High School in 14U

How many HS state placers chose to wrestle 14U? I noticed these guys...

Dustin Reed - CB
Cody Eastman - ARK
Jonathan Blackwell - BS
Aaron Puckett - BS

Nothing like calling out a 14 year old on a message board!

Shhhhhh you are in "hidding", whatever that is. The discussion is a follow-up of a long thread on this subject. Many of us were wondering if any high school placers would wrestle for a kids medal. You even came out of your "hidding" and chimed in.

well i dont see y people get mad about those kids wrestling 14U because Reed lost and Eastman had a tough match and idk about the others but u shouldnt say anything bad about them

Great job to all who wrestled whether they placed or not. I do think there should be a rule put in for the future that states that any HS state placer must enter the HS division. That seems only fair for the 14u division. Nothing against the kids who chose to wrestle 14u this year, as they were well within the rules put in front of them. Many had probably already decided what they were going to wrestle before they placed at HS state and just did not rethink their decision after they placed. This is the first year for the HS division and it seemed to be good for overall wrestling. This change going forward would be my only suggestion.

Great job to all!

How many high school state placers that chose to wrestle the high school division, were eligible to wrestle 14U?

Chief-
This is a JUDGEMENT call by a 14 year old competitor. This is your officall warning...you should know better than to question a JUDGEMENT call

What were the total numbers this year with the expanded High School Division compared to last years numbers -
14U and 16 U ?

If I remember correctly, going into subs, the number entered in the high school division was up 150 competitors over last years 16U division. If that is accurate I'm not sure what if anything it indicates at this point.

The proposal to change 16U to High School was vague in this area but the intent was to have all high school wrestlers in the high school division. There was much discussion over this topic as there were strong feeling on both sides of the argument. I know that most of us felt that freshmen who placed in HS state would probably wrestle the HS division.

Looks like a bunch of B.S. guys wrestled 14U. So what? They chose to keep wrestling after HS was over, and my hat is off to them for doing so.

Congratulations to Aaron Puckett and his Kids State Championship!

I had the privilege of watching him wrestle at Subs as I was working the table. He is very talented. I told my husband then that I thought he would be a contender. By Districts, I said I thought he would win it all. Unfortunately, my husband saw him wrestle too so no bets were on!

My son wrestled him at Subs and lost. AT 14u, kids and parents should expect stiff competition and most will take some lumps. Kids develop differently, compete differently and "get it" differently. But in no way did any of my family think that it was "wrong" that Aaron was in my son's bracket. Sure the path would have been easier, but Aaron had every right to compete right where he was.

The Puckett's were always friendly and were fun to be around. Aaron even laughed when I offered him a few pancakes before he wrestled Andrew. Not really sure that was going to help.....but a Mom has to try!

I dislike this thread pretty much because the 14U freshmen couldn't win from the time the rule was changed. I think the change was good, but you have to leave the choice of a 14 year old kid alone. Period, no matter how successful their HS season was. The rule made it their choice so there can be NOTHING wrong with it either way. I knew this was going to come up. When I didn't see it after subs or districts, I was hoping maybe the adults WOULD leave it alone.....but no such luck.

Just my two cents....

Remember that any high school kid who was eligible to wrestle in the 14U division is likely a very young freshman who has been battling older opponents throughout the high school season.

This age disadvantage isn't limited to having to wrestle upperclassment. Many parents delay starting their kids in Kindergarten by a year, resulting in an age advantage.

Since November the 14U high school kids have been having to wrestle older kids, many times within their own grade. Maybe they've earned the right to get to wrestle in their own age group for one month?

I too felt that the rule was there for the kids to make the choice. My son Dustin Reed is one of the wrestlers being called out on this thread. He made the choice to go 14 and under because that is how it has been since he was 6 and under and felt that is where he should be. I stand behind his decision! I am very proud of him for wanting to wrestle post season and he handled himself with great sportsmanship.

I can only say that I wish the opposing coach could have done the same. The kid just lost a State Championship and the coach has the nerve to grab his arm and make a rude comment. I feel the only reason the comment was made was to insight a poor sportsmanlike reaction from my son. Not only that the coach made my son feel bad about a good season. Why coaches feel that is necessary is beyond me. Coaches need to be proud of their own wrestler and only say positive things to the opponent!

I would like to take the time to congratulate Tyler Dickman on a good match and hope to wrestle you again soon.

Interesting conversation on this thread. My opening post was not negative and was not intended as a "calling out". Those listed had fantastic freshman seasons and deserved every accolade they earned. The new HS division was added as an opportunity for more competition within classes and was a success in its first year. By estimate, over 150 new wrestlers were added versus last years 16U division. The primary rationale for keeping the 14U division open to HS wrestlers was to allow JV and non qualifying HS kids to compete in the state series. Certainly, the current rule states that all 14U wrestlers are included, regardless of their HS accomplishments.

As Coach Jobe stated earlier, to get a clearer picture of the success of the new rule, it would help to know how many HS state placers that were 14U eligible chose to wrestle HS.

Nothing negative toward those that chose 14U, just an analysis of how the rule change worked.

It looked like chief He was just asking a question. Sportfan read it as calling someone out.
No need to defend Eric.
I am sure there was no disrespect for anyone wrestling.

