Austin Eldredge collects his 50th career technical fall last night breaking the state record! In addition he broke 100 career wins earlier in the season, he's now at 128!
Congratulations Austin!

Probably my least favorite record is tech falls. Any record that is achieved by running up a score against an inferior opponent means little in my opinion. As a coach I feel a tech fall is only warranted if you truly can't pin your opponent. I have coached several wrestlers who were capable of piling up tech falls but the ultimate goal in my opinion in a match is to pin your opponent not tech fall them. There was a HWT several years ago, from a 321A school I believe, maybe Norton, who took almost every one of his opponents down and pinned them in the 1st period. That shows domination, not piling up tech falls against inferior opponents. In college, you see it a little more because you are wrestling quality opponents who are hard to pin or even turn to their back. Congratulations to Austin and this post is not to downgrade his accomplishments.

That person would have been Jeff Boyle. 3x state champ

Congrats to Austin

Congrats Austin!

(I witnessed one of those tech falls just last weekend...while sitting in the opposing coaching chair)

Congrats Austin! Point scoring machine!

If you're not meaning to downgrade Austin's accomplishments, why are you posting your nonsense on this thread?

Congratulations to Eldridge. Just like Kit I saw a few of them out in Rose Hill. Very impressive and he is as tough as they get on top. One thing I saw that weekend that truly impressed me. He had a great finals match with one of our wrestlers at Derby High Cade Lindsey. Very tight match 2-1 finals. As the match ended Austin shock Cade's hand from his knees in the closing seconds. True class act your rarely see anymore and respect to two very tough kids.

Dude, how out of touch are you? If piling up points isn't domination idk what is. Maybe Austin is better at tilting his opponents and prefers that instead of working a pinning combination. There is nothing wrong with tech falling your opponent. In fact from a fans perspective it is just as enjoyable as watching someone get a pin. People want to see points being scored no matter how it's done. Yes I agree that a pin is more preferable especially from a coaches perspective because of team points and yes taking down and pinning everyone in the 1st is impressive (although not surprising from a HWT). However, you're wrong about the ultimate goal of a wrestling match being to pin your opponent. The ultimate goal is to get your hand raised any way possible(within the rules of course. I don't want you all to think I'm promoting cheating or intentionally injuring your opponent.) It doesn't matter if it's a decision, major, tech, or pin as long as you get your hand raised. Austin prefers to run up the score to a tech and that's how he gets his hand raised, so congrats on your feat Austin!

BTW, I'm pretty sure Nolf could pin atleast half the dudes he tech falls in college, but he's prefers to be on the mat and put on a show FOR THE FANS.

rccokeley maybe I am out of touch. Last weekend I watched a wrestler take his opponent to his back, get his NF only to let him completely off his back to neutral position only to do it again 3 times. A superior wrestler playing with a completely inferior opponent. These kind of matchups happen a lot in high school wrestling. A great high school wrestler usually only has a handful of challenging matches each season. The majority of his matches are against opponents that he can overwhelm and even embarrass. So, does setting records against inferior competition really mean anything? I disagree that the ultimate goal is not a pin. A pin scores the most points for your team and it results in a win. I have no desire to watch someone pile up points against inferior opponents who can't defend themselves. One year I had several wrestlers who were trying to score the most TD's on our team. They began taking down and letting up inferior opponents. A takedown record achieved that way I don't think means anything. For my team I told them I would only count 3 TD's in any match toward their total unless it was against a comparable opponent. I don't know Austin and he is probably a great person. If his total came from tech falling opponents that he could have pinned then its not something I agree with. JMO

I can see both sides of this conversation. If it is truly an inferior opponent then I agree pin them and not embaress them, that is part of sportsmanship. But on the other hand if you are a tilt machine then many times it is going to be a tech fall. Watched Preston Weigel do this many times in his career, even watched him tech a kid in the first period in the state finals. He has carried this strategy to the top levels of college as he teched his opponent in the 1st period last night in the OSU be WYO dual. On the other hand he is not putting kids on their backs in a pinning combination and letting them up. If what you said is true about kids cutting kids to their feet from their back then there should have been unsportsmanlike called. I do not know Austin and can honestly say I have only watched him a few times. 50 techs are alot if techs and almost 1/2 his for wins. I am guessing he is not cutting all these opponents just to take them down. Either way you look at it this a dominant performance scoring points.

Austin does not score points to embarrass. He scores points to end the match & secure the win. He is very good at what he does. He's a great wrestler & great young man.

In terms of a superior wrestler embarrassing an inferior opponent, agreed. Not necessary & not good for the growth of the sport. But then again, if he's having a hard time pinning the kid, he's gotta win the match somehow, so he needs to score his pts.

This thread was intended to congratulate a HS kid for a great achievement.

That is poor officiating. It is illegal to release your opponent to his feet directly from his back.


Maybe to them setting those records does mean something. A great high school wrestler isn't going to change how they wrestle no matter who their opponent is. They are not thinking about whether or not their opponent is inferior or superior to them. They're focusing on what they need to do to get their hand raised. They will approach every single match the same way no matter who their opponent is.


From a coaches perspective this holds true, but not from an athletes perspective. Trying to force pinning combinations (especially on good wrestlers) can often lead wrestlers to make mistakes, giving up points and sometimes losing matches you should not. I've made this mistake plenty of times.


If this is how you get the most out of your athletes then so be it. I am not judging your coaching style, but I would think punishing your athletes for scoring points is counter productive. Again, not judging but JMO.


Disagreements and constructive conversations like this one are what make this forum fun, however next time I suggest you start a new thread instead of hijacking one that is suppose to be congratulating a young man's accomplishment. If you want to continue this conversation you can send me a PM.

Congrats again Austin!

Congrats Austin...way to dominate!

I assume there is JV and varsity for a reason... if the kid is TF other kids in JV often don't you think it would be in the coaches best interest to move the kid to Varsity?... if the kid is "IN" Varsity shouldn't every kid be fair game to TF, Pin, Maj? Shame on the coach who is putting that "inferior" wrestler up to wrestle Varsity if he can't properly execute the skills needed to go out there and not be embarrassed and loses interest in wrestling...
Any kid stepping out on the mat for varsity should of been prepared by their coaches to wrestle a varsity match. Don't even start to take away from a kid who trained and drilled countless of hours to get himself ready to wrestle varsity matches and TF and dominate other kids who were not! Coaches/teams have competed with open weights before....
Which is more embarrassing... a kid clearly inferior get put on his back and pinned in 15 sec and goes home... what does he take away from that?... same kid goes and gets tech'ed in the second period gets 3-4 min of him fighting to improve his position and learns what not to do or do better next time and now has new goals in practice.
I would rather drive a couple of hrs to see my kid fight off his back for 2 min than go watched him get pinned in 15 seconds, and that's honesty right there!