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I agree 100% that we are on the right track of bringing quality and quantity up by using this method. Some parts of the state barely have enough kids to fill the top 4 MS Regional Qualifiers. So if we remove those opportunities, then we also remove those numbers from the MS State. Look it doesn’t hurt anyone, having these “border line” wrestlers competing on both levels. They are still kids! Until we have the numbers of participants and quality coaches and programs around the state like Ohio, PA and States like these, we have to quit comparing Kentucky to these States. If you follow the success of the programs/ regions around the state, you see that it’s driven by the coaches and parents involved in the youth, MS and HS. Look at McCraddle sorry “McCracken”. You can name the coaches and parents involved in building quality and quantity. They have there own barge company, private jets to bring in rock star college wrestlers to teach there 300+ youth that live in the county, how to run a cradle from any position on the mat. Union County, fill in the blank for the first name and put Ervin behind it!! They have coaches/parents like Jon Carr that will pack kids in a van and drive them all over the country buiding quality. (I was hoping they’d adopt Cole “Ervin”) Christian County brings Dee Leavell on and this teams on fire!! This guy is having bake sales and t shirt sales to raise money for his team to have better gear and traveling money to be the best!! Issac Knable with St X and the followers they have. He even built a factory across the River from Louisville that produces these little hammers and the quanity/quality is showing!!Johnson Central looks like a Football Team turned wrestlers!! Maybe because the head coach is one and the same!!! And then there’s the “Northern Kentucky” Mafia”. A bunch of Hall of Fame Old Head Coaches with Dads that build barns and wood sheds to train in. Move mats in trailers to whatever location they can find when school is closed to train. Recruits 1/2 the football team while being a water boy for your sons team. Get jobs with the school systems so you can recruit the basketball kids that are cut from team. Have 5 programs from NKY bringing down over 1/3 of the total participants of the youth state. That is quanity in search of quality!!!! Guys this has been a favorite topic of mine for 11 years now. We have to just keep doing our best in our own home towns. Getting the kids out. Finding great Moms and Dads that love wrestling and build your biggest youth program. Then get them to buy into the dream of staying together through the MS and HS grind to chase a championship. The associations job should always be to support every program trying to accomplish this goal. Then we will have the quanity with the quality!! Best of luck to each of your kids in post season! Enjoy the moment with them because it passes too fast!

A coaches job is to prepare wrestlers to win every match. It’s also their job to wrestle as many opponents that are capable of defeating said wrestlers. If you don’t wrestle the best, chances are you’ll never be the best. Coach must challenge his kids. Undefeated regular season means zero come state.

Actually Carr’s kids competed for Carr the week before at Regions. What region did the EKY Juggs compete in? Also, the Carr team didn’t even fill all the weight classes in the dual. And FTR, both Pike and Martin have bigger teams (and JC) than carr so your comment is bull. Everyone knows the intent of state Duals is for teams who wrestle as teams during the year compete. If EKY Juggs had been competing as a team throughout the year together no one would have said a word. But that didn’t happen. Those kids wrestled for their home teams. The coaches used the lack of wording to thier advantage to form a team. Why didn’t Martin Co or Pike take their regular teams? Both had more kids than Carr? Why did they need to pick up anyone from JC. And just so you know tons of kids from other teams train at Carr in summer...didn’t see them wrestling with Carr yesterday. Lastly, give everyone a break with the against us country people. Last time I checked McCracken Co isn’t exactly a booming metropolis nor is Union Co....and those two areas are flat out getting it done in this state.

The solution would be to continue with sectionals, but seed all 12 teams that qualify and use the criteria that was sent out to everyone (small school did not do that last night though). All sectionals were supposed to have been completed by Wednesday the 23rd so why is there even supposed to be a dual tonight between those two schools. If they did not complete it before Wednesday the 23rd it would go to criteria which would give the seed possibility to the undefeated Madison Central team. Now they will be unseeded and possibly have Christian County, St. X, Oldham County, Simon Kenton in pool play. Just because a team loses at sectionals does not mean they are not seedable at State Duals in my opinion. Especially when you have some hammer sections and some others that are very soft and weak. Something has to change.

