4U2NV

I had the pleasure to know Neil and to coach along side him. I will cherish the times that we spent coaching and the numerous conversations that we had over the years. He was such a giving person. He will be missed.
I want his kids to know that he was very proud of them. Our prayers go out to his wonderful wife and kids. 
 
Prayers to the family of John Lowe also. 
 
Matt Brewer & Family

I think a case can be made that EC semi state will have the strongest group of freshmen in the state. 9 of the top 20 ranked kids. Assuming they all compete, I’m sure some will make it to State? Here is the list in no particular order.
Sergio Lemley
Sam Goin
Cody Goodwin
Orlando Cruz
Aaron Steenbeke
Aidan Torres
Cole Solomey 
Christian Carroll
Seth Williams
Logan Frazier 

I think a case can be made that EC semi state will have the strongest group of freshmen in the state. 9 of the top 20 ranked kids. Assuming they all compete, I’m sure some will make it to State? Here is the list in no particular order.
Sergio Lemley
Sam Goin
Cody Goodwin
Orlando Cruz
Aaron Steenbeke
Aidan Torres
Cole Solomey 
Christian Carroll
Seth Williams
Logan Frazier 

I think a case can be made that EC semi state will have the strongest group of freshmen in the state. 9 of the top 20 ranked kids. Assuming they all compete, I’m sure some will make it to State? Here is the list in no particular order.
Sergio Lemley
Sam Goin
Cody Goodwin
Orlando Cruz
Aaron Steenbeke
Aidan Torres
Cole Solomey 
Christian Carroll
Seth Williams
Logan Frazier 

Lemley pinned both Goin and Frazier at  Chesterton’s freestyle duals this past weekend. Lemley is a hammer! 

Hunter May brings a national championship title home. Congratulations to the May family!

Hobart Regional Training Center
2211 E. 10th st.
Hobart, Indiana 46342
Enter through DOOR 18
Wednesdays 6-8pm
*Must have USAW card to participate in RTC.
Start date: February 20th 2019 6-8pm
MORATORIUM WEEK: 7/1/19 to 7/9/19 
Director: Zack Johansen
Email: zjohansen@hobart.k12.in.us
Phone: 219-689-1613
STYLES COVERED: Freestyle, Greco, and Folkstyle
This week will feature new head wrestling coach for Hobart High School...
Jason Cook

Coach Cook was welcomed to Hobart High School this season. This Valparaiso Alum is glad to be back in "Da Region." Before graduating from Valpo High school, Jason Cook was a 3x state finalist. As a freshman 103, Cook put up a 44-7 record finishing 2nd in the state. The next year as a 112 sophmore, Cook was upset at the regional tournament ending with a record of 36-3. As a junior 125, Cook found himself under the light of the state finals once again. Ending his junior season as state runner-up and a record of 38-3. Senior year, Jason Cook brought a state title back to the region with a record of 48-0. He capped off his high school career with a career record of 168-13. Along with a state title, Cook won the 2002 Ward E. Brown IHSAA Mental Attitude Award, and was a recipient of the Harold F. Mumby Award for most valuable wrestler. Cook went on to wrestle in-state for the Boilermakers of Purdue University. During his career at Purdue, Cook wrestled in the 141 weight class. Cook was a 2004 Kent State Open Champ and a 2005 Body Bar Invite Champ. He had wins over multiple NCAA Qualifiers and NCAA All-Americans. Returning home, Jason was an assistant coach for Chesterton High school for 8 years where he had multiple state placers. Cook has coached at West Lafayette HS, Fischers, and now Hobart. Hobart is proud to have Jason as a coach, and we know he is pumped to be a Brickie. This year Jason inherited a young team with only 1 senior in total. The Brickies had 11 semi-state qualifiers, and return 13 starters next year. Cook now resides in Valpo with his wife Jen, and their cats 🐱.  

I think its the "whatever they can" part that I tend to disagree on.  Moving to put your kid in a better academic school - totally understand.  Moving to put your kid in a better wrestling school - in some terrible situations, maybe.  Holding your kid back in 8th grade for the sole reason of having an age advantage over 99% of the other kids, that's where I start to wonder what the heck is going on.  You can do too much for your kids also - like parents who do their kid's homework, give them every possible advantage at the cost of letting their kid figure it out.  I would just encourage parents to think about the long term lesson in doing something like that.

There are plenty of lessons to be learned during the regular season and post season leading up to the state finals. These kids and coaches put in way too much time and effort to leave leave the results of a state championship match up to a subjective call at real time speed.
I appreciate the effort the officials put in and I understand that they are doing the best they can do under the circumstances. 

