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Was there really a Matt Burns from Indiana??

Rico Talamantes, Matt Birner, Thurman Stone, Tecumseh Hatfield, Curt Funk, Gill Journey, Thunder Grimes, Shannon Stout, Quy Tang, Rusty Head, Vince Sessa, Damon Roessler, Dexter Larimore, Wiley Craft, Jose Avila-Paradise, Blair Hammer, Uriah Ratliff, Will Hill, Asa Ennis, Chico Adams, Spence Spencer, Chris Schwartzengraber, Chace Akers.

Was watching wndu's Countdown to Kick-off, this year's Leprechaun is David Zimmer, former State Runner-up from Angola.

Mishawaka celebrates state title By TIM CREASON Tribune Correspondent GREENWOOD, Ind. - The end result, really, had been expected from day one. A season focused entirely on winning the Indiana high school team wrestling championship drew to a successful conclusion Saturday as Mishawaka dominated Yorktown, 37-17, in the final round of the 15th annual IHSAA team state finals. It is Mishawaka's second state crown in the team tournament in three years. Danny Abu-shehab's fall in 2:31 over Yorktown's Grant Brown - bouncing back barely 30 minutes after he had watched his grandfather collapse in the bleachers and be taken to the hospital - sealed the victory on the mats at Center Grove High School. The Cavemen and their fans broke into celebration as they finished a remarkable run through the three-match tournament, during which they defeated - in order - the state's No. 2, No. 4, and No. 3-ranked wrestling teams. And the Cavemen stormed to their crown by an average of 24 points per match against the state's best competition. But really, the victory was ordained months ago, when practice began in Mishawaka's sweaty wrestling room, with coach Darrick Snyder reminding his team constantly about what happened at the state meet one year ago. ?We were undefeated and ranked No. 1, and we went to the state finals and lost in the first round,? said Snyder. ?All week, I kept telling the guys to remember how that felt.? After dispatching No. 2 Crown Point and No. 4 Perry Meridian in the prelims, the No. 1-ranked Cavemen faced possibly the only team in the state that could match up with them in the finale. The championship match stayed close through seven weight classes, with Yorktown actually leading 11-7 after five bouts. Starting with the 103-pound class, the two teams traded victories for close to an hour. But then Matt Guerra scored a 5-4 victory over Yorktown's Andrew Hiestand at 135, Anthony Eddy nipped Josh Rench 7-1 at 140, and Darius Marshall took out Cody Harper, 6-3, at 145. Then, the dam broke. Ryan Stahl broke the contest open by pinning Caleb Smith at 152. ?I'm on Cloud 9 right now,? said Stahl, who was suffering considerably from a back injury. ?Before the match, I was thinking about my back and already making excuses in my head. But when I went out there, I realized that I had to get six (points) for the team. I didn't think about the pain, just getting the pin.? It's Mishawaka's second state championship in three years, and the third in the history of the school. And it was, by far, the easiest of the three. ?Ever since I started wrestling, we've been preparing for this,? said 112-pound senior Paul Beck, who scored Mishawaka's first points in the finals with an 11-1 victory over Schuyler Phillips. ?We came down here with the attitude that we had a job to do, and we got it done.? ?That's just the way these guys are,? said Snyder. ?This is the most focused, unselfish group I've ever been around. It's the best class of seniors we've ever had. Seriously.? One of those seniors, two-time individual state runnerup Christian Lentz, closed Mishawaka's scoring with a takedown-fest against Yorktown's Scott Neff. He concluded his season with a 14-1 major decision. ?It was kind of frustrating, because you could tell they weren't wrestling us, they were just trying to not get pinned,? said Lentz. ?That's OK, we're used to that kind of stuff.? If there was a low point, it only occurred after the 135-pound match, when Guerra cost the Cavemen a team point by doing a celebration dance on the mat after his overtime victory. ?I felt like, in the finals, we had a few guys who let their emotions get carried away a little too much,? said Snyder. But that was quickly forgotten. Layten Binion's big win at 119, as well as wins from Alex White (160) and Richard Morin (171), were far more important. ?Honestly, if we wrestled Mishawaka 10 times, I don't know if we would win any of them,? said Yorktown coach Trent McCormick. ?I'm proud of the way our kids wrestled, but Mishawaka is just at a different level.?

