Thornton

Ranked teams at the Marion County Tournament are #1 Perry Meridian, #4 Roncalli and #17 Warren Central. Ranked individuals include: 106: #1 Nathan Boston (LN), #5 Jacob Cottey (PM) 113: #3 Brandon James (PM), #7 CJ Whitten (BD), #15 Josh King (Ron) 120: #11 Aiden Kenny (PM), #12 Alex Sparks (LN), #14 David Ramirez (WC) 126: #4 Cody LeCount (PM), #8 Robert Boston (LN) 132: #2 Jared McKinley (PM), #3 Levi Moss (BD) 138: #2 Nick Bova (PM), #3 Conner James (Ron) 145: #14 Riley McClurg (PM) 152: #9 Kyle Reidling (WC), #10 Clayton Davenport (BD), #11 Tre Spencer (Pike) 160: #1 Kirk Johnson (PM) 170: #2 Jake Masengale (PM), #12 Joe Ardizzone (Ron) 182: #13 Damon Albertson (Ron), #14 CJ Martin (PM) 195: #16 Mason Nickell (Ron) 220: #12 Jordan Naughton (PM) 285: #8 Donte Winfield, #10 Larry Carter (WC), #12 Jared Schall (Spw), #13 Tre Taylor (BD) seeding meeting is tonight and there should be some great matches...or rematches!

the ubiquitous bump

why are you giving the Falcons a U2 guitar player?

No worries Darrick...It just looked funny and assumed it was just an oversight.

In the overall ranking, Roncalli is #4, Merrillville is #5, Mishawaka is #6 and Penn is #9, but in the 3A ranking, Penn is #3 , Roncalli is #4, Merrillville is #5 and Mishawaka is #6? Curious.

Ranked wrestlers: PM Roncalli GC Avon 106: #5 Cottey 113: #3 B James #9 King 120: #11 Kenny #16 McGinley 126: #5 LeCount 132: #2 McKinley 138: #4 Bova #9 C James #3 Farrell 145: #16 McClurg 152: 160: #1 Johnson 170: #3 Masengale #15 Ardizzone #9 McGinley 182: #14 Martin #12 Albertson 195: #8 Early 220: #10 Naughton 285: #8 Winfield #14 Snyder

#1 vs #3...this will be the meeting of the highest ranked teams this season, since Perry does not wrestle Crown Point. And if Roncalli wins and Crown Point becomes #1 and Roncalli #2, they don't meet either. It should be an awesome dual with solid to great wrestlers at every weight class for both teams.

Wrestling begins at 9:00 AM. Round No. 1: Greenfield Central vs. Perry Meridian Avon vs. Roncalli Round No. 2: Perry Meridian vs. Roncalli Avon vs. Greenfield Central Round No. 3: Avon vs. Perry Meridian Greenfield Central vs. Roncalli I would say allow 90 minutes for each dual, with a bit of time in between for teams to move. I would say that the rounds will start at 9:00, 11:00 and 1:00, which would put the start of the Perry/Roncalli match at 11:00.

There will be some great action at Franklin Community this Saturday. The teams include #1 Perry Meridian, #4 Penn, #13 Franklin Community, #16 Lawrence North and Pike. Ranked wrestlers competing will be: 106: #1 Nathan Boston (LN), #7 Jacob Cottey (PM), #11 Zach Davis (Penn), #13 Skyler Lykins (FC) 113: #3 Brandon James (PM) 120: #10 Aiden Kenny (PM), #16 Alex Sparks (LN) 126: #5 Cody Lecount (PM), #8 Robert Boston (LN), #9 Jacob Davis (Penn) 132: #2 Jared McKinley (PM), #9 Joey Mammolenti (Penn) 138: #3 Nick Bova (PM), #9 Trevor Manspeaker (Penn) 145: #7 Alex Reinhart (Penn) 152: #9 Tre Spencer (Pike), #10 Luke Kreich (FC) 160: #1 Kirk Johnson (PM), #5 Austin Bowman (FC) 170: #3 Jake Masengale (PM), #9 Spencer Hessman (FC) 182: #16 CJ Martin (PM) 195: no ranked wrestlers 220: #7 David Reagan (Penn), #10 Jordan Naughton (PM) 285: #3 Kade Maggart (Penn), #8 Donte Winfield (PM) should be a good one!

Yes, Perry Meridian is a public school in the same district as Southport.

DJ Radnovich had 1 match go the distance that year...the finals at semi state he defeated Ian Spearman of Southport by just a point or 2.

This should be an excellent dual meet. A Johnson County/Marion County border war with some excellent individual match-ups. #10 Cottey vs Fleener at 106, #3 James vs #11 Schoettle at 113, #1 Johnson vs #11 Warner at 160 and #3 Masengale vs #5 Mappes at 170 are but 4 of those great individual matches.

do you mean dropping in weight class or dropping in ranking?

It is probably because Bova placed at a higher weight class than Farrell. Josh placed 7th at 119 while Nick placed 8th at 130.

you do realize who Walpole lost to his senior year, don't you? It was a guy who lost 1 match in high school and has since been 2nd, Champ, 3rd at NCAAs in division 1. And that match Walpole lost 4-2 in OT.

no, each guy gets to wrestle 1 period. We are hoping no one notices.

