ArtusCimber

Science Hill's seeds are: First Max Vaughn (103) Cole Schurlknight (112) Matt Stull (145) Matt Cruise (160) Matt Cannon (171) Josh Lewis (215) Josh Barnette (285) Second Steven Goldstein (119) Jonathan Pearce (125) Justin Snyder (140) Third Javier Tapia (130) Fourth Wesley Vaughan (135) Justin Harris (189) Fifth Austin Fullbright (152)

KingGreene, You guys should definitely feel like you had a part in this, because you did. A major one. I have been looking for a situation like the one last Spring for a long time. I'm definitely not as young as I used to be, and the new restrictions would make it impossible for me to run the roads with the kids like I used to anyway (plus I have to get my baseball fix in the spring). I am more appreciative of your help than I can say; I wish the rest of the region would take advantage of the opportunity you guys provide.

KingGreene, Pardon my mistake. I am pushing the envelope of fatigue and am probably thinking clearly only about fifty percent of the time these days. I am glad we could represent the region as well as we did. Rankings mean everything and nothing, and I know that there were many folks in other parts of the state who probably felt like ours has been unwarranted. Hopefully we have disabused them of that notion, at least for now. Our next challenge is finding a way to stay this competitive every year, not just every so often.

Thanks Matt...

Was there a jacket to match those pants with the distinct purple hue?

Easy now guys... Josh wasn't ejected, just DQ'd from the match for his fifth penalty; it happened right at the end and I didn't even know. Coach Renner checked it right away and knew what was up. Josh wrestled the last two matches and will hopefully be wrestling in the medal rounds in two weeks. Some bad choices on the mat, but making bad choices is a privilege of youth. Josh is a great kid (as are all my lot this season); I will miss him very much when he leaves. He is good company, and I am proud to have ridden the roads with him the past few years. I am also absolutely proud of my team. We were hoping we would be dealt a different hand, but we played the heck out of the one that we had. I couldn't be more pleased (well, probably if we had finished first or second, but I'll never know). They have always found ways to prevail, and they did again. Justin Snyder went over 100 wins for his career, and came out on top of every gut check he was faced with. Matt Cannon had five pins in five matches. Another kid that is a real joy to ride with. I am just sorry this dual season is over. I think we really learned what it is to be a team. Every one of my kids learned something and got better. Now, let's all just get along...let's enjoy the next two weeks...

And the rest of us in DI are just peasants hoping for some crumbs...

The best state individual tournament showing we had during my time at Jeff County was in 1998 when we only took five guys. Two firsts (Waylon Lowe and Justin Anderson), a fourth (Billy James), and a fifth (Josh Moffat) and finished seventh. We finished fourth in the duals in 1997 and imploded at the individuals. The best Science Hill finish was fourth in the duals (2002 and 2003) and fourth in the individuals in 2002. So the fourth/fourth finish stands as the best at Science Hill. Of course this team is the Gold Standard for the program; they were great wrestlers and excellent young men, all of whom have gone on to accomplish great things. There was an article on both Erick Waage and Coach Farrace in the Johnson City paper on Friday. Coach Farrace never bragged about what he did so it was cool to actually see some of his accomplishments. I can't find the links. Sorry.

Jeff County took 13 in 1997-had Scott Fandetti lived, it would have been fourteen as he would have gone 119 and pushed Waylon Lowe down to 112. We had a really good 112 pounder that year in Nathan Cate. He would have placed, but it was just too difficult for him to hold the weight. He wrestled 130 the next year; in today's era there would have been no way he would have been allowed to go 112. He would never have passed hydration or the fat test. Science Hill took 12 in 2002 and 2003. As large as the region has become, SHHS qualifying all 14 will take a great effort and a bit of luck. Unless Farrace, Brimer, Hollowell, or Hooban had a team that took 14, I don't think it has been done, especially in the new configuration. By the way, congratulations to Tony Farrace who on Saturday was inducted into the Science Hill Sports Hall of Fame.

I began my coaching career at Waggener High School in Louisville, KY under Phil Coomes. He was my mentor in the profession, and he never wrestled. He in now in the KHSAA Hall of Fame.

Dobyns-Bennett 49, Jefferson County 25 Science Hill 66, Morristown West 12 Science Hill 70, Dobyns-Bennett 9

Congratulations to Greg Foreman for hanging in there and making this program what he had always hoped it would become. Hope we can punch our own tickets on Monday.

I am thankful to Logan and Justin for reviving what I thought might be forever lost at Jeff County. I am proud of Justin because he has become a fine man. Don't anybody disparage my boys.

Brett Usary (Science Hill) 213 Wins Ty Cody (Science Hill) 212 Wins Bo Usary (Science Hill) 207 Wins It helps that our guys can wrestle in 8th grade...

