horseofadifferentcolor

Dec 2 Update: Colin passed his swallow test today and was able to eat a cheeseburger and fries. The plan was to have at Riley by the end of the day (where his sister, Ashlyn, is recovering). 
 
Both Colin and Ashlyn continue on the path to recovery. They continue to need your prayers. Thank you to everyone, especially the members of the Wrestling Family, who have helped exceed the GoFundMe fundraiser (search Gillespie family) goal. It is still open if you wish to donate. Your emotional and financial support has been truly heartwarming. Proud and humbled to be a part of this community.
 
 

Colin is out of ICU tonight!  I want to thank everyone for the prayers, expressions of sympathy and offers of assistance. It is an honor to be part of the Indiana Wrestling Family. You are the best. 
 
Dave

We were really surprised with Jasper last year.  Caused me to really rethink the semi-state experience.  Up until last year, I just thought a painfully long check in, getting treated like we were children, and overall rude behavior of those running the tournament were all just a part of the semi-state experience.
 
Maybe no one explained to the Jasper AD and his crew that this was how semi-state was “supposed” to be.  Everything about how Jasper ran the tournament was first class…Genuinely nice, helpful, smooth process all around.

Should have paid the refs, looks like SA got waxed by Delta!
 
#TheCounty

@decbell1 inbox: 1,473 new messages 

By STEVE KRAH
stvkrh905@gmail.com
 
Wrestling has come back in a big way at a little school.
 
Cowan Senior/Junior High School in Delaware County folded its program following the 1994-95 for lack of interest.
 
As a Muncie Southside High School senior in 1989-90, Tony Abbott went 35-2 and was the IHSAA 152-pound state champion, grappled for the University of Indianapolis, served as head coach at Southside 1995-96 to 2012-13 and was inducted into the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2017.
 
“I started coaching my first year out of college,” says Abbott, who also owns Abbott’s Body Shop in Muncie. “I’ve had no break since I was six years old.”
 
With Abbott as Cowan head coach, the Blackhawks came back to the prep mat in 2016-17 — a few years after establishing club (which drew about 50 kids the first year and around 60 the next) and junior high programs with all athletes funneling into CSJHS. That happened with the advice of former Muncie Central mat coach and then-Cowan principal Jim Suding and the support of parents.
 
That first new era high school team had four wrestlers and the next year six. By 2018-19, Cowan had 14 grapplers and filled all 14 weight classes. The Blackhawks had 25 out the next season, including oldest son Toby, and the numbers have been at least that high in each season since then.
 
“We started having a little bit of success,” says Abbott. “There’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears. The fun part of this whole team is that every one of the kids on my team have been Cowan kids in that club.
 
“We have 27 kids on the team right now. These kids were just kids and didn’t have anything to do. Now they’e wrestlers.
 
“They’re embracing the grind. The secret to success is there’s no secret. You’ve got to keep moving forward.”
 
Those wrestlers representing the Black and Gold of Cowan (enrollment below 250) won the Delaware County Tournament for the first time and claimed the school’s first sectional title (earned at Delta) in 2020-21. The Blackhawks placed fourth in the IHSCA State Duals.
 
As a 145-pound junior, Toby Abbott became Cowan’s first-ever regional champion and state placer (eighth).
 
“It happened later than I wanted it to,” says Toby of his state meet run. “I wanted to do it all freshmen and sophomore year.
 
“I didn’t have too many losses during the season. But it’s a good thing I did have the losses. I leaned from them.”
 
Abbott finished 33-5.
 
“At Cowan, we’re all-around wrestlers,” says Toby. “We wrestle hard and train hard.”
 
Toby, who also has three siblings — one older sister, one young sister and one young brother — says he would like to wrestle in college. He’s not decided on where he will attend or what he will study, though he is considering sports management or physical education.
 
What does Tony see in Toby the wrestler?
 
“He’s guy that everybody wants to coach,” says Tony Abbott. “He does what you tell him and he works hard.
 
“All the Cowan kids were brought up by me. They didn’t see older guys sitting around or cutting corners.”
 
A year-round wrestler with younger brother Levi (Class of 2024), Toby works out in the family barn, attends Central Indiana Academy workouts in Indianapolis and last summer went with a Cowan group to the Virginia Beach Duals.
 
“We wrestle everyday,” says Toby of he and Levi, who placed fourth at sectional and was a regional qualifier at 138 as a freshman. “He’s my practice partner in the room (the third court in the auxiliary gym where mats are no longer rolled up daily). I get him where he wants to be and he gets me where I want to be.
 
