matfan

Good post Sly!

Rabbitt...I think you fried your brain by spending too much time in the tanning bed!

Jordan Leen is the BEST in the state...just ask Rabbit!

Silverbullet...You need to re-check your stats on the Bradley Invitational. In 1999, the last year Baylor was invited, Baylor did in fact win the Bradley Invitational! Baylor won with 249 points to Bradley's second place finish of 206.5 points.

How about Marc Lyle from Baylor School. Three time State Champion '78(155), '79(167), '80(167). Two time Outstanding Wrestler '79 and '80.

Rabbit, silly rabbit...You seem to know a lot about Leen...What did he have for breakfast this morning? If you know for a Fact that he was supposed to be at 119, why did he weigh in at 125? I guess you also know that he had a high ankle sprain from working out with John Lane at Soddy before the season started. He was only able to do limited workouts before the Soddy match because of this injury. Hey silly rabbit, that is why he wrestled at 125. He hasn't been able to workout to lose any weight. And, as Mtnrasslin said, he also wrestled at 125 at Knox Catholic this past weekend. He is still not up to full speed because of his injury, but still looked pretty impressive in defeating Matt Bird in the finals. I don't think Kyle James could beat Matt Bird. I guess we will see at the McCallie tourney.

Nick Berry of St. Andrews/Sewanee was a runner-up three times. He finished second to Patrick Simpson at 103 and 112, and finished second to Sprncer Manley last year at 119. He is currently wrestling for Carson-Newman College at 125 or 133.

Timj- Please list the match scores by weight class if you have them. That is a big win for East Ridge in McCallie's gym. I know Coach Goss had knee surgery last week, and I heard he jumped three feet in the air after the match! [Edited by matfan on 12-6-02 7:36A]

Walkenvol- Catlett vs Connell would be a great match, as would McCallie vs Bradley. Too bad we will never get to see it!

Reftn- Again, well stated commentary!

Ever hear the story of David and Goliath? Better yet, how about the lock of the century...Dan Gable going for his Fourth NCAA title...there is no such thing as an absolute lock in wrestling!

Thanks chxian and deaddux!

Walkenvol- Great post...nice reference to ox being gored! You have to admit that the split only waters down each state championship in all sports, both boys and girls! The separation of public and private is Not in the best interest of our kids! It only teaches our kids that if you don't like the game, take your ball and go home! After our kids get out of high school, the real world doesn't separate public/private. You have to compete aganist everyone. I was always taught that there was always someone a little bigger, a little stronger, a little quicker, but if you worked harder than they did you could "outsmart" them! I see this every year in almost every sport. That is one reason wrestling is such a great sport! These are the lessons you should get out of sports to succeed in life! Not that if you can't win, change the rules!

KCHSCOACH, mtnrasslin, reftn, and xbody- I agree with all of you! This split only hurts the kids and the competition that they COULD have if we still only had one division! It looks like we are headed back to the old Mid-South Athletic Association for the private schools. It is a shame that some of the school administrators and coaches do not put the kids best interest in their decision making!

Reftn- Excellent commentary! [Edited by matfan on 11-12-02 10:32A]

It's a given that they have many of the same moves in all three disciplines of wrestling, but the NCAA's are scored on the folkstyle/collegiate rules of wrestling. [Edited by matfan on 10-4-02 8:37A]

Sundancer- The last time I saw the NCAA Tournament, they were STILL using folkstyle, not freestyle or Greco.

Add one more: Nate Rawlings- Princeton University- Baylor

Add Nate Rawlings- Princeton University (285 lbs)

If you guys haven't figured out that Walkenvol is Manley's dad, you haven't been on CoachT very long! Hey Tim, your kid is not the only one who has been on the receiving end of a bad call in wrestling a big match!! I aggree with you that the "blood call" was awful from where I was sitting, but the match has been over for more than a year and a half so quite whinning about it!!!! As for the preception that McCallie "buys" the best athletes, this goes back to the period when McCallie got the death penalty in wrestling for having too many varsity scholarship athletes on it's wrestling team. If you knew anything about what went on with McCallie wrestling during this time frame, you would understand this concept!!! It is hard for people to forget this, and it made all the private schools look bad! This is also one of the big reasons that caused the DI/DII split...thus the comment from another person about "throwing stones from your own glass house".

HBK, The Mid-South Athletic Association of the 1940's-1970 was a much tougher,stronger organization than the TSSAA(When the TSSAA was starting out)! The TSSAA started in the 60's and a lot of the Mid-South schools did not join the TSSAA until the demise of most of the Military programs in these schools. McCallie and Baylor being two of the most notable schools. Just because some of the wrestlers mentioned were not TSSAA State Champions has absoutely no bearing on who were some of the states best wrestlers of all time! Most of the TSSAA State Champs of that era, could NOT have won a Mid-South title. There are some exceptions, but not many! The TSSAA was just starting at this time and the competion was not as tough! Randy Weinberg was a 5(That's FIVE) time Mid-South Champion, and a National Prep Champion.He beat Tennessee's best competion 5 years in a row! He has to be one of the state's best all time wrestlers! His older brother Sandy was a Mid-South Champion his Senior year beating Robert Cotter of McCallie in the finals of the Mid-South. Sandy did not win a National title(Sorry Zed1,you are wrong on this one). Just to give you a little more information HBK19, since you are cursed with being too young to remember, on the strength of the Mid-South VS TSSAA competion in the 60's era...East Ridge won the TSSAA State Title in 1967. They had a very good team with some outstanding individual wrestlers. They wrestled Baylor that year, and if memory serves me correct, East Ridge did not win an individual match in that dual match. If I am wrong about this, I apologize to the East Ridge wrestlers in advance! Also, Baylor finished second to McCallie in the Mid-South Tournament. East Ridge was the 3rd best team in Chattanooga in 1967, but they won the State Championship in 1967. This is why you cannot say that if these wrestlers of this era do not hold a TSSAA State Title they might not be the best example of being the best in the state!!! The teams that were in the Mid-South did not hide from anyone....the TSSAA would not let these kids that were at schools in the Mid-South compete in the state tournament at that time! There are numerous other wrestlers that have not been mentioned that also wrestled in the Mid-South that were the best that this state has seen...Alex Roberts, Chip Healy, and Rob Healy are three more that wrestled for Major Worsham at Baylor School. All three were National Prep Champions, and would have been State Champions if the TSSAA would have let them compete at the time. [Edited by matfan on 4/17/02 12:08P]

Best heavyweight... John Hannah from Baylor School.