tnmat

Blair's picks are good. I'd also have to say Derrick Jordan. I was his teammate and know first-hand the fearless attitude he had.... and better yet, he DID cry once! For a legitimate reason, as a matter of fact. I saw him wrestle in Reno, NV at the Tournament of Champions. He was injured while getting a last second takedown in the semis, and was unable to wrestle in the finals. He cried... in front of 3000 fans, too... but only because he wasn't going to get a shot at beating the number one wrestler in the nation... a russian guy from Blair Academy. Now, if that's not crying out of sheer desire, I don't know what is.

Yeah... it was a good match. I think the guy that wrestled Heath is named Adam Tirapelle, the older brother of Alex Tirapelle. If I'm not mistaken, Alex is the same guy that beat Phillip Simpson in the Senior National finals. If I'm wrong, someone let me know.

If that is true, you'll need to inform the people who run the tourney, because that is not what they say their records reflect.

Who said this? Is your resource reliable? If so, this is huge....

Seymour is not going. They dropped out due to illnesses, injuries, etc.

The following is a letter from the Executive Director of the college sports council. If you are in favor of Title IX Reform (the reversal of an equal rights law that has crippled the number of wrestling teams in the US), then you MUST read this and help out. To Supporters of Title IX Reform: If you are looking for a New Year's Resolution, here is a meaningful one for you to consider. You can help the cause of the many male college athletes that are in danger of losing their college sports opportunity due to the proportionality prong of Title IX by joining our nation-wide "Write a Letter to the Editor or an Op-ed Editorial" campaign. By using the automated features of the College Sports Council˜s web-site www.savingsports.org, this is now a relatively easy task ˜ and one that will help counteract the massive media campaign that the women˜s gender quota advocacy groups have mounted. In case you haven˜t noticed, in recent weeks these groups have held a national press conference discrediting the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics and it's upcoming report, which may be recommending needed reform of the devastating proportionality criteria. Recently, USA Wrestling˜s Gary Abbott laid out the issue quite clearly. Go to http://themat.com/pressbox/pressdetail.asp?aid=6256 for Gary˜s poignant article on the need for immediate action on our part. The media and the public need to be made aware of the true, hard facts about the harmful consequences of proportionality. Here are some facts that the gender quota advocate groups do not like to publicize. Feel free to use them in your letter. In 1985 there were 253 male athletes per NCAA campus. By 2001 this had number declined to 199 male athletes per NCAA campus. There are currently 600 more women's teams than men's teams in the NCAA. This is after a decade of proportionality that has caused the loss of thousands of male athletes through forced squad size reductions and the dropping almost 400 men's teams. In 1979, there were 107 men's gymnastics teams at NCAA schools; there are now just 20 men's college teams. Participants in collegiate intramural sports, which are totally interest-driven, are about 78% male. Track and Field has lost over 91 men's intercollegiate programs since 1991. There are 185 total schools that have some Division I Swimming program. 140 schools have both a Men's and a Women's program. One college has a Men's team, but no Women˜s team. There are 44 schools that have a Women's program and not a Men's program. Thus, Women's programs have a 'net' 43 school advantage or 30% (nearly one-third ) more schools with a Swimming scholarship opportunity. With males projected to be only 41% of college students by 2009 it is clear that proportionality will mean that men will only have half as many NCAA teams as women - and that this will entail the elimination of anywhere from a third to a half of NCAA male athletes. The gender quota advocate groups will lead you to believe that excessive spending for football is the real problem, not the quota. Well, how do they explain that at the three colleges in the State of New Jersey that most recently dropped their wrestling program - Seton Hall, Rutgers-Camden and Rutgers-Trenton, none of these had a varsity football program. They can't. Football is clearly not the reason that men are losing entire teams and walk-on opportunities, but the gender quota advocates just do not want to accept that. Approximately 440 men˜s college wrestling teams have been eliminated between 1972 and 2000. If you want to see the list of these teams, go to http://www.intermatwrestle.com/college/dropped.asp Directions for Writing your Letter/Editorial Go to www.savingsports.org and click on the ˜Take Action" button. Then select the "Write Editorial" option. A screen will appear where you can write your opinion, and enter your name, address, and email address. After you have finished, click "Submit". A listing of all the newspapers in your zip code and surrounding 100 mile or so radius will appear. You can select one, several, or all of the newspapers to receive your letter. Once you have checked off the intended recipients, your letter will be automatically sent via email to all those so indicated. Easy, eh! So, have you made your Resolution to help our male athletes? Implement it - by writing your letter today. It can make a difference in informing the media and public about the truth surrounding Title IX. Remember, Title IX is a good law, it is just poorly regulated with the proportionality criteria. Best regards for a Happy New Year, Jamie Moffatt Executive Director, College Sports Council

Hey KKW, that makes sense. I was just curious. Thanks for responding with such a clear explanation. I'm not sure I could make any other valid suggestions as to how you would go about the seeding. Keep up the good work. BamaGrappler: As I recall, there were about 15 or so teams in the tourney. Hartselle was first seed in their pool, which they did win. They proceeded to the next round which was a semifinal b/w them, MBA, Cleveland, and Clarksville. They lost both matches and therefore came in fourth. Thanks for your interest, TNMAT

I have a question. Was the seeding based on how teams did in individual state? If so, what is the reasoning behind it? I'm not saying that it wasn't valid, but that seeding a team based on the team's individual performance is much less reliable than on their dual performance when you are seeding for a dual tournament. The fact is that Clarksville is a better dual team than tournament team, and the seeding worked against them in this case. Maybe in the future it would be better to seed according to dual performance rather than individual performance. Just a thought from an outside observer.

