1oldwrestler

You are right. I've never been to any team state event. I know that they are well attended and grow interest in the sport and getting rid of it is an impossibility. I just view wrestling as the ultimate individual contest and I'd hate to see a kids dream of an individul state berth or state placement get derailed becasue of an injury during team competition. Again, my opinion.

That's why I think it would be in our best interest to move Team State prior to Individual State. By the time Individual's over, majority of the wrestling community is ready to pack it in. If wrestled prior to Individual's, I think Team State would have more interest because all of the wrestling community would still be in "season mode." If anything the whole thing should be moved to the end of the season so as to avoid injury. Either that, or get rid of it altogether, IMO.

The argument for class wrestling sez we'll have more kids than we do now competing at that high, collegiate level. Speed up the improvement we are seeing.

So are you stating that a 103lber from Southern Wells has the same opportunity to go to state as a 103lber from Merrillville? Oh please, don't bring the 103 wt class into this mess! How about using the 145 wt class as the example!

Indiana must be the best wrestling state in the nation! All hail Indiana as the best wrestling state! It's not the best wrestling state in the nation but it is improving!

Funny, I don't see anything mentioned here about class wrestling. Couldn't agree more. How about just being happy with the fact that IN was well represented at the Big 10 Tourney. Let's not turn this into a class debate. It's about the fact that IN is producing some pretty talented individuals at the highest level of collegiate wrestling

Your copper card will be all you need to coach at any ISWA State Finals. There will be a Copper Coaches Clinic on March 6th at Ben Davis High School, Registration for the clinic will be from 6:30 to 7:00 pm with the clinic starting at 7:00 pm. Cost of the clinic is $30 and includes clinic, "Coaching Youth Wrestling Guide:, and copper card. The same clinic will be offered at Huntington North High School on March 13th with all times and costs being the same. Can you get a Copper Card on line?

Just enjoy the moment today. Tomorrow comes soon enough. Congratulations to CP.

Don't jump don my throat for what I'm about to write but I think it would be a mistake to dissolve the IHSAA. I really don't know what the biggest issues are in this debate but from following the posts on this site, it seems the biggest complaint with the IHSAA is when kids move from one district to the next for, apparently, reasons of athletics and then they suspend or don't suspend the kid from athletic competition. Also, they won't allow wrestlebacks at SS or state (something I think should be allowed) in our sport, and I'm sure the list could go on and on. I guess looking at it as a non-expert, I would be worried to hand over h.s. sports oversite to the DOE. I just don't have enough faith in that organization and I guess it's a case of "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't." Certainly the IHSAA can do a much better job especially in it's dealings with h.s. wrestling, i.e., get someone in there that understands the sport a little bit, but to get rid of it altogether would, IMO, be a bad idea.

It's supposed to get up to 40 degrees tomorrow.

My earlier point exactly. Wrestling is built up by so many on this board as this life altering journey that is so much more special than all other sports and really makes a boy a man, blah, blah, blah. Then you have db comments like 1oldwrestler made. It is fine if you don't want to shake hands. Just have a good reason. "I don't like to shake hands" is a better reason than most of the ones I have seen on this thread. Wow, now I'm a "db." My kid is a gentelman. He does shake hands. I guess I was making an extreme point. Shaking or not shaking hands on a wrestling mat doesn't define you as a gentlemen. My ultimate point is, this is a ridiculous thread. If you have a problem with guys not shaking hands, then you must have had a problem with the celebrations after the championships (break dancing, pulling down the straps of your singlet, etc). Were those the behaviors of "gentlemen?" My answer would be yes, but you would have to answer no because if that isn't your answer then you're contradicting yourself.

What a tiring topic. Shake hands, don't shake hands. Respectful, disrespectful. Most kids I see shake hands with the coaches after a match but so what if they don't? My kid and his team shake hands. SO what? If someone told me you have a choice, have your kids shake hands after every match and they'll be the finest gentlemen in the world or, don't shake hands and, magically, the team will be as good as CP, I'll take not shaking hands. PLEASE STOP THESE THREADS!

Thats right. I think their were 3 red headed state champs this year! Young....Sandefer.....who else? Billy Baker

Couldn't agree more!

Congratulations to Taylor March for winning it this year. I don't know this young man personally but have watched him wrestle for the last few years and how he conducts himself. He's a true champion in every sense of the word even if he hadn't won. I heard he's also ranked #1 in his class. What a story. He's everything that's great about the sport, all sports, for that matter. Because we're transplants and my history doesn't go back that far, I'd say he's the greatest wrestler to ever come out of NE Indiana. If not the greatest, at least in the team photo for top 3.

