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138lbs, depending on the pools and matchups COULD be unbelievable. Tommy Cash (Indiana State Champ this season) Jacob Covaciu (Indiana Runner-up this season) Drew Hughes (2nd and 5th @ Indiana State Finals) Jake Tucker (5th at Illinois 3A this season) Brent Moore (FLO Nationals Champion last weekend) JJ Wolfe (IL 1A Champ, Folkstyle Nationals-5th last weekend) JD Stone (VA Runner up this season) James Pleski (40-4 season record and State Finalist/multi-placer) **Add in Former IN wrestler Ryan Ford into this weight class. (OH placer) It doesn't get much better than that!!! Some great wrestling!!!!

Once you register or speak with a coach, you will be assigned a "GROUP" and you'll be told which days/times to attend. The phone number is listed on the web site. It is an Academy whereby you must be evaluated and placed with the right group that is best for your development. FYI: I believe the site is currently under construction at this time.

AWOOD1: NCAA qualifiers are 1 method of measuring but I prefer measuring (the home states of) NCAA AA's as a true test of strength for each state. Lets wait and see after this weekend, perhaps the data will be similar?

OBSERVATIONS: I made the drive out to Hinsdale South HS and it was nice for me and my son to see old friends, especially from down south in Indiana as we hardly ever get to see those folks. I enjoyed seeing the event, although both sides were a tad out of shape (understandably so) and with no weigh-in, it's just a fun event to wrestle in and watch. I mostly watched the AA mat and I thought Zach Davis looked real good along with DJ Smith, he was impressive. It would have been a good matchup watching DJ and Brian Rossi go at it as Rossi handled Silva much like DJ did in their match. Rossi was invited to the Dapper Dan but due to a concussion, was unable to participate. Still, not taking anything away from DJ, he looked great! At 132lbs D. Wilson had a nice match vs. Kenny Baldridge, 2A champ, I thought both showed some fatigue early on. Kyle Jolas came back and won vs. a 1A champ, he was clearly determined to win that match, he looked great! Skyler Lykins looked good against Purdue signee, Mario Leveille but Skyler came up short at the end. SIUE commit Higgins defeated Mishawaka's Macri, and I thought it was closer than the score indicated as I think it was 5-0? Higgins was the 3A runner-up and ran into a buzzsaw at state named Bryce Brill who destroyed him in the finals. HWT Nicky Allegretti (Illinois football signee) and 3rd in 3A defeated state champ Bernard in an exciting match, Allegretti trains in Indiana ironically at RWA and he's a beast for sure. Illinois had 5 HWT's ranked in the nation this season, most signed to play football except Adarios Jones, he is wrestling at Northern Iowa. The one match that I really drove to Hinsdale to watch was the Cody LeCount vs. Chris Garcia match. One, because I thought it would be a great match, and TWO, I have known both of these boys since they were very young.....Cody actually wrestled my son in the ISWA state finals back when they were like Bantams? and Chris was always at Martinez's summer camp in IL when we would go there every year so I was excited to see these two go at it. (Incidentally, you won't find two better kids anywhere! Always polite and very courteous) The match was close, but it came down to Cody riding Chris out, it was 1-0 with under 10 seconds to go and Chris attempted a roll under to leg scramble and gave up 2 back points out of desperation, he just couldn't get out. Cody did an excellent job of riding him. Congrats to both boys on giving it their all. I congratulate all 4 teams on a good day of wrestling! Thanks for putting on a great show!

I love the INDY program but it's apples and oranges if you are talking about WINS in D2 vs. WINS in the Big Ten. No slight to INDY because they have produced some great wrestlers with our homegrown kids but the Big Ten is the Top Conference in the nation for D1.

The # of qualifiers are as expected, no surprises. 1. PA 2. OH 3. NJ/IL The amazing thing to me is...the toughness of a state like New Jersey! So small but yet so mighty! PA is the KING but with Illinois winning every level (schoolboy, cadet, junior,---duals and Fargo), it appears that PA could have a rival soon.

