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In other news, Y2 is out 2-3 weeks with a strained elbow from patting himself on the back too hard.

All joking aside, this truly is a great site and not many, if any at all, compare to what content we as fans have access too. It used to be all about the message board back in the IHSCWA days, but this site would stand alone without the message board IMO. Great job indianamat staff and keep up the great work and constant improvements made each year.

So just for example, if Nick Lee is on the bracket but still can't actually wrestle, his replacement would come in at #6 spot and others would move up?  There is a lot of hype about him being on a bracket and I have not seen anyone actually mention the possibility that an alternate could still come in before Saturday.  That could happen, right?

That is correct. However, I heard that his back up was pretty good all year, so he probably would have been seeded higher than #6, so I can't see why they would enter Lee if he was actually not going to wrestle.

You forgot to mention Streck's ranking on F10 Wrestling.

How did this stream turn out?

Here is what the gym looks like with a some mats thrown down.

Correction- LC's gym holds 4200, and that does not include standing room.  The north and south sides have adequate standing room for more people.  I am sure EC will do a great job running the tourney.  My only argument was the food, entertainment and hotel options that LC has around its school.

Would you lose the lower level seating on the East side for the first two rounds or can all four mats fit without losing the seating? It looks to me like you would still need to keep those lower bleachers closed for the first couple rounds, as I think EC will have to do as well.

The important question is who is emceeing?

The point total will be about 10-14 points more this year as we are actually counting the first round matches.

One would imagine how much of a difference that could have made in the last few years?

Last year Cathedral was a runner up with 73pts, they had a Champ, Runner Up, 3rd, 4th, and 2 7ths and 6pts shy of Penn(79pts).

13/14 Cathedral won it with 73pts with a Champ, 2 Runner Ups, 3rd and 8th placers. Franklin was a runner up with 60pts.

12/13 Perry won it with an amazing 102.5pts with 3 Champs, a Runner Up, 2 5th placers and a 7th placer.  Yorktown was a runner up with 62pts.

So it seems like having at least one champ or two (or three if you are Perry!) with some placers and scoring at lest 70pts puts you in contention for the State title.

I think this year is gonna be pretty tight. There are quite a few teams that have a chance at multiple champs that will have an outside shot at winning it, and may we have a year where a team wins a title minus a State Champ?

You have 30 coaches in a room all fighting for seeds for their kids...even some that will literally lie about their accomplishments...good luck!

Been in those rooms, gonna need a LOT of luck!

Paul you are right...Let me give you a typical week around this time

 

M- HS Practice 320-530ish, Beginners youth 545-645 Intermediate yourth 645-745

T- HS Practice 320-530ish, Beginners youth 545-645 Intermediate yourth 645-745

W- HS Practice 320-530ish, Occasionally Dual meet

Th- HS Practice 320-530ish, Beginners youth 545-645 Intermediate yourth 645-745

F- HS Practice 320-530ish, Elite youth 600-700

Sat- HS Tournament

Sun-Youth Tournament

 

Work 8 hours a day on top of that

Looks very familiar Nick, I feel your pain or should I say #paintrain?

When small schools get good coaches, they have a hard time keeping them. Guys like Tonte and Harper all started at small schools, but quickly moved on. Tonte even upped himself going from 2200 kids to 3600 just this year! Unless something crazy happens I don't see Tonte heading to a smaller school any time soon...if ever.

 

It's extremely rare to have good coaches at small schools stay there for an extended period of time in wrestling. In other classed sports though you see a lot more of the top coaches staying with their schools.

I agree Joe. Guess my point is how do we get those good guys to stay at those small schools? I have softened on the whole individual class thing over the years. How many guys are coming back and coaching? Seems like we need to extend our coaching trees to take jobs at other places. Maybe a class system creates some of those guys?

Preface: I am only in support of two classes.

Here are some stats to look over

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r-4OoK27f6-4cfQlPpjYA--6h4Z9IbyXwmAwnAeo9cc/edit?usp=sharing

 

First and foremost I'm a fan of wrestling, as a fan of wrestling I like that we have our true champion, our spotlight, etc. However as someone that has coached at both big and small schools and someone that now promotes the sport I am left to wonder how much damage we are doing by having a single class system. There is no question that it "can happen" and "does happen."