“We get along pretty well. My dad tries to make it pretty competitive in the room. All the coaches do.”
 
Cowan assistants are Casey Bradley (who wrestled at Muncie Southside and coached at Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea, Ohio), former Delta state qualifier Ronnie Goney and Cowan semistate qualifier Steve May.
 
Three seniors graduated from the 2020-21 Blackhawks – Garrett Smith (second at the Delta Sectional and Jay County Regional and a Fort Wayne Semistate qualifier at 285), Keagan Keesling (third at sectional and a regional qualifier at 152) and Preston White (third at sectional and a regional qualifier at 132).
 
Cowan does not open the season until a Dec. 2 home match against Blackford so weights and the lineup is still being sorted out.
 
The Keith twins — Raef (third at sectional and regional and a semistate qualifier at 106 in 2020-21) and Bowen (third at sectional and a regional qualifier at 113) shined as freshmen and are back as sophomores.
 
Junior Jesse May (fourth at sectional and a regional qualifier at 126) returns as does senior Austin Jones (first at sectional, second at regional and a semistate qualifier at 160), senior Malachi King (fifth at sectional at 170), senior Dalton May (fourth at sectional and a regional qualifier at 182) and junior Brandt Thornburg (fourth at sectional and a regional qualifier at 220). Regional qualifiers from 2019-20 include senior Cade Jones and junior Alex King.
 
There are two girls on the high school team and one is senior Cricket Morey (fifth at Girls State Finals at 98 in 2020-21).
 
The 2021-22 Delaware County Tournament is slated for Jan. 6 at Wes-Del with the IHSWCA State Duals Jan. 8 (site to be determined) and Mid-Eastern Conference Tournament Jan. 22 at Cowan. The Blackhawks’ state tournament series includes the Delta Sectional (Jan. 29), Jay County Regional (Feb. 5) and Fort Wayne Semistate (Feb. 12) leading up to the State Finals (Feb. 18-19).
 

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Congratulations to Torieonna Buchanan from West Vigo for signing with Campbellsville. Projected to wrestle 123.
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Congrats to him, and tough break for WL Wrestling this upcoming season. He is an electric factory. 
 
If Mo does wrestle first semester, this does sets up a perfect scenario to have a real life Vision Quest....
 
Nearly went the distance in his first (second) year wrestling...
Graduating at semester so he won't have a post season run...
Can cut a huge amount of weight to take on an "unbeatable" foe (Cristian Carol)...
Coaches could wear a polo under singlet to practice...
 
 
@WestLafayetteWrestling
 

I was crowned Madison County champ back in 1988 in the Wigwam!!

I was crowned Madison County champ back in 1988 in the Wigwam!!

I wrestled in the Wigwam

Actually both have hosted wrestling events in days gone by.  
 

By Drew Hughes
This year there will be 13 Indiana guys competing in St. Louis across 8 different weight classes. This puts only 7 other states ahead of us for the number of qualifiers. Out of these 13 qualifiers only 1 of them is not from the Big Ten.
 
Drew Hildebrandt will be competing in the 125-pound bracket for the Central Michigan Chippewas. This will be Drew’s 3rd NCAA tournament appearance and has earned the 4th seed. The Penn High School graduate also won his 2nd MAC title to qualify for the tournament and is undefeated on the season.
 
Nick Lee will be competing in the 141-pound bracket for Penn State and will be in the hunt to win a national title. Lee comes into the tournament as the 2nd seed just like he was last year for the cancelled championships. The Evansville Mater Dei graduate is 8-1 on the season with his 1 loss coming in the Big Ten finals to the 1st seed Eierman.
 
Chad Red will be competing in the 141-pound bracket for Nebraska where he will be looking to All-American like he has at every NCAA tournament he’s wrestled in. Red comes into the tournament as the 8th seed with his only losses this year coming from the 1st and 3rd seeds of the tournament. As most people have seen, the New Palestine grad has always showed up for the big show.
 
Cayden Rooks will be competing in the 141-pound bracket for Indiana where he will be wrestling in his first NCAA tournament. Rooks earned an at-large bid to qualify for the tournament and will be the 32nd seed. Cayden is a Columbus East High School graduate where he won 2 state titles.
Graham Rooks will be competing in the 149-pound bracket for Indiana, and this was his 2nd time qualifying for the NCAA tournament. After a 6th place finish at the Big Ten tournament, Rooks earned himself the 21st seed. Graham is also a Columbus East grad and is the older brother of previously mentions Cayden Rooks. 
 
