Disco

Very interesting. I don’t follow JC very closely because of he proximity to Indiana. Thanks. 

Don’t think too far ahead! Lol

Maryland has a super fan, have you ever heard of him? He’s f not you will be hearing a lot of him at this event. 

One interesting possible matchup, will be on the same side of the bracket is Lee (IU) 3 seed and Blockhus (Minn) 2 seed. X team mates. 

I named 4 in my local area that I compete against on the regular. I don't know much about the rest of the list you just copied and pasted.
 
This simple answer is they don't have a wrestling culture at the moment. It's not easy to build and sustain. Most of these schools you will see flare up once in a while when a group of parents or a parent has been riding their group of kids since they were youth wrestlers. Once those kids graduate they fade back away. Those are just facts.

Absolutely not. There are way more factors than that. What I am saying is that it can be done at a small school and it is done at small schools. Yes, your wrestlers need good practice partners. It is your job as a coach to recruit those partners and build relationships with them and their parents to get them to fully buy-in.
 
After working for years to build numbers and make a sport cool in a place where it isn't.  Here is where I currently stand. Numbers aren't everything and can be a bad thing if you don't have enough coaching staff and you aren't able to separate them into different practices. We had 50 wrestlers this year. I would much rather a smaller group of dedicated wrestlers than a bunch of kids that are trying the sport out and most of them will quit before they are seniors.  I have made that clear with my team and parents so we will see how many we get next year. 
 
I just don't see this as a sport you can be halfway in. Like I tell my wrestlers it is like not fully committing to a backflip. You are going to land on your head.

If the high school has a wrestling culture then there are a ton of advantages. Take Bellmont, Adams Central, Garrett, and Prairie Heights for instance. None of them have issues with their numbers. I think Prairie Heights and Garrett had like 50 kids this year. On top of that, I am from Eastside High School and I know how small communities work. Most of the time you will have the same last names flowing through the school so you have a generational culture of wrestling that is huge also. Having a parent who wrestled is a big deal when the going gets tough.  The reason I started wrestling is because it was the cool thing to do at Eastside in the 80's and early 90's. You don't need a room full of hammers for your wrestlers to have success. I will say you need 2 or 3 around the same weight that can push each other. Throw on top of the mindset challenges that certain demographics have or don't have that is another factor. 
 
I didn't read the whole thread but I think someone touched on it already. Here is the bottom line now for any of us. If you want your wrestler to reach the podium in Indiana you need to have an all-in wrestler that is willing to wrestle year-round with only a little bit of off time. Times have changed no matter if we like it or not. Yes, there will be some outliers here and there that don't fit this rule. Especially at the upper weights but for the most part, it is what it is.
 
If you state that you will always share athletes with other sports because it is a small school and you don't want to takeaway from anyone's pool then 110% you are at a huge disadvantage unless your school's number 1 sport is wrestling and other coaches accept that and are okay with them possibly getting injured in a wrestling practice during their season.
 
If your whole argument is you want divisions so kids can play other sports and still have some success at wrestling then you are correct. But that doesn't make it easier at a big school to have success. That is what you and your school system have chosen.
 

The former Yorktown standout looking to take another national title.  She worked her way back from a prior season ending injury and has transferred to North Central.  Hopefully she can get it done one more time in her final season of eligibility.  

Wow’ great rundown. 

Wow’ great rundown. 

Wow’ great rundown. 

I have it at 2 AAs this year based on current Intermat rankings. Of course, anything they do to improve their seeds over their rankings at their conference tournaments will increase that total.
 
The far right column is the probability of AAing based on fitted results from 2010 - 2023.
 

Who stops Fix? He seems to stop himself in the championships over the years. Or maybe people were over optimistic with him going into the championships. Either way ,the weight class has several men that can end up with the title. Fix being one. 

I think this is a good analysis. Pretty much spot on. Nick ( Wilham) 

Draws are out for the Olympic Games qualifier.
 
To get top 2 to qualify the weight, Kayla Miracle will probably face a tough 20yo Venezuelan who has two age group world medals to her credit. Kayla was losing to her 5-4 before pinning her with 1:30 left in their match last week. 
 
