IndianaWrestlingGuy

Bigger question is: Can a military school in the back hills of northern Indiana that charges $55k/year sustain a program with transfers from across the Midwest? 
I say no. Forget about the coaching. It’s more of an environment thing. Beautiful campus. Incredible international diversity. Just challenging to maintain at that price tag. 

My picks for champs at every weight. These are all nothing more than my personal opinion and are not intended to offend anyone in any way. 
106: Sam Goins (Crown Point)
113: Alex Cottey (Perry Meridian)
120: Zeke Seltzer (Cathedral)
126: Brayden Littell (Center Grove)
132: Raymond Rioux (Avon)
138: Jesse Mendez (Crown Point)
145: Logan Bailey (Cathedral)
152: Elliot Rodgers (Cathedral)
160: Cooper Nohre (Greenfield Central)
170: Graham Calhoun (Plymouth)
182: McCartney Parkinson (Evansville Mater Dei)
195: Silas Alred (Shenandoah)
220: Brayden Erb (Western)
285: Holden Parsons (Cathedral)

Let’s go CP. Traicoff and Al Smith are gonna be angry! Can’t wait! 

Let’s go CP. Traicoff and Al Smith are gonna be angry! Can’t wait! 

Very sorry to hear about Mike's passing. He was great to be around and like Jimmy T said, there was no one who did more to help kids who had nothing else in their lives. Staggering to think how many kids were given a future because of Mike's love for them. 
Miss you Mike.

Mike Ester, Demetrius Burton, and Tony Vaughn anchored one of FW Snider's strongest squads ever in 1991-1992. Good memories of those boys at Market Square and through the AAU circuit at Arsenal Tech satellites and Team Indiana. Rest in peace, Mike.  

We would have dropped to 11th, not too bad of a showing though.

Roughly 11th. Nomad put out his team scores and the team in 10th had 50 points and Indiana has 45. 

Apologies if I have missed a post on this already on the board. 
As you already know, Coach Rex Peckinpaugh has announced his retirement as head coach of the New Castle Trojans. I will not attempt to summarize his statement since it, like everything Rex does, was so well done. Check it out on Facebook.  Rex thought long and hard about his decision and I am confident he has done the best thing, like always. Reading the posts from past Trojan wrestlers and friends of the program was like taking a walk back through time. Seeing the names with the posts sparked a lot of fond memories (except for when we wrestled them). Rex has been a leader and influential voice in Indiana high school wrestling so long that it is difficult to remember when he wasn't a force or to envision a future without him in that role. The good news is that Rex has no intention of disappearing. I'm sure we will see him at events and continue to enjoy his company.
Thanks, Rex for all you have done to raise the profile of the sport in Indiana. The stats are truly amazing: Over 1000 dual meet wins, a win streak of over 100, dozens and dozens of state finalists, team runners-up in some epic matches and helping to host an awesome Semi-State, freestyle tournaments and Middle School State.
But more than that, thanks for being such a great friend, rival and role model for how to treat athletes. There simply are no better people in the sport than the New Castle Wrestling Family. 
Dave Cloud

First time since 1984 that we won't have a Junior Freestyle All-American.

Chesterton going into his Junior season.  Last year at state he lost to Brewer in semi’s then won in consols for 3rd.   Lost in the ticket round of semi-state as a freshman.  

Congrats to our Indiana Outlaws for getting 4th out of 60 teams and winning the copper trophy. Led predominately by Cathedral Irish wrestlers, the Outlaws had 2 undefeated Gold All-Americans in Jordan Slivka and Center Grove’s Breyden Littell. Silver All-Americans with one loss were Zeke Seltzer and Alex Mosconi. Roncalli’s Alec Viduya becomes Copper All-American. Congrats to all Indiana teams and wrestlers. It looks like this great state had number of teams that were very competitive. 

Congrats to our Indiana Outlaws for getting 4th out of 60 teams and winning the copper trophy. Led predominately by Cathedral Irish wrestlers, the Outlaws had 2 undefeated Gold All-Americans in Jordan Slivka and Center Grove’s Breyden Littell. Silver All-Americans with one loss were Zeke Seltzer and Alex Mosconi. Roncalli’s Alec Viduya becomes Copper All-American. Congrats to all Indiana teams and wrestlers. It looks like this great state had number of teams that were very competitive. 

Congrats to our Indiana Outlaws for getting 4th out of 60 teams and winning the copper trophy. Led predominately by Cathedral Irish wrestlers, the Outlaws had 2 undefeated Gold All-Americans in Jordan Slivka and Center Grove’s Breyden Littell. Silver All-Americans with one loss were Zeke Seltzer and Alex Mosconi. Roncalli’s Alec Viduya becomes Copper All-American. Congrats to all Indiana teams and wrestlers. It looks like this great state had number of teams that were very competitive. 

