slice60

I emailed TrackWrestling & here was their response. Did the IHSAA really decide to exclude any points earned by Pins, TechFalls, Majors in tonight's matches??? If so, did they announce that SIGNIFICANT CHANGE before the tournament started? That could really impact the outcome! "It appears that the IHSAA made a last minute decision to withhold tonight's activity points. The event director is making those adjustments. Please direct any further concerns about this issue directly to the IHSAA."

Thanks Matt. For those who attended tonight & stayed til the end, did they announce the team scores? By my count, the top 6 are: Brownsburg 24.5 Chesterton 21 Portage 18 Cathedral 17 Yorktown 16 Avon 15.5 These are the scores when you add up each wrestler's points in the Team Results pages. But when I click on Team Scores at Track Wrestling, it shows Brownsburg-21, Ches/Port/Cath-15, York/Avon-12. It's like the site removed all pin/tech fall/major points.

It's been a couple years since I followed the State Finals & I am watching on the TrackWrestling site. For this Quarterfinal round, do Pins/Tech Falls/Majors count toward the Team Points? Thought they decided not to use those bonus points several years ago & TrackWrestling seems to be removing those points. Forgive me if this is a dumb question or something that has been covered before.

I am new to this forum so please forgive me if this topic has already been covered. 1. Why don't 1st round matches count toward Team Scoring at Semistate? Do they use the same Team Scoring system at State? It's a team competition so I think that the non-stud kid who has worked so hard to win a 1st round Semistate match for his team should be rewarded with those 2 Team Advancement Points. 2. Is this Team Scoring system taken from National H.S. Rules or IHSAA Rules? Was it changed in the past couple of years? 3. What do you guys think of this system? If my math is correct, Warren Central & Mater Dei would have taken home Team Semistate trophies yesterday instead of Cathedral & Avon. I have no allegiance to any of those teams. Just a wrestling fan who is trying to understand why the Team Scoring works this way.

Vlink & his staff screwed up. In fact, this is probably the biggest coaching blunder in IHSAA history-- all sports included. Just think about it, a 2-time undefeated state champion didn't get to wrestle because the coaching staff flat-out didn't know the rules. Unbelievable. Instead of a state champ, they had to send a JV kid to the slaughter against the state runner-up. Obviously, Vlink has built a powerhouse program but how does he look those kids in the eye today? On another day, maybe Vlink has a legitimate beef about medals...but when YOU are the reason your team lost, just shut up & go home. On the other hand, maybe he's right & only the champions & runner-ups should get medals. In other team sports where the State Finals is a one game format, do the Semi State losers get medals? I doubt it. Seeding wouldn't work. 1) No other IHSAA team tourney does it. 2) There would be more arguments over who gets seeded 6th-7th-8th than at the top. 3) Blind draw for Team State IS the only fair format. There are many examples of "unfair" sectional matchups due to geography-- MD/Reitz, Mish/Penn, CP/Merr-- but that's just the way it goes. Forgive me for kicking CP while it's down, but this is not the first example of a Crown Point team underachieving recently. CP baseball had several top-ranked teams but no state finals appearances. CP football had some great teams but never advanced far. Before Saturday, CP had destroyed everyone-- 43-15 over Mish, 50-14 over Cath, 45-12 over Frank, 48-20 & 46-8 over Merr.

If you attended the Team State yesterday, then you know that it was probably the most competitive Team State field EVER. All 4 of the semifinalists were strong enough to take the title home. And you could add Mishawaka into the mix if they still had Beck going at 112 & Harper at full strength. Here is my opinion on some of the unsolicited advice on how to change the tourney. 1) Don't cut the Team State from 8 to 4. And don't seed the teams. The IHSAA made a good change by cutting back on one level of the tourney. The Team Regionals were held in early February so the kids could focus on the Individual tourney for 3 weeks. All 8 of those teams deserved to make it to State & from a fans' perspective, the Quarterfinal round is exciting to watch with 4 matches going at once. Blind draw is used in every other IHSAA Team Sport Tourney. Sure, some teams get a tough draw & others may get an easy draw but it's better than seeding the teams & then having a huge debate over how unfair the seeding is! 2) No wrestlebacks. I was there all day yesterday & watched the Cathedral & Castle kids after their heartbreaking losses. Do you really think they wanted to beat the crap out of each other for 3rd place??? Heck no. It would've been a JV match with a few Varsity guys sprinkled in. Same goes for the depressed Mishawaka kids after they got upset by Cathdral. There's no point in having these kids beat each other up for 7th place after a very long season. 3) Hell yes, Perry Meridian deserved that runner-up trophy. They beat a solid Bellmont squad & then made a fantastic comeback to shock a damn good Castle team. Castle whipped Mater Dei...Perry beat Castle...that means Perry is damn good too. Granted, Cathedral had the toughest draw in the field this year but that's just the way it goes. In 2 of the past 3 seasons, Perry drew the eventual champ in the Quarterfinal round & lost real close duals. Here's my only recommendation to the IHSAA & Indiana wrestling fans out there. Let's find a way to get more fans in the stands! There were THREE Indy-area schools at Team State this year & there were still far too many open seats at Center Grove. $8 to watch the best teams in the state battle in 7 great duals is a bargain.