Lutte

Kind of out of the way, but if you have time, head over to Martin's BBQ Joint in Nolensville. Pulled pork, brisket, smoked turkey, smoked sausage. The Redneck Taco is a personal favorite.

russianbear, I have been to the Ag Center and am aware of the floor. I'm assuming TSSAA was also aware of the setup when they decided to move the tournament there. Again, I'm not saying it's the best place to have it. But, again, what other solutions have been presented and who's going to do the work to pull it off? It's my understanding that the people who work the tables and manage the floor are volunteers from Williamson County Schools. Running 12 mats for that period of time takes a lot of people. I think when it was in Chattanooga Soddy Daisy handled the bulk of that work with some help from a few others. Are there other groups now stepping up saying they will do it at Clarksville or Chattanooga? The venues for Iowa and Ohio are impressive, but I would bet they don't just magically happen. There are a lot of volunteers working behind the scenes to pull it off. Is Soddy offering to do it again, or Baylor, or McCallie? This subject keeps coming up every year, but no one seems to want to help fix it. I think putting it somewhere that can only hold 8 mats will require the AAA tournament to be cut to a 16 man bracket, which might not be a bad thing.

Should we expect similar lawsuits against high schools that host regular season tournaments where skin conditions have been contracted? I'm sure wrestlers have come away from Soddy, Brentwood, Father Ryan, the Prep Slam, even the State Tournament hosted at UTC with cases of something. And there were showers available on site at all those events. I'm not saying it's the best place to host the tournament. Just playing devil's advocate to that line of argument. If there is a better place to host the state championships, why hasn't a group gotten together and told TSSAA they would do the work to host the tournament at that location and come up with the financial support to make it happen? The Williamson County group has certainly shown there willingness to put the work in.

I think Lincoln Williamson from Dobyns-Bennett was a 3x runner-up in the late 80s/early 90s, but never won it. Could be wrong.

Great article about a great young man! Thanks for sharing, bkpres. This needs to be posted on all the football boards. Everyone here knows the truth already.

It amazes me that for 2 years now people on this board have been misspelling a State Runner-up's name even when it is clearly listed correctly on the 2008 brackets on TSSAA's website. It is Tate MUSTIN.

Region 6 was also well represented in the finals with 9 finalists and 2 champions.

Couple of corrections, Brentwood won at 125, 171, and 215. Ryan won at 285. Saw the individual results on Brentwood's website

I'm not sure about the budget cuts at UTC, but you are right in thinking that wrestling is probably at the top of their list, which really stinks. Probably one of the leading factors in deciding to cut a college program in order to satisfy Title XI is dollar bills. Personally in my opinion it should be based on success of the program, or lack there of. Case in point, the UTC football team. Look over the course of history. Which program has been more successful at UTC, wrestling or football? Now don't get me wrong, I love college football and always have. But not every college football team brings in big money to the school like a UT, Ohio State, Florida, etc. The smaller, less competitive programs eat more than they make. So, if UTC is looking to cut a couple of men's programs maybe they should take a glance at the old gridiron.

Campbell from Christian Bros. and Moore from Brentwood beat Cothran at Kenwood Klassic. Then Moore beat Campbell. Cothran is definitely a tough kid, though. Strong as an ox. Did a lot of work in the off-season.

I think these dates are right: Hillwood Inv. Jan 3-4, varsity and jv divisions, contact Coach John Moore Brentwood Inv. Jan 10-11, varsity, jv and freshmen divisions, contact Coach Joe Blair Not sure on costs of these tournaments, but it's great to see people offering more jv stuff. It seens very few teams can fill a full freshmen team, but if you can combine your underclassmen and non-starters, you can have a more solid line-up. ALL the kids on the team want to wrestle. Let's give then as many opportunities as possible.

Look for Ortiz from Franklin at 112 this year. Tough kid. Cody Cleveland is now at McCallie in Chattanooga and it's my understanding that he is eligible.

kingwrestling, last year Brentwood won their District Duals and the Region Duals, two things they weren't expected to do. They also put 5 kids in the Region tournament finals (most of any team in Region 5), and were winning the tournament going into the 215 lb. finals match by 2 points. They were expected to finish in about 4th place in the tournament, but they were 2nd by four points with only 10 wrestlers in the tournament. Smyrna deserved all that they achieved last year because they were a good team top to bottom and well coached. But, Brentwood was definitely in the finals. How can you say in one sentence that region V is the largest, thus the hardest to win, and in another sentence say that the region champs "STINK!"? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Smyrna proponent. I've never even seen them wrestle. But if the real talent is at Brentwood, Franklin, and Forrest, then how did Smyrna win the region fair and square? I think all these people bad-mouthing Smyrna must be Franklin and Brentwood fans with a big case of sour grapes. Face it, Y'ALL LOST! And you say Brentwood will dominate. Where were they last year? They weren't even in the region finals! Even if Smyrna doesn't win regions this year...Forrest? Come on. Is Forrest really gonna be able to touch Smyrna? Nope. Sorry, buddy. I think you're gonna get some surprises this year if you think it's gonna turn out like that.

I personally think it would be tough in either division this season. I agree that in DII 112 lbs will be a dog fight with Simpson, Hiller, and now Cody (if they all went that weight). I don't think Leen will be in the picture for these guys as he's too big. Dunning was only 95 lbs at the state tournament last year, so he'll be a true 103 this year. But in DI you have Kyle James, Shaun Cordell, Jennings (who'll more than likely be 119), and Coleman (who'll probably be 103). So, rough roads either way. In my opinion if Cody is going to McCallie for athletic reasons, it's more for helping him to be better prepared for college wrestling later on. Not that I don't think Coach Lester wouldn't do a good job of this. He would, being a former college wrestler himself. But, by going to McCallie Cody will probably get better exposure on the national scene. I'm sure Coach Lester is disappointed about losing Cody, but what can he do. As a DI coach in a DI school he can't make a counter-offer.

Hunter was a senior this past year, so it's just Cody. I think he'll go 112. Should be interesting with Hiller and Simpson in the mix. I also think that Cody is going to McCallie for both academic and athletic reasons. Whether it's more for academic or more for athletic only Cody could say. He will get a great education at McCallie and will also have a better chance of moving on to a good college program by going there. That rule is somewhat vague, though. If TSSAA or his principal were to ask if this move was for athletic reasons, all he'd have to say is no. I can understand if non-boarding DII schools raise a beef about this. It is a disadvantage. McCallie's able to get a tough, proven wrestler with a year of varsity competition under his belt, not to mention a state medal, simply because they can house him. If I were Ryan and MBA, I'd be calling foul. Just my two cents. Cody's a great kid and I wish him the best of luck.

Not sure if Cody will be eligible either even though he will be boarding at McCallie. I've heard that private schools in Nashville are raising a beef with TSSAA.

Lincoln Williams (or Williamson) from Dobyns-Bennett was a 2x finalist. In '90 he and Ricky Johnson from Chatt. Central met in the 2nd round of state and Lincoln beat him in a war of a match. Speaking of Johnsons, what about Ricky's younger brother, Mark? Another 2x finalist.