ArtusCimber

Well, for those of you who care, we rebounded from last week's loss tonight to win 34-30. Andre Gillispie came from behind at 171 to score a near fall in the final two seconds and win his match. It was up to Schnell to seal the deal with a pin, which he did. Kudos to Matt Drish who came back after a three week injury to get a pin, and to Luke Williams who pinned his opponent after being pinned last week. As someone in our region predicted last year, the Toppers were in the mix. Great week for the kids and for me. I learned a great deal about myself. Like I said before, my guys are warriors. We're happy to get to come to the party again. Thanks to everyone for taking an interest in Topper wrestling. We'll see you Friday.

Thanks. My only goal is for us to live those few minutes well. See you tonight.

Interesting, Coach Delgado. I had a kid come in last year from football who was 25% bodyfat at 241 pounds. Our football coach had the audacity to claim that I wasn't interested in his health because I wanted him to cut to 215. Wow. I'd agree with you on the testing, but it will be a task competing with football coaches who follow the rationale (as ours does) that the heavier you are, the stronger you'll be. Then, when we get a kid in and tell him we want him to get bigger, he discourages them with the rationale that the arduous conditioning of wrestling will keep them from gaining weight. Light and in condition is apparently no good. Fat and out of shape seems to be the credo here. It blows my mind.

Our first year at the duals (2001) we were welcomed to Clarksville with a 63-3 clubbing at the hands of Soddy-Daisy. Jon Edmonds won 2-1. I often said the only determining factor in whether or not they could have shut us out repeatedly would have been how many times Jon could squeeze out that victory. That kind of greeting was perfectly in line with my sense of justice and fair play. We were the new guys and needed to get treated as such. Right now, Bradley and Soddy are the class of division I. They have consistently, year in and out, put quality teams on the mat. They deserve, in my opinion, to be separated in the brackets. The rest of us (of whom SHHS may not even be a part this year) are still aspiring. The road to the duals finals goes through those two programs. In the last two years, all of us have crashed and burned there. Right now, I'm just trying to enjoy consistent success at the regional level. Steve and Steve, you guys are the real deal. I just hope one day soon I can swap ironman war stories with the legman.

I understood what you were up to, BOTW. No problems on my part. By the way, the region duals are at Greeneville. Round one will be Greeenville versus Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennet versus Morrisown East. Winners wll wrestle for the championship. Match time is 6:30. Thanks to everyone for the good posts. I love you too matrat.

Last night we beat Tennessee High 62-12 and Daniel Boone 54-24. This looks to put us in the first round of the regional duals against Greeneville. The other matchup is looking like Dobyns-Bennett versus Morristown East. Looks like some good close matches shaping up.

I don't know. I can't remember having any teachers named bobbyboy.

Our tournament schedule has been as follows. We opened in the Catholic Invitational. Cody was the champion there, defeating Moore of Baylor in the finals. We then went to the Mustang Stampede in Winston-Salem North Carolina. It is an excruciatingly brutal tournament featuring Durham Riverside and some of the better teams from all the different classifications in NC. Cody was champion there, defeating a state placer from Riverside in the semis and Byron Sigmon of Bandys in the finals. He pinned him actually. I didn't know it until after the match but it was a big deal to several coaches there. Apparently the kid is one of the best in NC. It is a killer tournament and I'll go there as long as I'm still invited. We've been two years and loved it. The win got Ty some OW votes from some of the coaches there (Vincent Ramirez of Riverside won that-if you haven't seen this kid, you're missing out-he's the real deal). We then went to the Woodford County Kentucky tournament, a 24 team tournament which features some of the best in Kentucky. It is a tough tournament and allows me to see all my old friends from back in the day when I first started coaching. Cody pinned his way through that tournament, which wasn't really all that tough at 152. We then were a last minute entry in a small invitational at John Battle High in Bristol VA. We got in there when a dual meet with Owatonna, MN was snowed out. Cody pinned his way through there as well and was voted OW. Then we went to the GIT where Ty lost to Spencer Manley (who is an incredibly classy kid and a brawler after my own heart). He then won our tournament, the Scott Fandetti Brawl. The tournament is held in memory of a wrestler of mine at Jeff County who died in a car wreck shortly after his 16th birthday. The weekend we have this is marked historically by bad weather and has turned into a sort of 11E/Interstate 81 tournament. The field has pretty much evolved based on who could get here as opposed to being a killer tournament. Still, it is very nice, has great pageantry, and helps us all remember a great kid who represented all the good things about this sport. Anyway, that is what SHHS and Cody have done. I hope that no one is implying that we haven't wrestled anybody. That would be both not very nice and relatively inaccurate. Plus, it wouldn't be fair to Ty. Heck, we only had to drive 30 minutes to get trounced by Baylor and McCallie. A two hour drive to Knoxville to get creamed by Baylor and Parkview is a real bargain in my estimation. The reality is that NC is closer than Memphis or Nashville (and that Mustang Stampede...what a tournament!), I go to Kentucky for sentimental reasons, and the Fandetti is something I do for Scott Fandetti and his family. Hopefully we'll be making that six hour trip to Clarksville. Or maybe it's that some of you out there would like to see us more often. That's really flattering. I'll honestly take that into consideration when I schedule next year. Really. I'm not being a wiseacre. I'm pondering some changes.

