ponderosa also goes to the very tough ironman tournament in ohio the dec 13th weekend i think, and they will have to wrestle teams like: blair academy nj, massilon perry oh, st. paris graham oh, st. edwards oh, some of the top ranked teams in the nation... we'll see how tough they really are after that tournament

Bump this topic up for The Fightin Squirrels!

Has the Hoxie High School Administration confirmed the event will take place?

It's a done deal. It will be on the Thursday before the Garden City tournament and it will be held in Hoxie.

Does Hoxie have a big enough gym to accomodate all of the people who want to see this?

Ponderosa has had two duals so far and they looked pretty good (63-11 and 76-0). They are going to the Ironman in Ohio next weekend and Reno the following weekend.

I just wanted to make the comment that what Hoxie's wrestling program does is amazing. With an enrollment of only 100 people in the entire school and to still have the ability to beat any team in the state is remarkable. Congratulations to the wrestlers and coaches there that have made that program so D*MN good.

Ponderosa High School Wrestling Lineup for the Ironman Wrestling Tournament!

Weight – Name – Class – Ranking Criteria

103 lbs. – Nick Turco – Sophomore - None
112 lbs. – Jake Ellis – Junior – State Placer
119 lbs. – Jesse Snider – Freshman – None
125 lbs. – Marcus Nelson – Sophomore – None
130 lbs. – Kurt Barnhart – Junior – None
135 lbs. – Buster Snider – Senior – State Placer
140 lbs. – Patrick Armstrong – Freshman – None
145 lbs. – Alex Etzen – Junior – State Qualifier
152 lbs. – Tyler Rinaldis – Senior – State Placer
160 lbs. – Ian Heinisch – Freshman – None
171 lbs. – Tommy Pasque – Junior – State Qualifier
189 lbs. – Kaylon Ross – Junior – None
215 lbs. – Gary Haynes – Senior – State Qualifier
275 lbs. – Garrett Crosier – Senior - None

Ironman Tournament in Ohio!

After the first day of competition, Ponderosa is in thirteenth (13th) place out of thirty (30) teams with forty eight (48) points.

Of Ponderosa's fourteen (14) wrestlers; one (1) is on the front side at 171 lbs. and two (2) have been beaten out. The remaining eleven (11) are wrestling on the back side.

Why would Ponderosa even be considered that good this year, let alone ranked in the nation!!?

They only have three returning state placers in their lineup, and they were only 4th,5th,6th, place finishers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2003 Walsh Ironman Wrestling Tournament

In team competition, Ponderosa High School placed nineteenth (19th) out of thirty (30) teams participating, finishing with 55.50 points.

Individual results were:

103 lbs. – Nick Turco; Sophomore; 2-2 – DNP
112 lbs. – Jake Ellis; Junior; 3-2 – DNP
119 lbs. – Jesse Snider; Freshman; 2-2 – DNP
125 lbs. – Marcus Nelson; Sophomore; 1-2 – DNP
130 lbs. – Kurt Barnhart; Junior; 1-2 – DNP
135 lbs. – Buster Snider; Senior; 4-2 – DNP
140 lbs. – Patrick Armstrong; Freshman; 2-2 – DNP
145 lbs. – Alex Etzen; Junior; 1-2 – DNP
152 lbs. – Ian Heinisch; Freshman; 3-2 – DNP
160 lbs. – Tyler Rinaldis; Senior: 2-2 – DNP
171 lbs. – Tommy Pasque; Junior; 2-2 – DNP
189 lbs. – Kaylon Ross; Junior; 1-2 – DNP
215 lbs. – Gary Haynes; Senior; 2-2 – DNP
275 lbs. – Garrett Crosier; Senior; 0-2 – DNP

LAST season the IRONMAN was ranked as the Number TWO (2) TOURNAMENT in the NATION by: WRESTLING USA MAGAZINE

The Ironman is easily the toughest folkstyle tournament I have ever attended. Team points were very hard to come by.

Ponderosa lost 9 matches to Blair Academy who walked away with the tournament. What hurt Ponderosa's team score the most in a tournament this tough (besides constantly meeting Blair) was not having a Max Smith on the team who could have won his weight class. Everyone wrestled well, but you can't place high in a tournament without a finalist.

Ponderosa belonged at this tournament. Their overall team showing was pretty similar to maybe teams 7-18, but they just didn't have a superstar to score the big points.

