maligned

I initially planned to do a Top 10 only, but went to 12 because of the noteworthy individual success of Griffith and the recent state championship of Crown Point. They were natural inclusions in this list. I know a couple arguments will come up: 1. Bellmont should be lower. They benefit too much from their easier route to the team state finals. This argument may be true, but they've advanced or come close to advancing every year at the state finals. I would estimate that, had they faced a similar path as Perry Meridian or Portage, they may have earned 50-75 points less over time; dropping them to 6th at the absolute worst on this list. I'm comfortable with them where they are. 2. What about the southern teams that had to go through Mater Dei all those years and couldn't prove their worth? I would argue that teams like Castle, Memorial, and Reitz have had their chance to prove themselves on an individual level, and simply haven't done it with the quality of the programs listed here. None of those 3 schools, for example, even topped 85 individual points at the state finals for the entire decade. Floyd Central, another southern team, managed 226 individual finals points while going through the same semi-state. If the Evansville teams were really up to the quality of the past couple years all through the decade--as some would argue--we would have seen more success from them at Conseco. Anyway, enjoy the list. I'm interested in people's feedback.

There are probably many ways to determine which are the top programs in the state, but I thought it would be interesting to take a completely objective mathematical approach and see what the results spit out. Basically, I considered two performance elements in my rankings: 1) Coaches' Trophy points scored in the Individual State Finals for the last 10 years and 2) success in the team tournament over the last 10 years based on a point system. The point system I developed for team tournament success is based on awarding the team champion approximately the same number of points as the typical Coaches' Trophy winner (90), the team runner-up similar points to the Coaches' runner-up (70), the team semi-finalist losers similar points to 3rd/4th place points for the Coaches' Trophy (55), and so on. I awarded 45 points for quarterfinal losers, 30 for regional champions, 20 for regional runners-up, and 10 for first round regional losers (for 2009, with the new system, I gave 30 to regional runners-up, 20 to regional first round losers, and 10 to sectional runners-up for consistency in awarding points to 64 teams). The final results listed below are intended to be a synthesis of individual tournament success and team tournament success, hopefully revealing the true depth and quality of the top programs in the state of Indiana. There are not many surprises to be found. Here is the list with some explanation for each. I give you Indiana's Top 12 Programs of the Decade: 12. Crown Point-472 points Individual state championships: 3 State placewinners: 18 Coaches' trophy points: 232 (13th) Team State appearances: 1 Team State titles: 1 11. Griffith-540.5 points Individual state championships: 11 State placewinners: 20 Coaches' trophy points: 380.5 (5th) Team State appearances: 1 Team State runner-up: 1 10. Franklin-548.5 points Individual state championships: 2 State placewinners: 16 Coaches' trophy points: 243.5 (12th) Team State appearances: 3 9. Bloomington South-576 points Individual state championships: 6 State placewinners: 19 Coaches' trophy points: 281 (10th) Team State appearances: 3 8. Indianapolis Cathedral-622.5 points Individual state championships: 3 State placewinners: 32 Coaches' trophy points: 367.5 (6th) Team State appearances: 3 7. Merrillville-639 points Individual state championships: 4 State placewinners: 27 Coaches' trophy points: 354 (7th) Team State appearances: 3 6. Portage-753.5 points Individual state championships: 6 State placewinners: 29 Coaches' trophy points: 393.5 (4th) Team State appearances: 5 Team State runner-up: 1 5. Perry Meridian-782 points Individual state championships: 5 State placewinners: 25 Coaches' trophy points: 297 (9th) Team State appearances: 8 Team State runner-up: 3 4. Bellmont-828 points Individual state championships: 3 State placewinners: 29 Coaches' trophy points: 323 (8th) Team State appearances: 10 Team State runner-up: 1 3. Lawrence North-910 points Individual state championships: 6 State placewinners: 37 Coaches' trophy points: 485 (3rd) Team State appearances: 5 Team State titles: 2 2. Mishawaka-1063 points Individual state championships: 8 State placewinners: 34 Coaches' trophy points: 488 (2nd) Team State appearances: 10 Team State runner-up: 2 Team State titles: 1 1. Evansville Mater Dei-1413 points Individual state championships: 11 State placewinners: 45 Coaches' trophy points: 683 (1st) Team State appearances: 9 Team State runner-up: 1 Team State titles: 6

That's a good request. The only results we could access were on trackwrestling. Now that data is pulled, so we have no way of accessing results if we want to look back later at how the tournament went.

I think people just gave Coughlin love because this was his senior year weight and he was clearly one of the top wrestlers of the decade in general. Howe could be the choice at 3 different weights.