Brayton Lee will be competing in the 157-pound bracket for Minnesota, and this was his 2nd time qualifying for the NCAA tournament. After being seeded 7th for last year cancelled tournament Lee will be 1 spot higher at the 6th seed this year. The Brownsburg native is coming off of an impressive 3rd place Big Ten finish.
 
Jake Tucker will be competing in the 165-pound bracket for Michigan State, and it is a little controversial to claim him for Indiana. Tucker went to Mount Carmel High School in Illinois BUT has lived in Lowell Indiana his entire life. Since he has an Indiana driver’s license, I think it’s only fair we get to claim the now 2-time NCAA qualifier. Tucker earned the 25th seed after finish 6th place at the Big Ten tournament.
 
Joe Lee will be competing in the 165-pound bracket for Penn State where he will be wrestling in his first NCAA tournament. The Evansville Mater Dei grad will be the 23rd seed of the tournament after placing 8th at Big Tens. While Joe didn’t get a top 8 seed like his brother Nick, he does still have 1 more state title then his older brother.
 
Donnell Washington will be competing in the 174-pound bracket for Indiana where he will be wrestling in his first NCAA tournament. The Portage grad has really proved himself this year and will be the 9th seed. Washington is coming off a 6th place Big Ten finish and holds a win over the 3rd seed.
 
Drew Hughes (also the person writing this article) will be competing in the 174-pound bracket and is the 32 seed. This will be his 4th NCAA tournament and holds one of the worst records in the entire tournament at 3-7 on the year. All that we can know for sure is that the Lowell High School grad is going to choose top and probably get hit for a few stalling calls.
 
Lucas Davison will be competing in the 197-pound bracket for Northwestern, and this will be his 2nd time qualifying for the NCAA tournament. Davison is coming into the tournament as the 12th seed after placing 5th at Big Tens. The Chesterton native will be looking to become an All-American just like his dad was back in the day.
 
Thomas Penola will be competing in the 197-pound bracket for Purdue, and this will be his 2nd time qualifying for the NCAA tournament. Penola qualified for last years cancelled tournament at 285-pounds. This year he’s down a weight and earned himself the 19th seed of the tournament. The Zionsville High School graduate finished 7th at the Big Ten tournament.
 
Mason Parris will be competing in the 285-pound bracket for the Michigan wolverines, and this will be his 3rd NCAA tournament. Parris will be the 2nd seed of the tournament for the 2nd year in a row. The Lawrenceburg native has placed 2nd at the big ten tournament the last 2 season and will be looking for a rematch of the Big Ten finals in the NCAA finals. 

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Can't remember being so vocal for a match.  My wife, cat and dog were all looking at my like I was nuts!!

Congrats Nick Lee, National Champion!

My wife asked me if I had money on the match since I was moving around so much.  No but when you’ve seen someone work at a craft since elementary and have had several good conversations with his dad over the years you have a little more vested interest in the outcome.

I said almost the same thing, minus the conversations with his dad.  Told my wife I've been watching him since 8th grade

And NEW 141 POUND NATIONAL CHAMPION, NICK LEEEEEEEEE! So happy for him and his family.

That would have been interesting to see if John was healthy what he could have accomplished. I remember being at the Holiday Classic and he was having trouble with his hip. Some lady was giving him all kinds of he11 while he was taking injury time “Make heem wrassel!” I wanted to go tell the lady that he really was hurt but I figured it wouldn’t do any good. 

The question is, does he still keep the mullet and stache going after wrestling?

County vs region Indianamat sponsored event With a middle school undercard 

Jim Ledbetter was an outstanding mentor to many in both his coaching and officiating. I loved watching the interactions with his guys and with younger referees. Such a father figure type with constant pieces of simple, gentle truth.

I swear on all 26,995 of my bananas that I did not create a new account just to post this thread. However, my first thought was literally, "Oh lord, @UncleJimmy is going to think I made a fake account..."

Well its off the charts difficult to place at so it makes sense 

Id sure like to sit in on one of those semi-state seeding meetings haha... I bet thered be fights haha

Two of Indiana’s best officials officiated for the last time yesterday. I always enjoyed the conversations I had with these two and as good of officials as they were, they were better human beings. When I went back to school to get my teaching license, Mr. Mughmaw was very supportive and gave me great advice. Thank you for your service to this great sport, your presence will be missed.
 
David Jenkins
Seabreeze High School
Daytona Beach, FL