oldfat119

Keep current setionals then go to 8 regionals
 
32 man brackets at state
 
Full wrestlebacks from Regionals on
 
LFG!!!!!

I predict a lot of Bulldogs winning championships, bad parking and a terrible speaker system 
 
 

I see a lot of posts complaining and asking why Indiana doesnt' have wrestle backs.  And since this is the time of the year we need them the most, I thought id construct the list of reasons/theories/hypotheses or plain conspiracies as why the great wrestlers of Indiana dont have the essential tool granted to every other state in their state series.  Here's my list In David Letterman style!!!!!!
 
10.We cant be like Illinois theory: In Indiana's continuous competition with Illinois and the resulting inferiority complex, Indiana had to do something different and in the name of conservative stubborness, we found a great avenue to differentiate from the Land of Lincoln,  "We wont have wrestlebacks like those woke liberal dudes to the west".
 
9. The Hunger Games theory:  In the the modern action novel where each district's humble heroes travel to the capitol and are placed in an arena to fight each other to die or move on for the ultimate reward solely for the purpose of the audience's bloody lust for entertainment.  Just like the Hunger games, we in Indiana travel to the capitol and are entertained by the Friday night circus called the ticket round where we love to see our humble wrestlers reach immediate state placing glory.  But also, we love the sudden agony of defeat and seeing ranked wrestler's dreams and hope of destroyed abruptly.  Wrestlers, "May the odds ever be in your favor".
 
8.  Save the IHSAA beautiful mats:  The IHSAA has great mats.   Buy eliminating wrestle backs, were cutting out 29% of wrestling from the tournament thus saving our mats for future years.
 
7.  Let's hang out at Tilted Kilt more theory:   Not that I've ever been there, but by eliminating wrestle backs this opens up more time for the great wrestling fans of the Hoosier state to patronize the abundant downtown dining places like the Tilted Kilt (come on, you guys tipped big).  We love places like "Dicks last resort, St Elmo's (love the Shrimp cocktail) or Fog De Chao for those with big appetite.  Even though I was disappointed when the kid i was cheering for lost and didn't have a wrestle back match, I did have extra time and the consolation to sincerely enjoy some tasty pasta at Buca.  The East Chicago equivalents are Portillo's or El Gran Taco.  But Ive heard Region Rat recommend PoleKatz for their excellent bar food and service.  In Evansville, the wrestling community and guys like TripleB  utilizes the extra time to spend at "Taco Bell, Panda Express and Pizza King".
 
6. Indiana Loves Quality over Quantity hypothesis:  We just want to see good matches and not be distracted by a plethora of matches created by "wrestlebacks".    If it has the word consolation in it, then you're going to have to console us from watching it. The winner's bracket is just so much more watchable and cool. Why stymie the tournament with consolation matches.  Is anybody watching the Ravens vs the Lions this weekend?      Come on everybody likes to see perennial winners and champions like Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and i guess that other team from California.  But they ain't watching the consolation bowl.
 
 
5.  The biased IHSAA board makeup theory:   The IHSAA board, which has the overarching power to decide wrestling competition rules, is made up of former basketball, baseball and football coaches.  We have very little wrestling representation on the board.  Remember Indiana is a basketball state and those guys get power.   When asked to include wrestle backs, they say we don't have baseball backs, basketball backs, tennis backs or football backs, why should wrestlers get wrestle backs?  Its only a matter of fairness they say.   We did have some hope when the swimming coach on the board did show some interest in the idea, and curiously asked are wrestling backs like the backstroke?
 
4. Sinister Y2CJ41 conspiracy theory:  While Joe Caprino was thinking of ways to improve Indianamat participation and patronization, he conspired this idea in his lair at Victory Bay (yes it exists).  With his capacity to pull strings in Indiana wrestling, and his overreaching influence on the gatekeepers of the wrestling community he, came up with the idea to create controversy and blowup discussion on the Indianamat forum by secretly eliminating wrestle backs in the state tournament.  You notice "wrestle backs" is a common controversial topic????? You ever wonder why we don't have class wrestling????? Just saying i heard something on Qanon. I swear.
 
3. I didnt have wrestle backs when i wrestled:  How many grizzled veterans of the Indiana state tournament post they love the format, and that we have the best tournament in the country.  Even though many were scarred by their bad draws and robbed of placing or their lots were thrown wheel of luck. Its really just a psychological perception to block progress because they didn't have the same advantage.   Old stuck in its ways says: "Why should these young cocky, "soft" spoiled wrestlers have an advantage we didn't.   It's just not fair".    Thus were continually stuck in this circular state of no progress.   These are the same dudes that walked to school 6 miles in the snow and loved it.
 