Science Hill is fine. We lost 37-35 to Dobyns-Bennett last night. That is our one loss. Coach Mann has picked up a couple of kids late in the season and they are, in my opinion, a very solid team. They were also very gracious and classy in victory, as I would expect them to be. We graduated seven kids last year from a team that finished fourth in the duals and sixth in the traditional tournament. A team at the duals last year with which I was very impressed was Collierville. They seem to be at the very least where I thought they'd be last year. We are a very young team. We presently put three seniors and one junior on the mat. My goal as a coach was to qualify for the duals again this year. Anything beyond that would be gravy. That goal is still within our reach. We had not lost a dual meet to a region one team since late in the 2001 season, and last night's loss smarts. Still, we rebounded with a 69-12 victory against Sullivan East (six of their points were forfeits). I was really proud of my guys. They were all down, they didn't want to wrestle that match, but they went out and did. We're going to try to regroup next week and defend our region duals title. I feel good about our chances. This program is really in its infancy. We're functionally four years old. A challenge I failed to meet at Jefferson County was to keep the program consistently competitive on the state level. I've done better here, but we're not there yet. I still have much to learn. Having said that, I have been proud of my teams because the last two years at the duals we scrapped our way into the top four when not too many people gave us a chance. Two years ago we went 7-7 in our semifinal match with Soddy-Daisy. The people there respect what we're trying to do, and that's some right fine respect from where I stand. We may not even get to Clarksville this year, but if we do I'm sure my guys will do their best as we try to develop the consistency of of some of the better programs in the state. If that doesn't happen, the fault is mine. I have great support here, and I wouldn't trade my kids for any in the state; they're warriors and I love them.

I vote for Region I Jeff Price Science Hill

what was betsy this year 6-4? and they lost the big one to science hill, and they stepped on to the same field with unicoi county. why dont you guys start talking about elizabethtons swim team cause we could care less about football and one more thing why dont you guys just meet up at the barber shop instead of talking about this crap you call a football team on this website.

Okay, the date I'm looking at is June 14th...that seems good because it is close enough to the actual tournament that it would provide a good summer training window. If this looks good let me know and I'll make a final decision on Monday. Looks like we may have a go.

I was asked to host an NHSCA qualifier at Science Hill. Schedule conflicts and concerns have really made it impossible for me to attempt the tournament until now. I fear that the situation would turn out the same as the Kenwood tournament, but would still be willing to schedule one on June seventh or fourteenth if there was enough interest. I will check this post for the next two or three days and if there seems to be a positive response I will take the necessary steps. [Edited by ArtusCimber on 5-2-03 9:45A]

Science Hill is getting ready to go back in the room to get ready for the May 17th freestyle tournament at Pigeon Forge. We'll go two or three times a week, probably from 3:00 to 4:30 in the wrestling room at SHHS. Plans will be more firm in two or three days.

Why is this being brought up?

All of the guys mentioned above are great...Keller's record speaks for itself, McTorry, etc. I liked Jake Yost a great deal, and Phillip Simpson has gone on to place 3rd in the DIs...we may be getting better. I have to say though, that Waylon Lowe has finally shown his true potential. I thought he was one fo the best wrestlers in the state his junior and senior years of hig school, but had some personal and mental hurdles to clear which prevented him from really showing that. Apparently he's gotten over a few of them now. Good job! So my Five... Phillip Simpson Matt Keller Matt Sweeton Jake Yost Waylon Lowe

Waylon wasn't taken down the entire tournament

Waylon Lowe is now a two time DII champ, three time All-American. I'm really proud of him.

Didn't Chris Bird win once, around '95 0r '96? A couple I'd like to throw in are Greg Foreman of Greeneville and Jon Edmonds of Science Hill.

Good job Region I!

Congratulations to Region I! We won 9 medals this year, and had a few firsts. Daniel Crosby of Greeneville was our first two time winner since Alan Patterson of Morristown East in '96-97. Steven McKinney was the first ever state champ for Dobyns-Bennett. Josh Bosken's win gave Science Hill its first back-to back Champions (Erick Waage won it last year). Ryan McGrew of Boone, Jon Edmonds of SHHS, and James Reed of Sullivan East took third. Thomas Anderson of D-B was fourth, while Alan Aiken of SHHS and Jacob Whitson of Daniel Boone were fifth. Many of these accomplishments are the result of much hard work over the past four years. This was not the usual Region I smattering of fifth and sixth place finishers either. Three champions is the most this Region has produced in my recollection. These things may seem small to some, but to me they indicate progress in a positive direction. Congratulations to these guys on their hard work!

Thanks, Josh Bosken, for not letting circumstances get in the way of your goals. Hopefully you've taught us all a lesson.

That was possibly the best match between two big guys I've ever seen. Thanks to both of you for your example and your wrestling. You have made TN wrestling better, and you'll both be missed.

We at Science Hill were happy to disappoint

Kevin Givens from Science Hill is wrestling on the club team at vanderbilt