Have to admit......I entertained the idea with Silas.  But ultimately.....had I done so, I would’ve outwardly been setting an example of athletics overriding academics.  And that’s a major breach of the Allred’s household priority line.
Being fully transparent.....Regardless of my sons success through relentless hard work, I still frequently think on the “what if’s”.  He could legit be a sophomore right now and not such a young junior.  Increased accolades in-state and Nationally would undoubtedly be attained.  But ultimately....if athletics isn’t the back up plan to education/career, we’re setting our kids up for misaligned values.  Make no mistake.....Silas plans to take the sport as far as his health, work ethic and God allows.  But one reality we’ve embraced.....is that the events of tomorrow can never be fully predicted.  And in retrospect......being young for his class and having to work harder to compensate for the age gap, has likely benefited his long term success and character much more than any medal could.  And rest assured, as it pertains to the topic of age/success/recruiting......programs are very aware of an athletes age/projection. So in most instances.....being young and successful is even more appealing to recruiters.  And that “success” I refer to here.....goes far beyond what an athlete accomplishes in their particular sport.  Character & Classroom has to come first.

8 of the 12 listed above have taken an extra year. Congratulations to #1 Sergio and #2 Cheaney who are proving that you don’t need the extra year in order to excell! They will both be “True Freshmen” next year. 

My son is a QB that has done camps in GA and CA with kids from all over the country. Every QB parent that I have ever talked to from California, and many from Texas, had held their kid back. I was even given a tutorial on how/when to do it. We elected to stay the course and keep him in his natural grade even though he is on the young side. It has put him at a disadvantage in some cases, but he'll be fine either way.

This isn't about Mater Dei. Believe it or not there are 300+ schools in the state that are not called Mater Dei.

8 of the 12 listed above have taken an extra year. Congratulations to #1 Sergio and #2 Cheaney who are proving that you don’t need the extra year in order to excell! They will both be “True Freshmen” next year. 

8 of the 12 listed above have taken an extra year. Congratulations to #1 Sergio and #2 Cheaney who are proving that you don’t need the extra year in order to excell! They will both be “True Freshmen” next year. 

8 of the 12 listed above have taken an extra year. Congratulations to #1 Sergio and #2 Cheaney who are proving that you don’t need the extra year in order to excell! They will both be “True Freshmen” next year. 

Interesting tidbit I learned about this subject from my daughter.  We were watching the Finals on Fox Sports Indiana, and the 120 lbs group comes up.  And my daughter, who is a freshman says "Oh cool!  There's Kysen!  He was in my Spanish class.  Dad did you know that he and I have the same exact birthday?"
I reply "Oh cool, the same date?" And she responds "No, dad...the exact same day.  Like the same year.  Not the same hospital though."
So we had a choice when my daughter was entering kindergarten to either have her be one of the youngest or one of the oldest in her class, and we choose the latter.  Obviously, since Kysen is a sophomore placer, he was in the former group and could "naturally" be a freshman right now like my daughter.  But he's a 2X state placer, which is commendable due to the whole "Greyshirt / Redshirt" idea.
The funny thing was my son, who is a wrestler in 7th grade, immediately piped in with "Well, clearly Kysen's parents didn't want him to be any good in wrestling."  

8 of the 12 listed above have taken an extra year. Congratulations to #1 Sergio and #2 Cheaney who are proving that you don’t need the extra year in order to excell! They will both be “True Freshmen” next year. 

8 of the 12 listed above have taken an extra year. Congratulations to #1 Sergio and #2 Cheaney who are proving that you don’t need the extra year in order to excell! They will both be “True Freshmen” next year. 

I don’t see it as a win-win when you can buy a competitive advantage for $20. 

The kids are buying a big weight allowance as the kids that weighed in on Saturday night are probably 2-5lbs heavier. They are able to eat two decent meals before they hit the mats while the ones that weigh-in on Sunday morning only get a small breakfast before they hit the mat.
There is a big difference in giving the kids a couple hour "advantage" to weighing in versus a 12+ hour advantage. The other events that offer VIP weigh-ins only allow it for a certain number of individuals and not everyone. 
I'm not a big fan of the VIP weigh-ins period, but 12+ hours ahead of time is even more out of line. I have a feeling this was done to be a money grab as the $20 can add up pretty quickly especially if half the participants weighed in early.

Lemley takes 110

Hockaday making 80 is surprising but if so will be a top contender there. 85 now has Acuna, Syra, Wood, Horning but anticipating some other Big names as Schaefer, Rianne Murphy, Preston Haines, and Seng