teammills

Wow, Nickerson loses in the second round.  This sets the stage for the rematch of Angel and McDonough in the finals.  Of course, it would be great to see Cashe knock him off for an all Indiana finals, but McDonough looked solid against Angel in the Big 10s.  Can't wait till Saturday!!! Go Angel!!! 

I have to agree with everyone and say the ISWA deserves a ton of credit for their hard work in making this an awesome experience for all those who participated.  I love the same mat all day and bout numbers format, it certainly relieved the stress of having to listen for your mat assignment.  Also, something simple like the awards podium made it very rewarding to all of those who placed.  Now, if we can get a true second match, I'm not sure what else you could do to improve on the experience. 

I see that Indy Sportz Shotz (http://www.indysportzshotz.com) have started to upload the pictures that were taken, but does anyone know about the video for the finals matches?  Is there a way to view them or some way to order them?  I'd love to have a copy of the finals matches to re-watch when these boys make it to the High School State Finals! 

I expect one reason there are too many super duals on Saturday's on the schedules and not enough basic dual meets... We need to promote the school fan base. There are a very small amount of fans that will follow a team if it means only all day saturday events during the season.  They get burned out real quick. 

I completely agree with this.  When I was in school our weeknight dual meets filled the gym and it was a great atmosphere to wrestle in.  I've been to several weeknight Middle School duals that have a bigger crowd than their High School.  I'd love to take my son to some more of the High School dual meets, but even I get burned out sitting in a gym all day on Saturday and then turn around to sit in a gym all day Sunday at his ISWA tournaments.  It would be great to get some more of the rivalries back in the weeknight dual format, like Perry and Cathedral do.  Grow the fan base, grow the participants, grow the sport.

Congrats to Sarah and the rest of the Hildebrandt family... Here's to hoping she makes it all the way to state!

Congrats to Tyce as well, it is well deserved with all the hard work he's put in. 

The Mills

PS.  I figured TJ would type in "ALL CAPS" on here after hearing him in the room! 

I don't mind the format the way it is and I think it would be too hard to come up with any type of seeding criteria with kids this young.  The luck of the draw does make for some exciting matches in some of the early rounds.  However, I would really like to see the ISWA implement wrestlebacks to a true second.  It only adds one more match (sometimes) per bracket and I think that would make the placements the fairest. 

I wonder how many months a year Andrew Howe trains for wrestling????

At least 13, maybe 14... 

We couldn't agree more... Alec wrestled great and should be very proud of what he accomplished today!

What was the score?

COMPLETE RESULTS

125 lbs.- #5 Charlie Falck (IOWA) dec. Angel Escobedo (IU) 3-1 (SV)

133 lbs.- #1 Daniel Dennis (IOWA) maj. dec. Matt Ortega (IU) 16-4

141 lbs.- Andrae Hernandez (IU) dec. #2 Alex Tsirtsis (IOWA) 3-1 (2TB)

149 lbs.- #1 Brent Metcalf (IOWA) tech falls Nick Walpole (IU) 19-4

157 lbs.- #13 Kurt Kinser (IU) dec. Matt Ballweg (IOWA) 4-1

165 lbs.- #3 Ryan Morningstar (IOWA) dec. Paul Young (IU) 7-5

174 lbs.- #4 Jay Borschel (IOWA) maj. dec. #15 Trevor Perry (IU) 10-2

184 lbs.- #3 Phillip Keddy (IOWA) dec. Eric Cameron (IU) 11-5

197 lbs.- #15 Chad Beatty(IOWA) dec. Matt Powless (IU) 8-5

285 lbs.- Nate Everhart (IU) wins by forfeit

Iowa - 24

IU - 12

It was a pretty good turnout, the announcer said over 1000 attended.

It was a great match.  Andre showed some great takedown defensive against Tsirtsis to avoid giving up two.  In SV, Tsirtsis rode Andre hard for the entire 30, then in the next period Andre tilted him for a quick 2 NF and rode him out for the win.  After having Angel lose on a last second takedown in OT, this saved the night.  Great win for Andre on Senior night.

I imagine the brackets won't be available until Saturday night after weigh-ins are completed.  That way anyone who doesn't make weight won't screw up a bracket rather than just give kids a forfeit.

It's going to be a hard core wrestling weekend for my son and I. 

Friday - Heading down to watch IU vs. Iowa.  My son is a huge Angel fan, he's gotta be the favorite vs Iowa, but I'm a bit worried as of late!  Nothing against IU, but I'm hoping Metcalf puts on a clinic of intensity.  All in all, I just hope IU can keep it close, there's a couple of swing matches that could go either way.

Saturday - Trip to Conseco to watch Indiana's finest battle it out

Sunday - He gets some excellent mat time against some tough competition at Indy Nationals

We both might be sick of wrestling by the end of the weekend, but what more could a fan ask for!

Is there going to be a Friday Night Live session this week?  If so, count us in.

I posted the same message on the youth board a couple of weeks ago and got zero responses.  I hope they continue with their program as we enjoyed the tournaments last year.

Does anyone know why U of I had to forfeit 197 and 285?  I thought Sam Johnson and Lynn Panko from Avon filled out the 2 tops spots for the Greyhounds?

Good luck to you this year.  One of my little girls got the courage to sign-up this year, but our goals are a little different.  She'll be a first year pee-wee, so our main goal will be to make it through a match without crying.  If she can do that, it doesn't matter if she wins or loses. 

PS.  Thanks to Lisa, I have a matching pic too! 

The younger kids might like the book "NearFall" by Joe Reasbeck.  We picked it up at the Christmas Duals in Michigan and both my son and I enjoyed reading it.  It is focused more at the youth and middle school level though.

Last year we went to a couple of the HYWAY tournaments and had a good time because they were well run and offered some good competition outside of the USAW age groups.  However, I haven't heard anything about any upcoming tournaments this year.  I am starting to put our tournament schedule together and would like to help support the HYWAY organization by making it to a couple more of their tournaments.  Is HYWAY still alive?