18 hours ago, cowcatcherII said:

Brooks Climmons, Josh Condon, and Ryan Mosely were three more great Georgians.

Yup.....all studs.....remember them all.   My first pass was D1 All Americans.......probably could add D2 All Americans...Taylor Knapp and Travis Sheehy.  I'm sure there are many others I'm missing.   

I thought of 2 additions to the Tennessee and Georgia lists......both were described to me as people to step on the mat with if you wanted to test your manhood.  

Tennessee - 285 Scott Wells
Georgia - 285 Jeff Saturday

10 hours ago, soms2 said:

2000-2008… some great years for TN wrestling 

133- Matt Keller (UTC) - Ncaa AA

141- Cody Cleveland (UTC) - Ncaa AA

149- Phillip Simpson (West Point) - 3x AA, 2005 NCAA finalist

157- Jordan Leen (Cornell) - 2008 Ncaa champ

165- Nick Marable (Missouri) - 2x AA 

———————-

RMC, What’s the George’s dream team of all time? 

I'm on my first cup of coffee.

I dunno....but maybe Charlie Heard at the top and guys like Peter Yates.....Chip Ness.....Daniel Bullard.....Matt Pitts.....Joey Lazor......Sean Russell......Ryan Millhof.....Taylor Lujan missed a shot to AA because of COVID.

Maybe I'll come up with more after another cup of coffee.

19 hours ago, cbg said:

There is a lot of difference between having a few good individuals and having a great (Top 50) team.  Unless you reside in one of the top 5 wrestling states a team must become road warriors if they want to crack the Top 50 on a consistent basis.  IMO, money helps with travel, technique instruction, college kids that train with the high school kids and coaching.  The annual budget for a Top 50 program would be a minimum of $50K and that would include the youth program and high school team.  It's not free to run a successful wrestling program but kids only get better when they train and compete against the very best kids.  A majority of the teams in the Top 50 that are not in one of the top 5 wrestling states have a "SUGAR DADDY" that fund 80% of the program.  Money will not purchase kids that have a big heart that want to outwork the competition and get better.  

cbg...You are correct.  

We had a team ranked #7....lost to Blair Academy by 3...........initial budget in the early years was $40k and I think at the peak of the run the budget was probably double that.  

We built a large booster club that included parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, elementary, and middle school parents.  One fundraiser we did that was new to me was a "Patrons Walk."  The wrestlers would wear their team shirt and go into the neighborhoods around the school hand out the schedule for the upcoming year and ask for donations.  The simple walk brought in $3K - $5K per year.

Heck the coach even had me email Mr. Jones and ask for a donation....which he replied he didn't donate to private schools.  I introduced myself at the Cleveland Duals and let him know we were a public school.  He asked if he and his son could meet Kyle Maynard and I left that to Coach Ramos.  I have no idea if we ever received a donation.   

Money helps.........it allows for the travel.....lots of money to put 2 teams up in hotels and pay airfare to go to places like Kansas City or Powerade final 4.  I said 2 teams because we'd take the varsity and JV to the Cleveland and the State Duals.  

But.....it doesn't help if the team isn't competitive.  It's kids and parents buying in starting a elementary school. Wanting to be part of the something bigger....building a tradition.   

I can tell you from experience that someone can't just step in and keep a program on top.  As Knox did when he wrestled for Dublin. Georgia.......he's a competitor and something special.  It's hard to put a program on top.......harder to keep it there.    

Man....I go away for a day and you guys getting all feisty on here......

Can we have a quad the next few years with Cleveland and Baylor......versus my poor old Georgia schools....Camden County and Buford........

(and yes....I know Buford isn't poor......my kid went there....so don't get all fired up over that)

Can we pencil in Bill Harlow for 174.......what's 3 pounds.....he is from Sewanee, Tennessee....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Harlow_(wrestler)

Edit.....I feel stupid now.....I don't how I missed him at 197......

Edit #2......ok.....so we slide Harlow to 174....since he was at 177.......and put my old high school buddy in at 197........he was at 190.....4 time SoCon champ Pat Murphy.  (I know.....I know...I'm still stupid)

Dang.....I'd hate to hear you guys if you had 7 classifications like your neighbors to the South.....

Great post!

I think some parents don't set the expectation level for their youth kids and want instant success and turn kids off early.  Start slow and set goals......year 1 get mat time and learn the rules, year 2 stop getting pinned and try to win 1 match, year 3 maybe make it to kids state.....etc. Don't burn your kid out.....maybe 10 tournaments a year for years 4 and 5.  

For HS coaches......keep the non-starters involved......find a 9th grade or JV tournament to get those kids in.  Recruit coaches from other sports to help get those non-starters mat time.  The more kids you can get in the room...the better for everyone in that room. 