Kids make all kinds of choices. Fact of life is that people will make comments.
Here is my comment:

Aaron P is a nice young man and talented wrestler. He could have been in the hunt for a title in the high school section also. he choose to wrestle 14U- is no big deal.

i was working and missed Chief's response. oops should have checked first

To me the kids who followed the rules did nothing wrong but they are the first of a unique group who had the "option" to decide what to do. I know each of the kids mentioned and their families. They are great people and they have done NOTHING wrong. No one is saying that they have but their results have to be observed to see if changes should be made in the future. Congratulations to ALL of the wrestlers this weekend. Win or lose they are all champions and no one is calling anyone out on this thread.

In Missouri and Oklahoma HS wrestlers are not allowed to compete against middle school wrestlers in their state tournament series. That makes it a pure "Kids" state tournament division.

I don't think we should slip down the slppe of saying that a FR who has been in a HS room for nearly four months has "earned the right" to wrestle kids who DID NOT have the opportunity to practice five days a week against kids that could be three years older than them. When you can walk from your locker to practice immediately after school for five nights of workouts with a professional coach it is a HUGE advantage over kids club wrestlers who have to travel to practice and usually on get three or four nights a week in against kids not young men.

I would like to see us split the state tournament up. Lets get 6,8,10 year olds done the weekend of or before HS regionals. They need subs, dist and state. The size of that event would allow us to move it around: Hays, Salina, Wichita, Pittsburg, and Topeka. The 12, 14, and HS state would be held by having a Dist on the Saturday after HS state and State the following weekend. Again, small enough to use several venues.

Our tournament has outgrown any available arena. Saturday after the parade of clubs we started wrestling and the floor was really crowded. I looked around and we had fans sitting in every row all the way to the top and from one corner to the other!!! It was awesome but this means we are too big.

This plan gives families their spring break back. Lets you go to the NCAA tournament without giving up the kids state series. Lets the little wrestlers start baseball, soccer, lacrosse or whatever as those age groups don't need to be singularly focused on wrestling yet.

Lets get it done!

What do their results have to do with anything? They wrestled their age group. I don't understand what there is to observe.

If that's not calling them out, I don't know what is.

Then you are not as smart as I have given you credit for. If state placers are dominating the 14U group then they should not be given the choice to wrestle in a "Kids" grouping, 14U.

What I noticed with the 14U division champions this year is that it looked similar to high school state, lighter weights dominated by the younger kids, heavier weights dominated by the older kids. I suspect that all the age groups look the same but have not researched it.

If we readopt the USA Age groupings, then it would eliminate some of the FR from even being eligible for 14U. As of January 1 instead of September 1.

So if a kid dominates at state one year, we should make them wrestle up an age division the next year. I never thought Will Cokeley would want to make it "FAIR" by taking the competition out of a division. WOW!

Chadly,

You know that I want the Kids division to be kids not HS wrestlers and kid wrestlers. I feel very strongly about the unfair advantage a HS wrestler gets from a season of practice and HS competition. There is no way to give that opportunity to an 8th grader without cheating.

Will,

You know I feel just as strongly that they should get the opportunity to wrestle their own age group. The same way they have since they were 6. My 8th grade year is the only year I didn't win Kids State. There are alot of tough 8th graders out there, it is good for them to wrestle the competition the freshmen bring. My suggestion if you want to change it is to get rid of the 12U division and make it 13U.

I'll vote for that! One more year at the top. Isn't that what most parents think at some point in there wrestlers down year? But lets adopt that immediately, strickly selfish reasons!

Bragger, had to throw that in didn't ya Feel better

well i choose to wrestle 14U hoping to see some good competition which i thought i wouldn't after the first day winning all matches easy but then in the finals i wrestled tyler Dickmen and had a good match lost 4-1 in the last few seconds and that was ok with me i wasn't satisfied with my season but had a good year but then i went to the other coach to shake his hand expecting a good sportsmanship "good match" or something like that but the coach decided to say something else and that is what really hurt i feel that a coach should always be a good sport when there kid losses or wins and all wrestlers should be a good sport to i have always taken losses pretty well but when someone says a rude comment like that its hard to keep your cool but i think i made the right choice wrestling 14U because i think in HS i would have won it and it would prolly have been an easier match but Congrats to all wrestlers this weekend

What's the secret Chad? If they are wrestling in the kids division, they are wrestling for a kids medal. How else could I say it?

You know this is about the kids. They had a long season like Mike said and made a choice. Even though the parents may want them to, the kids do not always want to be in a pressure cooker each weekend. It puts a lot of stress on them. They earned the right to pick their age group by the rules. And, I agree - change the age groups to match USA. That settles it all, otherwise, don't belittle a kid's accomplishment, just because the adults want to see high profile matches. And, don't compare this to High School, my kid reminded me its not the same. Finally, why doesn't somebody address #1Fan.

Didn't all the kids in the high school division also wrestle for a "kids" medal? Every wrestler who placed last weekend got the same award no matter what division they were in. What difference does it make if it was high school or 14U?

To me this could be solved by going to Cadet and Junior Divisions. This would be consistent with USA Wrestling's Folkstyle Nationals and Fargo. The problem...we don't have enough room to add another division to the tournament. If we split it up we would have room to add Cadets and six and unders.

I think Ed answered your question. Everybody wrestled for a kids medal this weekend. So why just call out the 14 year old freshmen who did not play the way you wanted them to?

You could have said "Many of us wondered how many of the 14 year old Freshmen would wrestle in the High School division."

Wow...notice how unthreatening that sounded? Eric, you got your jab in, and many noticed.

You boys quit bickering!