You didn't understand me. I said I only considered each wrestler FROM THE YEAR HE WON STATE. So, in other words, I thought like this: in a match between Cashe of 2008 and Eppert of 2009 at 119, who would win? I think Eppert would have won. It's impossible to know, but that's what I think. It's true Cashe beat Eppert last year with Eppert up to 125. That doesn't mean he was good enough in 2008 at 119 to beat the Eppert of 2009 at 119. Sorry if that's confusing. That's how I made my list. Cosgrove? Can't take him over Coughlin McGill? Can definitely make an argument for him at 140. I would have taken him if I hadn't taken Young. Young/McGill/Sandefer/Williams...who do you take? All 2-timers. All great. Kasten? Sorry. He went back and forth in his matches with Larimore when Larimore was a junior. They were as even as it gets. I'll take the bigger, badder, better Larimore of the next year over him. Ruggeri? He thrilled us all for a couple days when he went on his run, but he got hammered against national competition. Larimore beat a couple of the top guys in the nation 2 years after losing to Ruggeri. As I said before, he may have been the top Heavy in the nation his senior year. As someone else said, it's too bad he didn't wrestle in college.

Yeah, it's impossible to forget those guys. The problem is that Escobedo's two titles came at 145 and 152. Which of Coughlin and Tsirtsis are you going to bump? Ramos won his only title of the decade at 125...I would put Humphrey or Jason Tsirtsis above him. Schontube was phenomenal--but his titles came at Blake Maurer's weight. Finally, Williams is one of four--count 'em, four--two-timers with their highest weight title coming at 140, all of which you could make an argument for inserting at 140. We could easily make a list of 50 wrestlers that you could argue are in the Top 20 for the decade. In my opinion, with all the previously unattained national success we started having, it was a golden decade for Indiana wrestling with countless stars that we were able to enjoy watching.

I had to make one change from my original list. I made a mistake and accidentally had Tsirtsis at 140, thinking he was there in 2003. He was not, so I had to bump him to 145, drop Weinzapfel (a tragic drop...he's the only one to give Tsirtsis a match; 2-time champ, 2-time runner-up). Inserted J.T. Young in a very difficult to pick 140 spot. About Quiroga...I limited my choices to state champions from the years they won state only. In other words, I only considered Quiroga from 2008 at 119; and I don't think he was as strong that year as Eppert was in 2009. If he had won state last year, I would have put him at 125, moved Reece up to 130, and dropped Hernandez. It's crazy not to have a Fargo National Champion on a team of the decade; but following the rules I gave myself, this is what I came up with. Also, putting Jason Tsirtsis from 2009 at 125, bumping Reece to 130, and dropping Hernandez' junior year is very much an option. It's tough though. Hernandez was a Fargo Junior runner-up.

If I could put together a team of 14 Indiana state champions that could win all 14 weight classes against anyone from any year this decade (2000-2009), I would choose these 14 (note: I only used a particular wrestler once...could've obviously used A. Escobedo at 3 or 4 weights): 103: Aaron Clark (2001) Won state as a senior after placing high at 112 as a junior and beating the state champion during the season that year. Teched or pinned almost everybody all season in '00-'01 and throughout the state tournament. Interestingly, he was shocked by Craig Macke at the Team State finals the following week. 112: Josh Harper (2007) No clear-cut strongest choice here, but I'll go with Harper over a couple other possibles because of his two other titles in '06 and '08. 119: Camden Eppert (2009) Capped off his career with a second state title and later defeated the Fargo champ while gaining freestyle All-American status. Finished with 4 losses--all to Brandon Wright. 125: Reece Humphrey (2004) A no-brainer for being on the team. Had to take his junior season so I could include my 130-pound choice. He wasn't ever in danger of losing this season or in '05. 130: Andrae Hernandez (2003) Again, a must for my team, but had to take his junior season because of the stud at 135. Anyway, 61-0 ain't a half-bad junior season. 135: Angel Escobedo (2005) As I said above, the '02-'04 versions of this great champion could probably fill 2 or 3 other weights below this. 140: J.T. Young (2001) Smooth as silk Young strolled to his second title this year. No clear-cut top dog at this weight with 4 two-timers among other candidates. 145: Alex Tsirtsis (2004) Another no-brainer. Just had to choose which weight to take him. 152: Matt Coughlin (2005) Two-time champ and two-time runner-up was slightly more impressive in high school than Kinser, even though Kinser took his spot at IU. 160: Andrew Howe (2008) Yet another no-brainer. Possibly headed toward greater national/international success than anyone in Indiana history. 171: Blake Maurer (2004) Four-timer. Have to have him. 189: Nathan Moore (2002) I'll take the two-timer Moore and his amazing physicality over the undersized Hinton from '08. Hinton beats all comers at 180 though. 215: Jake O'Brien (2003) Three-timer at this weight? A phenomenal athlete that has gone on to a nice MMA career at the highest level. 285: Dexter Larimore (2006) Dex edges Wagner of 2000 in a nail-biter. He was possibly the best in the nation in '06.

No. Panko lost in the first round of state that year ('03-'04) and finished with 3 losses. He went undefeated the next year to win state. Wolfe got second at state, losing only the state championship match to Chris Kasten.

I wrote this on the last page...any reason Connersville doesn't do something simple like this?

Actually, it is. Every predictive rating system used in sports relies strictly on scores of games/matches--not wins and losses. In wrestling, common opponent score analysis is highly predictive of future results. Ratings that consider wins/losses only are 'reward based'. Ratings that consider scoring margin only are 'predictive'. Ratings that try to synthesize the two types are the most comprehensive in my opinion.

