blueandgold

Another bad example. Tell that to Illinois or Pennsylvania. If it’s all about hard work then all the nationally-ranked 1A and 2A IL wrestlers should make 3A. Same with PA, too. All the hard working AA wrestlers should make AAA and totally eliminate the showcase of their depth just so there is one state champion for parents’ and fans’ personal preferences. No. We’re gloating about having one state champion when the IL 1A sixth-place finisher or PA AA eighth-place finisher would beat our podium from champion to eighth place on most occasions. And before you mention a state like California or New Jersey being single class, they have twice or almost three times as many qualifiers for their tournaments.

So, wouldn’t this exact statement be an indicator that there needs to be classing in order to create parity amongst smaller teams, especially those of which who are losing their stars to powerhouses? Small school athletes are like the small town workers who wear many hats, and the more they get swallowed up by their nearby big city neighbors, the more like they’ll cease to exist.

I’m not arguing either way as I am no longer in high school and I‘ve also already competed in the state finals for a 4A school. Classed wrestling wouldn’t have changed outcomes for me in any way, so it truly doesn’t affect me what decision is made. However, I am just infinitely curious as to why or how classing wrestling would be hurtful, yet no one can give a valid reason beyond their personal preference and what they think wrestling should be which only reads as, “I don’t like change.”

I am glad you got to experience that era of basketball in Indiana, but the thing about the old days is they’re the old days. Basketball in Indiana hasn’t been hurt in any way from it being classed; players are still getting plenty of offers to play at the next level and a handful are still going to the NBA, and most of that isn’t even determined by your performance in your state’s association anymore as AAU has been the new wave. But since you used a team sport like basketball as an example, why not make football single class? It would do more for attendance right when an entire small town goes up against Ben Davis, right? Again, not arguing for or against, but using attendance figures for a basketball championship in a single year isn’t a good example because attendance is still doing well on all levels at the state finals for Indiana basketball.

I wouldn’t be opposed to this. Massachusetts has a divisional state championship followed by an overall state championship that qualifies them for a larger New England championship that features many private schools who’ve sent wrestlers on to the Division I level.

Honestly, though. I just am curious as to why it’s so negatively viewed and would hope to get answers beyond, “I don’t like it (for my kids).” Parents living vicariously through their children and being upset about a potential concept of a tournament they don’t even compete in has always been crazy to me.

DISCLAIMER: I am not arguing for or against class wrestling, this is just a general question. I am curious as to why the thought of class wrestling is such a controversial topic in Indiana. The concept of “one state champion” is nice, but I don’t think any state with classed wrestling is hurt by the fact they have multiple state champions. In fact, they seem better because of it. I’m not here to provide data, just a firsthand experience in the class wrestling argument. At the 2014 Disney Duals, Perry Meridian was going for their fourth straight national championship in Community Division I that also featured Avon, Brandon, Oregon Clay, and Penn… And all of those teams got beat soundly by Dakota, a junior-senior high school with 400 total students, located in northern Illinois. In Illinois, Dakota competes in class 1A, and they were led by four-time state champion, multiple-time high school All-American, and eventual four-time NCAA Division I tournament qualifier for Northern Iowa Josh Alber (who also beat the state’s four-time 3A champion in Jered Cortez in the finals of the Dvorak that season). That Dakota team was also nationally-ranked for the previous two seasons and was one of many Illinois teams nationally-ranked along with juggernauts Oak Park and River Forest High School and Carl Sandburg High School, and all three, along with many others, featured many Division I wrestlers and All-Americans. The point I’m making is that multiple classes in Illinois didn’t make the in-state competition weaker overall, in fact, they got better and outperformed everyone nationally and remain relevant to the national wrestling scene. In addition, Michigan has four divisions, allows teammates to wrestle one another in the postseason, and are consistently better than Indiana, along with Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. So, I must ask, what is the big debacle about class wrestling?