The Power Index will save wrestlers like Adam Coon. He'll get a Wildcard spot and justifiably so...but I, like you, do not know about how/where he will be seeded.

FYI... PURDUE's RECRUITS: J. Aven (Indiana) (not nationally ranked) B Thornton (Wisconsin) D-1 2x'er (Large Schools), not nationally ranked but looks like a tough kid on film and vs. nationally ranked kids. P. Andreotti (Illinois) 3A (Large Schools)-- Placed 3rd, not nationally ranked but I saw him a lot this year, a tough kid. A. McCloskey (Indiana) Runner-up in IN last year, recovering this season. M. Leveille (Illinois) 3A (Large Schools) runner-up, lunch pale kid. Lost 3-1 in finals vs. Nationally Ranked I. White. INDIANA's RECRUITS: G. Jolley-Little (Indiana) (not nationally ranked) C. Weaver (Michigan) Nationally Ranked Top 20 kid, #13. J. Danishek (Ohio) #2 ranked kid in the nation. F. Miller (Indiana) Hard-nosed kid. (Nationally ranked in Top 20) #10. B Martin (California) Ranked #20 in the country by Intermat. L Marcicki (Michigan) Wrestled at Detroit Central Catholic, a very tough schedule and program. (not nationally ranked in Top 20) D. Thatcher (Indiana) Tough kid, lunch pale mentality. (not nationally ranked in Top 20) D. Conte (California) Wrestled at De La Salle in CAL, tough program and schedule. (not nationally ranked in Top 20)

The pronunciation is: MEE_CHEECH Good luck Stevan!

Nut case? You got that right! LOL Sorry, I didn't see the post until now, the CCL (Chicago Catholic League) was at Mount Carmel, some great action. The match that had everyone on their feet and the tension was thick was the 113lb final between Brother Rice's Rudy Yates (106lbs 3A State Champ last year and undefeated in his HS career) vs. St. Rita's Jake Silzer (State placer at 3A last year-106lbs.) The match went to the Ultimate Tie-Breaker. Yates rode him out for the win, barely holding on by 3 fingers as Silzer was hip heisting out. Awesome match. Mount Carmel Caravan won its 4th straight CCL title over 2nd place St. Rita and 3rd place Brother Rice. I believe the run down after that was (Approx): St. Ignatius, Loyola Academy, Providence Catholic, St. Laurence, Gordon Tech, Bishop Macnamara, De Lasalle, and Fenwick. The entire CCL is broadcasted on High School Cube and it is archived here: http://www.highschoolcube.com/event/chicago-catholic-league-championships-high-school--336641

106: Cummings 113: Smith 120: Lahue 126: Micic in OT 132: James 138: Hughes 145: Lecount in OT 152: Kelley 160: Hughes 170: McCloskey 182: Rypel 195: Omar 220: Robinson HWT: Bernard Do you think I am a little biased? ;)

Nick Lee = BEAST I've known Stevan for many, many years. The best kid on/off the mat you'll ever know and he's a fellow RWA kid that has rolled with my son since they were little tykes. Stevan will bring it 110% and this is going to be a battle for sure. I can't say I didn't see this coming...very exciting stuff!! :)

+3

One great family, on and off the mat!! :) http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/wrestling/c-p-s-schurg-brothers-carry-on-family-tradition/article_1c180b08-6aaf-5bb3-9d0f-fd147752f129.html

I am still laughing! That is too funny! I wouldn't be surprised either!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

Bey is a FREAK SHOW for sure! Another great Harvey Twister! (He has some unbelievable throws in freestyle/greco also)

Minooka is way down this year, that ranking will change big time this Tuesday when the new set comes out. We beat Minooka 53-13 without #1 ranked Jimmy Mickens who is not in the lineup yet due to football (We are #11 in 3A). I haven't seen Minooka this far down in a long time. OPRF is well worthy of their #2 national ranking. Very tough.

