Thanks Red Rum. Just looking for that body of evidence for claim support. Apparently he wasn't at 52 over the weekend as Beam dominated all 8 opponents by tech or pin. He and the Nelson's were on a rampage.

Hasley wrestled 160....he had won all matches friday night, however i dont know what he did saturday

Bummer...wished Beam could have wrestled 60 but chose to certify in prep for "The Elgin".

Red Rum;634170 wrote:Whats going on with Smithville? I thought they had close to a whole team. The results in the DR only shows them to be wrestling in 7 or so weight classes.

Wildbear--Bend & Brush are talking about a kid from Marietta who was 26-0 last year before injury and according to Bend, overlooked by the Brakeman types. Apparently there was a possibility of this kid wrestling Beam in the Stitch Co. tournament.

Beast--Who won the Waynedale Jr. High Tournament? Actually, What I'm really wondering is how did the county programs fare teamwise?

"Justin Hasley is a junior who was 26-0 last year before he broke his wrist right before the sectional tournament. He beat two state-qualifiers and a Division One district placer as a sophomore. He worked hard and lifted all summer, we are hoping for state for him," said Walker.

http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/542043/marietta-high.html?nav=5276

This is the site read it for yourself. You might think Brakeman is a god and I admit he is often correct, but does not know everyone so for what it is worth go read the article yourself, I guess it to can be wrong.

bendem;634973 wrote:"Justin Hasley is a junior who was 26-0 last year before he broke his wrist right before the sectional tournament. He beat two state-qualifiers and a Division One district placer as a sophomore. He worked hard and lifted all summer, we are hoping for state for him," said Walker.

http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/542043/marietta-high.html?nav=5276

This is the site read it for yourself. You might think Brakeman is a god and I admit he is often correct, but does not know everyone so for what it is worth go read the article yourself, I guess it to can be wrong.

This kid is from southeast ohio. Weak area for wrestling for the most part compared to the rest of the state. Brakeman does a good job with his reports but that aspect combined with the injury the kid had are the main reasons for neglect I'm sure. If this kid is as good as claimed he'll be on Lord Brakeman's list this year or be one of the kids that prove him wrong in Columbus. I mean heck. Brakeman isn't even out yet for this year and how is he expected to catch all these "new" kids (not sure if this kid was solid the year before the undefeated season) when they don't travel far or wrestle quality kids?

Whew, it seems were spending an awful lot of time talking about this kid from Marietta, who by the way is 9-4 this year according to their paper. He didn't win the 160lb class at Coshocton as Scott Boyce from Minerva took that honor. Marietta wrestles at the Firestone this weekend so anyone who cares will be able to see where he finishes. I for one, am pretty much done with this subject, theres plenty of WCAL 9-4 guys I'd rather hear about.

Lots of good action this weekend with the Dies Memorial & Top Gun.

Too bad about Smithvilles woes, Unkefer needs to toughen up the schedule next year. Smithville needs to drop either the Wooster or Chippewa Tourney and find a ballbreaker to enter. Their remaining guys could be in for a real eye opener at the sectional tournament.

Smithville did drop CIT and Wooster for Tri Valley duals and Husky duals, some solid wrestling at Tri Valley, not sure what to expect at the Husky duals. Also going to the Jimmy Wood this year.

Unkefer's practices are much harder than last few years, but really needed to be, kids were gassed in their matches at the end of the season last year, looking much better this year far as being in better shape.

3 or 4 should qualify for districts, with Kelbley having the best shot at state.

Red Rum;635429 wrote:Whew, it seems were spending an awful lot of time talking about this kid from Marietta, who by the way is 9-4 this year according to their paper. He didn't win the 160lb class at Coshocton as Scott Boyce from Minerva took that honor. Marietta wrestles at the Firestone this weekend so anyone who cares will be able to see where he finishes. I for one, am pretty much done with this subject, theres plenty of WCAL 9-4 guys I'd rather hear about.

Lots of good action this weekend with the Dies Memorial, Top Gun & Firestone.

Too bad about Smithvilles woes, Unkefer needs to toughen up the schedule next year. Smithville needs to drop either the Wooster or Chippewa Tourney and find a ballbreaker to enter. Their remaining guys could be in for a real eye opener at the sectional tournament.

If he is having trouble keeping kids now what is a tougher schedule going to do?

Jmar,
Once all the layers are peeled away and all you have left is the "Hard Knocks", the kind that quitting isn't an option, then throwing them into the fire against better competition only makes them tougher.

If your only going to have a few, they might as well be fierce.

I think Unkefer can build Smithville into a contender, not this year or next, but 4 or 5 years down the road.

I'm all for Tough competition but you need numbers for a school that isn't very wrestling friendly. My thing is if kids are quitting because of practice.... Getting your butt whipped isn't going to help matters especially at this school. How long before the admin decides to pull the plug on the program or coach if numbers aren't good? I believe smithville said they are out of cash in the next year if levy isn't passed right? Are they pay to play now?

These are things that have to be considered like it or not by a program of this nature. High school athletics are becoming more and more like college athletics...

