Does anyone know if there is any truth to the rumor that Zach Hemmerling from Hutchinson is not really a high school student? I heard from a very reliable source that the National High School Conspiracy Assosiation was investigating him after recieving a tip that he had forged his birth certificate and is actually not a high school student but a 28 year old who used to wrestle in Yemin. I do not suppose any of you have heard this information yet, but if anyone knows anything im sure the NHSCA would appreciate the help.

I recall Hemmerling wrestling as a junior at 171 lbs. last year, and I doubt a 27 year old would put on thirty pounds over the summer. I don't know who your reliable source is, but it sounds a little far fetched for me.

I have known the Hemmerling family for over thirty years. I can assure you Zach is a junior in high school. I don't know for sure, but I would bet he is an excellent student. Both of his parents are educators and two of the most ethical people I know. His dad, Dwight, was a state champ from Hutch in the 60's and coached wrestling for many years.
It bothers me, your source would start a rumor to take away what Zach accomplised this year. Not many wrestlers could handle the pressure of wrestling a 2x state champ with the team title on the line. Zach Hemmerling handled the pressure!!!
Congrats Zach.

I heard he was 65 years old and had a face lift and plastic surgery to look 17....

yeah right, congrats on a state championship. You deserve it and don't listen to anyone else. Hold your head up and let your actions speak loudly.

Coach from KC

I have been a lurker for quite some time on this forum. It has been fun keeping up with Kansas wrestling as it has been a big part of my life.

I just couldn't let this thread go by without saying something. When I was growing up I kept the scorebook for our high school wrestling team (My Dad -- Richard Beal -- was one of the coaches). I had the opportunity/pleasure of getting to know
Coach Hemmerling when he was at Marysville. I always thought he was one of the quality coaches in Kansas wrestling. I just wanted to send my congratulations to him and Zach on the outstanding year that Zach had. I sure wish I would of had the opportunity to see the finals match.

Zach, my best to you and your family.

Jon Beal
Department of Mathematics
Clarion University

Congrats are in order for what Zach did, i was highly impressed with his match against Josh. That was a lot of pressure to be put on one young man, to beat a two time state champ and give ur team the points to knock off manhatten. I just can't believe such a rumor was started, i kept up very closily with all the 215 matches this year being a coach and having one of my guys ranked all year. i hope this rumor will stop and once again cngrats to Zach on a great accomlishment.

that is th stupidest thing ihave ever heard. I went to grade school, middle school, and now high school with zach. He is a junior

Surely, the original post was a joke. I took it that way anyhow. Apparently many people took it serious. I just thought it was too ridiculous to be meant with sincerity.

I do agree what Zach did was amazing, but I find it hard to believe a kid who didn't place at 171 last year jumps 40 pounds of what seemed to be pure muscle by himself.Including the fact he beat a 2x state champ. I just wonder what kind of a lifting program he was on.

He was about 8 pounds under at every weigh-in

Let it go folks

It is not unusual for kids in the upper weights to improve drastically as they mature. To answer questions about his growth, for all you non-science folks, it is called genetics. Have you seen his dad?

I witnessed first-hand the effort that Zach put into his training during the off-season. He was hitting the weights very hard, and was in regular attendance at freestyle/Greco practices.

While his improvement was impressive, looking at last year's state tournament result is a bit misleading. Zach is not the first wrestler who has underperformed after being initially overwhelmed by the aura of wrestling in the state tournament. Also, Zach's style is more competitive in the 215 lb division than it was at 171.

I'm reasonably certain that the beginnings of this thread were frivolous in nature, but I think it's unfair to taint Zach's tremendous accomplishment, winning both the individual title and securing a team championship, with this type of slander.

Zach's weight lifting program is the best in the state. Thanks to our coaches and the fund raisers we do to get the best facility in the state. Zach is a very determined person and if anyone could do it, it would be Zach. Watch out heavyweights because I believe that is where he is going to be at.

if zach was at 215 in 2000-2001 season he would have gotten killed in the avl I don't think that he is very good, he got killed by seiler and kennedy from ark city owned seiler last year, plus roberson pinned kennedy I think they would both beat zach.

I would like to see Zach wrestle Kennedy this year. A point of correction, Seiler beat Kennedy in last years regional. I think that the point that needs to be made here is that Zach made tremendous improvement between last year and this year. He did beat Carroll twice this year (the only person in the state to do that). How can anyone say that a state champ with only one loss on the season to another state champ is not very good. I am excited to see where he ends up next year, if he doesn't grow any more, he will be unstoppable at 215, if he does grow into heavy, I don't think anyone will be able to hang with him either, he may not be bigger than any of the heavyweights, but size is not the secret to success at heavyweight, quickness, conditioning, and strength are. Congrats Zach and good luck next year.

JumboSport,

FYI, Hemmerling did beat Carroll at State, but that was the ONLY time they wrestled this year. He did not beat him twice. Congrats Zach on a great season.

I would love to see a match with zach and some of the AVL wrestlers from last year, I think if zach wrestled kennedy, kyle would have him in a cradle in no time at all, I don't know who would win between zach and roberson because roberson is so powerful but zach has better technique, does anyone know if zach and juice ever wrestled eachother?

zach and juice wrestled everyday together. they had some good matches but juice always won but that was last year and zach was 45 pounds lighter than juice. If you put last years juice with this years zach, zach would destroy him. :p :rolleyes:

I would like to give props to hemmerling he represented the AVL good, I would still like to wrestle him