High school wrestling: Mishawaka?s Abu-shehab turns tragedy into triumph COMMENTARY By AL LESAR GREENWOOD, Ind. ? Thirty minutes before the biggest ? and last ? match of his life Saturday, Danny Abu-shehab couldn't have cared less about wrestling. Mishawaka High's senior 189-pounder bolted from his team to tend to family. Team state championship showdown with Yorktown? So what? A season's worth of work on the line? Doesn't matter. This was family. Danny's grandfather, 71-year-old Ray Webster of Mishawaka, collapsed in the cheering section while the Cavemen's bid for a state title was still in doubt. Medical personnel rushed to aid Webster, who has a history of heart problems. This was no casual fan. This is a fella, a year removed from a stroke and equipped with an internal defibrillator, who has followed the Cavemen to all their matches. Five-hour rides? No problem. "I was ready to freak out," Abu-shehab said. "He's the guy who has coached me in wrestling and football all my life. It was pretty emotional for me. I was pretty distraught. "When my grandfather came around, he told me, 'The team needs you. Go out and do your job.'" He did ? and then some. Abu-shehab, who made history this season by being the first individual state qualifier with 20 losses (he finished with a 27-21 record), got the job done. Thirty-one seconds into the second period, Abu-shehab pinned Grant Brown (37-11), supplying Mishawaka with the necessary points to clinch the title. "Before he went out there, Danny told me, 'You better call Child Protective Services, I'm gonna abuse that kid,'" said Mishawaka athletic director Bob Shriner. "I knew he was ready." "At first, we didn't know what had happened," Mishawaka coach Darrick Snyder said of the confusion in the stands. "Once we found out it was Danny's grandfather, our next focus was to see where his head was." Teammates and coaches coaxed Abu-shehab out of the stands and back to the bench. He was surrounded with support. "We were all concerned with keeping Danny focused," said Cavemen assistant Fabian Chavez. "I looked him in the eye, and he said, 'I'm good; I'm ready.' You could see. He was hungry." "Danny's a senior," Snyder said. "If he wanted to wrestle, it was his call." "The coaches were talking with me, but I didn't understand why they were worried about me," Abu-shehab said. "I wanted to be part of this. I wanted to be in this.? Years of constant drilling prepared Abu-shehab for that special moment. Snyder replayed the technical portion of the pin. Something about a ?front headlock and a sucker drag.? Whatever the case, it comes down to Abu-shehab having a split-second in this predicament when Brown was out of position. ?We work on that scenario all the time,? Snyder said. ?Danny recognized it and found the opening.? ?I knew the only way I?d feel good was if I?d beat (Brown) and beat him hard,? Abu-shehab said. ?I?m used to wrestling strong kids, so that didn?t bother me. ?He looked tired (starting the second period). I knew he was tired. I remembered what I?d gone through to get here. I knew I?d worked harder than him. I wasn?t tired.? Abu-shehab leveraged his way to the win. A ?torque of the hip? and a quick reversal and ? smack! ? a pin. A victory. A state championship. Next order of business: Shake hands; hug teammates; call mom. ?I found out my grandfather was doing well (in the hospital),? Abu-shehab said. He didn?t leave Center Grove High with his teammates. Instead, Abu-shehab had a delivery to make to his grandfather. ?This medal belongs to him,? he said, pulling the blue ribbon and gold medallion from his neck. It?s all about family. Cavemen family.

First State Championship?? We won 2 years ago bozo. And in '91

Supposed to be on www.broadcastsport.net, I hope so, can't make the trip down. Indiana has actually had some decent national coverage this year. Mish has been ranked in the top 20 most of the year, and Wright, Tsirtsis, Duck, Mac have been in the National Rankings all year.

After looking at the actual picture, I don't see any of the Varsity guys in the picture. I think that is the JV or Frosh picture. Lentz and Thomas stick out a little, and they definitely aren't in that pic!

Get in a suite, only way to go anymore! No waiting in lines, show up 5 minutes before the round starts and walk right in! Some suites put the spread out too,, chicken tenders, sub sandwiches, hot dogs, pulled pork, veggie trays, chips, pop!

Yeah, Mishawaka's picture and names look a little off! And they have Binion as a finalist, but he placed 7th. Great proof-reading IHSAA, you continue to impress the hell out of me. I hope the commissioners actually watch the tournament saturday and not check their phones for basketball score updates.

I love how they screwed up names. I could understand McMurphy and Braden Atwwod, being from so far away. But Lawrence North?? Brandon Nolen??

My bad Dune, thanks. I'm glad we go against the region in so many tourneys, makes us tougher by the end of the year! I still am worried about how we match up with Yorktown though!

Thanks DecBell, I like your optimism, but I think we may be down next year losing so many starters. But the program/jv/frosh is solid, so hopefully the younger kids can step up next year. DuneFan, we (non-region but M'Ville allies) always root for the Region and everybody up our way because we know we go through the toughest schedules/dual tourney's/individual tourney's around. Why so negative on the Cavemen? None stood on top of the podium this year, for the first time in 4 years, but we had one or two (or 9) standing on the podium at least.

You would think after the controversy with the Jay County regional/weather-gate, they would be focused on the State Finals. I guess Purdue (had to be Purdue and not IU) basketball was more important.

Too funny, have to share: I was in a suite saturday night that was also serving as the "hospitality suite" for the IHSAA Suits. A few of them were occupying the "bar" top seating, not really paying attention to the action on the mats. The stadium seats were full in the suite, so I went to change the channel (basketball was on) on the tv to the closed circuit station airing the wrestling. As I was changing the channel, one of the officials (to remain anonymous, but I did take note of his name and he is high up on the ladder) asked if I could change the channel back to the Purdue game. Seriously, in the middle of the Indiana Wrestling State Championships, the greatest spectacle in high school sports, he wants to watch basketball. I had to bite my lip from telling him to give me his seat so I could actually watch the event we were at and then I would put basketball on! To top it off, about 15 minutes later, the Suits realized that they had lost the Mental Attitude Award folder (they knew who won, but the folder had the script and information on the award). They were looking all over, called in Conseco staff to see if they had found it while cleaning during the break. They never found it in the suite, I'm guessing it turned up somewhere or they had to print it off again!

