MLee

Not sure of grade, but birth years of youth in KY is 2002 and younger. Not 100%, but I bet the vast majority of our participants and placers from 70 to 80 were 12 or under. OH starts at 74, not 70.

This might be an odd year, but it looks like every placer from 70-80 #'s are youth wrestlers. 18 of 18 kids.

I had a wrestler decide not to attend KY youth tournaments because of lack of competition. He's no longer in our club because they wanted more than what KY youth wrestling (and us) could offer. There were other factors, but you could probably make a better argument that weaker competiton hinders growth, not helps.

Ha...raidercoach if you would ever go to a meeting, you would know this proposed and voted down.

I voted against the MS/Youth rule. I was certainly in the minority. Here are my key reasons why I dislike the rule: We might be the only state that has a 70 and 75 # weight class at MS and for good reason..these are not MS weight classes. I'd like to see how many kids have placed in these 2 weight classes that were NOT youth wrestlers. If you removed these 2 classes, the rule makes more sense to me. I have a fundamental problem restricting any kid from participating in a tournament when they are of age. Why shouldn't they have an opportunity to win another medal and enjoy the spotlight? Because they worked hard and are good? Shouldn't this decision be left with the kid, his/parents, and their coach? There is an assumption the MS placers wouldn't get challenged at the youth tournament. That is just not the case. Our 70#er took 5th at MS State. He went into OT in the semi's and lost in the finals at youth. It was a very challenging tournament for him. The difference between him and the MS state champ is just a few points.

For the record, we had way less kids than that. I believe we had 45 participants.

2015 Kentucky Youth State Wrestling Championships Sunday February 22nd Alltech Arena Kentucky Horse Park 4089 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington Ky. 40511 Entry Fee: $15 per wrestler – non refundable – Make check payable to KSWA Each team must pay with 1 check for all kids that were submitted. Eligibility: Must be at least 5 years old before 1/1/2015 and no older than 12 years old by 12/31/2014 Must wrestle in one of the 2015 Kentucky Youth Region Tournaments and be a permanent Kentucky resident. Must be a member of a current USA Kentucky Wrestling Club. Must have a current USA Kentucky wrestling league card or a current full USA wrestling membership card. Must be on the track wrestling roster with an eligible Kentucky youth wrestling club. To be eligible clubs must have all paper work in place and fees paid with Kentucky USA wrestling. Registration: Each regional host must submit their region’s roster. Rosters are due on or before noon Monday February 16th. Rosters must be submitted to Matt Lee: matthewlee@live.com in the spread sheet provided. We will not accept a roster in any other form or format. Do not add extra information into the body of the spread sheet. You must put a 0 in the experience cell. It will not be used for tournament purposes. Only required as part of the tournament software. No late entries will be allowed. Weigh-Ins: Weigh-ins must take place from Saturday February 1st - Sunday February 15th. Weigh-ins must have a certified wrestling official present. Official weigh-in sheets must be signed by the both parties present at weigh-ins. A copy of weigh-in sheets must be turned in at registration. You must use the provided weigh-in sheet. All wrestlers are subject to a weight check at the tournament. Admission: Adults: $6, Students: $3. Five (5) coaches for up to thirty (30) wrestlers: Each additional ten (10) wrestlers allows one (1) additional coach. Coaching bands can be picked up at the time of team registration and payment. Only wrestlers and coaches with bands allowed on the arena floor. No coolers allowed Schedule: Session 1 Birth years 2008/2009 and 2003/2002 Wrestler and Coach check-in from 7:30 am – 8:30 am Wrestling 9:00 am – 12 noon Session 2 Birth years 2004/2005 and 2006/2007 Wrestler and Coach check-In from 7:30 am – 12 noon Wrestling 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm Format 16 man brackets Double elimination grouped by birth years and the 10% weight difference rule. Three (3) sixty (60) second periods Awards for 1st – 6th individuals.

Dear Mr. Purchase Pounder, Congrats on your unbelievable season. We'll add it to the KY Youth Wrestling archives. Matt Lee Raider Youth Wrestling

We just drove around Lexington purchasing supplies for the tournament. Roads aren't terrible now and already improving. I would think they should be fine by this afternoon. Please drive safe everyone. Look forward to a great tournament tomorrow!

We finally have the brackets in order for this week's Youth State Tournament. They have been posted on Track Wrestling under KSWA Youth State Wrestling Tournament. Enjoy! If you get a chance, be sure to thank Chris Duke, Darren Thomas, Jason Moore, and Jason Brown. These guys put in a lot of hours getting this done.

I like a system that ensures the best kids make the team. If that means a 2nd "wrestle-off" or tournament, then maybe that is what we should consider doing. With that stated, I applause Coach Yost and anyone else who helped secure a gym for this tournament. I hope we can make it work out for everybody!

We are still in the process of making corrections. Unfortunately, some coaches waited until after we created brackets to let us know their mistakes (we've also made a few). I made a few adjustments to your teams brackets to help avoid 1st round regional match-ups (where available). I will say, your region was BY FAR the largest in the state; therefore, in some cases there isn't much we can do.

That was clearly meant to be a joke.... As I mentioned, it would be a shame for anyone to miss the State Tournament for any reason. It is a great event. If Balboa can make it up Everest in a two-minute, training montage, I'd like to think our friends from Eastern KY can make it to Lexington in 4 days. Throwing in the towel on Wednesday seems premature, don't you think?