,
2.  We just arent trying or working hard enough theory!!  Under the current format, we will get bad draws and the better wrestlers wont advance.  But this could be overcome if everybody worked more or tried harder.   If every Indiana wrestler tried harder, we would never have a bad draw regardless of no wrestlebacks.  This is also the same reason we haven't found Sasquatch yet.
 
1. The Ricky Bobby Impact:  "If you aren't first, you're last".   That's the message we're getting.  Anyway, it's all about finding the one champion. That's what counts.  If you lose to the champion, then it doesn't really matter when you lost to him.  You're not important because you're not the champion. See #6 on consolation.   Yes, those silly non- first place medals are just over glorified system of participation trophies.  Why should we spend more time on silly consolation wrestle backs that's only irrelevant purpose is to separate the losers.
 
 
 

No wrestlebacks! We didn't get to in my day whippersnappers!

I think it’s important now that the season is nearing its zenith to address one of the most important issues that I think goes under talked around this time, which is the hard working kids who lose at semi state. Obviously, we should celebrate those who make it to state. That is the goal of almost every high school wrestler, to be among the best in the state and compete in the best venue in all of Indiana. But inevitably, most wrestlers Sunday will not end up advancing to the state tournament. And I think it’s important that we address how to support the kids that lose, especially the seniors who will possibly wrestle their very last matches on Saturday.
 
Last year as a senior, I went into my season with high expectations. For three years straight, I went to everything. My high school coaches could tell you I was person who missed the least practices. I showed up to everything; morning practice, optional practice, summer open mats, I even went to RWA three days a week and trained at my coaches own gym in order to build up my strength and conditioning.  I felt like I was one of the hardest working, toughest people in the state. In middle school at my first off-season tournament I suffered a concussion. My freshman year I broke my left elbow and had to get screws out in, which I still have to this day. Junior year I dislocated my rib wrestling freestyle, and over the summer I suffered severe second degree burns which caused most of the epidermis on my back to slough off. But still, I worked through it all because I felt like if I didn’t I wasn’t being the best wrestler I could. Going into regionals of senior year I broke the scaphoid bone in my wrist, and couldn’t press down or grip my right hand for the rest of season. I felt like all of this only contributed to me being a tougher wrestler on the mat. And even with all of that, I got completely out wrestled at semi state. My broken wrist meant nothing, I did not live up to my potential and didn’t wrestle my best, and that’s why I lost. For at least a month after semi state I was completely in the dumps. It’s like I had a rain cloud overhead, I felt like my career meant nothing. It was over, and I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to. No matter what people said to me, it really didn’t ease the fact that I felt completely empty. I also felt angry. I felt so angry that I had teammates who put in way less practice time than me, who didn’t show up to half the things I did, and yet still advanced farther than I did. I wasn’t angry at them, though, I was angry at myself. I was angry because I felt like that there was something that I must have missed, some piece of the puzzle that despite all my hours I just couldn’t get. And that made me really hate myself for a few weeks. Our sport is so much more draining mentally than it is physically, and for those seniors who lose at semi state, it can really knock your happiness down a few notches for a quite a while. So coaches and parents, if you have a wrestler whose career comes to an end this Saturday, it’s important to not look at their whole career under a microscope and appreciate the whole journey. You got to participate in the toughest sport in the world, you were able to make it to semi state, which while not a particularly impressive accomplishment, still means that likely hundreds of hours of hard work went into that qualification. It’s okay to feel upset, but don’t let it hang over your life. You worked hard, and you did something that most wrestlers in the state didn’t. And to those who have more years, never stop grinding. Embrace it, and make sure to have fun with it. When the sport is fun, you do better. You can make it to state, but you can’t take your foot off the gas.
 
I love wrestling, so so much. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, and something I plan on continuing even though I’m not on a college team. I’m so grateful to the sport and my coaches for making me the man I am today, and for teaching me such invaluable life lessons. And I think loving the sport is really what’s so important. If you were able to make an athlete fall in love with the sport, with the process, then you succeeded as a coach. If you support your kids and help them foster that love, then you succeeded as a wrestling parent. The lessons athletes learn from wrestling are some of the best life lessons you can learn, and when you are able to fall in love with the sport, these values are only engrained deeper. So to those seniors out there, wrestle your hearts out. Don’t be afraid to lose, don’t be afraid to score points. Leave it all on the mat and put your name in the history books. And to those seniors who worked so hard and end up coming up short, it will suck. But you’ll live. You’ll be okay. And I think that, even if you lose at semi state, if you managed to fall in love with the sport, then it was all worth it in the end. We are all apart of something amazing, and wrestling is absolutely the greatest sport ever. Fall in love with it, and wrestle your hearts out. 
 