I for one think there is no wrong answer here. If you want to wrestle then wrestle if not go home with your kids on a high note. You came to that tourney with one goal to win a State Title you did that; mission accomplished great job JC and congrats to you Union County great guys, team and happy to consider them friend/. Use the win to get ready for what really matters all year long Individual Regionals and the chance to win the overall State Title. If they left this tourney happy healthy and with a title then they are in better shape than a lot of other teams who may have faced injuries. Coaching is more than just wrestling every match possible its an emotional sport and ride that wave while you can and let your kids enjoy what they earned. If the powers want to make it a thing to wrestle big school/little school one title then set it up in 2 sides of one bracket 1 Little and 1 big with one champ or set up an alternate Saturday a week or 2 after State to have them in a off-season dual winner take all at least that way both teams gets to enjoy their success they had earned. Great job to all the teams that made it that far and to UNION and JOHNSON CENTRAL for the win. Congrats Champs.

Just curious... why the negativity toward JC. Nothing week about winning a duals meet. Personally I thought all the teams looked good. Ky wrestling is looking bright. And BTW, the tournament was well ran. Thank you to all the workers that helped put it on.

Raney over condi vega over Gardner raney over trumble jenkins over Spaulding speaker over lampe messerly over powell bandfield over oliveros ross over herron vlach over beane botts over mayes connor over watts church over scauborough price over velasquez virzi over long lambert over brown MOW Raney (take ur pick)

So here it goes everyone. I wanted to put out a final rankings and also what my personal predictions are for Finals. This was tough. We have some great wrestlers in the state and some weight classes have potential winners that could pull off some big upsets. First the rankings are based on results. A special shoutout to Keith Rump and several others that have been willing to give their time to do some additional research on the weight classes. Hope you find these rankings useful. There were some kids that were beat this weekend, but I tried to keep the same state qualifiers in the rankings so we can see a true expected result of the state tournament. Good Luck this coming weekend and may the best wrestler win!!! My predictions.... This was tough and I went through every weight class trying to figure out who I thought had the odds of winning it all. I might have shook things up a bit here, but wanted you to get a true opinion of what I see in the field. Can't wait to see the comments :-) 70 - Raney over Condi - I have Condi beating Evans in the semifinals for an upset, but it is a close match. I don't see anyone touching the Raney boy. 75 - Vega over Brown - Brown upsets Gardner in Semi but cant stand the quickness and ruthlessness of Vega. 80 - Harrod over Trumble - Full Disclosure .... Raney is a beast and if I picked anyone else I would have to listen to it at home. Harrod did have a dominating win and pin over Troy Gardner when he bumped up this past weekend at State Duals but that Raney match could be a nailbitter. 86 - Spaulding over Brown - This is a good matchup, but I thinking Spaulding closes this one early with a pin. 92 - Nichols over Ricketts - Two underdogs going into semi finals duke it out for a State Championship. 98 - Walton over Powell - From my understanding the Messerly Girls are wrestiling Girls state so won't be there to stir things up. Lauren Walton is first Girls State Champion at the middle school level. 105 - Oliveros over Dowdy - Dowdy has a tough road to go through Strayer but then upsets Bandfield to get to compete for a State Championship. 113 - Ross over Herron - This bracket I think ended up like I expected but I think Ross has the edge in the finals. 121 - Beane over Vlach - I think Vlach upsets roberts in the semi's. Should be interesting, but Beane is a beast. 130 - Botts over Mayes - Botts wins 7-4. Tough match. Worth sticking around and watching the finals. 140 - Conner over Watts - I haven't seen this Conner kid but if he is as good as I have heard then I expect him to win. Becareful though!! There are some real sleepers here!! 152 - Adams over Silva - I watched a few matches this weekend and I think there was a mixup in seeding. That being said this is my expectations. Who is gonna rise to the top?!! 168 - Valasquez over Richmond - Richmond over price is a big upset but there is one brewing in this class. I wouldn't expect anything less. 190 - Virzi over Long - I think this is the most straight forward weight there is. Everything as expected. 240 - Lambert over Brown - I have seen Lambert and I don't see anyone touching him. In fact I see a first period pin over Brown. So there you go. That is my opinion and I hope you enjoy and comment as you see free. It was a pleasure doing this for the last half of the year and I appreciate all that chipped in and gave me their input. Looking forward to a great State Tournament!! Mike Harrod 1-29 Rankings.pdf

