Not taking anything away from manhattans victory at state, i'm rather impressed. But to be 100% honest with you where was the competition? I've never seen so many losing records in a 6a bracket for any weight class. I mean when we won our first state title it was against brackets full of outstanding wrestlers and then a few extraordinary wrestlers who were pretty much expected to win. Why is this that in one bracket i saw a kid with a 7-22 record made it to state? Whats the deal these days?

But with that being said congrats to Steve Andrus and Jeff Vesta for taking the championship home and enjoy the title, i know how it feels boys.

Yea I noticed this myself... while its a great accomplishment to win state no matter what, there were some weights in 6a that just seemed flat out weak when compared to 5a... while I don't want to mention weights, some of the brackets speak for themselves

Not taking anything away from manhattans victory at state,where was the competition I mean when we won our first state title it was against brackets full of outstanding wrestlers and then a few extraordinary wrestlers.

Are you suggesting your championship was better. Poor taste, very classless.

i dont think fris was saying that his state championship was better, since i really dont beleive there is such a thing as a "better state championship". he was just saying that 6a was a more solid class a few years back and that his manhattan team was overall a better team than this year's in his opinion.

... and absolutely NO credit should be given to the current coach or the staff he has assembled. Afterall, they are responsible for the "weak" competition.

Maybe the kid with the 7-22 record stepped it up when it counted,"any given day"kind of thing.Thats why they wrestle the Tourn. instead of passing out medals based on records.

Thanks chewbacca, i wasn't saying that ours was better, i was just saying the level of competition was just unbelievable in 6a for the 4 years i was in state, and i personally think that almost every weight class this year was wide open for anyone to go in and take the title. Like i said before..."i'm not taking anything away from them" "its a great feat and i'm very impressed" Congrats Manhattan

I have noticed that as old timers, our memories and egos make us believe the time in which we wrestled was the best, the most competitive. I personally believe the 90's was the toughest, it is all in the mind of the person remembering.

Agreeed, the 90's were alot tougher, look at the caliber of college wrestlers during that time, Cael Sanderson highlighting them all. I just think if you look at the brackets of state this year versus the brackets from previous 4 years you'll find that the caliber, and losing records were alot worse this year.

the 60's

the 70's, according to my memory and ego.

First of all, Kris you’re an Idiot! Just because these guys stepped up and took care of the task at hand there is no reason to bash the competition! Get your facts right before you post! Review the brackets… Steve went through three very good kids to get to the finals; Bryant went through three very good kids to get to the finals. The rest did what it took to win! Cry your story to Garden City and tell them that the competition was weak. In the Quarter’s we wrestled like big dogs. If you think that you still got balls enough to lay it on the line I give Petty a 5 to 1 that he sticks you! So don’t shortchange what these kids, staff and parents have done this year. Of all people be proud of your schools accomplishments. The last time a title was won you were a .500 wrestler and went 2-2 beating a kids with records of 20-24 (losing record) and 12-10 (.500) pretty tuff that year wasn’t it!

Scott…would have said the seventy’s also but I don’t remember them! So I must have been there!

Parkwayred,

Remember what? I didn't hear what you said.

I disagree with some of the comments that 5A and 6a are down this year. Heck just look at some of the dominant teams and you may see why I believethis. Heck if you live in the goddard district and weigh between 125lbs and 160lbs you basically have to be a state champion just to make the Varsity Roster 125 Caldwell 36-1 State Champ 135 Fisher 24-1 (unknown) 140 Means 35-2 State Champ 145 Houlden 28-12 State Runner up 152 Bonewell 32-7 State Champ 160 Beard 30-2 State Champ. I wonder how many possible state placers are preparing these guys for the next match. What a toughroom not to mention Carrol 140 Arnold 145 Detmer 103 &112 Keller boys tough for some kids to find a place that may be great wrestlers.

I know on our team we had 3 JV stepping in due to injuries & other issues to Varsity that had losing records but did step it up. The experiance will make them better next year. They now know what it takes to make it.

I saw a large number of Freshmen and Sophomores who are state champion caliber now that really are going to be outstanding down the road.

W-L records only identify the gap in competition when all other factors are equal - quantitative analysis.

In fierce competition, where many individuals/teams are capable of winning, each must claw it's way - resulting the "mixed bag of records". That's what we should all hope for.

Conversely however, one could easily argue that big margins in records would indicate a low level of opposing competition, where one his head and shoulders over the others - but that still would say little about the best being any good.

Either way, these types of statistics alone could never infer a low QUALITY of competitors or competition.

For example:
When discussing the NFL teams, we refer to a mixed bag of records as a very competitive year. As oppossed to a weak year, where several team's W-L records are in stark contrast to the others'.

THE OLDER I GET, THE BETTER I WAS!!!


:-)

Mike

i'd have to say that the 1890's had the best wrestling

those scrappy lads could go fisticuffs with the best of them