What is the goal of having a team championship? If it is to find the best team, then a dual meet format is the best way to accomplish that. Some will say that the other individual sports (swimming, cross country, tennis, golf, track and field, gymnastics) determine their team champion with a point system at the state finals. That is true for gymnastics, cross country and golf. Teams advancing to the state finals take their entire team and the best score wins (a true team concept). Swimming, track and now wrestling determine their team champion based only upon the individuals that advance. Tennis runs a concurrent individual and team tournament, with the team champion determined first and the individual champions the following week. The difference that both wrestling and tennis have is that you can only compete against 1 person at a time. In swimming, track, cross country and golf you can compete against multiple people simultaneously and in the case of heats, the arbitor is the stopwatch (an objective standard). Wrestling is a different animal because without full wrestlebacks, the best kids don't always make it to the state finals. And I don't even want to hear the "well how many times does he get to lose before he is done" argument. State champion runners, jumpers, throwers, swimmers and golfers often don't win every step along the tournament. I have a new class coming in, so rant off.

If you are looking for an expert with hammers, perhaps you should look to Thornton!

Mr. Richards, First let me say that you have developed a formula of making inflammatory statements, followed by stating that you mean no disrespect. If you truly mean no disrespect, then don't make the initial inflammatory statement. As for me, up until 2 years ago, my title was freshmen coach. My duties to the program included much of our IHSAA correspondance, keeping and compiling team stats, helping coach in the room, coaching the frehmen/JV teams on meet days, assisting with scouting, running our study table on meet days, providing information for seeding meetings, occasionally writing our wrestling newsletter, announcing at home meets and sometimes singing the national anthem. Coaches Tonte, Schoettle and Gibson were and remain the technicians. They all wrestled in college, while I was a college football player. So I deferred to their expertise. As you well know, Andre was a varsity wrestler from his freshmen year on. However, your statement that I never spoke to Andre is a complete lie. I remember Andre wrestling in a freshmen/JV competition on a Saturday against Ben Davis, Center Grove and Decatur Central. I think Andre had 2 matches that day and, as I did with everyone I coached, I spoke to him before his matches, encouraged him and congratulated him on his wins. I think this was the only non-varsity event Andre wrestled. As for my response to your post; you stated we have never spoken and I will accept that, but that being said, as strangers, how can I then know what you meant in your post? I can't interpret what you wrote. I accepted what you wrote and based my comments on that. If what you meant to say was both teams would be very solid, then simply write that. There was no malice or spite intended...just pure observation. I also don't understand from where this idea that I am always "bashing" what you write comes. Hopefully this discussion will end here and I wish Andre success this year.

We may be good, but the quality of competition in this state would keep us from even reaching the state finals if we took to the mat with a squad of half varsity half JV, no matter how tough our JV team is. So lets put away the hyperbole and respect the fact that there are other great programs here in Indiana capable of beating us anytime we step on the mat. We need to have our best people on the mat and focused on the task at hand.

Perry Meridian High School: Nov 19 Capital City Classic @ Beech Grove Nov 30 @ Center Grove Dec 3 Quad Dual @ Franklin Community (Franklin, Penn, Pike, LN) Dec 7 Home vs Southport Dec 10 Home Triple Dual (Avon, Roncalli, New Palestine) Dec 17 Marion County Tournament @ Lawrence North Dec 29, 30 North Montgomery Duals (Warren Central, Blomington South, Portage, Carmel, Delphi, New Pal, North Mont) Jan 7 Bellmont Duals (Castle, Whitko, Fairfield, Bellmont, Mishawaka) Jan 12 Home vs Cathedral Jan 14 Conference Indiana @ Home Jan 18 @ Ben Davis Jan 28 Sectional @ Decatur Central Feb 1 Team Regional @ Greenfield Feb 4 Individual Regional @ Home Feb 11 Individual SemiState @ New Castle Feb 17, 18 Individual State Finals @ Conseco Fieldhouse Feb 25 Team State Finals @ Center Grove

That dual meet is January 12 at Perry Meridian. JV meet starts at 6:00 with the varsity to start around 7:00.

Thank you to everyone who responded here or kept me in their prayers. I am humbled, but not surprised by the outpouring of support and warm wishes that have come my way. Wrestling is a tightly-woven community and though we all battle each other with everything we have, the support we show in times of need is equally stout. I am now in my 3rd week back at work and the chemo is progressing nicely. I anticipate a full recovery and still plan on running the mini this year. Thanks again to everyone. Dave Thornton

No county team has ever swept or really come close to sweeping the finals. In 2007, Perry Meridian had 7 champs (Jimmy Schoettle - 112, Chris Goodwin - 125, Jacob Tasseff - 135, John Leonard - 140, Chris Stepp - 152, Chris Schaefer - 215, Chico Adams - 285), 3 runners-up (Brian Vest - 130, Blake Wood - 145, Cory Hudgins - 160) 1 3rd (Jacob Tonte - 119), 2 4ths (Michael Clem - 103, Mike Hughey - 171) and 1 5th (Nick Barnes - 189). I know Beech Grove had some great teams when they won 5 in a row, but this is the best that I can remember.

I looks like The Big Hawaiian called this one spot on and predictions by the Perry haters were just wishful thinking. These are both good programs, but Perry's depth carried the day. Even without everyone they expected to have this season, the Falcons manage to keep rolling on.