What a day of wrestling it was! i just got to a computer and wanted to share some thoughts about the Indiana dual. It was an amazing comeback that showed the heart of our team.

When Sharky lost his match and his cool, it ended up costing us a team point and gave us notice that this would be an intense dual. Nathan Furches got us back on track and I have to say, he dialed it up to a new level today. He was his aggressive self which was fun to watch. Jake Tanenbaum's match was a big jolt also. In the 1st period, Jake threw the Indiana kid and most of us thought it deserved 5 points. He was awarded three instead and the kid was not getting up. He took about a minute and a half injury time. He then got up and gator rolled jake who stopped the move halfway which put him on his back. He almost fought it off, but was called for the fall. That was a 7 point swing that really had the KS faithful worried. At 130, Trison Graham had one of the most exciting 1st period's that I have seen the entire tournament. He won it 6-6 and then turned the heat on in the 2nd to beat a very tough Indiana kid. Napier, Fisher and Hambleton have had great tournaments also and won the next three matches. Tyler Koehn had a showdown with one of Indiana's best, Andrew Howe. A few years back, he was the freshman phenom and showed it again, by beating Tyler. We knew we had the forfeit at 171 and the KS crowd was unusally quite. Romero ran up a quick 4-0 lead, but had to hold on to win 5-4 in the 1st period. The 2nd period was all Romero and we were within striking distance. When Joe Bach surprised the entire team by not making weight on Friday, we were thankful to have 2 189 kids that were both studs. It sure came in handy in this dual! Scott Elliott put Kansas on his back and set Atticus up for the kill. After losing the 1st period, Scott sent the big 215 Indiana kid airborne! The 5 pointer brought the crowd to it's feet and made us all realize it wasn't the size of the dog that won matches. He then followed that with a tenacious 3rd period as he acted like it was impossible for him to lose. After 215, it was 27-27, and it was in the hands of our own Atticus Disney. You have to like the quality of Heavyweights we have in Kansas. Giving up about 30 pounds, Atticus immediately sunk a double overhook and stepped in with a big hip and tossed the big boy onto his back for the fall! I don't think Atticus had even considered it going any other way.

Now that was a dual! These Junior's have overcome injuries, emotional blow-ups and puzzeling weigh-in problems and have now guaranteed themselves top 8 finishes in both styles! All of this with 95% underclassmen! I have to also hand it to Coach Reick, Garcia and Akin. They have managed this team well.

Today made it worth the trip down to OKC! When Tanner and I saw the Junior Duals two years ago in Enid, we knew that this would be a mandatory trip each year. Again, Kansas came through!

Tomorrow we go get some more!

GO KANSAS!