Nick Lee will probably have Austin Gomez, past NCAA AA, wrestling for Mexico in the quarters; and then Canadian NCAA AA for North Carolina, Lachlan McNeil, in the semis. Gomez is very dynamic and did upset Yianni in the college season last year. 
 
Jacob Moran is out and NCAA champ Darian Cruz is in for Puerto Rico at 57kg. For the US at that weight, Zane Richards' biggest test in qualifying the weight should be Cruz in the semis.

Location
Hartman Arena
Park City, Kansas
 
Schedule (Central Time)
https://www.naia.org/sports/mwrest/2023-24/Releases/Schedule
Thursday February 29th
11 am Session I
1st Round Championship and 1st Round Consolation
6:00 pm Session II
2nd Round Championship and 2nd Round Consolation
 
Friday March 1st
11 am Session III
Quarterfinals and 3rd Round Consolation
6:00pm Session IV
Semi-finals and 4th Round Consolation (Blood Round), and 5th Round Consolation Quarterfinals
 
Saturday March 2nd
11 am Session V
6th Round Consolation Finals Placement Round
7:00pm Session VI
Championship Finals
 
Brackets
Brackets on TrackWrestling
 
College Weight Class First Name Last Name Record Seed/1st Round Matchup Cornerstone 125 Jeffrey Bailey 16-8 Unseeded vs 4 seed Brody Gee-St Mary Cumberlands(KY) 125 Adonis Boyd 25-7 10 seed vs Unseeded Jose Gonzalez-Dickenson St Marian 133 Anthony Hughes 20-11 Unseeded vs 5 seed Jackson Cockrell-Grand View Marian 141 Logan Wagner 27-4 2 seed vs Bye Marian 149 Aundre Beatty 19-13 Unseeded vs 9 seed Blake Haney-Grand View Indiana Tech 157 Elijah Chacon 21-11 Unseeded vs 4 seed Kanaipon Tapia-Menlo Indiana Tech 165 Jonathan Kervin 32-5 3 seed vs Bye Marian 165 Elliott Rodgers 10-6 16 seed vs Cameron Hargrove-William Penn Indiana Tech 174 Landon Buchanan 17-13 Unseeded vs 1 seed Riley Smucker-Life Marian 174 Noah Hollendonner 20-13 Unseeded vs 5 seed Alex Reynolds-Grand View Indiana Tech 197 Nathan Critchfield 24-3 4 seed vs unseeded John Lovett-Reinhardt Indiana Tech 285 Braydon Erb 19-4 15 seed vs unseeded Tanner Hawkins-York Marian 285 Excell Brooks 18-17 Unseeded vs 6 seed Antonio Dacosta-Menlo

Kayla Miracle also took gold (which matters a lot..explained below). Jacob Moran wrestled for Puerto Rico and lost his only match, 3-1, to the Ecuadorian who took bronze.
 
These Pan Am championships matter for international seeding points, including for the Olympics, so we took them seriously.
 
However, the real event is this weekend--the Pan Am Olympic Qualifier tournament. All 18 Olympic weights will wrestle until there is a Top 2, who will qualify their country for that given weight at the Olympics this summer. Nations who already qualified at a given weight by placing Top 5 at the 2023 Worlds will not have an entry at that weight.
 
Nick Lee will attempt to qualify us for the Olympics at 65kg and Kayla Miracle will attempt to qualify us at 62kg, where neither was successful in placing Top 5 at 2023 Worlds. Jacob Moran will once again compete for Puerto Rico as well. In addition to Lee at freestyle 65 and Kayla at women's 62, the U.S. will also attempt to qualify 57kg in freestyle, all 6 weights of Greco, and 53kg and 68kg in women's.
 
Kayla's gold at the regular Pan Am Championships  was important because she took the head-to-head gold medal match from the Canadian in a nail biter, 6-6. This gives Kayla the #1 seed and puts her opposite both the very tough Canadian and a very tough Brazilian in the Olympic Qualifier event. There is no True 2nd, so it paves the way for a much easier path to winning in the semi-finals and guaranteeing our place at the Olympics.
 
