dutch

Mason Smith and Ryan Moore are in the finals tomorrow. Trent Johnson will be wrestling for 3rd/4th. Great way to end their Senior years!!

We have about 6 months until the event. Keep the match ups you would like to see coming.

Bryce will always be remembered by the people in this state. It was amazing seeing all the people who attending his visitation today. Words can’t describe the heartache that we all feel for the Sheffer family. As I watched all the people with tears in their eyes it really made me understand how special Bryce was to his community and to this state. His humility was amazing to see on an off the mat. I know over the years we referenced Bryce's name in the wrestling room to our own kids on numerous occasions. He set the bar that most kids were chasing. What an amazing champion and person. Bryce will be missed and will never be forgotten.

Go kick some butt. Great addition to an awesome recruiting class.

This screen shot shows that Willie is paying attention to KY wrestling. Mason's high school career is over but I hope that the next group coming up makes some noise. Hit as many national tournaments as possible and get our state on the map. Good luck to the next kids in line. It has been an awesome journey.

No need to apologize. I think its cool that so many KY kids are getting noticed. I also think it cool that Zeke is having so much success.

We do debate this every year. My guess is we will continue to debate if for years to come. The only point that I will make is that its not impossible to seed this tournament. Every tournament during the season and every national tournament I have been to has some type of seeding. If Virginia Beach, Flo, and Fargo can find a way, I'm sure we could figure it out for a 32-man bracket that has every result posted on track.

We have a few weeks left before the big show. Once regions are complete we will start work on the state tournament report. Rankings_17_18_0202[1].pdf

Walton finally wins their first regional title in School history for any sport. It has been a long time coming. Great job to all the kids that made it happen. 7 finalist and a bunch of kids going to state. How about the 86 pounder Spencer Moore making it to state at 113. He is a beast. Scott was a close second. They wrestled tough and won a bunch of coin flip matches that they needed to win Ryle is on their way back to being on top of region 6. Give them two years with the talent they have coming up and I think they are on top of region 6 once again Campbell is having another down year. Once they get the middle school rolling again they will be fine Simon Kenton lost some serious point scorers last year but I’m sure they will rebuild. Holmes and Newport have some tough kids but lacking the numbers to be competitive. Region 6 is the toughest region in the state in my opinion . Every year ranger does a report showing points scored at the state tournament and region 6 usually leads the way. Great job to all the wrestlers that qualified for state.

Great post. If they don’t have the grades the opportunities will be limited as far as money in college. I can tell you from going through the process of recruiting grades are a huge factor.

I think it is awesome that we can debate who is the best middle school wrestler. That means we have a bunch of kids that are tough as nails. I have always said that Spencer Moore is hands down the best. Not necessarily because of state titles or national placements. That does play a part though. I have seen Spencer practice at my house 3-4 days a week for years. I compare his work ethic and his understanding of wrestling to my son at that age. He is light years ahead. He constantly works to improve and is the only kid I don’t see breaking during a hard practice. If Spencer did break, you know as a coach that was a tough practice. I know we all seem to put stock in state titles but that doesn’t always work out. All these kids improve at different rates. I have seen a ton of kids over the years. They all reach their potential at different times. I think the most important thing is continuing to grow and mature. Once they realize it’s as mental as physical, that’s when things change. Like I said I think Spencer already understands that concept and that’s why he can give up 30 lbs and compete.

Sounds like it was a crazy event. Darren, why even waste your time explaining the line up you guys put on the mat. My guess is you guys did what you thought would put you in the best position to win. Hopefully it worked out. It sounds like the coach that acted like a fool needs to take a seat in the stands. He probably has no business leading kids. I have seen coaches lose their cool, but the behavior I have read this coach showed sounds ridiculous. If he would act a fool in front of a crowded gym, I can’t imagine what goes on during a practice. Hopefully the parents get together and fix the situation.

