Dingo Brigade

Congratulations to James Despain from Lawrence North for signing with Wabash. He is projected to wrestle 157, 165.

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Congratulations to Jack Williams from Carmel for signing with Indianapolis. He is projected to wrestle 285.

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Just a little upset that the Friday Night Main Event was not televised.... I mean, did @Fabio Jr. lose his strap in a huge upset?  Did Mason skip out on the event due to fear?  I want some details....
 
Dream Team Classic was great for Indiana wrestlers, fans and the state as a whole.  I remember when Indiana wasnt on the national wrestling map, and now here we are hosting a huge National event with our seniors holding their own against some of the best from around the country!!

We never had anything official, but it was close to 2000 fans. The lower bowl area held 1700 fans and that was very much packed with lots of fans in the upper section and around the top.

For those who have not seen them we had multiple photographers there Saturday
Link to photos from Wyatt Schultz
https://thepredicament.smugmug.com/2017-2018-Season/High-School/Dream-Team-Classic-2018/
Link to photos from Richard Immel
https://www.rimmelpics.com/High-School-Wrestling/2018-Events/Dream-Team-Classic-Team-Indiana-vs-Team-USA/
There are some INSANE pictures of the event.

I just want to thank Joe and all the other people that put the time and effort to bring this event to Indiana and give our state the publicity it deserves on a National level.  All of our wrestlers were very impressive and put up a great fight against the top kids in the country (win or lose).  I appreciate Team USA coming to Indiana with a "nothing to gain, but everything to lose" situation.  Ty was able to capitalize and take out his opponent and has gotten a flood of national publicity.  Without all the work that was put into this, he would have not had this opportunity.  We found out yesterday that he was named the National High School Wrestler of the Week by TheOpenMat.
https://news.theopenmat.com/blog/2018/04/16/adidas-high-school-wrestler-week-apr-16th-2018/

Great article from da region talking to the guys that wrestled.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-spt-wrestling-dream-team-classic-st-0417-story.html

Here is the Indy Star article
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2018/04/14/brownburgs-brayton-lee-ignites-crowd-victory-team-indiana-vs-team-usa-event/512841002/
And one from the Hendricks County Flyer
http://www.flyergroup.com/sports/local_sports/one-more-show/article_37f8a4d6-4057-11e8-a2a5-0f04975e81b5.html

It was a well run meet with a great atmosphere.  Thanks Joe and everyone else that helped make this meet happen.  

Amazing event. We had students walking the halls of BHS today still talking about how awesome it was and commenting on how scary Mason is. With out a doubt an experience I won't soon forget! Thanks for putting it together Joe and helping grow the sport of wrestling in Indiana. 

