Justdo^it135

Merrillville Semistate 160: Dax Jones (Crown Point) over Sam Thomas (Twin Lakes) Also, of Hobart's 7 semistate qualifiers 4 of them are 4 seeds. Zach Pardus, Sergio Castellanos, Jacy Leon and Gio Guarnero. Call it a home town predicition but one of them getting a first round win sounds pretty probable.

From a fan of HS Wresling's perspective, I would like to see one class to crown the best in the state as a state champion and see the very best match ups possible. From a fan of College Wrestling's perspective, I would like to see classed HS wrestling to allow our state's individual wrestlers to seem more accomplished on paper and therefor more easily recruitable. To most recruiters a 1x state qualifier, 1x state placer, 2x state champ sounds a lot better than a 3x state qualifier, 1x State placer. In Conclusion, class wrestling in Indiana would dramatically improve the number of kids wrestling in college. With a scholarship more readily attainable more kids would want to be involved in the sport. Class wrestling is better for the kids and the sport. Quality of the state tournament for the fans be damned.

Im good with a five minute match as long as it is only one period. Let the Takedownathon begin. ;D

I second this. Best shoes ever. I wore them until no amount of tape in the world could hold them together.

Had there been open enrollment back in the 06-09 seasons I would of been a Caveman. Tough partners, dedicated coaching, and a history of success and sending kids to wrestle in college. I would never blame a kid or parent for wanting to improve their situation and I cant blame a coach for wanting to win either.

I am nearly positive that Mishawaka won it that year.

Portage 132 Julian Torres did not wrestle and I think we all expected that based on how severe his injury seemed at the Calumet Regional. I know Hobart Senior Alex Metz placed 5th and would have been the alternate. I know that it is unlikely that he would have advanced to state but I think he would have liked to have the experience of wrestling at Semi State. The question is, if Torres was not going to wrestle why wasn't the Hobart coaching staff made aware of this so they could have Metz at weigh-ins?

Which is the most difficult and satisfying? I have won in the ticket round a few times (one a pretty good upset), and lost one I felt I should have never lost even on my worst day. I have coached kids (who put in tremendous amounts of work) to huge wins and been there to help some of those same kids with those crushing defeats. With that said, I have never been more satified than watching a kid hit a Duck (that i taught him and drilled with him millions of times since he was a middle school guy) in OT to make it to State. If anyone has any stories or opinions to share, please do.

106: 1. Jake Sinkovics -11 (Mishawaka) 2. Drew Hildebrandt -9 (Penn) 3. Michael Garza -11 (Merrillville) 4. Tyler Joseph -9 (Portage) 113: 1. Stevan Micic -11 (Hanover Central) 2. Gaige Torres -9 (Portage) 3. Zach Davis -11 (Penn) 4. Jacob Hartman -10 (South Bend Clay) 120: 1. Drew Hughes -9 (Lowell) 2. Ruben Rodriguez -12 (Hammond Morton) 3. Adam Garcia -12 (Merrillville) 4. Matt Lechowicz -12 (Lake Central) 126: 1. Josh Fuqua -11 (Crown Point) 2. Blake Denton -11 (Twin Lakes) 3. Dylan Logsdon -12 (Portage) 4. Max Buckley -12 (Valparaiso) 132: 1. Grant Martsolf -12 (Mishawaka) 2. Mitch Hartman -12 (South Bend Clay) 3. Trevor Burlison -12 (Crown Point) 4. Joshua Curcio -12 (Penn) 138: 1. Tommy Forte -10 (Mishawaka) 2. Anthony McHugh -12 (Culver Academies) 3. Alex Rinehart -11 (Penn) 4. Jack Roetker -11 (Harrison) 145: 1. Tristan Macri -11 (Mishawaka) 2. Mitch Roadruck -12 (Lowell) 3. Chris Katsafaros -12 (Chesterton) 4. Stephon Wilkins -12 (Portage) 152: 1. Dustin Schurg -12 (Crown Point) 2. Danny Roach -12 (Portage) 3. Trevor Manspeaker -12 (Penn) 4. Sam Ferdig -12 (Adams) 160: 1. Kenny Hughes -11 (Lowell) 2. Damien Gomez -12 (Bishop Noll) 3. Mark Maldonado -12 (Highland) 4. Dax Jones -10 (Crown Point) 170: 1. Bobby Steveson -10 (Merrillville) 2. Scottie Sopko -10 (Hobart) 3. Mike Eldridge -11 (LaPorte) 4. Mark Hurford -12 (Culver Community) 182: 1. Antonio Rodriguez -12 (Hobart) 2. Matt Hurford -12 (Culver Community) 3. Tyler Scott -11 (Hanover Central) 4. Matt Langbehn -12 (Crown Point) 195: 1. Morgan Kral -10 (Crown Point) 2. Ryan Patterson -12 (Lowell) 3. Jaylin Allen -12 (South Bend Clay) 4. Jacob Ricks -12 (Benton Central) 220: 1. Gelen Robinson -11 (Lake Central) 2. Ben Standifer -12 (LaPorte) 3. Braxton Eby -12 (Mishawaka) 4. Kenan Boyd -12 (Adams) 285: 1. Shakir Carr -12 (South Bend Clay) 2. Shawn Streck -9 (Merrillville) 3. Joshua Bartoszek -12 (Hanover Central) 4. Gerald Valenzuela -12 (Hobart)