I say you cut weight and it’s too difficult you shouldn’t have done it in the first place. Consider your self lucky you get the two pounds

The Messerly twins will compete in the Girls State tournament. This was a very tough decisions. Ultimately, the chance to be a part of history and the chance to be the first girls to win a HS Title. Best of luck to Lauren Walton. Go be the first girl to win a ms state title. Thanks to all who had the girls winning a ms state title. Good luck to all in the post season.

If she gets MOW it will be because she's earned it. Both of the Messerlys, Lauren Walton and Sophie are all outstanding wrestlers and have beaten up on many boys this year.

Unranked Gavin Andreoni over #5 Ocasio (10-4) and #9 kid from Meade Co. (11-3)

Based on what I saw today they would qualify all 14 guys in Region 6

Tick tock. Tick tock.

A lot of these girls have never met so some of the coaches more familiar with the majority need to weigh in on this. Regardless it will sort itself out on February 2. Kentucky should be proud of the girls in this state because we have hammers. Not all have had a chance to do a national event yet, but the ones that I have seen at major nationals represent well.

Champion's name 1st 70' J Raney VS A. Condi. 75' S. Vega VS. I. Johns 80. J Raney vs T. Meyer 86" T.Spalding Vs H.Jenkins 92- M. Speaker vs J Lamps 98. L Walton Vs. J. Powell 105. N. Bandfield Vs J. Gilbert 113- B. Herron Vs. R. Nardelli. 121. B Beane. Vs A. Roberts 130. G. Mayes VS N. Yost 140. M.Conner VS K. Richmond 152. O Adams Vs. A. Silva 168. C. Price vs J. Haynes 190. U. Virzi VS M Lewis 240. K.Brown vs X. Boak MOW R. Raney MOW. M. Conner

I’ve never understood this, why give an extra pound when they’ve already been given the 2lb growth allowanance because you missed a day or two of school. How about teaching kids to learn how to manage there weight

Seems like 182 could be stacking up to be an amazing one with Stevens coming in from 170 and possibly Duke and Boyd following right behind. I thought it was one of the weaker weight classes to start the season before all this movement. Really thought it was a two horse race between at the time #1 Blanton and #2 Chandler. Now Mayer has beaten Blanton in a match that came down to the absolute last second. Mayer now #1, is undefeated in the state of Kentucky Blanton is #2 and a 2x state placer at 182 (4th in 2017; 4th in 2018) is #2 with his only lose coming from #1 Mayer. Antonio Abren is #3 with a lot of good, quality wins and put up a good fight against Blanton but couldn't pull it out in the end at WCI losing 9-6, with that being his only loss within the state. #4 is Colin Stevens with only 2 loses on the season coming from Micah Ervin (join the club lol) and a 2x state placer at 160 and 152 (3rd in 2018; 6th in 2017). Levid Rodriguez is #5 and is only a freshman. He's undefeated within the state of Kentucky and is a legitimate threat to stop Blanton from a 3peat of region titles. Andrew Marchal is #6 with only 1 loss this season coming from #3 Abren. He has some good wins on the year including a 11-6 decision over #7. Sam Jenkins is #7 with also only 1 loss coming from #6 Andrew Marchal but still has some quality wins under his belt Ethan Tomerlin is #8 with only 1 loss on the season coming from #3 Antonio Abren. I can not find any other info on Tomerlin so his season has been a short one with only 1 win over a ranked opponent. Noah Duke (#4 at 170) who is supposed to be moving up to 182 from what I've heard has only 1 loss on the season to #3 at 170, Clayton Boyd. Everyone knows Noah Duke is an absolute stud and will add to what is already a stacked field at 182. Duke is a 1x state placer as he took 5th at 145 in 7th grade and was a hair away from being in the state finals. Let me repeat, he was in 7th grade. Unfortunately he was hurt last year and couldn't compete but is back with a vengeance this year and 182 is what's on his mind And last is Clayton Boyd who missed weight last week, could also be moving into 182 as well. Boyd has only 1 loss on the season coming from #6 at 160, Triston Brooks. Boyd is another stud that could possibly add even 1 more to the field at 182. He is a 1x state placer at 160 pounds last year, placing 5th Now if only Chandler wasn't hurt. What a weight class that would be. Every single one of these wrestlers has no more than 2 losses within the state of Kentucky. No more than 2! Out of the 10 guys I named, they only have 9 losses. That's unbelievable. With some possibly great regional matchups coming from the weight class. State will be huge for this weight class with some major fireworks!

