Jim Wadkins / Calumet

David Palmer won 2X for Delta. His 10th grade title was at Muncie South. He was a Junior National Champion though. I believe John Ginther was probably the most decorated Delta Eagle. If I am not mistaken, he was 4th-1st-1st and an NCAA All-American at Arizona State.

CALUMET HIGH SCHOOL: State Champions (#1-4) & NCAA Champion #5 1.) Andy Trevino (1991) 1st-4th-SQ (127-7) USAW All-American: Cadet (4th) & Junior (7th) / 2X NCAA Qualifier @ Indiana University 2.) Berry Handley (1984) 1st-3rd-3rd (115-12-1) 3.) Tony Smith (1984) 1st-3rd-SQ (117-10-1) 4.) Thurman Stone (1999) 1st-SQ (115-36) 5.) Chris Traicoff (1935) No High School Wrestling Team / Played Basketball in HS 3x NCAA Qualifier at Indiana University(1937-38-39) / 1938 Big 10-2nd & NCAA-3rd / 1939 Big 10 & NCAA Champion

Alan Grammar / Evansville Reitz / 2X Runner-up Div. II National Champion @ SIU-Edwardsville Div. I NCAA 3rd Place Jeff Pease / Muncie South / 2-3X State Qualifier USA Wrestling Junior Champion in FS/GR @ Hwt

I am embarrassed that I didn't nominate Brian Anderson for inclusion on this list. He has been all over Indiana wrestling, since taking over the reins at Wabash College 7 years ago. He has hosted tremendous camps and competitions, worked at RTC's all over the state, and really been quite an ambassador for us. He has been tireless in promoting not only Wabash but Indiana wrestling in general.

No conversation about Indiana Wrestling, past or present, can begin without mentioning the guy who has had an indirect influence on nearly every high school and college program in the state...Billy Thom. I'll elaborate for you later. Billy Thom Wrestling coach 1927-45...led Indiana University to eight Big Ten championships and 1932 NCAA title...Olympic coach in 1936...coached seven NCAA champions ...member Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Dave, Historically, we have always had a much tougher time fielding "Big Guys" ( 171-285 ) at Calumet. I know things tend to run in cycles over time, but we have always been sparse down low and up high with a logjam in the middle weights. We feel real comfortable with the weights the way they are right now (#D). If I insert this year's squad into these new weights, one of my two best kids (SQ @ 130) has to bump up a weight in order for me to get all of my seniors in the lineup and I end up having two "soft" weights at 160-170. Skewing things toward the middle weights seems to be the best idea to me. I also like to keep the little guys involved...we are the only place where some of them ever get a chance to shine. Leave the weights the same as they were!! Jim Wadkins

I've been going to the State Finals since the early 1980's and things haven't changed much with the booing. I can remember people booing: Delta; Evansville Mater Dei; Bellmont; Lawrence North; and now Mishawaka. Hell, everybody in Indiana boos Cathedral and they have yet to win a Team State Title ( 2nd twice I believe). The one thing these programs all had/have in common was/is....they WON...A LOT!!! It seems to me that everyone hates you when you're winning and loves you when you're losing. I don't think any of those programs would trade the success of their dominant years for a little more touchy feely, political correctness from the crowd. I have to think many of these teams thrive on the booing...it symbolizes success. They only boo you when your winning...keep on booing.

Greatness comes to those who wait...as long as they're working their ass off while they wait.

Calumet faxed them last night to Joe Caprino. We have an outside guy score our Sectional, so he has all of the pairings loaded onto his laptop for Saturday. We only have a paper copy to fax to you, so the quality will probably be a little lacking. Nobody trying to hide anything, they will all have to be redrawn after weigh ins anyway. Jim Wadkins

Every prep wrestling team in Lake County has been invited to compete in this tournament. It is a tremendous meet, that unifies one of the nation's most diverse counties in friendly competition. Some have merely chosen to go elsewhere. This weekend was selected over 10 years ago, when we put the meet together, to avoid conflicting with any area school's money maker tourney or memorial meets. We also stayed away from the big holiday invites. This weekend was cleared out by schools from several conferences to accomodate a tourney that could endure long into the future. It makes money for the hosts and is a tremendous tourney in and of itself. It also helps clarify an awful lot of seeding questions for upcoming conference and sectional tourneys. The absence of these three programs, while disappointing to many of us Calumet Region wrestling fans, does not diminish what the other 20+ teams have managed to include in their schedules. The 14 individual Champions as well as the Team Champion will not need to apologize to anyone for showing up and winning. It is the Lake County Wrestling Championship and it is not in jeopardy of being cancelled.