Fundraise for travel.......we did a Patrons Walk were wrestlers would get in groups of 4 or 5 and walk around their neighborhoods and collect donations and hand out wrestling schedules.  People were usually happy to see the wrestlers and very generous.  (also a tax deduction is your booster club is a 501(c)3)

I know I'm preaching to the choir.  

Maybe it does come down to population......Georgia's got a bunch of people.....well...too many, but that's another story.  I remember as a kid we didn't take Georgia wrestling too seriously...from a Tennessee point of view.  That all seemed to change with the growth of the state and the migration of workers and their families....seems like many were from AT&T....from Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the 80's.  You got guys like Bud Hennebaul move in and show people what wrestling is supposed to look like.

Now we've got some stellar programs with Camden and Buford headlining it and many other solid programs.  For extra training I used to take my kid and usually 2 or 3 others from Collins Hill with me over to Arturo at TWC in Smyrna, Ga two days a week.  That was a drive from Gwinnett county during rush hour.  Now we've got TWC (Arturo), TWA (Mike Rundell), Teknique Wrestling (Peter Yates, Daniel Bullard, Tyler Askey) and I'm sure many other sites I don't know about . 

Just seems with the influx of people came different attitudes and changed wrestling here for the better.  Now if we could just get Georgia Tech to restart their wrestling program......by the way Tech is upside down in Title IX numbers and needs to add men's sports.  I was with a group offering to fully fund a program there but the old AD turned us down.

And Japan has more people than Tennessee....just saying....

cbg....you're my hero.....you're like a walking encyclopedia of Tennessee wrestling.  Brought back memories of the old summer freestyle sessions at UTC.

Here's an aged article on the topic of multiple classes:

https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/13237

I have never liked the fact the Georgia now has 7 classifications.

I'll put my 2 cents in here......having been part of a fairly successful program and also having a nephew state champion at Baylor.  From what I remember, the nephew's financial aid was reduced over time and by the time he was senior there was none.

For a successful program, either build a strong middle school program, recruit one, or make one kids want to be a part of it.

It was tough to do here, in Georgia, because there aren't many middle school teams and none I know of in the metro Atlanta area.  We had to do through USA Wrestling.  The second step I was tasked with was to get them used to traveling and staying in hotels.  I will always appreciate Greg Foreman allowing me to put a team together to bring to a tournament in Pigeon Forge. I'll also never forget getting snowed in and being the only guests in the Econo Lodge......and that call letting me know that the entire team was naked in the in-door pool....ah the good old days. 

Kids had a great time and I think some of the Tennessee kids enjoyed seeing how they stacked up against some Tulsa National placers.

Guess my point is......with a good feeder the high school part will fall into place. Once we got rolling kids wanted to come for the opportunity to travel to big out of state tournaments like: Cleveland Duals (Tn), Kansas City Stampede (Mo), Tiger Classic - Chapel Hill  (NC), The Clash (Mn), Powerade Invitational (Pa), Powerade Final 4 (Pa)  The school had a no permissive transfer rule and if you wanted to come you had to move into the school district.....in one kid's case only 2 miles. 

The kid wrestled in the NCAA finals with 2 torn ACLs a couple of years ago......but couldn't make it to the consos.

How was Border Wars?

58 minutes ago, cobrakid8 said:

I will never understand guys not going for it when out there. Playing it safe will rarely win you a match and does a good job of losing one for you. 1-0 for Heckert vs Smith and 1-0 for Turner vs Magness. I understand playing it a little safe but this was as fun as watching paint dry and I’d rather get beat 4-5 or more and actually go for it than literally get beat 1-0. I think I’d have a much worse feeling and regret that way.

100% agree

I know I post most recently about Georgia teams.....well...cause that's where I am, but I've been around wrestling since my brother started wrestling in 1969 at Hixson.  I've seen many great teams, but as was discussed in another thread like this years ago, one of the best teams I have ever seen was the 1973 Hixson team coached by a young Gordon Connell.   

I'm guessing for most on this forum weren't even born yet, but Randy Batten was on that team and he did ok at UTC.  Other names I remember: the Walden brothers Stan and Marvin, Smith brothers Gary and Dean (Dean also did well at UTC), Steve Griffith, Danny Emery, Dennis Donovan (went to West Point), Stan Eller, Wayne Bratcher, and Tracey Cooke. I probably missed a few other names. One of my older brothers was also on that team, but was in and out of the lineup as he won and lost challenge matches to Dennis Donovan.

A note about Dean Smith, mentioned above, and persistence.  He lost every single match in the 8th grade.   He talked his parents into getting a mat for the home.  He was a state champion in 1973.  It also made his little brother Gary a handful on the mat.  

I missed wrestling a lot of wrestling during the 1980's while in the military. So I probably missed some other really good teams.    

My nephew's, Andrew Woodward, 2002 Baylor team was fairly stout too.  

