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You made your own point. The most outstanding wrestler is supposed to be the most dominating wrestler. Smallwood was the most dominating which makes him the M.O.W. obviously. Your 138 pinned his way to the finals so he should have been considered before Hoppes. Just saying

Looks like the WCI gonna shake the rankings a little bit.

I'll start this off by saying that Derrick Smallwood is a fantastic wrestler. However, I cannot imagine how any coach in their right mind would vote for him MOW over Thomas Hoppes. Derrick -- who was ranked first and expected to win -- had a fine tournament and took care of a #9, #12, and #13 wrestler in dominating fashion. That being said, Thomas Hoppes as a freshman ranked 10th in a higher weight class pinned the #10 kid in the state then upset the #2 kid in the state while not giving up an offensive point. The only thing I can think of was that most coaches had already turned in their ballot by the time Hoppes had concluded his upset. That's the only good reason I can come up with because the resumes speak for themselves. If there are any coaches who would like to back up their vote I'd love to hear the reason.

All of the winners are up for MOW. A lot of times its a popularity contest. And a lot of times the kids that are hands down dominant don't get looks because they are so dominant. It's not their fault that the competition is not up to their level.. There were about 5 boys that should have been seriously been considered. Congratulations to Derrick Smallwood. I'm glad that a kid who was expected to win the tourney got MOW.

Some things people forget to take into consideration is also losses. You "Mattrunner" may have beat some ranked opponents but that doesn't automatically put your name in the rankings.

AllSport, You are right about the Gray vs Leavell match. I understood the stall call to tie the match up but let the boys decide the winner. Gray could've gotten away for the win or let it go into OT. Barnes does have a point but i've been to tournaments and seen coaches go change their vote (factor in teams that leave early too). In this case, it didn't happen. At the end of the day, Hoppes will have plenty of opportunities to win MOW, I'm confident.

With this being said no disrespect to Dylan Gray at all he’s a heck of a wrestler and 182 had 3 studs (Gray, Leavell, and Santiago) in it which he did beat both the other 2 studs. But from my point of view the refs took the finals match between Gray and Leavell into their own hands a little bit. As for MOW there’s always going to be controversy between who came out and dominated everyone but didn’t really have that much competition vs. someone who had to work hard to get their hand raised at the end. Mr. Barnes does have a good point when it comes to coaches turning in their ballots before even seeing a finals match. With that being said both Smallwood and Hoppes gave the crowd a show. Smallwood dominated and finished with the pin and Hoppes went out and shocked (Woodford) fans by taking down Bender (4-1).

Is he still on the team?

You're right I am smarter than this. That's why I voted for Dylan Gray. You beat two of the top ten you get my vote. My explanation earlier was why some others might have voted for Smallwood. I was cheering for Hoppes and was happy he won. Let's just say we will agree to disagree on this particular subject. Hope Hoppes has a great season.

The 132 from Christian County won a great match, with class, despite his opponents actions. I think he should be mentioned in the conversation as well.

You’re smarter than this. Should strength of opponent not be considered at all? Based on this answer it doesn’t seem you think it should. However, in reality I have to believe you think it’s a factor. Both Hoppes and Smallwood faced the #10 wrestler in the state and both pinned. Hoppes also faced the #2 wrestler in the state and won without giving up an offensive point. Smallwood faced nobody ranked higher than #10. Surely that has to be factored into the equation, right?

Jayden Watson from Whitley co as beat three ranked opponents and he still hasn’t made the ranking what even??