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Rooks and Mulkey Drama


Y2CJ41

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Since there is a lot going on about the whole Rooks and Mulkey situation here are the facts.

Wednesday the 11th
Graham Rooks contacted me asking what time weigh-in was with me responding any time from when you get there until after practice is over. Later in the afternoon he sent me a message saying he was having trouble with the weight. He asked how official the weigh-in was. I responded to be on weight.

Thursday the 12th
On Thursday night he contacted me saying he was 7 over and was trying his best to make weight. After calling coach Cooper to get the scoop he went to Graham's house to talk to him. During the same period of time I responded to Graham stating I am going to have Blake Mulkey try to make the weight. I stated that is neither makes weight the lighter one gets the spot. Graham also stated he would probably be able to get within 5lbs.

Friday the 13th
On Friday at noon Graham sent a message to Blake saying "Don't know how much you are over..but if you are less than 5 then I'll just let you take the spot.."

Friday I arrive at the school and kids are working out and weighing in. Coach Snyder and I were the ones doing weigh-ins. Kids weighed in as they arrived and/or were on weight. As everything was going on myself and the AD were organizing things like where to setup tables and the bleachers to pull amongst other logistical priorities. I was in and out of the wrestling room during that time.

I did weigh-in a few kids including Graham Rooks. Around 4:20ish he stepped on the scale at 144.4lbs. He said he was done cutting and began to drink some water. As I left the wrestling room I ran into Mulkey walking into the school. He stated to me that he was about 5 or 6 over. I told him Graham had just weighed 144.4lbs and that if he's lower he's in.

After some more running around I went back to the wrestling room and saw Blake. I asked him what he weighed and he said about 5 over. I told him to try to get another couple pounds off and the spot was his because of what Graham weighed and he would obviously be lower. At that time I told Graham that Mulkey was in because he would weigh lower.

Around 5:30 Blake weighed in and was 142.4 and he officially had the spot on the team.

Now to answer a couple questions.

Why was Blake Mulkey selected?

On short notice I knew he would be in attendance and I had access to him and his coach's contact information. This was not a situation of call a coach and wait a day. This all took place on Thursday evening/night within about an hour, so there was no time to wait. There was no time available for a process such as I had for 285lbs and 120lbs when kids declined.

Why didn't I talk to Graham afterward?

I simply did not see the message until he was gone. My phone was going crazy with texts, calls, etc about the event. I didn't see him after he weighed in. At the point in the day when the final decision was made I was trying to figure out if all the wrestlers had showed up, where some of the USA guys were, along with talking to Flo and the AD in organizing setup.

Does my opinion of Graham Rooks change?

Not at all, Graham was very forward with me the last couple days when it became apparent that the weight was not coming off. He even wished Mulkey good luck later that evening.

 

The last thing I would ask is when you get information, get it from people who were there. Chris Cooper, Tony McGinley, and Ben Rooks were not present at the practice. If you ask people who were in the room on Friday during the workout what they saw they would have agreed that Blake Mulkey was the right choice. Make sure you talk to people who were in the room and saw both Rooks and Mulkey “working” out.

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This is Graham's mom. I'd like to make sure our side of this story is heard, as Joe seems reluctant to let this go for some reason. Most of Joe's account of what happened is true. Graham did not make the weight, cut and dry. Should he have? Of course. He tried everything within "healthy" reason to get down to 139 lbs.  Graham did text Joe asking how official the weigh in was because he had been to another tournament where the weigh in wasn't as "official" and he had worked hard to cut for it as well, without really having had to. Joe's response was "Be on weight, I don't want another Chad Red situation like we had at Pittsburgh." After contacting him on Thursday, letting him know he was still over 7 lbs, very disappointed that the weight wasn't coming off even after how hard he was working, Joe told him Mulkey was trying to get to weight but who ever weighed less would wrestle. There was no mention that they would still get to work out after the "official" weigh in. Graham asked him how much Mulkey was over and was not given an answer. So he messaged Blake on Thursday night after talking with Joe. This is the message you see above. He felt at that time that if Blake was under 5, it would be hard for him to get under that, and he would just give up the spot.  Mulkey never responded. He worked out all morning Friday and on our way to Indy, around 1:30,  Mulkey messaged him back saying he was 146. Graham was 144.6 at the time. We went ahead and continued to Brownsburg, still under the impression that whoever weighed the least amount would wrestle. When Joe got to Brownsburg HS, Graham weighed in, in underwear, at 144.4. Joe did not write his weight down. He never asked Graham if he was going to continue to work out. Graham got a drink, got his wrestling gear on and went out to the mat to practice. Mulkey walked in so he went back to the locker room to watch Mulkey weigh in. Mulkey weighed in at 144.4, no underwear. Nothing else was said. Graham went back out the the mat to practice. He never saw Joe or Mulkey again. He messaged Joe not long after, and while he was still at Brownsburg HS asking who was wrestling since they weighed the exact same and Joe said Mulkey was in. He asked why, and asked if Joe could come talk to him and explain. He never received a response. We ate, checked out the hotel that we had just checked into and went home. Graham messaged Blake telling him good luck. They wrestle together at Red Cobra and we think Blake and his family are great people.  On the way home, Joe called Ben, (at Cooper's request) and told him he was sorry that Graham didn't know he couldn't keep working out. The conversation ended friendly. We thought that was the end of it. We would like this to be the end of it. Please. Graham is the least dramatic person I know. While he's disappointed that he wasn't able to wrestle in this match, or to have his rematch against Woods, he's excited about his future in wrestling and the opportunities he'll have wrestling for Coach Escobedo at IU. He's blessed to have had such a great high school career under Coach Cooper at Columbus East. 

