever seen. Following being taken down twice in the 1st period and being reversed in the 2nd, Slivka was losing 6-2 going into the third period, and little did we know that we were about to witness one of the greatest 3rd period comebacks in state finals history.
 
At the start of the 3rd period Slivka got an escape and a takedown almost immediately to make the score 6-5 with about a minute left. Still losing, Slivka cut Washington and managed to take him down again to tie the match up at 7-7 with short time remaining. At this point Cathedral fans thought the match was headed to OT, but Slivka was not done yet.  Following an Injury time that gave Slivka choice, where he obviously chose bottom, Slivka got away to make the score 8-7 with only 40 seconds left. Finally, after a last ditch effort by Washington that saw him get taken down again the match ended, securing not only Slivka's 2nd state title, but also officially putting the team title out of reach, declaring the Irish the 2019 State Champions!
 
That State Finals run was undoubtedly one of the most impressive I had seen in my 10 years of attending the state finals, and I am grateful to have been a small part of it! Hope everyone enjoyed the story.  

Brownsburg and Crown Point has wrestled 3-4 state championship level events this year. They have 0 undeated wrestlers. Will pay dividends. If you have a high level age group kid = better of traveling every other weekend to find competition than staying local. It is like kissing your sister - you wrestle the same kids. Lots of kids will benefit more in a good room practice -then traveling sitting in a gym all day to wrestle 3 time for 2 minutes. 

Western 2A Team State Champs!! 

Shout out to Columbus East for believing in themselves by fighting for that vote-in spot and making the finals. Good program with tough kids who are always well coached.

Wish we could’ve seen a Perry vs MD matchup. Definitely the 5&6 teams in 4a

Are we not remembering Mendez and Seltzer from last year?

In my opinion, and maybe only mine, it's a significant accomplishment. I don't think it would be surprising that many members on this board are skewed to the right of the accomplishment curve. Why wouldn't they lean towards the Semi-State as a minor accomplishment. But, how many thousands of kids over the years have worked their fannies off, had successful careers, and not qualified for State?

No

138 was the weight to watch today at City Championships.
 
Cathedral’s Max McGinley won 10-3 over Providence Cristo Rey’s Delin Jones in the semis, then pinned Purdue Poly Tech’s Silas Foster in overtime after a wild 10-10 score through six minutes in the finals.

I’ve been saying this exact thing for some time now. You’ll see a state champion in Indiana with no losses versus a state champion in Illinois with seven or eight and often the Illinois champion with seven or eight losses is better than the Indiana champion. We need those matches and those tests for us to get better overall.

Dual on the line down 6 Brandon Johnson at 220 for LN goes out and pins Jackson New.

Brandon Johnson of Lawrence North at 220 pounds pinned Greg Johnson of Warren Central last night. He’s already beat Degroat of Connersville 8-0 so far this year as well.

All,
 
I want to share a story about the kind of people we have in this sport.  Last Saturday Greenfield had a young lady injured in a match at New Palestine High School.  It was a head and neck injury that required her to be transported to the hospital via ambulance.  She and her parents had never been through something like this before and were justifiably shaken.  
 
On Tuesday of this week I was called down to the athletic office.  We had received a package.  It was a box of flowers addressed to the young lady who was injured.  They were sent from the Columbia City Wrestling Program.  I know it's a little thing and some people may not understand, but it touched me and my program.
 
People think wrestling is about working hard, sweating, bleeding, beating on people, etc..., but it's not.  It's above LOVING each other.  I wan't to thank Columbia City for giving my program an example of how people are supposed to love each other.
 
Thank you!

Where will he commit to next 🤷🏻‍♂️

Agree. Had the luxury of watching every Zeke match for 4 years. The amount of joy I've had watching his development has been worth the whole high school experience. 
 
His pop and momma, Brian and Jen, and the CHS crew have been amazing to be part of. From the early days of the Baileys and Walendzak to the later days of Dickey and Reyes, the room always popped. 
 
Zele has kept the program as a top contender and leaves Cathedral with the most state titles in Cathedral history with 5 rings. For a school with a gazillion IHSAA titles, he can rest easy knowing he was one of the greatest that walked our halls. 
 
Thanks for the memories, Seltzer's. We love you. And, we can't wait to follow Zeke through his college years at Missouri. 

What a ride it’s been. 
Both join a short list of Indiana history. 
Mendez just the 10th 4x’er
Seltzer 4 straight appearances with 3 1’s and a runner up. 
 
From this southern Indiana guy, it’s been fun watching you 2 and I wish nothing but the best for you both in your next chapter. 

They ought to set another release time in the morning or at least say something. We gonna sit here all night refreshing?

Projected line-ups
 
  Crown Point Mount Carmel 106 #5 Gavin Jendreas Seth Mendoza 113 #15 Kaptur Nowaczyk Damian Resendez 120 #16 Evan Cruz Jairo Acuna 126 #1 Logan Frazier Sergio Lemley 132 #4 Anthony Bahl Eddie Enright 138 #1 Jesse Mendez Nam Doan 145 #6 Nick Tattini Carlos Perez 152 #1 Sam Goin Michael Bacca 160 #3 Cody Goodwin Colin Kelly 170 Anthony White Owen Jacobson 182 #2 Orlando Cruz Rylan Breen 195 #6 Will Clark Elliott Lewis 220 #20 Paul Clark John Mckeon 285 #11 Jack Ruess Ryan Boersma

Definitely Bernie in the chair🤣

Got to go with B Seltzer here. There are a lot of great coaches out there but if I had my choice Seltzer would be it hands down!

Here ya go.. get it??