NCWrestlingfan, The way it works is that the wrestlers will be placed in a round robin group of four; a wrestler who wins his pool can finish no lower than fourth. A wrestler who finishes second in his pool will wrestle back, but can finish no higher than fifth. Wrestlers who finish third and fourth are eliminated, but the upside is that they get three matches as opposed to the two in a traditional double elimination. The championship semis losers wrestle for third and fourth, while the consolation winners wrestle for fifth and sixth. In our tournament, consolation semis losers are eliminated, although some tournaments of this nature will wrestle a seventh and eighth place match. The key is to clear your pool, because the subsequent rounds are where the place points are. The more pool winners you have, the better off your team will be, but the key is to clear your pool. And rassinlite is correct; Christian Brothers is the real deal.

Parkland looks formidable to say the least. Christian Brothers has four of the best wrestlers I've seen this season-Baker, Baucke (sp?), and the Johnson Brothers. There is not a hole in their lineup. Cleveland is Cleveland-aggressive and poised (not to mention a Price trained athlete on the coaching staff who has learned to succeed in spite of his old coach). Ooltewah is always solid. And those are just the people I've seen. If we finish fourth and in one piece I will thank the gods and sneak out the back door of Freedom Hall. This tournament looks brutal.

I don't like to call any of the guys who work with me at Science Hill assistants, because I don't make that distinction. However, I did get a team point at Cleveland as "the assistant coach", so maybe Miller's dastardly Al Haig plan is working. My job would not be nearly as easy or enjoyable were it not for the people who work with me every day. I value what they bring to the program, but their friendship and counsel is what I care about most. We've run many roads together. I don't know how anyone could work with four better people than Sandy Cody, Jon Renner, Jimmy Miller (yes, even him) and Damien Buchanan.

Cleveland won.

Wrestlers, remember to thank Santa today for the fine Christmas gift of the two pound growth allowance. And as for my bunch, I hope Cole Schurlknight realizes his dream of Christmas dinner at Subway or Quizno's. No more hearing the dreaded words "scratch weight" this season. Merry Christmas everyone! May we all be able to put our best teams on the mat as we push towards February.

Merry Christmas Region One!

Outstanding reply there raider

Nope, I was referring to the poster who basically called a large group of us spineless and doesn't know the difference between "your" and "you're". The whole thing was pretty civilized and mature until that point, and I had to fight hard to resist the temptation to respond. I was grateful that the people who posted after that brought the thread back to relative sanity (and literacy).

I just appreciate all you guys (kuzer, texas, ggun, TDArtist) coming on and bringing the thread back into the realm of intelligent conversation after one obtuse and semi literate post threatened to drag it into the mud. Thanks

Here is the letter I drafted and sent to TSSAA. Mr. Carter and Mr. Reeves: On the morning of 6 October 2008, Steve Henry and I had the opportunity to discuss some of the issues facing us as we attempt to grow girl’s wrestling in Tennessee. The purpose of this letter is to express our thoughts and concerns on that front. First, we agree that it is definitely in the best interests of the sport to have an individual tournament as opposed to a dual tournament. This will perhaps encourage schools that are unable to fill the weight classes necessary to be competitive in the dual format. There is greater potential for participation. However, we disagree with allowing a girl to wrestle against boys all season then opt out of the boy’s regional to participate in the girl’s state tournament. In our opinion that is counterproductive to what we are trying to accomplish. First, the Science Hill and Soddy Daisy girls will not be wrestling against boys, regardless of the state’s final decision. Second, there will be more girl’s events this season. We plan to have a girl’s division in our preseason takedown tournament on November 15th, and Soddy Daisy will be hosting a girl’s division at their tournament in January. We are contemplating the possibility of more girl’s wrestling events as well with a view to possibly conducting two to three girl’s competitions per month. Furthermore, we feel that continuing to allow girls to wrestle against boys will take away the impetus from most schools to have girl’s only events. Why do the extra work if the girls can just be thrown in with the boys? Third, we observed at last year’s girl’s invitational that the girls who had wrestled against boys prior to the tournament had what we deemed an unfair advantage. Most schools would have no problem opting to leave those girls out of the boy’s regional anyway, because they would be unlikely to score in that tournament. It is our opinion that if we are going to have girl’s wrestling in the state then we need from the start to foster a mentality that this is going to be a girl’s only sport. The only way to do this is to move away from wrestling as a “coed” sport. Finally, we support keeping the weight classes from last season. They seemed to work well and we see no reason to change them. These are our thoughts and ideas on this issue. We appreciate your careful consideration of them. Sincerely, Jeff Price Science Hill High School Jon Renner Head Girl’s Wrestling Coach Science Hill High School Steve Henry Soddy Daisy High School I hope this helps fill in some of the blanks.

Well, I looked for a letter that I wrote to Mark Reeves last year about this issue, but it is on my computer at school. I will look for it tomorrow and will post it if I can find it. If not, I'll post something new tomorrow. The bottom line is this; if we are going to have girl's wrestling in Tennessee, we have to do it right from the beginning. It is my opinion, as well as nearly everyone trying to get this off the ground, that one of the first steps is that girls need to wrestle girls only. That seems to be the consensus around the state. None of this was done to hinder Miss Gessler; it was done to benefit all the girls who do not want to wrestle guys. There is a girl at Elizabethton who has chosen to wrestle against boys. If there is anybody else out there who has made that decision, please let me know. More later; King of the Hill is coming on. Price