What is the best wrestling state in the U.S.?

[Guest cmccoy]

I think the statement about KY not faring well against other states holds true in all sports. If KY football and basketball state championship teams were asked to compete with state Champ teams from larger states they would have a tough time winning too! I dont really think KY has a sport they are better at than other states. Alot of people think this is a basketball state, thats just because its more popular perhaps than other states I dont think the players as a whole are any better. My point is that the wrestling isnt necessarily any worse off in a state to state comparison than other sports.

I do believe some of our state champs in wrestling could place in some of the various divisions in OH and PA. I'm not saying all but the very best, the champs that hold their own at big national events have proven they can compete with anyone.

I disagree with you about Basketball. I have seen several of our teams travel to other states and do well. For example, the girls basketball team at Lafayette traveled to Arizona and California in years past and beat state championship teams handily, yet they did not win the region in KY. The same is true for boys basketball. I do agree with you about other sports. Wrestling in KY is getting more competitive and if we continue to grow, we will get there.

[FalconWrestling 147]

"I just remember at a camp at Oklahoma State there was a 4 time State Champ from California."

Are you sure? I think there's only been 1 or 2 4xer's ever from California.

I am like 60-70% sure they said he was a 4 timer. I am positive he was a multiple time state champ

None of us could believe it because of how bad he was doing

[The Bear 0]

Well, Cali does have more wrestlers than any other state.  I believe they have close to 1000 school participating in wrestling.  I am not sure of that number, but I know it is close to that.  Those also only have 1 class/division!  In Kentucky we have roughly 80 schools in one class, in Cali they have more than 10 times that.  I am just staying that per close to 1000 wrestlers, they only have 1 champ.  It has to be tough to win their state tournament...

I agree with you on that. On a national level though California is kind of dissapointing to be honest.

[Kentucky10 0]

1.PA          11.Indian

2.OH         12.Wiconsin

3.Cal         13.Flordia

4.NJ          14.Nebraska

5.NY          15.Minnesota

6.OK          16.Texas

7.Iowa       17.Georgia

8.VA          18.Nevada

9.Illinois      19.Arizonia?

10.Michigan 20.Kentucky?

Just my thought on the top 20

you would be very surprised rara about Iowa. Coty was telling me the day he came in the room that Iowa high school wrestling isn't really that great. and i think Georgia needs to be before Florida, high school wrestling is huge in Georgia. And i say Kentucky should be lower, theres states like Maine, Maryland , Colorado, Oregon,  Utah  that i think should be before ky.

[bluegrassbrawler 2]

I agree with you on that. On a national level though California is kind of dissapointing to be honest.

just look at the numbers I posted though.  California has the 2nd most national champs, and the 2nd most All-Americans at the NHSCA Senior Nationals.  Can't really argue with that.  I don't care that they send the most to the tournament, their kids still win the whole thing.  If the state wasn't good they wouldn't have many champions...

[bluegrassbrawler 2]

you would be very surprised rara about Iowa. Coty was telling me the day he came in the room that Iowa high school wrestling isn't really that great. and i think Georgia needs to be before Florida, high school wrestling is huge in Georgia. And i say Kentucky should be lower, theres states like Maine, Maryland , Colorado, Oregon,  Utah  that i think should be before ky.

I think I would have Florida before Georgia.  Brandon, South Dade, and Oviedo have all risen to National prowess.  Florida produces a lot of All-Americans at the NHSCA events as well as Fargo too.  I would put Kentucky before Maine.  They have even fewer schools participating in wrestling than our state.  That is a common trend in the New England states though.  States like Vermont barely have 20 teams in the state.

[Kentucky10 0]

I think I would have Florida before Georgia.  Brandon, South Dade, and Oviedo have all risen to National prowess.  Florida produces a lot of All-Americans at the NHSCA events as well as Fargo too.  I would put Kentucky before Maine.  They have even fewer schools participating in wrestling than our state.  That is a common trend in the New England states though.  States like Vermont barely have 20 teams in the state.

Yea true there is alot of talent coming out of Florida, as Dmoody can tell you that when Coach Wilder coached Cumberland College" back when they were the braves or indians" that alot of the recrutes he got were out of florida, and anybody that has been to Cumberlands State Champ Camp in the past 5 years will tell you that over half of the kids that use to go to the camp were from Florida, now the number has dropped because Medders is the coach. But my opinion on the subject stays with Georgia for a simple reason of divisions. There are like 3x as many wrestling schools in georgia as in Kentucky. I don't know the number of divisons but i THINK its alot.

I  put Maine before kentucky because i was thinking geological location and the myth that the best wrestlers come from the north. haha forgive my sterotype. But i have been slammed on my head once by a kid from maine.

[bobbythebrick101 0]

i dont think the good state are much further north than NY after that dies down a little IMO

[PD 2]

I'm an ohio guy but I'll have to go with PA based on number of college kids.

[171suprise 0]

I think the only way Kentucky can get to their full potential is by teams traveling to other states such as ohio, virginia, and facing tougher competition. Not an expert but that is just my opinion.

[The Bear 0]

I think the only way Kentucky can get to their full potential is by teams traveling to other states such as Ohio, Virginia, and facing tougher competition. Not an expert but that is just my opinion.

