blueandgold

Stevan Micic is the current GOAT based on individual accolades as he’s the only Olympian among the guys you listed. 184-5 in HS, 2013 Cadet World Team Member, 4-2-3 in college, 2020 Olympian, 2022 World Bronze Medalist. Even with no NCAA title, he’s the only one to see major success at the senior international level which I believe adds more weight. Mason would be second as he has a state, NCAA, and Junior world championship.

I’m proud to be an Indiana heavyweight. Watching those guys win at Division I, II, AND III let me know I came from the best heavyweight state in the land. And if we want to get technical, Gable is also ours by birthright and years spent here (up to eighth grade). Congratulations to Mason, Shawn, and Jack. Happy to say I’ve competed or scrapped with all three.

Who cares if more kids are getting a trophy? The best kids will still get theirs regardless. You just have other kids getting one as well because they work hard just as much as us from big schools, but only few will reach the top, if any sometimes. How are small school kids getting their own tournament hurting anyone up top? The crappy arguments everyone makes are, “It would ruin the best state tournament in the country.” Shut up with that. You all are so concerned about living vicariously through kids and wanting the sole spotlight to be on them that you can’t imagine another kid getting his or her fair share of the light when BOTH get a trophy. It is not such a bad thing for others to succeed to the same level as you do, and when you have no reason for why they shouldn’t be allowed to beyond “our cool state tournament will be ruined,” you really just look lame.

Wrestlebacks ain’t helping small school kids. It makes it worse for them actually because all of the big school kids who lost to other big school kids are beating those small school kids most of the time. You’d see less parity on the podium for sure.

He got pinned in a defensive fall by Rader while up 3-0. I think he was about to turn him and they just called it.

Fair point.

I’m surprised no one hasn’t said Austin Bethel yet. Four-time state qualifier who beat both Brayton and Joe Lee and immediately was an All-American as a true freshman at Wabash.

What are the best top four finishers in history, in your opinion? 2016 – 132 Chad Red of New Palestine, 4× State Champion | #1 in the nation at 132, #5 P4P Nick Lee of Evansville Mater Dei, 2015 State Champion | #2 in the nation at 132 Brendan Black of Hobart, 2017 State Champion Kris Rumph of Portage, 2018 State Champion 2014 – 285 Wes Bernard of Cathedral, 2014 State Champion | #7 in the nation at 285 Norman Oglesby of Ben Davis | #19 in the nation at 285 Shawn Streck of Merrillville, 2× State Champion | #15 in the nation at 285 Eric Hemmelgarn of Jay County | #17 in the nation at 285 2014 – 220 Gelen Robinson of Lake Central, 2× State Champion | #6 in the nation at 220 Fletcher Miller of Kokomo | #8 in the nation at 220 Connor Tolley of Franklin | #14 in the nation at 220 Dylan Faulkenburg of Cardinal Ritter

I know it may be next to impossible to find a definitive answer, but does anyone have an idea of who has the most ISWA State Championships? I know Mullins has plenty, I believe over 20, but is there anyone else with 20+?

I gotta go with Thrine. Going into the tournament, Frazier was the odds on favorite to win comfortably as he was undefeated against Indiana competition, was an Ironman All-American, and the defending state champion ranked as high as 14th nationally, yet a true 15-year-old freshman beat him and subsequently became his school’s first state champion in 28 years and the first undefeated state champion in school history.

Two great programs both in the far left top and bottom corners of the state that gave us four of the greatest teams in Indiana history twenty years apart. Let’s do some math. Team State Series Scores for Evansville Mater Dei 2002 67-3 vs. Memorial (Regional Semifinal) 60-3 vs. Princeton (Regional Championship) 48-12 vs. Bloomington South (Semi-State Championship) 66-3 vs. New Castle (State Quarterfinal) 44-15 vs. Bellmont (State Semifinal) 49-12 vs. Perry Meridian (State Championship) Average Points Scored: 56 Average Points Allowed: 8 Average Points Scored (State Only): 53 Average Points Allowed (State Only): 10 2003 76-0 vs. Boonville (Regional Semifinal) 54-12 vs. Memorial (Regional Championship) 76-6 vs. Jasper (Semi-State Championship) 54-9 vs. Perry Meridian (State Quarterfinal) 48-11 vs. Bellmont (State Semifinal) 42-23 vs. Griffith (State Championship) Average Points Scored (State Series): 58 Average Points Allowed (State Series): 10 Average Points Scored (State Only): 48 Average Points Allowed (State Only): 14 Team State Duals Scores for Crown Point 2022 59-3 vs. Carmel (State Quarterfinal) 46-22 vs. Cathedral (State Semifinal) 29-28 vs. Brownsburg (State Championship) Average Points Scored (State Only): 45 Average Points Allowed (State Only): 18 2022 57-9 vs. Penn (State Quarterfinal) 56-6 vs. Perry Meridian (State Semifinal) 39-24 vs. Brownsburg (State Championship) Average Points Scored (State Only): 51 Average Points Allowed (State Only): 13 Individual Comparison for Evansville Mater Dei 2002 State Qualifiers: 10 State Medalists: 6 State Finalists: 4 State Champions: 1 Finals Win Percentage: .200 2003 State Qualifiers: 10 State Medalists: 7 State Finalists: 5 State Champions: 4 Finals Win Percentage: .800 Unofficial Team Score: 158.0 Individual Comparison for Crown Point 2022 State Qualifiers: 11 State Medalists: 9 State Finalists: 6 State Champions: 3 Finals Win Percentage: .500 Official Team Score: 178.0 (State Record) 2023 State Qualifiers: 11 State Medalists: 9 State Finalists: 4 State Champions: 4 Finals Win Percentage: 1.000 Official Team Score: 167.0 (Second-Highest Score in State History) Final Thoughts: If we are ONLY looking at Team State, then EMD 2002 is the best of the bunch, but if we include the entire state series, 2003 is slightly better. I’d say overall, though, EMD still remains atop the throne as the greatest dual meet team ever in Indiana twice over, but Crown Point has risen to be the greatest individual team in Indiana history twice over; they’ve had more qualifiers, medals, and individual championships over the last two years in comparison to EMD in 2002 and 2003. P.S.: I love that Perry Meridian is STILL in the mix to compete for a championship against the absolute best twenty years later. Falcon Pride.