I see it like this: Merrillville: -113, 138, 160, 170, 220 New Castle: -106, 132, 182, 195, 285 Fort Wayne: -120, 126, 152 Evansville: -145

106: 1. Riley Akers -10 (Crown Point) 2. Isaac Cortez -11 (Hanover Central) 3. Chris Trent -10 (New Prairie) 4. Tyler Schwartz -12 (Valparaiso) 113: 1. Stevan Micic -11 (Hanover Central) 2. Alex Bravo -12 (Valparaiso) 3. Austin Coach -10 (John Glenn) 4. Austin Torres -10 (Crown Point) 120: 1. Drew Hughes -9 (Lowell) 2. Andrew Frey -12 (John Glenn) 3. Brett Ervin -12 (Crown Point) 4. Adoko Neil -11 (Hanover Central) 126: 1. Josh Fuqua -11 (Crown Point) 2. Jake Gross -11 (Lowell) 3. Evan Larsen -9 (Hanover Central) 4. Mike Double -11 (Chesterton) 132: 1. Trevor Burlison -12 (Crown Point) 2. James Frey -11 (John Glenn) 3. Jack Davison -10 (Chesterton) 4. Eric Brown -11 (New Prairie) 138: 1. Darden Schurg -10 (Crown Point) 2. Mack Neal -12 (Valparaiso) 3. Jacob Krause -9 (Knox) 4. Josh Bottos -11 (Lowell) 145: 1. Mitch Roadruck -12 (Lowell) 2. Chris Katsafaros -12 (Chesterton) 3. Tyler Burlison -12 (Crown Point) 4. Andrew Schulties -11 (Kankakee Valley) 152: 1. Dustin Schurg -12 (Crown Point) 2. Dalton Escobedo -11 (New Prairie) 3. Beau Tauber -12 (Kankakee Valley) 4. Kevin Land -12 (Knox) 160: 1. Kenny Hughes -12 (Lowell) 2. Adam Dodson -10 (John Glenn) 3. Tommy St. Germain -10 (Chesterton) 4. Wade Young -11 (New Prairie) 170: 1. Mike Eldridge -11 (La Porte) 2. Jacob Hazi -12 (Crown Point) 3. Troy Brassell -12 (John Glenn) 4. Jaycee Jensen -11 (Chesterton) 182: 1. Tyler Scott -11 (Hanover Central) 2. Matt Langbehn -12 (Crown Point) 3. Tim Schoonveld -11 (Kankakee Valley) 4. Caleb Stewart -12 (La Porte) 195: 1. Morgan Kral -10 (Crown Point) 2. Ryan Patterson -12 (Lowell) 3. Joel Bolen -12 (Kankakee Valley) 4. Derrick Suttles -11 (Valparaiso) 220: 1. Matt Berdine -12 (Kankakee Valley) 2. Don Stanish -12 (New Prairie) 3. Steven Potoskey-11 (Crown Point) 4. Ben Standifer -12 (La Porte) 285: 1. Joshua Bartoszek -12 (Hanover Central) 2. Riley Harlow -12 (Chesterton) 3. Joe Reed -11 (Lowell) 4. Austin Wilson -11 (La Ville)

I like seeing the matchups between the funk wrestler and the technician wrestler. When both of those guys are scrappers and like to get after it you see some really good wrestling. I think about all those matchups between Brennan Cosgrove and Eric Mcgill. You don't get more exciting wrestling than that.

This post is already 1/2 an hour old and Y2 has yet to post the statistics. I can't believe it. C'mon man, get on top of this. :

