i have wreslted james this year and we went 2-1 and i am kind of happy i never had to wrestle him when he was a freshman.

I believe that Taplin was undoubtly one the best freshman this year. I had the oppurtunity to wrestle him twice this year, we split 1-1, but if I hadn't seen the program I would have never believed he was a freshman.

Wiscombe was impressive too, although I never had a chance to wrestle him. These two should be fun to watch in the years to come, good luck to both of you!!!

Taplin is not good!!!! I dont know why any would think he is the best. By far Baldridge is the best and Tim Elliot and Levi Younkin were very impressive too but Baldridge is the best.

YOUR RIGHT TAPLIN IS NOT GOOD, HE'S VERY GOOD!

levi younkin

this is travis martin, i think that simon orozco is in contention for the best freshman, i havn't seen some of the other freshman wrestle, but simon was very tough and he will add some technique to his style and in the future he will be very hard to beat, he got 2nd in 3-2-1a

Ross Taplin is not a true freshman or he would not have wrestled 16 and under at Kids State.

There are lots of 15 year old TRUE freshmen.

Buff makes a good point. Most of the freshmen mentioned here are older, and could technically be sophomores. Further, freshmen at lower weights almost always fare better than freshmen at upper weights because they do not wrestle as many Juniors and Seniors. It is very rare to see a 4x state champ come from the 145 lb weight class and higher. It is almost always from the lower weights. The "older" freshmen mentioned here are all very good wrestlers - whether lower or upper weights. But revisit the question in 2004 from this class and there will be some surprises. Those who are older will have matured faster and still be very fine wrestlers. But some of them will be overtaken by those younger in this freshmen class, who have battled mainly Juniors and Seniors already, -- when they have caught up maturity wise.

what about that kid from wichita west that wrestled 119 first in the city and took second at state. he was pretty good.

I think his name was Cornejo.

What about the Herrera kid from Emporia who won at 119? I heard he is only a second year wrestler.

Found this old topic from my Freshman year. How many predictions were right? How many wrong? I think the Taplin prediction was a little off...

Alex

Great find Bronco, this was a blast to look through. That kid from West, what was his name, I think Cornejo. Looking back on some of the comments it is quite funny. Just goes to show tha sometimes thinking a kid is going to be good, and the kid really being good can be two different things.

That's cool how almost all the names mentioned here are some of the ones mentioned a lot as the best in the state today.

I think its fun to look at college now and find guys that I've never heard of wrestling from Kansas at these other colleges while some of the "bread and butter" names have gone to the wayside.

Where was my name on that list? I was 10-6 as a freshman with 7 pins on the JV circuit. I think that made me worthy of mentioning.

matt noblet paola

This was in reference to guys when they were a freshman that just graduated.