Ok......I know, I know.....it's Georgia.....but I'll take 2010 Collins Hill up against anyone.....well....except Blair Academy

Cleveland Duals that year:
Cleveland Duals (TN)
Site: Cleveland H.S. (TN) 
Team Placing:1
Hoover (Won 68 - 6)
McCallie (Won 56 - 9)
Brentwood Academy (Won 80 - 0)
Christian Brothers (Won 53 - 13)
Father Ryan (Won 62 - 6)

Toshiba Midwest Classic (now the KC Stampede)
Site: Kansas City (MO) 
Team Placing:1

State Duals
Site: Macon Coliseum 
Jonson-Savannah (Won 84 - 0)
Centennial (Won 58 - 11)
Valdosta (Won 60 - 6)
Pope (Won 38 - 9)
 

Final Four Duals (PA)
Site: Easton High School (PA) 
Long Branch (Won 27 - 25)
Blair Academy (Lost 33 - 30)
Benton (Won 54 - 25)
Easton (Won 45 - 12)

2010- Traditional State
Drew Ferguson 103 1st Place
Bazell Partridge 112 1st Place
TJ Mitchell 125 1st Place
Joel Smith 145 1st Place
Mac Bennett 189 1st Place
CJ Collins 215 1st Place
Allen Willard 140 3rd Place
Thomas Delain 285 3rd Place
Jaime Hertica 152 4th Place
Josehph Doyague 119 5th Place
Devante Brown 135 5th Place
Nick Hobert 171 5th Place

On 1/16/2023 at 12:50 AM, soms2 said:

Matthew Waddell made it three falls in a row in duals for the Chattanooga Mocs at 184.

RESULTS
 
CHATTANOOGA---The Chattanooga Mocs battled 24th-ranked West Virginia toe-to-toe for 70-plus minutes but fell 22-16. The match featured both dominant and gritty performances on both sides ending with a dramatic finish.
 
"There are no moral victories," Coach Kyle Ruschell shared afterwards. "We told them that if they don't think that what we're working on is happening, you're crazy, because we're seeing more aggression, we're seeing better hand fighting, more leg attacks, a little bit better job on top…we're seeing all of those things.
 
"We just need to continue to do that for the next 60 days."
 
The Mocs return to Maclellan Gym next Saturday hosting Davidson. The match is scheduled for a 7 p.m., start.
 
WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT
157: 0-3
Lincoln Heck and No. 29 Alex Hornfeck battled for the full seven minutes with the Mountaineer getting the 3-2 win. Heck got the lone takedown of the match with seven seconds left in the second period but took a locked hands penalty before the buzzer. Hornfeck got two escapes for the win.
 
165: 0-9
#12 Peyton Hall and Thomas Sell had a spirited first period before the Mountaineer got Sell into a bad position in the second and finished the fall at 4:50.
 
174: 4-9
It was all Rocky Jordan in this one almost owning 7:00 in riding time. He claimed a 9-0 major over Scott Joll with constant pressure.
Note: Jordan now has out-scored opponents 99-12 in 10 duals
 
184: 10-9
In the lone ranked matchup of the night & rematch from last year, No. 33 Matthew Waddell stole the show. He used a standing reversal straight on the back of No. 30 Anthony Carman for the fall at 4:03.
Note: Three straight pins in duals for Waddell
 
197: 13-9
Jake Boyd used all the time available for a 3-2 TB win over Ian Bush. Both wrestlers managed just escapes throughout the 10 minutes with a near takedown into fall position by Boyd in the first only to see Bush sneak away. The tiebreaker round saw Boyd out in two seconds while riding Bush for 13 seconds to net the point and win.
Note: Now 4-2 with the match score ending within two points.
 
285: 13-12
No. 28 Michael Wolfgram dominated the early going of the match before Andrew used a late takedown in the second and quick escape in the third to make it interesting at 11-7. He nearly combined a takedown into fall points, but Wolfgram out-wrestled him to get the two points and held on for 13-8 victory.
 
125: 13-16
No. 7 Killian Cardinale got a 10-2 major over Dom DiTomasso. He built it methodically with half of his scoring coming in the third.
 
133: 16-16
Brayden Palmer knotted the dual score with a 7-3 win. His 4-point near fall early in the third period was the difference.
Note: Palmer won nine of his last 10 matches
 
141: 16-19
Dayne Dalrymple got the start against Jordan Titus who was coming off a weekend win over then No. 1 Cole Matthews of Pitt. Dalrymple battled but couldn't find his offense in a 6-2 decision loss.
 
149: 16-22
Grant Lundy trailed No. 28 Sam Hillegas 8-2 in the second period when he got a takedown midway through to get a spark. He was down in riding time so he needed a special third. Lundy out-scored his ranked opponent 6-3 working Hillegas to the end but ran out of time as Hillegas literally held on in the final seconds for the 12-10 win.
 