70# J. Raney 75# Vega 80# TJ Meyer 86# Spalding (MOW as well) 92# Isaacs (hope I don't jinx him) 98# Messerly. This is by far the toughest and most competitive weight class this year. Top 4 will be Messerly, L. Walton, M. Schweitzer and J. Powell-----These will be the matches to watch, can't wait. 105# Gilbert 113# Ross 121# Beane 130# Mays 140# Connor 152# Church 168# Velasquez (another candidate for MOW) 190# Virzi or Lewis 240# Kinman

Why would you take a loss? F that. Tuck tail and run. Seems logical.

This is comical. Region 1 isn’t some lowly region where anyone who makes weight and has a heartbeat makes state. That’s beside the point. Wouldn’t you think putting your guys against some top ranked wrestlers at a dual like that would benefit your guys more than skipping the opportunity? I guess forfeiting out 4-5 classes in duals after a significant lead makes your guys battle tested to “build towards a state title run”. It’s a bold strategy, but you have to love that attitude and competitiveness.

I have a feeling a proposal will be brought up in the spring meeting to make sure it doesn’t happen again. If not, I’m looking for a couple other Louisville/Oldham teams that want to create a Jugger-Nots team for next Youth State Duals.

I’m not sure why you’re getting so bent out of shape about this or where you’re getting your information? You say that Johnson Central decided not to wrestle Madison Central multiple times. This is just plain ole fake news. The sectional duals were scheduled for January 12th at Johnson Central. Many teams including Madison Central cancelled because of bad weather that never materialized. They fell victim to the talking heads that were predicting a major winter storm. I was in Louisville on the 12th and they didn’t even cancel the area youth league games, but according to some in Central Kentucky is was going to be too bad to travel to Johnson Central. Then the sectional was rescheduled to Wednesday the 16th. Madison Central and Montgomery County agreed to travel to Johnson Central to see who would qualify for the state duals. Then another strange plot developed when Madison Central’s coach called and said that they wouldn’t be able to travel such a long distance to Paintsville because of a school policy about travel distance on a week night. Then it was supposedly moved to Montgomery County the following day(Thursday). I’m not sure why that didn’t happen but I was told the new host school never made plans to host. I’m not sure what happened there. Finally, it was agreed on that both Johnson Central and Madison Central would wrestle on the night before the state dual meet. Well we all know now that Madison Central backed out of that one as well. So your accusation that JC decided not to wrestle MC “multiple times this year” is nothing but pure BS. If my memory is correct, the same crap happened last year, but the Madison Central people were pleased with the outcome of the seeding because they received the number one seed of the sectional despite the fact that there was never a sectional dual. I don’t recall anyone from the JC program getting on here and crying like you’re doing now. I’m kinda confused as to why you’re blaming the KYWCA board members for Madison Central’s fate. Wrestling is the perfect sport to settle matters like this and you know this. But you to have to wrestle. You can’t expect to get a number one seed all the time based on an undefeated dual record. I’ve asked multiple times who MC has wrestled in a dual, but so far you haven’t answered. Your program has pulled this stunt two years in a row and they’ve made their own bed and now they’re lying in it. It isn’t anyone’s fault but their own. Good night wrestling fans. I’m looking forward to the action tomorrow.

I’m gonna give my predictions but I will wait till after State Duals. Gonna be an exciting weekend!!

Top 20 !! Nice work Mike , the kids will definitely appreciate this ! How about your state champion predictions ? That’s bound to start some conversations...lol just kidding ,I wouldn’t do that to ya !