The future is bright for Smithville wrestling. The administration cannot pull the plug yet. Finally they have the right head coach, the youth program is pretty good, and the interest is there.

Bringing a program from virtual non existence to WCAL contender won't happen overnight. Look at Waynedale or Northwestern, the class of the league....long time established programs, young kids who dream of donning a varsity singlet. You have to build that in your program, and I believe the seeds have been sown in Smithville.

Wrestling, unlike all other sports, isn't necessarily about winning, showing up and playing hard goes a long way.

Please Smithville administration do not comprare your wrestling program to the past successes your football program has had. Let it grow.

Its sad how we would like to have things both ways. In order to compete with the best teams in the state you have to have practices and a schedule to go with it, however to have decent numbers you need to be reasonable in both areas. Wrestling as a whole has a growing problem just like our economy. The fat cats get fatter and the guys in the middle are finding it harder and harder to survive. Sometimes I wish we had a CVCA type school that united the Wayne co area wrestlers and assembled a local all star team because I think there is awesome wrestling here, but we're too spread out. What do we have 10 or 11 districts? Medina has more people, comparable size and what like 6 districts including the D1 state champs. I'm not necessarily in favor of contraction of districts, but when you compare, it truly changes the game. Smithies, don't beat down your wrestlers with an impossible schedule. Find one or two marquees and pull a few kids out that can't handle it. Ideally the mega bracket tourney's are bad for the middle of the wrestling pool and only for the best of the best. That's one of the things keeping wrestling's popularity down. Duals! Team competition! Every wrestler wrestles every time and every match matters...even the losses ie; minimize the damage.

The only mega tournament Smithville has on schedule is Jimmy Wood. Their other changes have been to dual tournaments, which is a positive in my opinion.
I do agree it will be at least 4 to 5 years until Smithville wrestling is respected. We only have 1 freshman, 1sophmore, rest juniors. Jr. high is very skimpy, they claim the 6th grade class has a lot of kids that will be good wrestlers, and only time will prove that.

rtherthrwyathnknwya;636789 wrote: Duals! Team competition! Every wrestler wrestles every time and every match matters...even the losses ie; minimize the damage.

This is EXACTLY was Coach Stanley does at Waynedale!!!! Yet the Bears are continuosly hacked about not wrestling marquee tournaments. Weak schedule etc. We lkie the ways things are going and the competition and mat time is great!!!!

Along the lines of a "Wrestling Team Star Power", You could all migrate to Waynedale...we'll call ourselves The Golden Bears....and We will bring home the gold!

If duals are so important to the Bears, why don't the Bears dual the Huskies? Who's holding out?

Rumor has it Unkefer would like to make the WIT a dual tournament.

Bears dont Dual ANY WCAL teams. We are holding out!

Perhaps we could enter WIT, CIT, Hillsdale invite and Dual all league schools, WCAL, Sectionals, Districts, State...and wrestle league foes 5-6 times a year...yeah...that makes sense.

Yes, i talked to Unkefer, and he does in fact want the WIT to go to a Dual format

Nice to see the bobcats now have Grier back in there lineup. He shouls help the team out a lot.. Curious to see how Grier does at the Dies this weekend. Good luck Dustin

^^^^Agreed!

Beast, the mentality of avoiding league opponents blows my mind. Isn't the purpose of a league to have a set list of preset opponents who you compete with? Why are wrestling teams excluded from this? Our sport gets little recognition because we don't compete and thus create or deepen the rivalries.

No, no Beast. No you don't...you already gets transfers because of stellar academics. If you started getting kids because of the wrestling program - that would just be unfair to the rest of us.

Rumor has it that a 7th grade wrestler from Smithville is moving to Waynedale?

Palm Pré;638108 wrote:^^^^Agreed!

Beast, the mentality of avoiding league opponents blows my mind. Isn't the purpose of a league to have a set list of preset opponents who you compete with? Why are wrestling teams excluded from this? Our sport gets little recognition because we don't compete and thus create or deepen the rivalries.

Does northwestern wrestle league opponets?

We wrestle league schools at WCAL, Sectionals..possibly Districts and State!!!! By you're rule of thumb, maybe we shouldnt have "non conferance" football games and play a few league teams twice!

Bears dont AVOID league schools...just find it in our best interest to see you all at county....when its the League against the Bears. Really quite sad.

Anyone who thinks there is a lack of rivalry has never been the WCAL meet....

I personally don't see the big deal about not wrestling other county schools until the WCAL meet. It keeps things exciting. Why waste large portions of the schedule wrestling each other then do it again at county. It also makes it harder to prepare for the stronger competition at the district and state tournaments. I realize the "wrestle everyone in a dual then have a year end tournament" works for some leagues, I just don't think it would benefit the WCAL programs. I think not wrestling much with other county schools has benefitted Waynedale & Northwestern greatly. just my opinion.

And Beast, the rhetoric never changes, only the year. Waynedale is always the victim, always picked on. Anyone who believes that is quite sad...really. I will say though, you are a master at "Selling the Drama".

lol..i try!