Yeah, it's a pretty good idea. A lot of teams here do travel. The best thing to do is what Trinity, Union, and Ryle do. They go to these tough tournaments but, you almost always see at least two of these teams at the same tournament. I'm not sure if North Hardin still goes but, they had a very tough 06-07 team and they travelled to Ravenwood, TN. tournament as did Christian County and made a very good showing. It's always good to see these tough KY boys show that they can hang with people on the east coast and even the midwest. Virginia is getting very tough in the sport of wrestling, I would consider them to be a top 10 state here in the next few years.

[FalconWrestling 147]

I think the only way Kentucky can get to their full potential is by teams traveling to other states such as ohio, virginia, and facing tougher competition. Not an expert but that is just my opinion.

The problem with that is that some teams did it too much and come regional time the wrestlers had no clue how to beat who they were facing and would lose close matches

[pioneer_pride 1]

The problem with that is that some teams did it too much and come regional time the wrestlers had no clue how to beat who they were facing and would lose close matches

I can't really agree with you on this FCHS.  If you wrestle as tough of competition as you can find, in and out of state....you'll end up seeing all kinds of different styles.  You should be able to handle a close match come regionals.  If you lose a close match at regionals it was probably for some other reason.  Conditioning or just bad technique.  The perennial powerhouses Ryle, Woodford, Union wrestle out of state and outside of their regions as much as possible and they do ok at regions.

[119Rider 61]

I dont see how Missouri would not be in top 20. Soon how we forget guys like Schattler, Sammie Henson and TJ Hill just to mention a few.

[Zeus 117]

I'm an ohio guy but I'll have to go with PA based on number of college kids.

I agree and I think there is a cycle with the state of Pennsylvania.  PA has like 20 different colleges that have wrestling.  DI schools off the top of my head include Penn St, Penn, Bloomsburg, Clarion, Pitt, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Slippery Rock (they might have done away with their team) and I'm sure there are probably three more.  Because PA kids can obviously receive in-state tuition from these schools the schools are going to full of PA kids.  The majority of these college kids probably go back to their old school and help out and then a good number become a coach somewhere close by.  This large population fills the high school then middle school coaching jobs.  Many dads help start youth programs to help their child succeed as well.  In turn PA as a state produces a tremendous amount of wrestlers who have been at it since they were 4-8 years old, the perfect age range to start a kid into the sport in my opinion.  Many of these kids keep the PA cycle going but many of the elite competitors attend colleges across the country for top ten college programs.  This in turn gives Pennsylvania an "advantage" in the overall numbers.

Now obviously Pennsylvania has a higher population than Kentucky but if we could get to their ratio of schools that have wrestling to high school wrestlers then our level as a state will go up.  Ohio has a similar ratio I'd say.  Iowa has 2 top 5 schools, another decent one and we have more than a million people than they do.  Therefore their level of wrestling as a state goes up.  Obviously it can be done other ways like in Florida.  Their high schoolers are pretty good but no DI programs I know and don't think they have any college programs at all.  This method would take more time and more of an effort by fathers because many kids won't continue their careers because they have to pay more to go out of state.  Lindsey Wilson getting a program is awesome!  The best and most efficient way to make Kentucky wrestling better is for colleges to make programs because it gives more roster spots and more scholarship opportunites.  This in turn increases college attendance rates and graduates more people who raise the level of the state and a similar cycle is created.  The best investment a city or state can make is high school or college education almost no matter the subject area or activity.

... sorry, I was rambling again haha

[Zeus 117]

Just to clarify, but it also further proves my point, I found out that Pennsylvania has 15 colleges that are DI.  This does not include DII, DIII, NAIA, Junior College and club teams.  We should model our state after PA and OH if we want to be the best.  If you don't want to be the best then keep doing what you're doing.

[The Bear 0]

Just to clarify, but it also further proves my point, I found out that Pennsylvania has 15 colleges that are DI.  This does not include DII, DIII, NAIA, Junior College and club teams.  We should model our state after PA and OH if we want to be the best.  If you don't want to be the best then keep doing what you're doing.

During this day and time I think it's virtually impossible that schools will sponsor a sport like wrestling. Especially a public school i.e. WKU, UK, EKU, Murray, and Louisville they have their football and basketball and that's all they want and they feel that's all they need.

[The Bear 0]

12,448,279 is the population for Penn. 4,269,245 is Kentucky's population. So you figure Penn has 15 colleges that have wrestling in D1 alone we have to get at least 2 more colleges to support wrestling to catch up with their D1 programs.

[The Bear 0]

Just like everything in KY though we are based on traditions so the Universities probably do not want to steer away from their traditions and morals.

[Zeus 117]

I know it's tough but if we keep lobbying, and I mean constantly, then it will eventually happen.  We can't go for the big dogs first like UK or UofL.  A better path would be Eastern, Western, Morehead St, or other smaller DI schools.  More DII/DIII/NAIA schools would help as well.  Over a period of time, and who knows how long that might be, I think UK or UofL might add wrestling.  But it would take a major effort over a long period of time.  This effort can be spread out over several individuals instead of one person doing all the work.

12,448,279 is the population for Penn. 4,269,245 is Kentucky's population. So you figure Penn has 15 colleges that have wrestling in D1 alone we have to get at least 2 more colleges to support wrestling to catch up with their D1 programs.

I think this is possible.  Our youth programs are growing rapidly, especially in the Lexington region.  Lindsey Wilson added a program and I think some more will as well in the future.  We can't just accept defeat because we're at the bottom right now.  Sometimes success isn't how many times you win but rather how many times you get back up after you lose.  A former state champ, now deceased, taught me that in the course of my many many beatings.