No Lowell this year either, but Gary Roosevelt has revived its program and should be there...I hope.

Caston Comet Super Dual: Calumet Results CALUMET RESULTS CHS - 64, Frontier - 12 CHS - 57, Northwestern - 18 CHS - 65, North White - 16 CHS - 64, Caston - 18 CHS - 66, North Judson - 15 CHS - 43, Fountain Central - 27 (Title Match) CHS - 80, Clinton Prarie - 0 CHS - 51, Pioneer - 21 CHS - 68, West Central - 12 Calumet now 15-1 / 1-0 GSSC Outstanding CHS Perfromers 112: Jose Rodriguez (9-0) 119: Matt Smeltzer (8-1) 125: William Ketchum (8-1) 130: Mike Clark (8-1) 135: Zach Schraven (9-0) 145: Mike Greer (9-0) 189: Nate Fowler (9-0) 215: Justin Perez 8-1) Congratulations Warriors...Nice Work!!

The Chris Traicoff Memorial Invitational does not recognize or award an Outstanding Wrestler. While there were several OW's on the premises on Saturday, the tournament is designed to recognize Outstanding Teams. Mishawaka was the Outstanding Team. No other awards are officially sanctioned by Calumet HS.

Mike Clark dropped a decision to Floyd Central's Aaron Witt in the last match of the day to finish 4-1.

New Chris Traicoff Memorial Record Setup Finish Time / After a Basketball Game = 10:30 PM / WOW !!! I feel like we're forgetting something!! Sleep Well / Make Weight /Drive Safely See you all in the morning!! Jim Wadkins

To quote my Wabash College teammate, Matt Langenbacher, from the Class of 1983: Basketball gives you warts!!!

Dennis Watson won the Merrillville Semistate in 1992.

Griffith - 34, Calumet - 33

ATTENTION: Any teams out there with two extra weigh-ins, please e-mail me so we can get all the details ironed out for this Saturday. Jim Wadkins

I am Jim Wadkins, the coach from Calumet HS in Northwest Indiana. I am trying to help Coach Atwood, from Delphi HS, set up a Super 6 this Saturday, January 24th at Delphi HS. We, like many other teams across Indiana, have had a late cancellation due to inclement weather and are desperate to find something this weekend. Coach Atwood is out of school early this week, spending time with his son who is heading off to a military assignment in Iraq soon, so I told him I would work on finding a 6th team for him. Here are the details as I know them right now: Teams that have expressed an interest: Calumet / Delphi / Frankfort / Lawrence Central / Twin Lakes / (YOU) Format: 5 rounds of duals / Weigh In @ 9:00 AM / Wrestle @ 10:00 AM (Delphi is on Indianapolis time) Location: Delphi Middle School Gym Entry Fee: $125.00 Please e-mail me ASAP if you have an interest in taking part ( jwadkins@lakeridge.k12.in.us ) , Coach Atwood would like to keep it relatively competitive. It sounds like a pretty competitive batch of duals w/o any real killers there to demoralize a young squad, but enough solid programs not to be a waste of a weekend for anyone with a solid team. Jim Wadkins

Wabash, Manchester & Rose Hulman still have wrestling. Bethel & Trine (Tri-State) are relative new start ups The Indiana programs dropped since I entered Wabash in the fall of 1980 are: Valparaiso Notre Dame Huntington Taylor Anderson DePauw Indiana State Franklin Hanover Evansville