 

Are we in this sport for just the state champs though? Are we only here as coaches and parents of this great sport for the state champs? I would hope not, I would think we are here to give our kids a great experience in this sport in hopes of they continue the great tradition with their kids. With that said does it really matter if you have to share a state title with others? Does Prairie Heights or Bellmont feel slighted by their titles this week? Do those in other states feel their state titles are "cheaper?" I wrestled in Ohio in college and when you'd ask a kid how he did at state he would say "champ, "3rd", "4th", etc...and very rarely would they include what division.

 

Now let's say we go to two classes and double the number of state qualifiers. Now we'd have about 10% of the varsity wrestlers qualifying for state, up from just over 5%. Note that this would still be one of the top 7 most difficult state tournaments in the country, so we would lose very little prestige. With an added 12 qualifiers for small schools(note approximately 4 qualify already) per weight we will see many more teams represented at the state finals. Many more kids, coaches, families, teams, and communities will get to participate in the parade of champions, enjoy a parade through the school halls, and all the other fun stuff that goes with going to state. Let's say 50 more schools are now represented at state each year(up from around 100). This means the sport is getting more attention at those schools, more attention then will trickle to the other students, parents, youth, and community. That kind of attention will help grow the sport.

 

When I was at Garrett as an athlete I was literally the SECOND semi-state qualifier in school history...that was in 1997! We were extremely mediocre and going to regional used to be a BIG DEAL. With a change of attitude and some hard work it is now expected that Garrett take athlete(s) to the state finals. After we got our first state qualifier the flood gates opened and it helped grow the program from the youth level up. Can that be done with the current setup? Of course, but again what are we sacrificing for our spotlight? Are we really hurting more than we are helping?

 

Lastly one typical comeback is, why not just increase the number of state qualifiers to 32? It would help, but in reality only four more small school athletes would get to state rather than 12 if you split into two classes.

Out of all that I took away that........wow you are getting old, 1997!

All kidding aside, nicely put, but I think one factor also has to go to the dedication of a coach that is willing to put forth the effort to bring their program up. I hope nobody takes this as a knock on their coaching ability, and I don't think it's the end all and if you are not being successful you are a bad coach. However, one common denominator in all of the state's successful programs, whether they are small class or large class, is their coaches putting the time in as well.

Common sense should be the #1 criteria.

How many Expos did they use Y2?

brickfor6,

I think changing the seeding criteria will help with the problem at the Al Smith.  I also think they should have a secondary criteria for seeds past 8 to keep the next 9-16 wrestlers separated.  No arguing for a seed, just a straight criteria. This IMO would help keep it balanced and most of your FFTs and sub par wrestlers would be better distributed in the first round.  It would be wise also to know how to handle scratches. Redrawing an entire bracket is not the answer either.

Now, lets take our hats off though, becasue running a 2 day 32 team event in two different gyms with all those different personalites showing up is quite a daunting task for anybody to undertake.

I heard the IHSWCA is taking volunteers to run next years event, sounds like you'd do a great job!

That's your response?

What was penalty pt for?

We went last year for an event and it seemed like plenty of room, however it sounds like they have the seating capacity but refusing to open it up, defintiely does not sound ideal.

Don't think it could fit in there?

Is the event in the expo center or arena?

Well, when it is all said and done, the matches still have to be wrestled out on the mat.  Whether you feel shunned, over-seeded or under-seeded, I am sure none of the boys will care once they start wrestling in what will be a great atmosphere for competetion. Let's appreciate what we have here and enjoy the great wrestling that will occur today!

Good luck to all those who are participating and thank you to everyone for having put forth their time and effort into making this event possible.

I can tell you when we took over there was no offseason, a 2 week break of no practice during Christmas, and the technique was less than stellar...all things any program could fix but you have to have the athletes to make it happen...we have been able to get out kids that are able to commit to the sport all year as opposed to just during season. A school like Jimtown has 586 students total MATHEMATICALLY it is unreasonable to expect them to have the same results compared to Brownsburg with 2377 students. Selfishly i would love to have a one class system for all sports but realistically classing would be the best thing for it to evolve and grow.

So just a long winded way of saying "hard work"!

All joking aside, Snyder, yourself, and coaching staff are doing great things over there.  Good luck the rest of the way.   

Well put.

Hoosiers love of that game played with that pumpkin looking ball IMO has contributed to the number of High Schools on that list.......I would venture to say Texas probably dominates a list like that for football stadiums.