DII dominates Father Ryan Tournament

[Bluewhirlygig]

First of all, I want to say how great it was to see some of the best wrestlers in the state compete against each other. Kuddos to all who had the courage to put it on the line and take on strong competition.

 

That being said, DII came out on top in the head-to-head competition winning 9 of the 11 match-ups. Here are the finals results:

 

103 - Sherbakoff (WEBB) defeated Shelton (KEN)

112 - Dunning (RYAN) defeated Ortiz (FRANK)

119 - Simpson (MBA) defeated [pinned, tapped out] Cox (KEN)

125 - Hiller (RYAN) defeated Ibranhim (OVER)

130 - Holliman (BW) defeated Seaman (MJ)

135 - Cleveland (McC) defeated [pinned] McKnight (RB)

140 - Myers (RYAN) defeated [pinned] Dix (FAR)

145 - Blair (McC) defeated [pinned] Davis (FRANK)

152 - Miller (BEN [Ala.]) defeated Bourneman (HOU)

160 - Graham (COL) defeated Mayo (Ryan)

171 - Stark (RYAN) defeated Valentine (LIP)

189 - Pease (CLK) defeated Adams (RYAN)

215 - Walsh (BA) defeated Lomas (RYAN)

275 - Forte (BA) defeated Jones (CLK)

 

DII also dominated the team competition by claiming the top three places. Here are the top 10:

Ryan

McCallie

MBA

Franklin

Clarksville

Overton

Benjamin Russell (Ala.)

Kenwood

Dickson

Collierville

 

Overall, it was a great tournament and well worth the trip to Nashville. Well done Father Ryan and I am already looking forward to next year!

[takedown42]

I too was impressed with the caliber of kids at the tournament. Most impressive to me was Blair of McCallie. He was shook like a rag doll during the first period by Davis, then Blair took over in the second period destroying Davis. Davis could not even bridge off his back. I was shocked at this. I was also impressed with Hiller for complete dominace over the Overton kid. I think the move by Simpson to 119 was a good move for him. He looked big and dominated the Kenwood kid who is very good. However, I didn't see the Kenwood kid tap out when he was getting pinned! Good tournament put on by Father Ryan again. Franklin kids are tough, and are not going to do anything but get better. Watch out for Franklin by the end of the year.

[Wrestling4Life]

Man, I wish I had a chance to see the Davis match now! But I had a wrestler from my alma mater wrestling at the same time. Great tournament, all the boys there wrestled great matches.

[best_of_the_west]

Just for technicality's sake, we must mention that the top two D1 teams were not at Father Ryan (Bradley and Soddy), but Baylor was also not there. Throw those teams in the mix, and this tourney would be as close to an overall individuals tournament as we have seen in quite some time.

Edited January 6, 2004 by best_of_the_west

[CoachDelgado]

That might be the case if Davis takes neutral instead of down. Of course when it is Blair's choice, he could take top and get the same result. That half is unstoppable.

Edited January 4, 2004 by CoachDelgado

[legman]

I have no doubt that young Mr. Blairs' half is tough. His dad, Jim was one of my college coaches, and if you can get tough on top through good genes, then he must be a beast. One of the highlights of my freshman year was watching Coach Blair wrestle with DI National Runner up, Charlie Heard at a time when Charlie was absolutely dominating everyone in the country at 118. What a war! I never saw Coach Blair take a step backward. He more than held his own.

 

Coach Blair probably weighed around 140 lbs or so, but more than once he rode me with legs (as a 167 pounder) during practice....geeez! Never forgot the presssure he could apply and learned technique from him that I still teach to my wrestlers today.

 

He's a humble man, but if you talk to him, ask him about the time he took out a potential mugger on the street and held him until the cops arrived! He probably won't admit to it because of humility, but it's a true story.

 

Also can't forget that he defeated the great Billy Martin from OK State in college at a time when Mr. Martin was the #1 man in the country. And best of all, he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.

 

Steve Logsdon, BCHS

[cbg]

Blair appeared to take the best that Davis had to offer and keep it close until he could get control himself. When Blair got on top he "Crushed" Davis. This was no fluke move, Blair simply got on top and used the famous Gene Mills half to pin Davis.

[reftn]

So many years of wrestling. Good techniques come and go, yet the half remains.

 

Legman, thanks for the bit of history.

 

reftn

[Gripper]

"Just for technicality's sake, we must mention that the top two D1 teams were not at Father Ryan (Bradley and Soddy), but Baylor was also not there. Throw those teams in the mix, and this tourney would be as close to an overall individuals tournament that we have seen in quite some time."

 

 

That's true...only if bradley was there, then there would have been different results. but dII did dominate this tournament.

[Bluewhirlygig]

Gripper, I could not agree with you more. Boy, it would have been great to have Bradley, Soddy, and Baylor in the mix! Ryan could have charged as much as they wanted because people would pay to see those matches. Sadly, that did not and probably will not happen any time in the near future.

[coachmasters]

 

DII also dominated the team competition by claiming the top three places. Here are the top 10:

Ryan

McCallie

MBA

Franklin

Clarksville

Overton

Benjamin Russell (Ala.)

Kenwood

Dickson

Collierville

 

I do not believe that Dickson finished 9th.

[dragonwrestler]

Houston finished 9th.