Lol I cooked with this post

This is the team I immediately associate with the event due to their history in the previous IHSAA tournament and the current IHSWCA tournament. I know Crown Point and Brownsburg have owned the state duals recently, but for some reason, even in “down” years, EMD never looks out of it and always seem like they’re due to cause a surprise either as a team or with a breakout individual performance. I have a lot of respect for this program and I’m curious to see what takes place on Saturday for the Wildcats.

Spoken like a true hater. Nah, I’m kidding. GHH knows his stuff.

We're halfway through the season as we approach the State Duals, and I'm curious, who is your pick for Most Valuable Wrestler? Who has been a difference maker in their team's lineup for tournaments and dual meets with their individual point scoring or has been able to help their teammates improve to become contenders at Team State or in individual tournaments? Most Valuable Wrestler Picks Will Clark (Crown Point) - Defending state champion at 215 (220) who has been nothing short of dominant for the Bulldogs up north. You can count on both he and his twin brother to score big in any setting and also help their teammates improve. Jake Hockaday (Brownsburg) - A two-time state champion seeking his third for the Bulldogs in Hendricks County. His tournament points and dual meet scoring instantly make Brownsburg a formidable team. Paul Clark (Crown Point) - The top-ranked and two-time All-Hoosier heavyweight has dominated the field and earned bonus points against all in-state competition. His points along with his twin brother's make them the scariest 1-2 punch in the state. Tylin Thrine (New Castle) - He lit up the state last season and is looking to do the same this year despite a late start. While New Castle may not be able to disrupt the top five in a dual setting and maybe not individually, he and Whitehead's consistent tournament wins can make for team placement within the top ten. His title run last season helped the Trojans to its first top five finish at State since 2002. Gavin Jendreas (Crown Point) - A returning state runner-up and two-time All-Hoosier, Jendreas has been on fire this season lighting up the scoreboard with his superiority in the neutral position. Along with a handful of his teammates, Jendreas has been pivotal to the Bulldogs' success in recent years and looks to continue that this year. Jensen Boyd (Delta) - The top-ranked 106-pounder has helped propel Delta to a top five ranking in the Power Poll. With a high bonus rate in addition to being the favorite for a title, he can help lead Delta to its first top five finish since the 1980s. Kyrel Leavell (Warren Central) - Despite his first loss in the Al Smith finals, Leavell has made an impact in every meeting for Warren Central, helping propel them to Team State and earn a top-6 seed. Isaiah Schaefer (Evansville Mater Dei) - The two-time All-Hoosier lightweight has catapulted into a leadership role after two seventh-place finishes for the Wildcats. His individual performances over the course of the season has helped Mater Dei tremendously in duals and helped them finish high in tournaments. Look for he, his younger brother, and the remaining Wildcats to turn it up through the rest of the season. Wyatt Krejsa (Center Grove) - The returning runner-up from 145 pounds has been dominant all season. He scored 32.5 team points en route to a title at the Al Smith and looks to build on that dominance for Center Grove as the season pushes on. Brenton Russell (Warren Central) - The former #1 at 175 pounds placed third at the Al Smith and was the second-highest point scorer for the Warriors. With a high bonus rate and slick wrestling style, he'll be hard to beat twice. Look for he and Leavell to bounce back and keep Warren in contention for both a semi-state title and top five finish at the State Duals and Individual State Finals.

Thrine hasn't even had an offensive point scored on him this year and he just came back from a football injury a quarter way through the season.

That was huge. Wilderman beat my brother Tristen Tonte that same day too.

With the annual duals on the horizon, what are some memorable individual breakout moments from the tournament over the years? The most notable for me: A freshman Nick Lee majoring returning runner-up Zach Davis of Penn at the 2014 Team State Duals.

There’s always that moment when you know a guy is up next. It was Jesse at Al Smith 2018, Brayton at Team State 2016, and both times I noticed how good they were on their feet and how adamant they were to get bonus points. Same with Gavin yesterday. He looks unrecognizable in comparison to the Gavin of the last two years.

