So who was everyone impressed with at the Johnson County Classic? I personally thought Kenny Aubrey and David Tindle looked fantastic, showing tons of improvement over last year.

Most Improved
- Kenny Aubry, 135lbs: Goes from getting bounced the 2nd day last yr to winning the whole dang thing against a quality kid in Aaron Bartels. Every guy he tangled with the exception of Bartels he pinned.
- David Tindle, 145lbs: Did not place last yr at the JCC and went on to win it against 3rd ranked Clayton. I was impressed at his overtime poise.
- Barry Smith, 189lbs: JV kid turned into JCC champion all in one yr....cinderella story indeed.
- Nick Shumate, 103lbs: Little dude finally put on some weight becomes a fargo stud and the bi-product of this is JCC title. Very impressive first place finish, considering 103 was pretty deep.
- Justin Broadbent, 103lbs: Gotta give props on a guy that took 6th last yr here and then makes it to the finals. He looked vastly improved and seemed to have put on a good amount of muscle. He gave a national finalist(shumate) a darn good run for his money...

Best Matches(that i saw)
- 125lbs, Chino Elsrode vs. Studie Redcorn. Tell u the truth, i thought studie was going to squeak this one out. Studie locked up that mean ol' cradle and ran that thing like a pimp. Chino though has a knack at winning those close ones
- 103lbs, Nick Shumate vs Justin Broadbent. Watching Shumate fight back from a defict showed his moxie and the overtime was a nailbitter w/ shumate the winner.
- 125lbs, John Munyan vs. Grant Baker. Munyan got a fat lead(8-1) and then Baker used some solid conditioning and aggresivness to cut the lead to 9-8, but couldnt secure the desperately needed takedown for the win.
- 160lbs, Ryan Sondereggor vs. Conor Fitzgerald. This had some good wrestling in it. Ryan showed lots of improvement on his feet from all that freestyle. Conor proved he is one good conditioned mofo, but ryan held off his offensive attacks. Conor never gave up though to his credit.
- 119lbs, Cory Bloodgood vs. Tim Munyan. This match was just flat out insane. Munyan pulled away with i think a 11-2 lead? Munyan got tired and thats when Cory made his move. Cory just kept the pace going and hustled to a 15-12(i think) win. There were some great flurries and scrambles in this one.

Suprising Performances
- Shawn Dedrick, 130lbs: He was a 112lber last yr and still managed top place 3rd at 130lbs! Even though 130 wasnt the strongest class that is still a good accomplishment.
- Ken Livengood, 103lbs: Livengood won the whole thing last yr by tech fall in the finals, but failed to do so this yr(taking a disappointing 4th). i was very suprised and had him winning the JCC before it started. He didnt wrestle as well as ive seen him, but i hear he was sick throughout the entire tourney...

Blue Valley Northwest...where did they come from? Alot of surprizes in many weight classes. Didn't they get 4th or something. WOW. They always seem to produce alot of tuff athletes in the upper weights. Northwest is lucky. They get the best athletes to go out for wrestling every year, so many other 6A schools that can't even get a full squad, which is sad. I can't wait until Olathe East gets a chance to dual them in January.

bartels u r correct. i dont know how they do it, but they seem to always produce new tough wrestlers. its probably because east kansas was in their room and those kids had easy access to the offseason. fools like u and i had to drive a little ways to get some offseason time at bvnw. i was impressed with coach serbosek's(butchered that) son, lance. he will be a impact guy very soon.

Ben are you going to the SMS Tourney?

U D A M N skippy i am. will u be able to wrestle by then?

Like you really care Ben, you know you just come to watch me.

Robinson, I think I speak for all those that will be in attendance when I say, we NEVER come to see you wrestle.

Do you guys certify at that tournament?

i think by SMS, yes u can certify at the tourney. And on the contrary, i not only go to tourney's for Mark, but i also have a photo colage of him wrestling on my dorm room wall....

fun fact: miller and i both just BARELY made weight at that tourney. i still dont know how he or i made 119 at SMS.

You and Matt truly made being anorexic the cool thing to do. And really, I'm flattered about the collage.

And Alex, just because I'm terrifying in a singlet doesn't mean that no one comes to watch me. You're just jealous that you don't get to don the spandex and wrestle as well.

Yes, I think that Alex is at home right icing his elbow.

and yes, anorexic physiques were quite the rage back in my day. Heck, seeing skinny fools likes corey bloodgood and corey wright made me really want to be in the cool crowd.

anyone have any darkhorse champs for the sms? besides platte and sta, im not to sure who has a shot...i think sms, bvw, and oeast have a shot for 3rd.

Yes, I will be wrestling. Who all is at 52s for the tournament? If I remember correctly Mill Valley had a pretty good guy.

yes mill valley has johansen at 152 who i wrestled this summer at missouri camp. he is pretty tough, but erisman smoked him pretty good at the classic.

Will he beat me though? Also congratulations for the Classic. You look real good this year.
Good luck.

Don't worry Mark, I'm sure you'll "work him dude." If that quote doesn't ring a bell, our whole team loves it. It came from your brother Jeff at a previous South tournament.

Speaking of which, how is your beastly brother? I remember having to wrestle him as a sophomore and it was not fun at all.

The quote does not ring a bell, but you guys probably have that "Shawnee Mission sense of humor" which is totally lost on an Olathe boy like me. My brother is doing good and he will be at the tournament if you want to relive some of those old days.

Yeah, it's not really even a joke anymore, just something that we say. Anyways, good luck in your season debut, can't wait to see you out there.