A quick, uncontroversial seeding of the Top 8 in this tournament with no seeding meeting is not impossible. Use the following criteria in priority order: 1. State finals place previous season 2. State qualifier previous season 3. State finals place any time in career 4. State qualifier any time in career 5. Connersville tournament place previous season 6. Semi-state qualifier previous season 7. Connersville tournament place any time in career 8. Current season winning percentage No head-to-head discussion. No strength of schedule discussion. Just a quick, easy way to distribute 8 quality wrestlers to avoid some of the unnecessary early round matchups we always see. It's not perfect, but it would definitely separate the top kids early in the tournament.

Nobody ever said Clay got lucky. You beat Yorktown fair and square. Some people, including Decbell, are suggesting that one dual meet result doesn't always prove a particular team is better than another. Upsets happen in sports all the time. In college football, if the #1 team in the country gets beat by an unranked team, it doesn't necessarily prove that the unranked team is better if there is a whole season of other results to suggest otherwise. It just proves that the unranked team was better for that game that day.

I have 3 quick questions: 1. Is Elkhart Memorial still having health issues? 2. When will the rescheduled Goshen/Memorial match be? 3. Did EM have individuals out this past weekend? I saw they lost by like 60 to Yorktown (who's obviously very good, but maybe not this many points better than EM). thanks for any insight!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...... when all thru the gyms, not a grappler was stirring, not even the champs......... not a sprawl, not a shot, nor a leg to be caught... only dreams of skills learned in pricey wrestling camps.

broadcastsport.net Not 'sports'

Decbell...did you see this?

In the NWI Times results, Cathedral, LN, and Westfield are all listed as having 3-2 records. This would mean that they all beat Munster and went 1-1 against each other in their pool. I couldn't figure out this discrepancy since LN is then shown in the round-by-round scores to have gone 4-1 and Westfield 2-3. I looked around further and I promise I saw another post somewhere that the discrepancy was that Westfield had beaten LN and the 35-34 NWI Times score was a misprint. But now I can't find it! I must be mistaken. Can anybody clarify this for sure?

Could you explain why you chose not to put Westfield even in the "under consideration" area, despite their beating Lawrence North and Munster and losing by 4 to Cathedral? I'm not sure there's a spot in the Top 20 for them--it's crowded--but it seems as if they should be in the 17-25 range.

Upset? Yes. Greatest of the last 10 years? No. Yorktown is a good program and may have their best team ever; but because their own notoriety isn't solidified yet, a very solid team upsetting them can't carry the magnitude of some upsets that happened during the state tournament series against teams with full-season credentials and slightly more Top 10 history. There are a couple of factors that I think make us think this was a bigger upset than it really was. First, there's a lot of parity in Indiana right now--maybe more than there ever has been. There's very little separating #5 from #25. This was not true 10 or 12 years ago. Dane, I also think Bellmont's loss by such a significant margin caused you to overvalue Yorktown in your rankings. Everything went right for Yorktown in that match and everything went right for Clay in beating Yorktown. Yorktown will prove to be a Top 10 team this year, but they're probably not as strong as one match caused your Brave emotions to believe they are.

Lawrence Township is not part of IPS. It's actually a pretty solid school system.

Don't get me wrong; if there's a closely contested 10-9 match in the 3rd period, I'd rather be coaching a smart kid than a dumb kid. However, I think success on the mat and GPA have very little connection. I was a first team academic all state selection and won my fair share of matches--but I also got beat by some guys that I think had trouble tying their own shoes. Athletic ability, work ethic, and coaching have made champions out of many bad students...even at the college level. Plus, I think mat savvy can exist in a kid that isn't necessarily book smart. That sixth sense for knowing the clock, the score, and your mat position are not found only in kids with high SAT scores.

Are you a lion?

I can understand that logic, but Barlow didn't place at state for two reasons: 1) the aforementioned loss to spencer and 2) he lost two matches at semistate to guys that Richey beat and thus had to face Spencer first. Richey placed because he wrestled well at semistate, then won his deserved easier first round match. Barlow had great wins and ho-hum losses last year. I understand why he's a difficult one to rank. I would add that the step up in quality of a particular wrestler is typically greatest between his 9th and 10th grade seasons...with slightly diminishing improvements in the final two off-seasons...another reason I may have leaned toward Richey at the start. Anyway, I was just surprised since you pretty much went by the results of the last two weeks of the season everywhere else. I'm just nitpicking. Thanks for all your work on the rankings!

Most weight class rankings went strictly by state finals performance. Why is Barlow ahead of Richey at 130? I think Barlow beat Richey at regionals, but then Richey won semi-state with Barlow finishing 4th (Richey beat both guys that beat Barlow) and Richey placed at state while Barlow did not. There are other classes that could have adjustments based on one guy beating another in one match earlier in the season...why was this the only obvious such adjustment made? I don't know either guy; just an observation.