OSU/Iowa, the Lakers/Celtics of college wrestling....

[You don't know me 1161]

Which school does your son attend?

Union. Have 2 there now, a senior and a sophomore.

[jimmyjazz 45952]

Just now, You don't know me said:

3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Which school does your son attend?

Union. Have 2 there now, a senior and a sophomore.

Ah yes, our marching band used to compete there.  #bandnerd

[You don't know me 1161]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

Ah yes, our marching band used to compete there.  #bandnerd

My senior is also in band.  He's really good.  Takes his shoulder pads off at halftime and performs with the band.  Kid stays pretty busy.

[You don't know me 1161]

High school coach sent the schedule out today. First practice is November 4th. Almost time.

 

 

[chesthair 231]

Gotta love it...cold front = wrestling season.

We have weight certs the 23rd and leave that night for Iowa.  My boys are wrestling at pre-season nationals.  2 weeks after that the season starts.  

Speaking of Iowa...may need some rest/bar recs for des moines. 

[You don't know me 1161]

Our high school hired a new teacher that was also a state champion at 195.  He is going to help coach wrestling.  My senior (285) is pretty excited because he is going to have someone bigger/better to wrestle with and learn from this year.  I'm telling him that he really needs to work on shooting and his ground game.  If he can wrestle with a bit of small style as a big man, he'll make some noise later in the season.  My hope is that he treats the tournaments as ways to work on certain aspects of his wrestling and to not worry about how he finishes.  Something like setting a goal for a certain number of takedowns in a tournament. 

My sophomore is very excited for the season.  It's been fun to watch his primary focus shift from football to wrestling.  It started a few years ago, but it's in full swing now.  He had a rough season last year at varsity because they had him wrestling up 2 weight classes.  When the kid that was supposed to be wrestling there finally made weight, my boy started wrestling JV.  He was in an odd spot because he was almost too good at his weight in JV, but below average at varsity up 2 classes.  It did help his confidence though to rack a bunch of wins, but we'll see how it translates this year.  He did have a great summer though.

Edited October 9, 2019 by You don't know me

[chesthair 231]

Off season work really moves the needle. Good luck to the two of them. 

[You don't know me 1161]

It's time!  Boys officially start practice today after receiving a beat down in the first round of the football playoffs.  Secretly, I'm glad football season is over so that wrestling can get going.

[You don't know me 1161]

Yeah, we would wrestle as far north as Jeff City (Helias) and then west and south to Camdenton, West Plains, Salem, Waynesville, Neosho, etc.  The "Winter's Bone" circuit of small town rural Missouri.
Rolla has gotten a lot better -- we were not good back then.  I remember being pumped because we took something like 4 of the first 5 matches against Helias and then (as usual) got steamrolled.

Union wrestled at Rolla on Tuesday. Rolla pretty much smoked Union.

I could not believe how many kids that Rolla had there. I did a little digging and their coach posted something on Twitter about having over 100 in their wrestling for the third year in a row. That is crazy.

[jimmyjazz 45952]

Huh.  I didn't know the program had exploded like that.  

[chesthair 231]

How are your kids seasons going?  We are 1 week from districts and we are peaking at the right time.  Wrestled in OK a lot this season which will make you tough in a hurry.  Boys have wrestled 4-5 nationally ranked kids...woof!  Looking at going to mizzou this summer to train.  

[chesthair 231]

FYI, #1 Iowa vs. #2 PnState tonight at 8 on big ten network. 

[You don't know me 1161]

We have districts this weekend.  Senior (285) ran into a rough patch and lost 4 in a row a couple of weeks ago.  He has wrestled some very tough competition, but seems to be back on track.  We'll see how this weekend goes, though.  In his district is a kid that's ranked in the top 5 or so in the nation at 285.  If my boy gets to the semis on the right side, he'll wrestle that kid. 

My sophomore has wrestled a lot.  he's had 44 matches this year.  He consistently finishes tops among the underclassmen, so he's improving quite a bit.  He's at 152, which is a gauntlet.  He's had some nice tournaments this year.  Districts is going to be tough though.  In his bracket this weekend there are 5 state qualifiers from last year. 

I did get him signed up for a really good camp this summer.  Ever heard of Purler?

[You don't know me 1161]

Districts went about as expected.  285 qualified for state by finishing 3rd at district tournament.  Made it to semis, had to wrestle at top 5 or 10 285 in the nation and of course lost.  Then won next match in wrestle backs, which guaranteed him at least 4th and a spot at state.  Won his 3rd place match.

152 was a buzz saw.  Several returning qualifiers.  My sophomore was one of the two at that grade.  He lost his first, won his second, then got bounced in second round wrestlebacks.

State tournament was this past weekend.  For state, they don't seed.  There are 4 districts, top 4 from each district qualify.  For 'seeding', they place them in the bracket based on how they placed at their respective district.  It's the same for all weights.  District 1, 1st place gets a certain spot in the bracket.  In that same pod is a second, third and fourth place finisher - all from different districts.  That way they don't have anyone wrestling another wrestler from the same district for the first 2 rounds.  Worked out pretty shitty for my senior.  First round was an easy win against the second place from some other district.  His second match was against the 4th place from district 3, which also happened to be a finalist at 220 from last year.  I think that kid kind of tanked districts.  Anyway, my kid lost that one in the second round.  Then in his next match, 3rd round wrestle backs. he messed up near the end of the second period and got caught.  So, he was out at that point.

What really sucks is that the kid that my boy beat at districts for 3rd place got put into a pod with the 1st place finisher from a horrible district.  Basically, that pod was easy.  That kid won his first 2 matches, so into the semis and a guaranteed placer in the top 6.  My kid has wrestled this same kid 3 times and won easily each time.  Once that kid got the semis, he lost his next 3, but still medaled at 6th.  I'm biased, but my boy was easily in the top 6 of the wrestlers there.  He just got unlucky with the bracket, which is how it goes.

There are 4 classes, so there were 8 finalists wrestling for titles.  Of those 8, my son wrestled 5 of them this year.  I doubt that there is any other heavyweight that wrestled that kind of schedule.  He finished the year 35-12, with 7 of his losses to state finalists.  Ugh.

He's actually glad that it's all over, though.  He's joined the Navy and now he can start really preparing physically for that.  He didn't want to lose any weight during football or wrestling, but now that can't be used as an excuse.

My sophomore is extremely motivated.  He had a very good year, although he came up a bit short at districts.  Preparation for next year has already started.