Um, let's also make sure we don't neglect Cathedral's Ben Harvey. He placed 7th at 79K qualifying him for the World Team Trials. He had one hell of a tournament. 

I think your intent is positive here, but some points of clarification at least for the Cathedral kids. 
If you want to use “original community” as where they came from, you would have to take Jordan Slivka off the list as he started in the CYO. He attended St. Barnabas and competed in CYO wrestling until 3rd grade before his legendary ol’ man transferred to ‘Doah. They came back to attend catholic high school as his family situation changed. His cousins currently still rassle with the dirty CYO Southsiders. 
If “original community” means where the 8th grader graduates from, then you would have to pull Elliott Rodgers out of this group. He wrestled CYO since was in 4th grade at St. Maria Goretti, he attended middle school there, and his dad is the coach. His younger brothers currently wrestle for St. Maria Goretti. 

I always find it interesting that people with no knowledge or association with Cathedral or Roncalli think we have all these kids on our team that didn’t grow up in our middle schools and local programs. 90% of the Cathedral team wrestled Northside CYO. I’d say the percentage is even higher for Roncalli with Southside CYO. It’s what gives us strength in football, girls volleyball, etc. The Rebels and Irish have a ton of hammers coming in for the next couple years from our Catholic grade school teams. 
Other teams like the ones you mention above should be proud of their commitment to the sport and the excellent clubs they have built. But, I wouldn’t call it unique.  
 

Wrestlers of the Year
1A- Silas Allred of Shenandoah
2A- AJ Fowler of Calumet
3A- Jordan Slivka of Cathedral
Coaches of the Year
1A- Tony Currie of Adams Central
2A- Chad Shepherd of Western
3A- Sean McGinley of Cathedral
Mr. Gorilla
Asa Garcia of Avon
1st Runner-up Nick South of Columbus East
2nd Runner-up Cayden Rooks of Columbus East

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By JEREMY HINES
Thehines7@gmail.com
“You’re still in this. It’s not over.”
Elliott Rodgers kept hearing those words coming from his corner Saturday night in the championship match of the 152-pound weight class at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse.
With under a minute to go in the match Rodgers trailed Greenfield’s Cooper Noehre 7-4. Rodgers was wrestling for an individual title and a chance to all but secure a team title for the Irish.
“It was nerve wracking,” Rodgers said. “It’s scary to be trailing like that. I don’t like it. But, you just have to think if you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. The coaches are in my corner yelling that it’s not over. That kept me going.”
Rodgers earned an escape point to cut Noehre’s lead to 7-5. Then, with under 10 seconds remaining, he earned a takedown to tie the score and force overtime. It was the third overtime meeting this season between the two rivals.
This time Rodgers pulled out a move he has been working on in practice but hadn’t shown Noehre yet – an inside trip. The move worked, and Rodgers won the match. The victory gave him his first state title and helped Cathedral win its second team title in as many years.
“Elliott just grinded it out,” Cathedral coach Sean McGinley said. “He was down points but he didn’t panic and he battled back. He didn’t just do it in the finals, he grinded out wins in the quarterfinals and on Friday night.”
Rodger’s teammate, senior Jordan Slivka sealed the team championship for the Irish in the next match.
Slivka took on Portage’s No. 1-ranked Donnell Washington Jr. in the 160-pound championship. Washington beat Slivka 8-3 during the regular season and appeared on his way to beating him again in the final.
Washington took Slivka down early in the match and then cut him (gave him a free escape). Washington continued his dominance for most of the first two periods. Then, in the final minute of the match, Slivka came alive. The Ohio University commit scored seven points in the final minute to win the match 12-7.
That victory ensured no other team could catch the Irish in points. Slivka won his first individual state championship last season, and coincidentally, that victory also sealed the team title for the Irish.
“This title felt better than last year’s,” Slivka said. “My goal wasn’t to be the best wrestler at Cathedral. I didn’t think I could ever accomplish that with guys like Blake Rypel and Lance Ellis. But no other Cathedral team has won two titles, and I wanted to be able to say I was the best team captain.”
Slivka’s wrestling shirt has the word “clutch” on the back of it – one that coach McGinley feels is appropriate for the senior.
“He comes through when people count him out,” McGinley said. “Washington is extremely, extremely talented and tough. He was on us that first period. We just wanted to stay close and ride it out. Slivka never lost faith and he pulled out that win.”
Going into the final Cathedral looked to be in great shape to claim the team title. The Irish had four wrestling for weight-class championships and a small lead in the team standings. But things got a little dicey in the early goings.
Irish freshman sensation Zeke Seltzer lost the 113 pound final to returning state champion, No. 1-ranked senior Jacob Moran of Portage 3-0. Then Cathedral’s Alex Mosconi fell to No. 1-ranked Matt Lee, 5-2 in the 145-pound final.
When Avon’s Asa Garcia earned a pin over Roncalli’s Alec Viduya in the 132 pound final, suddenly things got interesting. Avon still had Carson Brewer to wrestle at 182 pounds. Brewer was the heavy favorite in the match, and if he pinned his opponent, Avon had a chance to take the team title.
That’s when Rodgers and Slivka stepped up and won back-to-back matches to eliminate that possibility.
“If we polled everyone they would have probably said we were an underdog in three of the matches and probably a push in the fourth,” McGinley said. “We knew the odds were against us, and we just needed someone who was going to step up and pull it through.”
In all, Cathedral sent five wrestlers to the state tournament. Rodgers and Slivka won their weight classes. Seltzer and Mosconi placed second and Lukasz Walendzak finished 8th at 126.

