Silence Dogood

This guy was reffing at Yorktown on Sunday...Olympic trials on Friday.

The rumored Delta to Cathedral move seems odd.

The guy with a surgery named after him has to be in the top 7.

The guy with a surgery named after him has to be in the top 7.

Piscis1956 auditioning to be Bulldog89's hype man.

Piscis1956 auditioning to be Bulldog89's hype man.

Not defeated...more like an injury time.

Not to mention a Hall of Fame induction for yourself...

With all I said, I would prefer single-class AND wrestle-backs if it could be made to work.  So maybe “perfect” wasn’t the right word to use.  😉

This! All of this is true and accurate..and there’s more factors too. Many have been mentioned already.
 
i have been following this thread and enjoying the discussion.
Here comes the purely anecdotal part…worth nothing I know, but just wanted to share.
 
Background: I attended Hobart in the late 80’s and had the good fortune to be a part of 2 State championship teams. I know first hand the sacrifices and dedication it takes to be part of something successful at a larger school. (Only 5 classes back then).
 
I have 6 sons, all wrestlers for a 1A school listed in Y2s list, out here in no man’s land. Wrestling was always the top focus for all my boys, despite participating in football, CC, track, and baseball. Their high school does not have a strong wrestling culture or history. We were blessed to have a coach who was working his azz off to build one, and had built up numbers and some pride, but that somewhat evaporated when he left.
I sent the boys to some camps at Purdue, or even out in Ohio. My boys were very well respected in our area and experienced success at Sectionals and Regionals; however, upon multiple births to EC SS, they were all soundly sent packing…every time.
My boys harbor no sour feelings about any of these things and take great pride in their wrestling accomplishments…so, I have posted all this to relay:
 
I posed this very question to my boys (ages 29-19) and all but one  responded with a resounding NO to class wrestling in IN.  For them, one of the best parts about wrestling was finding out just who the absolute best is, even when they know it’s not them. One of my sons, who was a 3x ECSS qualifier, said it like this, “Yea, maybe I coulda made a deep run in a 1A state tourney, but I would have much rather went out on my shield at ECSS each time, knowing I was seeing the best in our part of the state.”
 
It’s  easier to experience success at a small school wrestling, presuming you work hard and do the grind, than experiencing success as part of a team at a small school.  Reasons like commitment from fellow team mates, injuries, harvest, etc etc all factor in for small rural schools that require 5, 9, or 11 athletes.  Now the success a kid experiences may not culminate in them landing on the podium at state, but it doesn’t negate the success leading up to the day they exit the tournament. Wrestling, ultimately is about preparing for life. The IN tournament is imperfect and downright mean sometimes. Just like life can be. I put my boys into wrestling shortly after their mom passed from cancer. My oldest was 12 at the time. Wrestling helped  them through the grief and prepare them to have the tools to deal with adversity, challenges and also develop character, humility, perseverance, integrity, discipline and determination.   112 athletes hit the podiums each year in IN, which means there are a host of athletes who do not, but are the beneficiaries of tremendous gifts such as motivation, fortitude, humility, perspective, and reality. None of those are bad things.
 
All anecdotal, and worth exactly what you paid for it!

I am counting more than 2 state champs in the last 3 years from 1A and 2A - Betz, Leech, Weaver, Fishback, Carroll. Maybe it's a difference of you using the basketball classes vs the classes that are used for the team wrestling championships.
 
Also how many of the champs and top 4 placers are from just 3 schools - Crown Point, Brownsburg, and Center Grove (who are doing a great job of drawing the best talent in the state)?

It's different this time...this isn't about class wrestling...it's about divisions.

Common denominator CG, CP, BB club/ feeders/ MS programs are all at the top as well. why not work from the bottom up. Very hard but proven success. 

It's different this time...this isn't about class wrestling...it's about divisions.

This is a choice you are making. Your son participates in multiple sports for his school. That is great. But it is a choice you are making. 
 
I don't see a difference in athletes in either case. We can't blame the wrestler at any school for focusing on one sport while another athlete is making a choice to participate in several sports. Is this a loyalty issue then? Loyalty/pressure for the athlete to do multiple sports because they go to a smaller school? If they want to be multisport athletes, awesome, but the trade-off will likely be not reaching the level of performance that the athletes that focus on a single sport may achieve. There are always exceptions.
 
I wonder if Weaver from Rosseville only focused on wrestling.... That is a small school and his size would have been welcomed in many other sports. But did he choose to focus on wrestling in order to become a champ and prepare for the college level? 

I get what you are saying. However, this does not take into consideration the trade-off it takes to get better. Those that are wrestling year round are giving up something.
 
Seems like your argument is that there should be class/division wrestling so that smaller school athletes do not have to make a choice between wrestling or the other sports. If an athlete wants to focus on one sport, they will sacrifice the same way the wrestlers at bigger schools do. 

This isn't just a small school problem. It's a kid and what are their goals problem. They will always find something else they can be doing other than grinding if they truly aren't bought in. Not saying small schools don't have challenges because they do. But I will also say they have some benefits. 

It's different this time...this isn't about class wrestling...it's about divisions.

It's different this time...this isn't about class wrestling...it's about divisions.