Even if Nick and Kayla qualify the weights for us, they have to come through our Olympic Trials in April like everyone else to be our representatives this summer.
 

Across the last 10 actually wrestled D1 tournaments we've gotten 23 All-Americans.  And we've seen 113 All-Americans from the last 10 actually wrestled D2, D3, NAIA, NJCAA tournaments.
 
That's 2.3 D1 and 11.3 smaller-division All-Americans per year. 
 
Who get these men's spots for us this year? 
 
I follow D1 much more than the others, so it's the one I know. Trying to see things objectively, I think only 2 AAs is the most likely scenario this year.
 
How I'd categorize our Indiana high school grads' AA chances:
 
Likely:
Mendez--He is in an always-deep 141, but he would need to lose a couple of significant upsets not to medal. He's one of 2 (maybe 3) clear gold medal contenders.
Davison--Heavyweight, contrary to high school, tends to be fairly predictable with obvious tiers. Davison seems headed for about a #6 seed, and him winning above his seed or losing below his seed outside of about 3 to 8 is unlikely.
 
Small chance:
Allred--His ranking suggests he's in about the same position he was last year heading into Big 10s, where he emerged not only as an AA threat, but also a dark horse to take the whole thing. However, we haven't seen the same scoring savvy that he showed last year in any of his matches against top competition this year. He's got a great shot to win a couple NCAA matches again, but he'll need to rekindle some things we haven't seen yet this year to make an AA run.
B-Lee--I love how hard this dude has worked to get back and to be ready to bang headed into Big 10s. He's capable of some interesting moments again. Sadly, though, he will need to rediscover one or two more helpings of that past prowess to make a run.
G-Rooks--He's come agonizingly close before, so I wouldn't count him out. Like last year, he needs a workable draw, and he needs to get hot. It's not probable--but not impossible. He's got a really similar mix of results to last year, and he seems headed for a similar seed.
 
Notable others:
DJ Washington--Not sure why he's struggled so much for a sustained period now, but I would have had him in the "small chance" category for sure early this season. He doesn't look like himself at all right now, so it's hard to imagine much post-season impact from him unless he recovers from whatever is ailing him very quickly.
Blake Boarman--Breakout year for Blake. He seems headed for an NCAA bid with a sparkling record of 17-4. But he wrestles a lesser schedule, so it's hard to get a handle on how much he might be able to do against top guys. I'm excited to follow him at SoCon's and beyond.
Gabe Sollars--Super fun pin artist that's had a couple tight ones with AA contenders. He hasn't quite broken through against the upper tier; but if he manages to get into the tournament, he could make some noise.
Brody Baumann--He's another one that needs to sneak into the tournament first, but that shows flashes of creating interesting upsets.
Evan Bates--He's solid. He beats who he should, but loses fairly clearly against the top 30. Getting into the tournament, which he could very likely do, would be a good result for him.
Connor Barket--Big strides forward, but he'll need a special performance at the ACC tournament to get into NCAAs.
Brodie Porter--Same as Barket...big strides, but likely a year or two away from big noise.
Nick Wilham--Admirable job jumping in at 285, but would also need a huge conference tournament.
 

Indiana came through with the W. Most of the starters showed. Spangler still out at 125. But Washington? You tell me. 

If we're going that route The Ultimate Warrior is from Crawfordsville

Yes May was  a tough sob. Gaskins was the man at that time also   Little man syndrome for may. A side note. May could not break into the Bloomington south lineup his freshman year. People don’t realize the talent Bloomington south possessed at that time. Honestly it reminds me of the penn st dominance now. Everyone hated south.  I think May would have been a 4 timer easily. He trains with the iu team camps every year. 

Gaskin's brother was very good too. It's been so long, I don't know which one it was but his battle with May was my introduction to serious wrestling.

Question. Would you automatically crown a 4x state champion over a 3 timer? 

Man ! You guys are amazing with your first hand memories. And pretty old……..

Stud. To say the least