Since there is a lot going on about the whole Rooks and Mulkey situation here are the facts.
Wednesday the 11th
Graham Rooks contacted me asking what time weigh-in was with me responding any time from when you get there until after practice is over. Later in the afternoon he sent me a message saying he was having trouble with the weight. He asked how official the weigh-in was. I responded to be on weight.
Thursday the 12th
On Thursday night he contacted me saying he was 7 over and was trying his best to make weight. After calling coach Cooper to get the scoop he went to Graham's house to talk to him. During the same period of time I responded to Graham stating I am going to have Blake Mulkey try to make the weight. I stated that is neither makes weight the lighter one gets the spot. Graham also stated he would probably be able to get within 5lbs.
Friday the 13th
On Friday at noon Graham sent a message to Blake saying "Don't know how much you are over..but if you are less than 5 then I'll just let you take the spot.."
Friday I arrive at the school and kids are working out and weighing in. Coach Snyder and I were the ones doing weigh-ins. Kids weighed in as they arrived and/or were on weight. As everything was going on myself and the AD were organizing things like where to setup tables and the bleachers to pull amongst other logistical priorities. I was in and out of the wrestling room during that time.
I did weigh-in a few kids including Graham Rooks. Around 4:20ish he stepped on the scale at 144.4lbs. He said he was done cutting and began to drink some water. As I left the wrestling room I ran into Mulkey walking into the school. He stated to me that he was about 5 or 6 over. I told him Graham had just weighed 144.4lbs and that if he's lower he's in.
After some more running around I went back to the wrestling room and saw Blake. I asked him what he weighed and he said about 5 over. I told him to try to get another couple pounds off and the spot was his because of what Graham weighed and he would obviously be lower. At that time I told Graham that Mulkey was in because he would weigh lower.
Around 5:30 Blake weighed in and was 142.4 and he officially had the spot on the team.
Now to answer a couple questions.
Why was Blake Mulkey selected?
On short notice I knew he would be in attendance and I had access to him and his coach's contact information. This was not a situation of call a coach and wait a day. This all took place on Thursday evening/night within about an hour, so there was no time to wait. There was no time available for a process such as I had for 285lbs and 120lbs when kids declined.
Why didn't I talk to Graham afterward?
I simply did not see the message until he was gone. My phone was going crazy with texts, calls, etc about the event. I didn't see him after he weighed in. At the point in the day when the final decision was made I was trying to figure out if all the wrestlers had showed up, where some of the USA guys were, along with talking to Flo and the AD in organizing setup.
Does my opinion of Graham Rooks change?
Not at all, Graham was very forward with me the last couple days when it became apparent that the weight was not coming off. He even wished Mulkey good luck later that evening.
 
The last thing I would ask is when you get information, get it from people who were there. Chris Cooper, Tony McGinley, and Ben Rooks were not present at the practice. If you ask people who were in the room on Friday during the workout what they saw they would have agreed that Blake Mulkey was the right choice. Make sure you talk to people who were in the room and saw both Rooks and Mulkey “working” out.

Need to get these linked up to the Flo page for the event.  Thanks for getting the interviews Nick.  

For those who didn't see here is Braytons Post meet interview
Ty's post meet interview
 
Connor grabers post match 
 

It's a shame though only one of them is State "Eligible".  
 
Oh, and an absolute fantastic job by Joe Caprino and everyone involved in putting this event together.  

Lots of talk on Twitter from the Flo minds about the stall calls. Jim Russell is in the conversation for Flo's Wrestler of the Week.
I brought in Jim and Eric McGill for good reason and they did a great job. 
Indiana wrestling showed up tonight and on as big of a stage as ever showed the country that we aren't a basketball state. I'm still on a high from everything that went on tonight. Ty Mills PINNING the #1 guy, Brayton's match, Mason just doing Mason things, Davison just smothering his guy, and on top of that our other guys battled hard. I can promise you if those USA guys see our guys again they will now know it will be a war.
Thanks to everyone that came and supported the kids. As was stated above, it was awesome to see us all cheering for the same kids.
Tonight will be talked about for a long time because the Indiana wrestling community is flat out awesome.

It looked to me like Brayton thought he hadn't been hit with a stall warning as the seconds elapsed. It looked stally to me. Yeah, i said stally

It looked to me like Brayton thought he hadn't been hit with a stall warning as the seconds elapsed. It looked stally to me. Yeah, i said stally

So I’m one of the #PainTrain families lucky enough to host two of the Team USA kids. Side note, what an awesome group of young men on both sides.  Was a blessing to spend time with great young people.
But my kid I’m hosting just said (In between games of Fortnight) “Man!  I knew about Mason and Brayton of course...but your Indiana dudes brought it and that was really impressive.  And what an awesome atmosphere and such a fun dual...I’m so happy I came to this!”
Our State did just fine tonight.

That was a helluva event. Very proud of our guys 

That was a helluva event. Very proud of our guys 

Wow.... that’s it .... wow

Wow that was an awesome event!! That was a great showcase if Indiana wrestling. A story book ending for Brayton's career!

That was a helluva event. Very proud of our guys 

Is Johnson still mouthing?

Good night all ... I am outta here until next year