I think the FW SS aquitted itself very well this year at Conseco. Without applying points and just looking at numbers, it accounted for a little better than 20% of the placers and a little better than 20% of the champs. Nice work FW SS. Also, congratulations to Tyler March for winning it this year. I don't know this young man personally but have watched him wrestle for the last few years and how he conducts himself. He's a true champion in every sense of the word even if he hadn't won. I heard he's also ranked #1 in his class. What a story. He's everything that's great about the sport, all sports, for that matter. Because we're transplants and my history doesn't go back that far, I'd say he's the greatest wrestler to come out of NE Indiana. If not the greatest, at least in the team photo for top 3. My vote for the top match of the evening, Young of Culver vs McGinley of Cathedral at 145. What a 3rd period!

If they need me to tell them where IHSAA.org is, then they have totally different problems. If they did see those results (which apparently they did because they had a small article on Sunday about what they read because they weren't there), they would see that Semi-State champions were crowned from the following schools: Muncie Central Yorktown Delta Jay County Winchester All of these schools are in their coverage area. I understand what you're saying, but does a media outlet really need to be contacted about Semi-State results when they are easy to access? Then when 5 schools in your coverage area have kids who are among the best in the state right now, is it too much to ask to give them a preview the day of state? Coach - again, I wasn't trying to get you bent out of shape. We in the wrestling community are always going to feel slighted by the coverage we get, and rightfully so. I'm pulling for Gonzalez.

Coach - I agree that newspapers stink at covering wrestling and I'm not being a smart alec by asking you this question so please don't take it the wrong way, but do you contact the paper and let them know how great your team/area is doing? Granted, football and b-ball coaches don't have to take this unusual step for their teams to get coverage but wrestling is different. If you do indeed notify the paper of the successes and they still don't send a reporter out to cover it, then that just bush league.

I wrestled high school in IL when it was still a 2 class system and was in the A, or smaller school, division. I went to state my junior year and placed 3rd at 145 my senior year and always wondered how I would have fared in AA. I believe I would have made the tourney in AA but placing would have been difficult. Shortly after I graduated the IHSA moved a Catholic powerhouse (Providence New Lenox) to AA. Their 105 lbr had won a title at at A as a junior and then, for his senior season, had to compete in AA where he placed 5th. However, a few short years later, after they faced AA competition week in and week out, Providence once again became dominant in AA and they are still a force today. If Indiana goes to a class system and schools like Bellmont and MD are moved to the small school class, they will run rough shod over the competition. Will their programs begin to suffer? Not sure. Their conferences will still be in tact where they'll face lager schools and they'll be able to still go to tourney's like the Al Smith in the regular season but eventually, maybe 25 years down the line, if they were thrown back into the big school class, they'd probably take their lumps because their post season experience won't be as rigorous as it is now. Being a transplant I think the single calss system is unique and pretty cool but I can also tell you that class wrestling won't drive spectators away from the sport. The Assembly Hall in Champaign is jammed for every state finals and I have memories that will last my lifetime. Exposure for more wrestlers is also, probably a benefit by going to a class system. I will say, however, that, to this day, I do wonder how I would have done in AA. Kind of rambling, I know, but just a few thoughts and experiences to share

Fabio and Y2

They got past Yorktown and nobody expected that.

No way it takes 2 hours to drive to Merrillville from Warsaw. I can get to Merrillville from Fort Wayne in just under 2 hours. Tho I agree it's kind of strange that Warsaw is in the Merrillville SS.

Not necessarily. That could just mean more ranked kids in those weights ran into each other in the last few weekend and knocked each other out. It would take a bit more research to find that info out. I'd be intersted to see how close the rankings came to showing the top 16 without worrying about the exact order. Meaning how many times did a none ranked kids actaully eliminate a ranked guy. If this only happened a few time from sectionals through the entire state finals then you could say the rankings guy did a very accurate job on picking the top 16 minus the exact order. You're right, it would take more research but as I looked at some of the kids who were ranked that got knocked out at SS, it seemed it was unranked kids knocking them off more often than not but I can't say that for everyone. I'm guessing (sorry, no research again) that most, if not all, ranked wrestlers were eliminated at the SS level.

Based on the numbers it looks like 112, 152 and 215 were the most difficult to rank this year as they were the only weight classes that didn't have at least 10 ranked wrestlers qualify for Conseco.

If it makes you feel good y2 you are a grand puba wizzard off computer geeks !! I think you meant poobah. Pubah sounds like something you learn about in a h.s. anatomy class.