Till this day I remember my lost at semi state my senior year. I had done everything I could possibly due that summer leading into to make it to state. Well at least I had thought I did, a lot of those kids making It to state and the state podium put in countless hours of practice, have a strong support system, are true students of the sport. 
 
Either way I remember being sad, hurt, and disappointed. However wrestling does not define who we are, winning is awesome, being the best in the state I imagine is amazing, but the most important thing is who we become once it is all said and done. Who are we once we stop competing? How do we carry ourselfes professionally after this? Are we helping the sport grow? 
 
This sport will teach you many things, but I feel the number  one thing it shows you is how to work for something you want. 

By Anna Kayser
 
The wrestling room at McCutcheon High School has two mats, with practice squads split down the middle by weight. Two mats, working truly in tandem toward both common and individual goals, is the perfect metaphor for the first two returning state placewinners since 2006. 
 
Aiden Dallinger and Cole Chicoine are seniors battling at opposite ends of the Maverick lineup – Dallinger at 120 points and Chicoine at 215. Last season, they became the first McCutcheon state placewinners since 2014 and the first to place earlier than their senior year since junior Travis Dale in 2006. 
 
“Kids need to see an example, and when they see a kid from their school achieve at some of the highest levels, they start to think they can do it too,” McCutcheon head coach Adam Metzger said. “It’s been a huge launching point for our program, and we get to use them as examples in many ways.”
 
Having not one, but two seniors as focal points for the program has been huge not only in the development of younger wrestlers, but for Dallinger and Chicoine to work as a team in building each other up. 
 

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This is my son Gunner Butt, and yes i posted his career numbers because that is what is says career record not high school record. I have kept a record of every match he has wrestled in a since he first started wrestling in kindergarten to include his pins, techs etc. When he is done with high school wrestling i want to make him a plaque with all his stats as a nice memory of all his years of hard work and dedication to this sport. Hopefully he will continue on in college if that is what he chooses to do.

https://legacy.ihsaa.org/archive/b-wrestling/b-wrestling.shtm
 
You can get results back quite a bit. 

one of the best matches 

I know this is not a regional upset but in 1999 Josh Birge, returning state champ at 112 got beat in the ticket round at semi-state by Andrew Bradbury by 1 point.

Who are as old as me that remember this? I want to take you back to the 1900’s on a cold winter afternoon inside Market Square Arena on a Friday night I was watching Eric Keith major decision Cassidy Willson going into the 3rd .. when out of no where Willson hits a spladdle for the fall.. and Market Square Arena goes nuts!!!! 

We are very proud of our new facility (2021). It is on the second floor directly above several locker rooms, training room, and weight room. Huge storage room on the end capable of holding about 8 mats. Currently also houses coaches office, mop sink, meeting area and lockers. A few cardio pieces, small track, benches, timers, incredible sound system. Curtains to divide youth practices. Basically four full size mats. HVAC system is on BMS allowing detailed control of room temp, timing etc. Lots of natural light. We could not be happier given our school size.     

I would have to say Shane Perkey putting Angel Escobedo on his back was the loudest I have personally ever heard it.

My favorite one liners to officials; 
 
-“Protractors are on sale at Walmart right now.” 
 
-“Stevie Wonder would have seen that locked hands.” 
 
 

“ The sight I adore on a basketball floor, is wrestling mats from door to door “

Billy Naegle headlock on Dosher MD Friday night

2000 state 171lb semi’s. Marcus Schontube puts Ming Ling in a spladdle and pins him in 51 seconds.
Schontube’s senior year repeat championship was one of the most dominating years in my memory.  

No one is going to say the Anderson Highland plaid that Eppert and Bennett wore? 😄
Didn't Indian Creek have a cool bow tie singlet around the same time?

Parris his Freshman year. Only loss of his HS career to some questionable non-calls to Osborn in the semis. Ended up taking 3rd.

Brownsburg thrown in for fun

Yes, they are.

I have thought exactly this for a long time. Take these next couple days and focus on your family. They deserve you. Thank you and Merry Christmas you fellow psychopaths.
 

Wowza- you don’t even see that at some colleges (Purdue 😕) 
 
Great environment, great for the kids, great for the sport, great for the teams. Just great all around!