MattM

To keep the female side of the sport progressing and growing the girls will need mat time. In certain areas of the state there are going to be a limited number of girls at certain weight classes to compete against. Similarly for certain teams there will be a limited number of coaching availability to travel to meets. If those issue create a lack of mat time I feel we may see a situation where some girls decide to quite, team sizes drop which further perpetuates the issue, and some schools decided it’s easier to just focus on the boys side of things. Due to those concerns I wouldn’t mind the IHSAA allowing female wrestlers at least have the option to also compete against boys at JV events for the next few years while still remaining eligible for the girls post season event. Now I mention the boys JV not a slight toward the girls ability (as some have shown they can hang at the boys varsity level), but rather an opportunity for the IHSAA to allow female wrestlers to gain mat time without it creating some questions or confusion on how to handle boys varsity records relate to sectional criteria or impacting boys varsity dual results. This seems like a reasonable compromise that i wouldn’t mind the IHSWCA perusing before we get to close to the season for the IHSAA to want to listen this logic and then after year this year be to set in their ways to want to adjust later. If numbers continue to grow and enough competition exists in a few years then I’d be fine splitting things permanently, but I’m not sure we are there yet if we want get these young ladies enough mat time to improve and feel that this grueling sport is worth continuing with. I get we should see some continues growth next season, but if you look at girls regionals this year a few things stand out: The lack of entries at certain weights at some of the girls regional, the total matches some girls had a these regionals, and the idea that some girls wrestled over 1/3 of their matches against the same single opponent during the season. Then notice that at a regional level where some teams there would be over an hour away from each other during the season. I have no problem with the IHSAA deciding to take a chance a girls wrestling, but provide some opportunity where the female can gain mat experience while the sport is grow to a sustainable level in all weight classes and in all areas. I’m just not sure we are there yet if a full split occurs and they don’t allow e the option for girls to at least pursue in season match the boys JV level.

Is Time travel real, is AI trying to take over, or are Chinese operatives trying to rig the team state decision?!?!?

Choosing down becomes much less relevant than ever before.

Good catch. Three from the domestic side.

Mason Parris, Sarah Hildebrandt and Kayla Miracle all make the U.S. Olympic team. Great job gentleman and ladies. A few other Indiana natives also has a solid showing at the Olympic trials.

Health first man. Thanks again for all of the prior updates. Get well.

Dingo Brigade is putting out some really solid updates on this sites College and International board if you guys would like some more details.

Thanks for all the updates Dingo. Stuck at work so nice to have some solid play by play of the early matches before I dive into the evening session.

Wow. I really assumed he would have one more final year left in him with having a decent team and bringing in Colman Scott already to help with guiding the program. Heck of a career for him as both a competitor and coach.

I've been out of the International loop for a little bit with the NCAA season going on. When will Iran officially decide their Olympic representatives?

Yes, but time, distance, and judge score based sports can do that more easily with a set cut number. It's not a one on one bracket.

Our current Conference structure is 7 teams. In the last few years, we have seeded the Top 4 wrestlers and then drew in the rest. This helps with distributing the Bye better than if you seeded 5 or 6. After seeding the top 4 we have randomly drawn in the team that gets the Bye before placing the non-seeded wrestlers in the bracket. And then make a note of that. That Bye school is then exempt from receiving an other Bye (when at all possible) until the rest of the school has also received one. We open the Bye possibility to all 4 seeded wrestlers to ensure if a team has a large amount of 1 and 2 seeds they aren’t being negatively affected by drawing a first round Bye too many times. Basically pull their name out of the options before you draw. Obviously due to the nature of hoe some seeded brackets fall you end up having to give a team the second a Bye before another team may get their first one, but it often pans out OK in the end as long as you keep track of who has received a Bye as you progress through the weights. In a perfect world, each of the 7 teams should receive the Bye twice. But due to some seeding circumstances, occasionally a tram may ends up with 3 Bye's and another with only 1 Bye. That is the fairest system we have been able to manage for a 7 team tournament. You can decide if you then want to score placement points for the Top 4, 5, or 6 finishes. We decided giving placements points for 7 was a little much.

Good for him to find an avenue to the next level despite being behind a starter. CG may roll deep but this is a major accomplishment for the program none the less.

Man just read up on this. Crazy. That dude was always a quality guy when I used to run into him. A loss for the Indianapolis area wrestling community for sure Condolences to the family.

Great to see seeing the girls get a chance to face both IL and Iowa.