General
Just a few final thoughts from this tournament:
1st Day: I would recommend setting up 3 mats, open up both sides of bleachers. More room for fans, and not as crowded, of course if it packs out, you could always use the 2nd gym.
2nd Day: Everything was great, of course set up like that mentioned above.
Brackets, make them available for sale or, if that is not possible, at least spread them out so people don’t have to crowd around one little spot.
Live updates, via net, or better yet find a way to broadcast, enough interest around the state you would do well.
This may be the toughest tournament at certain weights in Kansas, I would like to see more out of state teams though.
Is Derby the only 6A community in Kansas that don’t have a motel in it? It was a pain having to stay in Wichita and then drive back and forth.
The finals schedule, great job starting at 130 and finishing with 125. A great move and one that kept the crowd there for the entire duration of the tournament.
Teams: I was impressed with a number of teams; the top three all impressed me, with the exception of the one very loud cursing parent from Derby. Something should be done about that man; I’m surprised he wasn’t ejected.
Wrestlers:
This is where I was most surprised and pleased.
Is it possible that the Kellers are the best brother teammates ever in Kansas? I was very surprised at both of them, quality young men, with tons of respect.
I can’t help but make comment here, but with the fantasy match on the board all week mentioning Caldwell and Furches, I must make a comment on them since they both lost. Young Caldwell had a tough young wrestler from Omaha that seemed to get no respect. If I remember correctly, Bridgeford did the exact same thing to Furches last year in the finals, shoot right off the whistle. Tyler will need to work on the aggressiveness of some wrestlers like this, but I think from watching him in the past, that he isn’t going to have trouble with that, and I suspect knowing of what has been said regarding his work ethic, he probably started working on that Saturday night, Sunday afternoon at the latest. I was very pleasantly surprised at Caldwell’s response though, very sportsmanlike, and yet obviously upset he lost. Let me tell you, this young man will be back, he has all the right tools and one loss over 2 high school seasons so far isn’t bad. Don’t write him off.
Young Furches, I watched this young man on Friday and was more impressed with him than any wrestler at the tournament. I honestly thought there was no way he would be beaten. Then on Saturday he was a totally different wrestler. No offense to young Furches, but the talent is obviously there, but he has to remain consistent and wrestle his match or learn to adapt to a defensive style which he obviously hasn’t done yet. I was very surprised that with all of the tie-ups that he didn’t use some throws from his Greco experience. I know he is good there. He was wide open on Friday with great talent, speed and effectiveness. He was far, far too defensive on Saturday. I also think the official blew a call on the stall which could have turned the match as it would have been a point against Keller, I honestly think he called it on the wrong kid, when one kid is on their feet, and another holding onto an ankle, the kid on the feet shouldn’t be called for the stall, just my thought. Like Caldwell, a good sport but the consistency just isn’t there in my opinion.
Kendrick Maple, this is another young man I was very surprised with. I don’t see many at 6A beating him. He has some work to do with technique, but he is a go getter.
The 140 Match with Arnold and Koehn was also a surprise. This may have been the best chess match of the tournament. It was great for counters and the whole bit, the match right next to it was also a wonderful chess match.
145 Detmer and Hynick. This was a combination of a chess match and a war. It may have been my favorite match of the entire night. I think a little better sportsmanship could have been shown, but, after a war like this you really can’t blame a kid for not wanting to get along with their foe right away. A fun match and both wrestlers will hopefully go at it again. I would love to be there and would almost travel just to see this one again.
152 Koehn is one of the better unheralded wrestlers in the state in my opinion. It is obvious that this young man summer wrestles as he uses his freestyle skills to help him out with folkstyle. I know he has great coaching, and I would advice as I would most of these young warriors, keep listening to your coaches.
160 Young Beard from Goddard has improved leaps and bounds from last year. Don’t get me wrong, he was good last year, but truth is he looked beatable last year. I don’t think he has that look this year at all. I was also impressed with his attitude, he seems like a very down to earth young man and was a pleasure to watch. Goddard has a good thing going if they can keep it up. Beard and Caldwell will obviously be the core to build on over the next 2 ½ years.
Outside of the 125 bracket, 171 may have been the most loaded bracket, it didn’t get enough respect in my opinion. I had seen Curran before but the young man is an animal. It is possible that this bracket had 4 or even 5 state placers in it, possibly more. It is fun to see this class get back to the point where there is faience but also power. Curran is a good example of that.
189 had Elliott back in it. It is hard to read this young man because he is so methodical. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but he is not the flashiest of wrestlers, neither is he great at any one skill, other than, he don’t make mistakes. He may be one of the best ground wrestlers in the country from what I have seen. I just don’t think he is going to hardly ever loose if it comes down to a ground technique match. I have to be honest here, I would love to see the style contrasts of him going up against Cotton from Hutchinson. One great on their feet, the other great on the ground, what would happen? I guess we won’t find out this year.
At 215 we saw more action than we thought we would with Page of Wellington winning it. It will be interesting to see how these boys do at state.
The big boys had Holly defeating Rodiriguez. I hate to say it, but it was a typical big boy match. I would have loved to see someone like Foster or Disney here to see how they would have done. I guess for heavy weights it was a good match and not to take any thing away from the two finalists, but I like more action. Congrats to Holly though