Finals Impressions 106: Jones looked solid and he looks like a true title contender in the always open 106 class. 113: Lewis looked good out there, but I’m interested to see how he looks against Rioux, Dickman, etc. 120: Jendreas looked like he’s a lock for 120 honestly. He had four straight technical falls including one in the finals over the kid who upset the #1 ranked wrestler and returning champion. He honestly reminded me of when Brayton Lee and Jesse Mendez the way he was turning it up on his feet. His hand fighting and motion were supreme. 126: The match wasn’t that exciting. Bragg seemed like the aggressor for five of the six minutes despite giving up a takedown, but LT showed how wide the gap was and how talented he is with his eight-point sequence in the last forty seconds or so to earn the major. 132: DeMarco and Goss in a tense match up offered a lot of fireworks between state medalists, but DeMarco looked extremely polished out there. 138: Despite the loss, Kyrel looked good. With that being said, Clinton Shephard has made a name for himself beating the #1 and #2 in the last few weeks and looks to carry that momentum through the remainder of the season. 144: Arberry looked good in this match and the gap between he and Courtney isn’t that wide based on this match, but things can change quickly over the course of a month. However, that match looked like it was Arberry’s, but losing on a stall is awful. 150: Big Wyatt looked dominant. 157: Brabender looked good and is likely the new #1, but Pellot will be looking to get that match back at Semi-State. 165: Cressell virtually hadn’t been touched all year, and even with Rinehart managing to squeak by with a one-point decision, I still can’t call the Crown Point junior a lock. Cressell was more aggressive on his feet, and should he finish that single, this match could be a different tune in February, but as always, they both have to make it there first. 175: These two battled, but the Brickie turned up. Looking to see how my fellow Region Rat carries this momentum going forward. 190: Penola looked very good. I’m excited to see how he performs going forward and eager to see a match with he and Gunner Henry. 215: BIG WILL CLARK. He might be my favorite wrestler right now. Despite his crazy semis result, he turned the dominance back up in the final and is looking like he can’t be touched. Curious to see how he makes adjustments should he see Weingart again. 285: This is the match I personally waited on all day. I enjoy both light heavyweight and heavyweight wrestling at both 215 and 285, but the biggest boys have been bringing the pain lately. Center Grove has a good problem to have in the fact that they have two state qualifying heavyweights, but it sucks knowing one won’t wrestle the postseason. Nate Johnson is always tough and I was curious to see how he fared against Paul Clark as he managed to pin his way to the finals, but BIG PAULIE C proved how wide the gap is by being able to score a pin from the top position. I feel like we don’t see that often at heavyweight, but I’m glad he’s showing how it’s done up north.

I can’t lie, I was mostly bored with that match and felt Bragg was the aggressor despite giving up the first takedown, but LT scoring another takedown and then turning him twice all within forty seconds took the excitement meter up for me, and I was extremely impressed.

I just learned about the Massachusetts state tournament today that starts with Sectionals, advances to Divisional State Championships, then the All-State Championships, and concludes with the New England High School Championships that includes the best wrestlers from all six states in the New England region, and a lot of the competitors have gone on to become Division I wrestlers and plenty were high school All-Americans. I find it cool that the New England tournament is listed as part of their state association’s official schedule. So, now I’m wondering… What would a Midwest championship would look like? How would you want to qualify wrestlers from each state, especially considering all except Indiana have, at minimum, three classes? Would Indiana need to eliminate certain stages of the state tournament series? Would a Midwestern championship be more prestigious than a state championship? Could a larger regional championship spur a national high school championship? I think it would be interesting and attract more eyes to the sport. Midwestern United States as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau (12) Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Michigan Minnesota Missouri Nebraska North Dakota Ohio South Dakota Wisconsin