Perry Meridian bias here: Brandon James and Tristen Tonte James 4× All-State (3rd, 5th, 2nd, 3rd) FloNationals All-American (3rd, defeated Chad Red, only Indiana wrestler to beat him during high school career) NHSCA Senior All-American (4th) 3× Fargo All-American 172-8 record Tonte 3× State Runner-Up 2× NHSCA All-American (5th, 6th) 157-18 record

Tylin’s success did kill a lot of my arguments for class wrestling. New Castle is a 2A school that is at least an hour from any major club and the only coaches he’s had are the current New Castle coaches and other NC alum in their youth program as far as I’m told. I guess it isn’t a matter of resources, but just a matter of heart. I love it. He proved you can do anything if you just have fun and attack.

I am still awestruck over Tylin Thrine’s incredible freshman season; 42-0 with 32 pins including first period falls over #2 Aden Reyes of Cathedral and #7 Blake Wolf of East Central, a major decision over #14 Griffin Ingalls of Fishers, and the upset of the year over #1 (#18 nationally) defending state champion Logan Frazier of Crown Point who had been undefeated and earned bonus points against all in-state competition. What are some other incredible freshman seasons we’ve seen? Jesse Mendez in 2019 majored returning state champion Hunter Watts en route to his first title. Jason Tsirtsis beat Cashe Quiroga en route to his first title. Any others?

Don’t forget Snyder’s legacy begins with those great Mishawaka teams of 2008 and 2010, but also Cathedral ‘18-‘20, EMD ‘96-‘03, LN ‘05, Penn ‘15, Perry Meridian ‘11-‘13, and the Delta teams of the 80s. Plenty of dominance has been here, just never three teams at the same time. The secret? These programs have opened up their doors to let their kids train with these clubs and academies that have D1-level coaches. Goin hinted at it in his interview last night when discussing his decision to go to IU. Andrew Howe, Chris Fleeger of Midwest RTC, Region Wrestling Academy, and now Warrior RTC run the north. In Central Indiana, Contenders, LOG, Outlaws, Red Cobra, or Wright Way Wrestling are the top dogs. In the south, Maurer Coughlin runs the game. So, when you have things like that occurring in your state, it’s even more impressive when programs achieve these kinds of results on their own. During Perry Meridian’s run at the top, they achieved the results these clubs achieved with packed RTCs that featured the state’s best coming to their room every Tuesday, winning ISWA Folkstyle, Freestyle, and Greco State, Middle School State, and even having seven Fargo All-Americans in one year that placed them top ten alone without the rest of Team Indiana. The same can be said about Mater Dei and Penn because of the rich culture that exists for these schools. Blake Maurer and Matt Coughlin came from Mike Goebel and Drew Hildebrandt, Chase Osborn, and Kobe Woods came from Brad Harper. No outside coaching, just culture. Those are the secrets for both new, upcoming programs and legacy programs.

@FCFIGHTER170 called it from day one. Congratulations to Tylin and the whole New Castle community!

TYLIN THRINE!!!!!!!!!

TYLIN FREAKING THRINE

Coach Tonte has some hammers coming up that will be forces to be reckoned with. Little Cam Schofield, Cam Sommers, Micah Tonte, Cori Tonte, Jonah Strain, Kellen Fellure, and Elijah Barnett will all be state medalists for Franklin.

2017 170 – Ismael Cornejo (Portage) over Burk VanHorn (Franklin)

Davison was #2 that year behind Blake Rypel (State #1 and National #2). That was the headline match of that weight class, but many were upset because they ended up in the same half bracket and would’ve been a semifinal match and not a finals match had Davison won.

220 upper bracket is BRUTAL.

Schoeff and Solomey in the semis. Based on draws, I am predicting we will see Jeffrey Huyvaert move on to the finals to face the winner of that match.

Jendreas and Haines on Saturday morning. OUCH. Big match for the team race too.

Tylin Thrine vs. Aden Reyes at New Castle for the 126 pound championship. That place literally exploded.