View full article

No doubt Slivka and Rodgers had ties to Catholic school before Cathedral.  A clarification could also be made for Littell, as he went to Center Grove in elementary and middle school before enrolling at Perry and then transferring back to CG.
My point is that people move around and this does not in any way diminish how special it is for these 8 kids to win a state championship, as the poster from Chesterton alluded to.  Everyone is doing what is best for their family.  Whether that is Slivka moving from Shenandoah back to Cathedral, Rodgers listing Noblesville as his home on his Trackwrestling profile and attending Cathedral, or Littell going back to CG after a short stint at Perry.

I think your intent is positive here, but some points of clarification at least for the Cathedral kids. 
If you want to use “original community” as where they came from, you would have to take Jordan Slivka off the list as he started in the CYO. He attended St. Barnabas and competed in CYO wrestling until 3rd grade before his legendary ol’ man transferred to ‘Doah. They came back to attend catholic high school as his family situation changed. His cousins currently still rassle with the dirty CYO Southsiders. 
If “original community” means where the 8th grader graduates from, then you would have to pull Elliott Rodgers out of this group. He wrestled CYO since was in 4th grade at St. Maria Goretti, he attended middle school there, and his dad is the coach. His younger brothers currently wrestle for St. Maria Goretti. 

I think your intent is positive here, but some points of clarification at least for the Cathedral kids. 
If you want to use “original community” as where they came from, you would have to take Jordan Slivka off the list as he started in the CYO. He attended St. Barnabas and competed in CYO wrestling until 3rd grade before his legendary ol’ man transferred to ‘Doah. They came back to attend catholic high school as his family situation changed. His cousins currently still rassle with the dirty CYO Southsiders. 
If “original community” means where the 8th grader graduates from, then you would have to pull Elliott Rodgers out of this group. He wrestled CYO since was in 4th grade at St. Maria Goretti, he attended middle school there, and his dad is the coach. His younger brothers currently wrestle for St. Maria Goretti. 

What a match! Still buzzing from that one. Cooper was awesome. 3 OT matches in one season with great offense?!? Crazy!  
Golden Ace was 🔥 last night! 

I always find it interesting that people with no knowledge or association with Cathedral or Roncalli think we have all these kids on our team that didn’t grow up in our middle schools and local programs. 90% of the Cathedral team wrestled Northside CYO. I’d say the percentage is even higher for Roncalli with Southside CYO. It’s what gives us strength in football, girls volleyball, etc. The Rebels and Irish have a ton of hammers coming in for the next couple years from our Catholic grade school teams. 
Other teams like the ones you mention above should be proud of their commitment to the sport and the excellent clubs they have built. But, I wouldn’t call it unique.  
 

Just wanted to take a second and say Thank you to all the supporters Brayden has had though the years. We new jumping up in weight this year would be a risk, but Brayden has never been one to back down from a challenge. No complaints or excuses 7th, 1st, 1st and 4th plus being one of the smallest in 126 he did a great job and as his father could not ask for anything more. We will be looking to the future and getting a great education thanks to this sport and who knows maybe an NAIA National title along the way.
Congrats to everyone that won and those that did not keep working hard and you just might find yourself under the lights. To all the Seniors it's been one hell of a journey. Most of you we have wrestled with or against since elementary and though those battles made some great friends or dare i say family. 
Again Thank you Indiana for giving my son a sport with the best fans and competitors.
 
The Curtis Family