2010 Mishawaka needs to be in here somewhere to be honest.

Crown Point 2021-22: IHSAA State Champions, 11 Individual State Qualifiers (9 Medalists, 6 Finalists, 3 Champions), IHSWCA 4A State Duals Champions, 16-0 Crown Point 2022-23: IHSAA State Champions, 11 Individual State Qualifiers (9 Medalists, 4 Champions), IHSWCA 4A State Duals Champions, 7-0 Evansville Mater Dei 2002-03: IHSAA Team State Champions, 10 Individual State Qualifiers (8 Medalists, 5 Finalists, 4 Champions), 23-1 Evansville Mater Dei 2001-02: IHSAA Team State Champions, 10 Individual State Qualifiers (6 Medalists, 4 Finalists, 1 Champion), 21-0 Perry Meridian 2012-13: IHSAA State Champions, 8 Individual State Qualifiers (7 Medalists, 4 Finalists, 3 Champions), IHSWCA 3A State Duals Champions, 20-0 Lawrence North 2004-05: IHSAA Team State Champions, 8 Individual State Qualifiers (6 Medalists, 1 Champion), 29-0 Center Grove 2022-23: IHSAA State Runners-Up, 12 Individual State Qualifiers (8 Medalists, 5 Finalists, 1 Champion), IHSWCA 4A State Duals 3rd, 18-4 Evansville Mater Dei 2020-21: IHSAA State Champions, 7 Individual State Qualifiers (6 Medalists, 3 Finalists, 2 Champions), IHSWCA 4A State Duals Champions, 13-0 Brownsburg 2016-17: IHSAA State Champions, 8 Individual State Qualifiers (7 Medalists, 3 Finalists, 1 Champion), IHSWCA 3A State Duals Champions, 16-1 Griffith 2002-03: IHSAA Team State Runners-Up, 6 Individual State Qualifiers (4 Medalists, 3 Champions)

That’s my brother for life. Absolutely thought he would’ve won his junior year because I swear he had Kleimola pinned.

Sheesh. Well… The Zebras have helped load ECSS back up. They’ve always been top heavy up north. I remember in 2014-15, most of the #1s came from the MV/ECSS. In fact, exactly half of the fourteen state champions that year were from there (106, 145, 152, 160, 182, 220, 285).

Along with Billy Baker and Nick Crume, but wasn’t trying to list all the names, just providing some examples.

I’ll be honest… For years, this was the draw you wanted at Conseco/Bankers Life/Gainbridge at the State Finals. If you had someone from the Fort Wayne Semi-State that wasn’t Bellmont or Yorktown after the meat grinder that was Evansville or New Castle, your immediate thought was, “Easy W.” Now… It’s actually looking like things are a bit different. Of course, the FWSS had produced some hammers over the years that made finals appearances (Dominique Stauffer, Corbin Maddox), some with multiple (Fletcher Miller, Christian Hunt, Clay Fielden, Ike Ruble), and even a champion or two each year (Devon Jackson, Garrett Pepple, Rhett Hiestand, Brayden Curtis, Brad Laughlin, Hunter Watts), but in recent years (since 2020-21), it feels like they’ve been extremely competitive, have produced hammers regularly, and are no longer the “weak” semi-state a state qualifying wrestler hopes to draw. There have been two heavyweight state champions (Reeve Muncie, Marshall Fishback), a nationally-ranked Olympic style phenomenon (De’Alcapon Veazy), and more true title contenders (Jensen Boyd, Ayden Bollinger, Brady Beck)… And with the resurgence of a program like Delta, the emergence of programs like Rochester and Western, and the consistency of programs such as Bellmont and Jay County, I must ask… What’s the secret? How has Fort Wayne turned the tide since the new decade and become a threat?

I would also like to add Jack Heldt from Carmel to this bunch. He was only a semi-state qualifier in high school and won an NCAA championship for Wabash this past year, going 38-0 in the process. Nick Bova from Perry Meridian was a three-time state medalist (8th, 7th, 7th) and ended up being a two-time All-American for Wabash, placing 8th in 2016 and 3rd in 2017. Jordan Napier from Perry Meridian was a regional champion and semi-state qualifier and ended up qualifying for the NCAA tournament for Manchester.