This tournament was a real eye opener! It was excellent in every way.

wouldnt it be every A.D.'s dream to have a athletic budget apparently like the one at ponderosa. traveling all over the country for tournaments, ohio, nevada, (where else do they go?) then making scheduling adjustment to travel to hoxie, before going to garden city.

with traveling to get that kind of competetion your going to develop higher caliber wrestlers.

but having quality kids programs at the local level gaining experience and traveling to tournamnets in the summer is the only way these days to have the caliber of wrestlers you need to compete competitively.

look around the area, all the studs in the area have a heavy background in kids wrestling.

Max Smith is lucky that Ponderosa didn't wrestle Manhattan last year.

after reading tuff enuff's post i was wondering how come no kansas schools travel that far out of state? does kshsaa have a rule stating you can only compete so far away? i know in a lot of tournaments here in kansas there are some teams that have to travel a good distance to wreselte. like at the derby tourney theres a team from texas, and at basehor linwood theres a team from iowa, and at the liberal tourney there is a team from nevada i believe. as far as i can remember the farthest distance traveled by team from kansas was shawnee hegiths. i beleive they went to a tourney in iowa not to long ago. i know that el reno, oklahoma is going to "the beast of the east" tourney in delaware. there not the only team that has to travel aways to compete in that, i also saw a couple of teams from california in the same tourney which is this coming weekend. (dec 19th-20th) no offense to any kansas high school programs because the quality of wrestling here is defiantley pretty good but im not sure if any team is ready to wrestle at tournaments like "the ironman" or "the beast of the east" or "reno tournament of champions" and i doubt alot of high schools have money to send their team to those tournaments. but it would be cool to see some teams traveling a couple of states away to compete.

The cost of wrestling Ponderosa's schedule is substantial, but almost none of the funds come from the school. They fundraise quite a bit and on a large scale.

I think the biggest obstacle to wrestling a schedule like this is to have coaches willing to step out of their "comfort zone". I heard that #1 Blair Academy's coach has the same goal every year: To have no one on his team go undefeated.

I have no doubt that the best team from Kansas could compete at the level of the Ironman, Reno, or Beast. They just have to be willing to get beat up every once in a while in exchange for becoming better wrestlers (example: Ponderosa at Ironman this past weekend)

Back to the topic of Hoxie vs. Ponderosa.

I can not believe that Hoxie beat Chapparal (CO) by only 4 points at the Colby Duals.

Please tell me that it was Hoxie's JV that wrestled Crapparal!

Hoxie forreit @ 112, 189, and 275. Our 189 and 215 did not wrestle because they have been sick, I believe. So our 275 pounder moved down to 215 and lost by fall. Our 130 and 103 pounders also lost by fall. I wasn't there, but I think this is what happened.

Well that helps explain the score a little bit. Chapparal has always had a weak team, and this is a down year for them. If and when Ponderosa wrestles them this season it will be ugly. I'd bet the farm on Ponderosa beating chapparal by >70 points.

Tell those guys to take some vitamin c so Hoxie can have a full team when they wrestle Ponderosa.

I think one could still make a darn good argument that Hoxie is the best tournament team in the state.

But after a 4th place finish at the Colby Dual Tournament, can they be thought of as one of the better dual teams in the state? I may be wrong (as I have been numerous times before), but usually SF Trail is not one of the stronger dual teams...what I'm trying to say is:

It seems as if the folks from Ponderosa are placing quite a bit of emphasis on this dual as Colorado's Best vs. Kansas's Best. But given recent developments, can Hoxie be considered one of the best DUAL teams in the state? If Ponderosa wants to meet one of Kansas's better dual teams, shouldn't the schedule a dual with teams like Hutchinson, Garden City, Manhattan, or Salina South?

The issue of traveling has been discussed many times before on this forum, so I should know the rule, but I don't. I do know that Kansas has a rule about how far out of state a team can travel to compete, and that the distance is not very far. I am sure many Kansas teams would love to compete at these tourneys and be "willing to get beat up every once in a while" but they can't...
at least not far from home.

I know that some states have a rule that they can't, for example, travel more than 600 miles away for a tournament. There must be a similar rule in Kansas. I'd love to see some Kansas teams floating around the major Colorado tournaments though. You guys are real class acts and tough wrestlers.

With Hoxie's accolades, they should be the best dual team in the state. They have 9 returning placers including 3 champs! Does any other team in Kansas even come close to those numbers?

KSHSAA Article XIV, section 2 limits travel by member schools to 500 road miles of the borders of Kansas; likewise, it also limits schools which can be invited to events hosted by member schools to those who are within 500 road miles of the state's borders.

Not saying it is right or wrong -- just what the rule is.

See KSHSAA Handbook; page 20