renegade

60lbs 1st- Addison Cornell - Chattanooga region 2nd-Hammonds - Nashville region 3rd Adams -Chattanooga region 65lbs 1st-James Westbrooks-Chattanooga region 2nd-Tucker Russo -Chattanooga Region 70 1st-Stevenson chattanooga region 75- 1st gage Richmond _chattanooga region 2nd Jack reynolds-Chattanooga region 80 lbs 1st_ Shelton -chattanooga region 2nd- oliver -chattanooga region 3rd- Begley_nashville? 85 1st Blake Sutherland-Cahhattanooga region 2nd -Casey Dodson -Nasville 3rd-Hamrick-chattanooga region 90 1st- Hubbs-Chattanooga region 2nd Logan Griffith -Chattanooga 95-1st Parker -knoxville 100-Carney-Nashville 108 lbs 1st Kennedy-Nashville 2nd Mcglamery_Chattanooga 119-Thompson-? 132 wilson -hendersonville ha-cleveland 148- Davis-knoxville 2nd-Schmissrateur-chattanooga hwt-Soloman-knoxville

you also seem to be putting down the Aau by saying the competetion is much better in the Dixie duals than our Aau events. Well, thats common sense isnt it? If you have state champions from other states obviosuly that will be tougher than your own state tournament. Do you think those states would have missed their state tournament to wrestle in the dixie duals? I think they probably supported their own state tournaments first and then wrestled in the duals. If you want to make this a Usa vs Aau contest then why dont you attend the Aau national duals. There almost 30 teams in the elementary and 30 in the Middle school division. HMM... makes the Dixies kind of pathetic now doesnt it? Also look at the talent level. I believe the Aau duals will have Iowa,Michigan, Ohio, Indianna, Missouiri, Illinois, Wisconsiect.... sounds better than team northwest Alabama b team doesnt it. Think before you open a can of worms you arent prepared to defend with facts.

There shouldnt have been very many scratches due to the Dixie Duals. Surely the coaches and or parents had enough decencey not to enter their kids in the state tournament if they knew in advance they were going to be attending the Dixie duls instead. I cant speak for everyone but I can say the Chattanooga region sent all of their kids to the state tournament instead of the Dixie Duals in the juniors and below except for one wrestler. The Chattanooga area coaches made a decesion to support our state and make it stronger. It was definatley the best tournament in Tennessee Based on evel of competetion. Next year should be unbelievable.

The majority are at the duals. Blake Sutherland (junior division)is at the state at 85 lbs and Billy ? from Soddy (middle school heavyweight) is at the state. The rest of the olph team is at the duals

Yes, I forgot about that. I did see those matches. I was refering to a tournament two years ago at Soddy. I think he got beat by a kid his age and weight but he may have been wrestling up a weight, Im not positive. That was two years ago and he's obviously wrestled a ton of matches against quality opponents since then. He is untouchable at 60 if thats the weight he will be in. If he's at 70 like the earlier poster stated then I think he will at least be tested a little against two of the Chattanooga kids.

Good point, I thought Eli wrestled 60 or 65? If Im not mistaken he has been down to Chattanooga and gotten beaten before though. Stranger things have happened. Although I would tend to agree he would be the hands down favorite if he is at that weight. I havent had the pleasure of watching this young man this year but he seems to be winning on some mighty big stages. I will tell you this. There are quite a few kids from Chattanooga that do not travel that will suprise some of the better known wrestlers. I know some of the "stud" Nashville area middle schoolers have wrestled some of our kids this year and got pinned. These were supposedly unbeaten and unscored upon kids. According to their Dads anyway. This should be a great event with some great matchups.

Well, I hope that is just positive thinking and not a true prediction. Im pretty sure there are some kids from Chattanooga that might throw a monkey wrench in those plans. We are missing some kids due to spring break and a few are coming back in time just for weigh ins. I think that even with a week of no practice they will be fine.I am not up to speed on the little guys as much as the older ones but here are a few. Tots 45 will be Chattanooga. Midget 70 & 75 will be Chattanooga. In the juniors Chattanooga may sweep all but two weight classes. Thats with two of our best wrestling in the Dixie Duals. In the middle school most of our studs will all be in the Dixie Duals except for a couple. All of our high school studs are in the Dixie duals. Remeber these teams. Soddy Daisy, Chattanooga School of Wrestling, Cougars, Higher Calling, Mighty Warriors

also congrats to the Cleveland Middle school team for winning the Aau State Dual meet Tourney. This was a meet that allows club teams to participate so to win it with your true team without picking up kids is a great accomplishment.

First off I have the ultimate respect for Bradleys wrestling program and their kids. In my opionion they are the team until someone knocks them off of their pedastal. When i said they are supposed to beat Cleveland I should have said they are supposed to beat everyone. That was a compliment. It doesnt matter how many kids they lose becasue they work hard and always seem to have new wrestlers waiting in the wings. Its a very impressive system and legacy. As far as the recruiting aspect goes. I do not have any detailed knowledge of how those kids came to end up at Cleveland. My statement was simply supposed to mean this: Dont belittle these kids from Cleveland and how hard they have worked by saying that they recruited in kids and thats why they are winning. If they were going after kids to recruit it would make more sense to recruit kids with proven track records and who proven themselves on the mat. If a kid moves into town and runs into a wrestler, parent or booster from school "a" and that person tells the prospective parent or wrestler all their school has to offer I dont consider that the same as recruiting blue chip wrestlers and talking them into coming to your school. Like I said I have no detailed knowledge of anything that transpired in that regard and I wont pretend to but I dont thing allegations of recruiting should be thrown around unless there is some facts behind it. Like Spyder I am enjoying watching some good wrestling and I cant wait to watch this rivalry unfold in the upcoming years. As far as the other issues addressed in the article its none of my buisness. I was simply saying that if something potentially damaging as some of those statements are aired in a public forum the person doing it should have the facts straight. All the people involved are adults and can handle their own situations so I will kindly back up on those topics.