Christian Lentz, Mishawaka 215, went from JV to State Runner-Up last year.

I was the announcer (poor example of that if you ask me) at the Mishawaka Sectional. On Sarah's info sheet for the finals she was the #5 ranked female wrestler at 109lbs in the Nation. I already knew of her and her accomplishments on the National scene, but I was proud to let the crowd know about them at Sectionals, even though I'm a Caveman. I also correspond with Bob Preusse at AWN regarding Indiana wrestling and he is well aware of her accomplishments thus far! We'll all be pulling for you Sarah, give 'em hell!

AWN Prep 40 1/18/10 Mon, 01/18/2010 - 21:32 ? admin AMATEUR WRESTLING NEWS PREP January 18, 2010 1. Blair Academy N.J. 2. Apple Valley Minn. 3. St. Paris Graham Ohio 4. Brandon Fla. 5. Wyoming Seminary Pa. 6. Central Dauphin Pa. 7. Central Mountain Pa. 8. Wadsworth Ohio 9. St. Edward Ohio 10. St. Mark Del. 11. Simley Minn. 12. Collins Hill Ga. 13. Montini Catholic Ill. 14. Wisconsin Rapids Wis. 15. Park Hill Mo. 16. Bishop Lynch Tx. 17. Clovis Calif. 18. Broken Arrow Okla. 19. Muskogee Okla. 20. Mishawaka Indiana 21. Cox Va. 22. Iowa City West Iowa 23. Waverly-Shell Rock Iowa 24. Roseburg Ore. 25. Millard Utah 26. Nazareth Pa. 27. Parkland Pa. 28. Oviedo Fla. 29. Grand Island Neb. 30. Easton Pa. 31. Sussex Central Del. 32. Providence Catholic Illinois 33. Minooka Ill. 34. Long Branch N.J. 35. Bettendorf Iowa 36. Hermiston Oregon 37. High Point N.J. 38. Jackson N.J. 39. S. Plainfield N.J. 40. Bakersfield Calif.

AMATEUR WRESTLING NEWS PREP 40 January 12, 2010 1. Blair Academy N.J. 2. Apple Valley Minn. 3. St. Paris Graham Ohio 4. Brandon Fla. 5. Wyoming Seminary Pa. 6. Central Dauphin Pa. 7. Central Mountain Pa. 8. Wadsworth Ohio 9. St. Edward Ohio 10. St. Mark Del. 11. Collins Hill Ga. 12. Simley Minn. 13. Montini Catholic Ill. 14. Wisconsin Rapids Wisc. 15. Bishop Lynch Tx. 16. Park Hill Mo. 17. Clovis Calif. 18. Muskogee Okla. 19. Broken Arrow Okla. 20. Minooka Ill. 21. Hartland Michigan 22. Mishawaka Indiana 23. S. Plainfield N.J. 24. Cox Va. 25. Iowa City West Iowa 26. Waverly-Shell Rock Iowa 27. Roseburg Oreg. 28. Parkland Pa. 29. Bakersfield Calif. 30. Poway Calif. 31. Easton Pa. 32. Sussex Central Del. 33. Bettendorf Iowa 34. Nazareth Pa. 35. Millard Utah 36. Long Branch N.J. 37. Grand Island Neb. 38. Hermiston Oregon 39. Lake Stevens Wash. 40. High Point N.J.

I'm driving back from Indy, please post updates for myself and fellow crackberries

After our good showing at the IN/ILL dual, I hope the majority of these kids participate. I like our lineup if they do!

The topic got a little off subject, regarding who won state. I would have to vote for Pribble, regardless of whether he placed or qualified previously, not too shabby for a very small school athlete to take home the prize. Out of nowhere vote for this year, and probably the last few...Christian Lentz. '08 Junior Varsity '09 State Runner-Up. Not a bad transition.

Niezgodski represents South Bend, so I think the impetus for this proposal is the SB Washington Girls BBall case, not MHS wrestling.

Hey, you know what I'm getting at! There sure isn't a lot of Weinzapfels up my way!! Politics aside, we had a nice chat about wrestling. Then that night (your Mayor not included) hit the Aztec. Didn't do well either!!

You are correct HiC, Harper has won a lot of matches/ State Championships, by close margins (3 if memory serves.) Better pick it up a FEW notches??? (no offense, and I am not one to interject here, but unless you are in the multi-state region of winning 3/maybe 4 State Championships, I would not be giving advice on how to win 4 State Titles!) Josh is a good kid, and great wrestler. Too bad his close margins include a 4-2 win over Camden Eppert, a 7-4 win over Cashe, a pin over Cashe, a 4-2 win over March, a 3-2 win over Porras, etc, etc, etc, etc. And now he has lost a few "close matches." Please get off of the "close win" discussion. No excuses here from a Caveman, but this argument was started before this season even started. Josh won a "few" matches over the last 4 years, 2-1 or 20-5, is still a V.