106: 1. Michael Garza-11 (Merrillville) 2. Tyler Joseph -9 (Portage) 3. Julien Miranda-9 (Hammond Morton) 4. Dijon Smith -12 (Gary West Side) 113: 1. Gaige Torres -9 (Portage) 2. Rickie Rodriguez -10 (Hammond Morton) 3. Brandon Truver -10 (Lake Central) 4. Durante Bell -11 (Gary West Side) 120: 1. Adam Garcia -12 (Merrillville) 2. Ruben Rodriguez -11 (Hammond Morton) 3. Matt Lechowicz -12 (Lake Central) 4. Louis Escobedo -11 (Portage) 126: 1. Ryan Brown -12 (River Forest) 2. Dylan Logsdon -12 (Portage) 3. Michael Martin -11 (Merrillville) 4. Noe Guitierrez -12 (Hammond Clark) 132: 1. Julian Torres -12 (Portage) 2. Jacob Covaciu -9 (Merrillville) 3. Ismael Quintanilla -11 (Hammond Clark) 4. Alex Metz -12 (Hobart) 138: 1. Tony Vasquez -12 (Hobart) 2. Jason Spence -12 (Portage) 3. Isaac Rentas -11 (Merrillville) 4. Zach Slosser -11 (Munster) 145: 1. Stephon Wilkins -12 (Portage) 2. Willie Armstrong -11 (Merrillville) 3. Preston Nelson -12 (Griffith) 4. Justin Leon -12 (Hobart) 152: 1. Danny Roach -12 (Portage) 2. Cody Christenson -10 (Lake Central) 3. Mark Feliciano -11 (Hammond Bishop Noll) 4. Ryan Camp -12 (Griffith) 160: 1. Mark Maldonaldo -12 (Highland) 2. Damian Gomez -12 (Hammond Bishop Noll) 3. Matthew Hollins -11 (Merrillville) 4. John Nauracy -12 (Munster) 170: 1. Bobby Steveson -10 (Merrillville) 2. Scottie Sopko -10 (Hobart) 3. Nick Fowler -10 (Calumet) 4. Ramiro Cazares -12 (Hammond Gavit) 182: 1. Antonio Rodriguez -12 (Hobart) 2. Exvonte Jones -12 (Portage) 3. Eric Deluna -12 (Merrillville) 4. Noah Fowler -11 (Calumet) 195: 1. Derrick Medley -12 (Hammond Gavit) 2. Matthew Hedrick -10 (Portage) 3. Adrian Palacios -11 (Hammond Morton) 4. Alex Jara -12 (Merrillville) 220: 1. Gelen Robinson -11 (Lake Central) 2. Roberto Yanez -11 (River Forest) 3. Brandon Lolkema -11 (Calumet) 4. Travis Williams -11 (Portage) 285: 1. Shawn Streck -9 (Merrillville) 2. Gerlad Valenzuela -12 (Hobart) 3. Mike Pajdzik -12 (Hammond Gavit) 4. Marshawn Manuel -11 (Calumet)

I believe that overall the level of competition in Indiana from top to bottom has definitely improved as of the last few years. The sport is growing and good high school effective technique is being taught at a younger age. More wrestlers are getting more national exposure and competition. Combine that with kids going to 3-4 practice a week year round becoming more of the standard and you have what is clearly improvement in the quality of wrestling at all levels. However, with such studs as A. Tsirtsis, Escobedo, Humphrey, Howe, Harper, Mcmurray, Ayersman, J. Tsirtsis and all the other great wrestlers with multiple state titles and undefeated seasons it is hard for fans to say the level of competition in Indiana is improving.

My bad XCard. You got it decbell. I suppose I could have clarified and said, "I was unseeded and wrestling in what would be the eighth seed position in the bracket format."

The rumor is Carmel.

This is not something that I have a lot of data on over the past couple of years but I do remember that I was the 8th seed when I won my first Sectional at Calumet. As far as a general opinion, I would think a low seed winning a sectional would have to be a product of a special occurence. Such as; The wrestler bumps up or cuts down a weight class for sectionals, or a young tough wrestler cracks the varsity lineup for the first time right before sectionals due to injury or something similar.

106: Michael Garza-11 (Merrillville) 113: Gaige Torres-9 (Portage) 120: Adam Garcia-12 (Merrillville) 126: Josh Fuqua-11 (Crown Point) 132: Julian Torres-12 (Portage) 138: Darden Schurg-10 (Crown Point) 145: Chris Katsafaros-12 (Chesterton) 152: Dustin Schurg-12 (Crown Point) 160: Dax Jones-10 (Crown Point) 170: Robert Stevenson III-10 (Merrillville) 182: Exvonte Jones-12 (Portage) 195: Morgan Kral-10 (Crown Point) 220: Gelen Robinson-11 (Lake Central) 285: Shawn Streck-9 (Merrillville) Crown Point: 5 Champs Merrillville: 4 Champs Portage: 3 Champs -I think Merrillville comes out on top with a solid performance from their wrestlers during consolation matches and their coaches during the seeding meeting.

285 looks much more competitive than I remember it being in years past.

The point I am trying to make is that the superior technique of the lower and middle weights can and does translate over very well to the heavy weight classes and results in a lot of success. So, to say that the strategies between light, middle and heavy weight classes greatly differ appears to be incorrect. Solid, basic technique that utilizes high percentage takedown attempts, turns and escapes will dominate at all levels of wrestling.

I do not believe I have ever seen any individual wrestler struggle when moving from the middle weights of 138-160 to the heavier weights of 170-285. In fact, most who make that transition seem to excell. Two examples that come to mind are steve stahl and trey reese. Both had marginal success at middle weight classes before going on to dominate at the heavy weight classes.

The bigger guys may in fact be better athletes or at least you can make a solid arguement that they are. The one constant in wrestling however is that the kid who puts in more time, effort and dedication will be the winner regardless of who is the better athlete. Do not misunderstand me. Being the better athlete can go a long way; however, hardwork will always overcome pure athletic ability. That fact in itself is part of what makes wrestling a better sport than football, basketball and baseball.

I agree that 120 is one of the tougher weights and I really like the Freshmen Drew Hughes to come away the winner. Really tough kid with great coaches all around him. I think the state champ in this weight is whoever puts in the most work to peak at the right time. I also like 126 and 152 from a depth standpoint.

I believe there has been some sort of academic issue since his transfer from Portage that may be effecting eligibility. I hope to see everything sorted out in time for him to wrestle the state tourney.