#24 West Virginia 22, Chattanooga 16
157: 157: Alex Hornfeck (WVU) 3-2 dec over Lincoln Heck (CHAT) – 0-3
165: Peyton Hall (WVU) fall (4:50) over Thomas Sell (CHAT) – 0-6
174: Rocky Jordan (CHAT) 9-0 maj. dec. over Scott Joll (WVU) – 4-9
184: Matthew Waddell (CHAT) fall (4:03) over Anthony Carman (WVU) – 10-9
197: Jake Boyd (CHAT) 3-2 dec. TB over Ian Bush (WVU) – 13-9
285: Michael Wolfgram (WVU) 13-8 dec. over Logan Andrew (CHAT) – 13-12
125: Killian Cardinale (WVU) 10-2 maj. dec. over Dominic DiTomasso (CHAT) – 13-16
133: Brayden Palmer (CHAT) 7-3 dec. over Davin Rhoads (WVU) – 16-16
141: Jordan Titus (WVU) 6-2 dec. over Dayne Dalrymple (CHAT) – 16-19
149: Sam Hillegas (WVU) 12-10 dec. over Grant Lundy (CHAT) – 16-22
 
SERIES
0-3 | In Chattanooga: 0-1
 
QUOTABLE
"That's kind of what I do (on taking his shot reversing into the pin). Whenever i stand up from on bottom, I kind of leave it in their hands. If they want to just give me the point, that's fine. I'll take the point, but they want to stand there and wrestle, I have a few moves in there that I can really hurt him quick. (He smiled) So I don't like wrestling the whole time." – MatthewWaddell on his third straight pin in dual action
 
"Matt's did a great job of getting to offense right away with that shot tonight. I don't know if I've seen that shot in the first period all year, and so you can see his development as well. The pins are always there for him, he's always had that where a pen can happen, but the other little things the takedowns in the first period, the mat returns, that's the stuff that he needs to do to get over the next hump." – Kyle Ruschell on Waddell's work over the last three duals
 
NEXT 3 MATCHES
Jan. 21: Davidson, 7 p.m.
Jan. 27: at Presbyterian, 6 p.m.
Jan. 29: at The Citadel, 2 p.m.
 

gomocs.com

————————

A great concept IF your local media will do it…

Gwinnett Takedown Club honors county's best wrestlers from December

• From Staff Reports
•  
  • 12 hrs ago

 

Archer's Max Hennebaul, left, wrestles Brookwood's Jacob Chan in the 106-pound finals of the Gwinnett County tournament at Parkview on Dec. 22, 2022.

Will Hammock

The Gwinnett Takedown Club recently selected the wrestlers of the month for December, honoring the top performers from the first month of the high school season.

Each Gwinnett program had up to three wrestlers selected for the honor. Those athletes are:

Archer: Max Hennebaul, Gavin Frierson, Christian Sumo

https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/tncms/asset/editorial/b1a81b66-955e-11ed-84c5-8fe1b485805e/

Of note for UTC wrestling fans... fairly certain Max Hennebaul is the nephew of Bud Hennebaul 

Nice to see 4 Georgia teams in the top 10!

I was glad to see Buford sneak in there at #5.

I see where Baylor finished 3rd.....usually a pretty tough tournament:

https://owrestle.com/kansas-city-stampede-boys-dec-16-17-2022/

Couple of those team were in the Southern Slam last week (Results are available in Trackwrestling)......wish Buford would come up for this.  I used to really enjoy it.  I am coming up for the Iowa - UTC match......guess there will be a huge crowd!
 

Related, but I guess unrelated since it's Georgia.......for Georgia the classification is based on students that are inside the school's attendance zone and those that aren't are multiplied by 3.

Article on classifications:
https://www.ajc.com/sports/high-school-sports-blog/ghsa-reclassification-here-is-where-all-478-schools-fall-and-why/7WA743RSBBB5FBS56HP6FLZE6M/  

Who did he wrestle from out of state?  

Can't believe this old thread got resurrected.........but back in the day....Collins Hill wrestled Powerade Final 4 (only lost to Blair by 3), Blair, Brandon, Easton, The Clash, won Toshiba/Stampede Kansas City tourney 5 or more times...

And after reading my old comments....Peter Yates probably best Georgia wrestler ever....or maybe Charlie Heard....Chip Ness did ok too. Yates only high school loss was to Garrison Goins (4-timer) in double overtime of the state finals his freshman year....he also won Beast of the East.

Found this from the archives:
Event: Final Four Duals (PA)

Date: 1/23/2010 TBA

Site: Easton High School (PA)      

Collins Hill vs:
Long Branch (Won 27 - 25)
Blair Academy (Lost 33 - 30)
Benton (Won 54 - 25)
Easton (Won 45 - 12)