Ari Ibrahim has a good shot. I hear he plans on gaining a lot of weight.

Seymour, Overton, Cookeville, Cumberland Cty., Rhea Cty., Brainerd, East Ridge, Hixson, Ooltewah, Notre Dame, and who knows what other teams...

I definitely agree. I haven't seen many actual calls lose the matches for wrestlers. But, I myself have the most difficult time staying in good position to make a call. For example, maintaining a stable vantage point as an official while wrestlers move rapidly in circles while in neutral is very difficult. This is not the only difficulty of officiating, but these types of difficulties are the ones where I see officials miss important calls. Another example is a picture I saw on a news site where a Clarksville wrestler had an illegal head lock (head throw lock) on a Brentwood wrestler and was going for nearfall points. The wrestler's lock was above the elbow of his opponent's arm, and so it was illegal. However, the official was looking for nearfall underneath the defending wrestler's back, and didn't think to check the lock of the offensive wrestler. You should've seen the look on the official's face when he saw the picture, affirming his missed call. Case in point: Neither was really a bad call, because the official was calling what he/she saw very accurately. But calls could be missed due to poor position. [Edited by tnmat on 12-23-02 10:51A]

I disagree with your opinion on McTorry's conditioning. Even if he wasn't in the best shape, he was at least equal to Nelson. If you had seen McTorry wrestle at senior nationals I think you would agree. Nelson was simply better in that year. (although, I believe McTorry would have beaten him a year later.

Nelson was 3-0 against McTorry, not 6-0. Matches were 4-2 (OT), 12-2 (Kirby Inv. - not tech) and 2-1 (State Finals) respectively. But it doesn't matter. It's not who beat who but who was better overall. Nelson in his senior year would never have been able to beat McTorry in his senior year. That's why I pick McTorry. But Nelson was without a doubt an outstanding wrestler.

Hey guys... My name is Brian Drinkwine and I'm the webmaster of http://www.tnmat.net - a Tennessee high school wrestling website. This message is for those who like to discuss on boards like this one. I have purchased and have spent much of my own money (which, by the way, is not much) on a system of message boards and a chat room. Plenty of people have registered, but I need people to get discussion going. I'm not asking that you stop posting here, but if you are interested in getting more discussion going there, the address is http://www.xsorbit2.com/users/tnmatn/index.cgi Feel free to start any discussion you like. We can also get a weekly chat going if you would like. Mondays good? How about 8pm Central?

hahaha... monks. you rock somethingclever! The robes are a way to get guys on the mats at Overton. For the first time in a while, they've had trouble getting people out for the team, so it has taken extra efforts to get certain guys to join the team. My opinion is that the robes are good for Overton's wrestlers and good for their team. I don't think the idea is to be flashy or gaudy, but to excite some of the kids. They like it... and if they like it, then I like it for them. P.S. - Someone posted that the 103, 112,119, 130, and 135 could all place. I agree, but I wouldn't take out the 125. Josh Jennings is a hard worker and took it hard to Dillon, who is a very high-caliber wrestler.

I agree w/ Simpson, and would also include his bro, Patrick. R. Blackmon as well... and Keller also. Others: - Darren McKnight (3X's is something not many do) - Will Hadden (not many Hwt All-Americans) - Dee Parker (another Hwt. All-American... and not many can do a back flip after their championship match. - Casey Brewster (didn't finish well, but a multiple time all-american nonetheless) - Jake Yost (first TN wrestler to place in both Greco and Freestyle at Fargo Nat'ls) - Eric Collins (where'd he go after H.S.????) - Matt Sweeton (3X... WOW)

So where was the bad call? It looked clean, as far as the ref was concerned.

What bad call? I didn't see any calls go East Ridge's way... Could you please enlighten me?

It was a good match. I think things could have been closer, but on a few occasions the ER wrestlers got pinned while winning. That's gotta change if they want to beat the higher echelon teams. A lack of fundamentals and, at times, heart were some things I saw. PS (to ER wrestlers): Circle AWAY from the arm on the front head lock. That's how you guys were getting dumped.

The site has been updated. It has preseason region reviews, rankings fro DI and DII, and the news has been updated. Feel free to browse through the pages, post messages on the boards, chat, etc... PS: Anyone who has been using email and hasn't been able to access their accounts can now do so. The problem has been fixed.

What do you mean overrated? He's not "rated" at all. Any success he has this year is up to him to make happen, no matter what anyone's opinion is. I don't know why he didn't wrestle.

Charles McTorry Derrick and Eric Jordan

East Ridge beat McCallie 38-37 in one of the best matches I've seen in a long time. Both teams fought long and hard with a lot of heart. And McCallie didn't screw up in any way. East Ridge simply out-wrestled them. Congratulations to both teams on a class-act and job well done. Some highlights I can remember were the Dario Rudas loss in OT at 112 to a very tough kid and Matt Bird's 12-6 decision over Cody Cleveland.

The score was 11-3, Ibrahim over Ortiz

Well guys. An FYI about tnmat.net: Rankings, region reviews, etc. will be available on Monday, December 2nd. Feel free to view the info and talk about it on the boards/chatroom. Enjoy, and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. PS- The site address is http://www.tnmat.net