Great updates!! Keep them coming

Most youth coaches are only around for a short period of time. Most of these coaches have kids in a program and stay until their kid moves on to middle school. Hopefully, each generation of coaches will leave the youth wrestling program better than they found it. Competition breeds success in most cases. I imagine if we were talking about soccer, people would have mixed opinions as well. My son was allowed to wrestle both like many other kids. He turned out just fine. All these wrestlers progress at their own pace. Its ok to take a beating and want to work harder to close the gap. There is no reason to shelter kids who are the same age and weight. Maybe the parents are more of the issue. They need little Johnny to get a medal to make up for the hours they sat in a gym. The problem is little Johnny is now a so called state champ and then he goes to a out of state tournament. He takes a butt kicking and other states laugh that they beat a state champ from KY. I think we should spend the time setting up true USA weight classes vs. watering down a so called state tournament. Leave it up to the tough youth wrestler/parents if they want to compete in the state tournament. I have seen it go both ways. Some kids don't waste their time with the youth tournament because of the success they had at the next level. The choice should be theirs, not a coach that is around for a few years. You are crippling these kids. This is no different than making an issue every time a kid takes a loss. As far a having a meeting, its easy. Most coaches take a conference call the week of the state tournament for seeding. That would be a perfect time to take a vote on topics like this one. I have been to many spring coaches meetings. Usually about 5-10 coaches show up and a vote taken deciding the fate of the entire state is taken. Put your heads together and figure out the best time to have the most coaches together at once. Hell, take a break at the state tournament and let the table workers grab a bite to eat. Then round up all coaches, go into a room and take a vote. No need to debate, just vote and go on your way. Quit making excuses and someone figure out a solution before we don't let kids with winning records wrestle at the youth state tournament.

I didn't realize that it changed from top 4 to state placers. WOW!!. What will they do next? If you wrestled one match at middle school you are disqualified from participating in youth? Once again that is why we have ages and weights. I remember when my son started wrestling youth tournaments. One year he had Derek Wiley in his bracket at youth state. Derek beat him like a drum. I remember looking over at his coach and he said now you can pin him. It felt like an emperor giving the thumbs down to the gladiator in the arena. My son was fairly new to wrestling and Derek was already wrestling middle school and was light years ahead other kids his age. The reason I tell this story is that was probably the best thing that could of happened to my son at the time. It really made him understand that you can work that much harder and compete with those elite kids. Losses are a good thing in my opinion. My son could probably tell you more about losses than wins. The reason is you learn from losses because of the pain associated with those losses. We will never agree on this topic as a state, but I would hope we would reconsider not watering down the youth state tournament anymore than it already has been. Maybe we should just give all the kids a participation medal so they don't quit wrestling if they lose. Here is a funny commercial that goes perfectly with this topic:

Are we really talking about this again? I always thought the new rule was silly. You are basically punishing a kid for the fruits of their labor. Not letting a kid wrestle in a tournament with the same weight/age kids as them is crazy. You are basically punishing a kid because he is good. Nobody has a problem with a middle school kid wrestling in the middle school state tournament and then letting that same kid compete at high school regionals the following weekend. Growth seems to be the topic that we all want to talk about. I say let a kid get as many matches he can as a elementary/middle school wrestler and watch the growth happen. At the end of the day the youth/middle school title doesn't mean that much, but when you are in the moment thats all that matters. As a state we will never all agree on this topic. The end result in my opinion is that we punish kids for their success by not letting them compete.

It was a good one.

Perfect. Updates are always appreciated.

Thanks for the update. Are the results on track?

Ryan Moore 1st Mason Smith 1st Brayden Mulcahy 5th Daulton Mayer 4th Tristen Garcia 3rd Travis 2nd Zane Brown 6th

Thanks for all the updates. Wish everyone would post results.

I know someone is going to respond that Noah took a loss two weeks ago. That’s OK coming out of football season. Come state tournament time, I would bet Noah is good to go for middle school and making a run at a high school state title.

It’s apparent who really follows wrestling when they leave a kid like Spencer Moore off the list. Spencer and Noah duke are the top two middle school wrestlers hands down. Spencer with his wins over nationally ranked kids and the fact that Noah is a top kid in the high school rankings. We are talking about competing in a big boy weight as an 8th grader. The last big boy in those weights as an 8th grader was Max Andreoni at 145 I believe. Max was able to compete with the big boys. If Spencer Moore could get to at least 100 lbs he would win a high school state title at 106 this year. Anyone that really follows KY wrestling would agree with me

Spencer Moore is a sissy. I can still kick his butt on the mat

Spencer Moore would be on any list in my opinion.