Why was this article even published or endorsed by Stevan if he wasn't wrestling in HS this season? http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/wrestling/hanover-central-s-micic-hopes-to-begin-and-end-the/article_77380f06-d0a0-5b6c-8cf6-96337d7587d7.html

Oops, forgot about the premium access I had when I read it as opposed to an open access article. My bad. :-[ Remove at your discretion, Joe.

One-on-One with Jason Tsirtsis: Retrieved from www.intermatwrestle.com 9/26/2013 Andrew Hipps, InterMat Senior Editor andrew@intermatwrestle.com, Twitter: @InterMat Jason Tsirtsis was the nation's No. 1 high school wrestling recruit in the Class of 2012. After redshirting last season at Northwestern, Tsirtsis is expected to step in the Wildcat lineup this season at 149 pounds and make an immediate impact. InterMat catches up with Tsirtsis and talks to him about his performance at the Junior Worlds, transitioning from freestyle to folkstyle, studying greats, goals, and much more. https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/12015

Oh Boy, here we go...

It's hard to tell year-to-year just how IN's champs would do vs. Ohio/IL's champs (in a dual) because we never go Champ vs. Champ only seniors vs. seniors or when the opportunity presents itself to go Champs vs. Champs, one or both states won't have a full lineup with state champs. This year in IL, they probably have one of the strongest senior classes in a long time and don't surprised if they make a run at TEAM USA in their dual (IL vs. USA). Rossi, Jimenez, Alber, Cortez, Brill, Mahomes, the list goes on. A couple of years ago, Indiana had a real strong class, perhaps the best ever to come out of this state. When I say "be competitive" with other state's champs I believe IN can stay in the match...meaning within 2-5 pts in some cases and other cases, not so much. It depends on the YEAR and the strength of the state champs for that period of time.

Y2, I think you missed my point. I was merely making a case for the IHSAA's attitude toward our sport i.e. the reasons I mentioned, I was not saying this as the reason Indiana is not an upper echelon state. Although, I do feel it is a culmination of issues and it is a trickle down effect, if the leadership (IHSAA) in your state is not committed to your sport, it will have a negative effect. If I had to name the MAJOR reason, it is the youth wrestling structure and the commitment. I know in IL, there is FIERCE competition for the Novice and Senior division team titles and their IKWF state individual series is unbelievable! They have a raised platform for their finals (just like the NCAAs) and IL has some of the best coaches in the nation at the YOUTH level which is not seen in most states. You couple this with the long history and tradition of IL youth wrestling, it is definitely an advantage. Brian Murphy (Glenbard North) who was runner-up this year in IL and past Fargo Freestyle Champ (Michigan signee) has said that his match in the IKWF finals was one of the most memorable of his career and this is a kid who has wrestled in every major event. It just shows the impact and effectiveness of IL youth programs, tournament, etc. I agree 100% regarding basketball. Indiana will always embrace this sport. With all of this said though, Indiana still does a pretty good job of producing many great champions and there are A LOT of folks both in the IHSWCA and the ISWA who have dedicated most of their lives to Indiana wrestling as well as the parents. I've always maintained that Indiana is a Top 12 state, year in, year out.

Fabio, you bring up another good point...the travel restrictions. For the life of me, I just don't get it. I would love to see Indiana's best teams at the DVORAK, CHEESEHEAD, CLASH, IRONMAN, BEAST of the EAST, etc. > >

Indiana's Champs would fare well in those states, no doubt about it. The CULTURE of wrestling is different, I don't want to beat a dead horse (Regarding my disdain for the IHSAA and their support for wrestling) but when a state athletic association DROPS team state, that sends a clear message on where the priorities are at. Just a "no-brainer" decision like wrestle-backs is resisted and fought against. I could go on and on but we've all heard it before. It's a shame because in the end, it's the wrestlers who are hurt the most.