Run your kids through those snowy mountains like Rocky in Rocky IV. If you leave now, you should make it by Sunday.

JDamron, I understand your position, but do you think we would consider moving forward with the tournament if we felt like it would be "unsafe"? The reality is, the KHSAA decision was entirely different than ours. If they had a 1 day tournament on Sunday, I suspect they would certainly have it. With that stated, safe travels to all the families making the trip on Saturday/Sunday. It is shaping up to be an outstanding tournament.

USMC, you are in good shape. For this season (and hopefully only this season) we are going to manually enter each participant. Starting next season, we'd like for each club to be responsible for registering their kids on Track. What Regional Tournament are you attending? Feel free to reach out to your Regional Host regarding questions pertaining to the State Tournament. I'm sure they can assist. Meanwhile, feel free to send me a PM and I'll try to answer any question you have.

Coaches agreed to go from 8 to 16 man brackets placing top 6. This was done to make the State Tournament more competitive/challenging and to have more of a "big tournament" feel for the kids. It was brought to a vote during the off-season meetings and was passed (I believe) unanimously. I'm excited that we'll be using Track Wrestling so we can archive the results. It should also make the tournament easier to follow for all the confused spectators.

Coaches that do their homework certainly do and should make a case for their wrestlers. In the case of 86, Lee had a head 2 head win over Ballinger. Not much arguing.

70 #1 Grandstaff (Hawks) #2 Frazier (Taylor Co) #3 Kinley (Madison Co) #4 Sawyer (Fern Creek) 75 #1 Deck (Madison Co) #2 Peace (Walton-Verona) #3 Hanson (North Hardin) #4 Armstead (East Oldham) 80 #1 Escalera (Union Co) #2 Grandstaff (Hawks) #3 Deckard (East Oldham) #4 Fletcher (Johnson Co) 86 #1 Brown (Union Co) #2 Lee (Ryle) #3 Ballinger (East Oldham) #4 Hudgins (Harrison Co) 92 #1 Ketchin-Carter (Campbell Co) #2 Adams (Union Co) #3 Jacobs (North Oldham) #4 Giannone (Carr Wrestling) 98 #1 Wheeler (East Oldham) #2 Deck (Madison Co) #3 Horton (Ryle) #4 Carr (Union Co) 105 #1 Insko (Apollo) #2 Yost (Woodford Co) #3 Boyd (Conner) #4 Powers (Moore) 113 #1 Barber (Woodford Co) #2 Kelsay (Twenhofel) #3 Royce (North Oldham) #4 Fuller (Apollo) 121 #1 Brown (Shamrock) #2 Ervin (Union Co) #3 Lawrence (Elkhorn) #4 Murrer (Covington Catholic) 130 #1 McClintic (East Oldham) #2 Hall (Taylor County) #3 Farfsing (Twenhofel) #4 French (Bourbon Co) 140 #1 Mulcahy (Walton-Verona) #2 Lucas (Bulldog) #3 Ervin (Union Co) #4 Begley (Martin Co) 152 #1 Jackson (Johnson Co) #2 Chandler (Bulldog) #3 Starrett (Campbell Co) #4 Paige (Central Hardin) 168 #1 Horn (Johnson Co) #2 Satterly (North Oldham) #3 Valentine (Central Hardin) #4 Thompson (Woodland) 190 #1 Kulmer (Shamrock) #2 Horn (Johnson Co) #3 Chambers (Bardstown) #4 Rolf (Campbell Co) 240 #1 Pratt (Meade) #2 Melton (Moore) #3 Watkins (Ryle) #4 Akihary (Madison Co)

This is a key I've used. Hopefully it helps: A1 D4 C2 B3 B2 C3 A4 D1 C1 B4 A2 D3 D2 A3 C4 B1

NKY Youth Regional Tournament will be held at Grant County HS on Sunday, Feb 15th. A flier will be sent out this week.

As a reminder, all rosters are due by Wednesday, Dec. 3rd. We should have another great turnout this year. We expect 350-500 wrestlers this year (cut-off is 500). Thankfully, there is no snow in our forecast, so we should be in good shape this year. We will do our very best to create separate brackets for all 1st year wrestlers. We ordered large custom medals the kids will love! We look forward to seeing you there.

RAIDER RUMBLE TOURNAMENT FOR BEGINNERS AND EXPERIENCED WRESTLERS DATE: Saturday December 6th, 2014 LOCATION: Gray Middle School Gymnasium 10400 Hwy 42-Union, KY 41091 ENTRY FEE: $12.00 per wrestler and is due at the time of check-in. ADMISSION: Free admission for all spectators. ROSTERS: Team rosters must be received by Wednesday- December 3rd! Please e-mail rosters to: matthewlee@live.com (859) 391-7600 TIMES: Wrestling Starts: Birth Year (02 & 03,04 & 05) 9am (Please arrive @ 8:30) Birth Year (06 & 07, 08 & 09) 1:30pm (Please arrive @ 1:00) WEIGHT CLASSES: TBD after rosters have been received. An effort will be made to create separate brackets for 1st year wrestlers. FORMAT: Double elimination. There will be Three-1 minute periods. AWARDS: Medals will be given to the top 4 placers in each weight class ONLY COACHES AND WRESTLERS WILL BE PERMITTED ON THE FLOOR-WRISTBANDS MUST BE WORE AND CAN BE REQUESTED WITH YOUR TEAM’S REGISTRATION.

Willie Ennels vs Tendai Charasika