To let everyone know just how tough this tournament really is: I remember way back in 1983 watching Calumet's Mike Trevino wrestling against Elkhart Memorial' s defending State Champion Barry Hart....for 5th Place. Jim Wadkins

Chris Traicoff Memorial Wrestling Invitational @ Calumet High School, Gary, Indiana Saturday, December 13, 2008 Round 1 #1} Mishawaka over Lake Station (76-3) #8} Portage over Southmont (57-10) #5} Floyd Central over Lowell (39-26) #4} Lawrence North over Lafayette Jeff (54-15) #3} Cathedral over Highland (59-9) #6} Franklin over Valparaiso (57-18) #7} Westfield over Munster (51-18) #2} Crown Point over Calumet (81-0) Round 2 (Winners' Bracket) Mishawaka 49, Portage 15 Lawrence North 46, Floyd Central 21 Cathedral 48, Franklin 12 Crown Point 51, Westfield 9 (Losers' Bracket) Southmont 63, Lake Station 12 Lowell 33*, Lafayette Jeff 32 (TB Crit. F: Greater # Total 1st match points scored) Highland 48, Valparaiso 25 Munster 38, Calumet 31 (Munster -2 Pts USC) Round Robin Matches for Placement (13th-16th) Lafayette Jeff 66, Lake Station 12 Lafayette Jeff 54, Calumet 24 Lafayette Jeff 42, Valparaiso 30 Calumet 57, Valparaiso 22 Calumet 66, Lake Station 16 Valparaiso 56, Lake Station 16 (9th-12th) Lowell 43, Southmont 27 Lowell 37, Munster 36 Lowell 48, Highland 27 Southmont 51, Highland 24 Southmont 35, Munster 34 Highland 41, Munster 32 (5th-8th) Portage 33, Floyd Central 25 Portage 34, Franklin 23 Portage 44, Westfield 14 Westfield 34, Franklin 28 Westfield 40, Floyd Central 29 Franklin 43, Floyd Central 29 (1st-4th) Mishawaka 38, Lawrence North 25 Mishawaka 29, Cathedral 23 Mishawaka 39, Crown Point 28 Crown Point 29, Cathedral 22 Crown Point 42, Lawrence North 13 Cathedral 38, Lawrence North 17 Valparaiso Overall Team Standings: 1. Mishawaka ( 5-0 ) 2. Crown Point ( 4-1 ) 3. Cathedral ( 3-2 ) 4. Lawrence North ( 2-3 ) 5. Portage ( 4-1 ) 6. Westfield ( 3-2 ) 7. Franklin ( 2-3 ) 8. Floyd Central ( 1-4 ) 9. Lowell ( 4-1 ) 10. Southmont ( 3-2 ) 11. Highland ( 2-3 ) 12. Munster ( 1-4 ) 13. Lafayette Jeff ( 3-2 ) 14. Calumet ( 2-3 ) 15. Valparaiso ( 1-4 ) 16. Lake Station ( 0-5 )

Nice win for a young Warrior team.

2008 Chris Traicoff Memorial Wrestling Invitational Pairings Saturday, December 13, 2008 1st ROUND PAIRINGS #1) Mishawaka Lake Station #8) Portage Southmont #5) Floyd Central Lowell #4) Lawrence North Lafayette Jeff #3) Cathedral Highland #6) Franklin Valparaiso #7) Westfield Munster #2) Crown Point Calumet Factors considered in seeding were: 1) Nov. 26th IHSWCA Team Rankings. 2) Early season results in the 2008-09 season, thus far. 3) Returning starters on team from last season. 4) Advancement in last season’s IHSAA State Team Tournament. 5) Avoiding 1st Round rematches from last year while attempting to keep Conference & Regional rivals separated for two rounds. Care has been taken to avoid any Conference or Regional match-ups in the first two rounds. If you would like to check weights/scales on Friday night, contact me at jwadkins@lakeridge.k12.in.us and I will do my best to accommodate you and your team. Good luck with your early season meets, we'll see you all for a great day of wrestling on the 13th.