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7 minutes ago, GACR said:

This is Graham's mom. I'd like to make sure our side of this story is heard, as Joe seems reluctant to let this go for some reason. Most of Joe's account of what happened is true. Graham did not make the weight, cut and dry. Should he have? Of course. He tried everything within "healthy" reason to get down to 139 lbs.  Graham did text Joe asking how official the weigh in was because he had been to another tournament where the weigh in wasn't as "official" and he had worked hard to cut for it as well, without really having had to. Joe's response was "Be on weight, I don't want another Chad Red situation like we had at Pittsburgh." After contacting him on Thursday, letting him know he was still over 7 lbs, very disappointed that the weight wasn't coming off even after how hard he was working, Joe told him Mulkey was trying to get to weight but who ever weighed less would wrestle.

There was no mention that they would still get to work out after the "official" weigh in. Graham asked him how much Mulkey was over and was not given an answer. So he messaged Blake on Thursday night after talking with Joe. This is the message you see above. He felt at that time that if Blake was under 5, it would be hard for him to get under that, and he would just give up the spot.  Mulkey never responded. He worked out all morning Friday and on our way to Indy, around 1:30,  Mulkey messaged him back saying he was 146. Graham was 144.6 at the time. We went ahead and continued to Brownsburg, still under the impression that whoever weighed the least amount would wrestle. When Joe got to Brownsburg HS, Graham weighed in, in underwear, at 144.4. Joe did not write his weight down. He never asked Graham if he was going to continue to work out. Graham got a drink, got his wrestling gear on and went out to the mat to practice. Mulkey walked in so he went back to the locker room to watch Mulkey weigh in. Mulkey weighed in at 144.4, no underwear. Nothing else was said. Graham went back out the the mat to practice. He never saw Joe or Mulkey again. He messaged Joe not long after, and while he was still at Brownsburg HS asking who was wrestling since they weighed the exact same and Joe said Mulkey was in. He asked why, and asked if Joe could come talk to him and explain. He never received a response. We ate, checked out the hotel that we had just checked into and went home. Graham messaged Blake telling him good luck. They wrestle together at Red Cobra and we think Blake and his family are great people.  On the way home, Joe called Ben, (at Cooper's request) and told him he was sorry that Graham didn't know he couldn't keep working out. The conversation ended friendly. We thought that was the end of it. We would like this to be the end of it. Please. Graham is the least dramatic person I know. While he's disappointed that he wasn't able to wrestle in this match, or to have his rematch against Woods, he's excited about his future in wrestling and the opportunities he'll have wrestling for Coach Escobedo at IU. He's blessed to have had such a great high school career under Coach Cooper at Columbus East. 

First off, you nor anyone that seems to "know" what was going on was in the room. Funny how none of the people that supposedly know everything were in there.

There was no mention that they would still get to work out after the "official" weigh in.
Really? You're going to lean on this? He said he was done trying after he stepped on the scale in my presence.

Graham asked him how much Mulkey was over and was not given an answer.
Probably because I didn't know. At that time Blake hadn't even shown up yet.

So he messaged Blake on Thursday night after talking with Joe. This is the message you see above.
False, 11:59AM is not Thursday NIGHT, that is FRIDAY morning.

Joe did not write his weight down. He never asked Graham if he was going to continue to work out.
Again, false, it was barely 20 minutes into the workout that he tried. He said he was done trying at that point.

Graham got a drink, got his wrestling gear on and went out to the mat to practice.
Again, false, were you there? I can't remember. He was off the mat by 4:30, the Indiana practice lasted until 5pm and some kids like Parris, Davison, and Lee probably worked out until 5:15 or later.

We would like this to be the end of it. Please. Graham is the least dramatic person I know.
Then stop spreading lies when you were not there. Quit having your husband texting me telling me karma will bite me. Quit having your coaches harassing me to the point that I have contacted the police to protect myself and my family.

 

If you, your family, or your coaches are going to try to run my name through the mud please at least have a story that checks out. I have had to go to stupid lengths the past few days to make sure myself and my family is safe, that is something I should have NEVER had to do because a kid didn't make weight.

 

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Fasten the seat belts.  I feel like I was on this ride before. Lock-down and erase seems to be the answer.  Surely we will all forget about this sooner or later... won't we?

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