There was an interesting article posted on the Times Free press website last week. It seems this article has stirred some deep emotions in those that follow the Raiders from Cleveland and the Bears of Bradley. The article can be found at the following site: http://www.timesfreepress.com/absolutenm/t...2&zoneid=46 I have no ties or allegiance to either school and in fact am quite involved in our beloved sport at different schools and programs. I do know and have close relationships with some of the Cleveland coaches so I feel I can clarify a few points. I have decided to throw my two cents into the mix and also see what others thought of this article and if there was a hidden message intended. I was forwarded this article to read and then I was asked what I thought of it. At first I thought that it was a pretty good article that described the building rivalry between the two schools. Later that day I attended the Cleveland and Soddy match and it was all anybody was talking about. The Cleveland camp thought that it was a direct jab at their program and their biggest supporter. First off I want to say that I found no fault in Mr. Gossetts article. I think we are too politcally correct in todays society. I like someone who isnt afraid to lay it on the line and get people thinking. That being said, I believe Mr. Gossett will have to have some thick skin and be prepared to have some interesting conversations when writing such contoversial articles. Hey, anything that gets people talking about wrestling is a good thing isnt it? The Cleveland side of the argument is that they felt like the article insinuated they were recruiting all of these new kids and that was why they are winning. Lets examine that topic. As far as I know none of the new kids were "all world "wrestlers before they came to Cleveland. Show me where they won a major level tournament of any kind. Heck, show me where any of these youngsters have even won or placed at state level tournament of any kind. Wont happen becasue they havent. Cleveland also felt like that the article was making suggestions as to the "ethics" involved in Mr. Jones being so supportive of their program. I wish I had supporters like that is all I can say. You show me a top tier program that doesnt have tremendous support in this state. It might not be from one person such as Mr. Jones but I can gurantee you the top programs in the state have and will continue to have support from outside the school system. I believe Bradley, Baylor and Soddy are prime examples of powerhouses that have tremendous community support. Mr.Jones also donates money to other schools as was mentioned in the article. Of course he is going to do more for his alma matter and the school his son attends wouldnt you think? Here are the facts as I see them. I have heard people complaining and whining from other schools. It isnt fair that Cleveland has their building, It isnt fair that they have all those coaches. I have heard Bradley people saying how bad they were going to kill Cleveland and how Cleveland is highly overated. News flash..... Of course Bradley will more than likely beat Cleveland. They are supposed to. I havent heard the first word out of anyone from Clevelands mouth about being better than Bradley. I havent heard one word out of their mouth about being better than anyone. In fact they scratch their heads and wonder how they keep winning. Lets face it wrestling is down except for maybe Bradley. But Cleveland is finding ways to win with kids who arent supposed to win. Have they found some secret formula? Are they recruiting all the best wrestlers? No, they are winning with a bunch of inexperinced kids who have bought into the belief that they can be as good as they want to be. They feed off of their coaches enthusiasm and never say die attitude. They arent winning with kids that were handed to them on a silver platter after illustrius kid and junior high careeers like some of the Johnny come lately programs. They are winning with BEGINNERS. Thats right 1st and second year wrestlers with a few rejuvinated veterans thrown into the mix. Dont believe me just go watch the Cleveland Middle School team. They are beating everybody with a bunch of beginnrs as well. In fact they had 5 league champions I believe last season and most were beginners who beat some of our private school studs. I can promise you this. Coach Phillips at the middle school is as good as it gets at any level. There isnt a motivator around who can get more out of a kid than he can. Throw into the mix the new kid in town Mike Hatcher (University of Iowa) and the youngsters up there that are tough enough to walk down the path set forth for them will be light years ahead of anybody elses rising high school wrestlers. But what coach Hatcher is doing isnt just for Cleveland kids. No, It is open to anybody who has the desire to work hard and pay the price to be a champion. This isnt some fancy secretive technique. Its old fashion hard work stressing the fundamentals of position, angles, set ups, controling the pace, and imposing your will on the mat. You take a kid with those fundamentals ingrained into their wrestling and with the work ethic and "warrior mentality" that has been instilled by coach Phillips and turn them over to a technician like Coach Eslinger and the wrestling world better watch out. As far as the rumours about the pictures being taken off of the walls at Bradley. I heard from Bradley, Walker valley and Cleveland people that it was true. Not only that but when the picture went back up it was missing a certain ex-wrestler now rival coach. Do I know this for sure? No, I do not but the people who told me certainly would know. Dang, Im starting to sound like a Blue Raider myself.. I better slow down. People are making a huge deal out of Clevelands success and are ready to throw them in as the next state champions. They arent there yet. They are winning and beating teams becasue they want to win more than their opponents. They have put in the extra time and effort and they go out on the mat willing to do whatever it takes to win. Its simply that and nothing more. But I do predict that they will be up there with the Bradley Countys, Soddy daisy's and Baylors of the word in short time. Look how far they have came in one year. I for one cant wait to watch it happen. There is nothing more special to me than to see a kid overachieve or do things he isnt supposed to do. Thats what is happening at Cleveland becasue their coaches have them believing in themselves. Isnt that what this sport is all about? So, all you crybabys out there who are now getting beat by a team you considered beneath you a few months ago you better wake up. This team wasnt an all start junior high team. This team isnt made up of wrestlers that have been wrestling since they were 6 years old. This is a young bunch of kids and enthusiastic coaches who have outworked you.