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Post by Eiwaman1 on Dec 19, 2016 16:00:33 GMT -5
I saw this in a local PA paper summarizing the Beast of the East.
Beast of the East wrestling tournament, first day " Ryan Anderson crushes two-time state champion. The Bethlehem Catholic sophomore’s technical fall (16-1, 4:28) over unseeded Poquoson (Va.) Patrick McCormick in Saturday’s first round didn’t seem especially notable at first. Then, a look on a wrestling web site showed McCormick with a 92-4 career record. Well, maybe an error? Apparently not – and then we find out McCormick is a two-time Virginia state champion. Goodness. The catch here is that Virginia – a state smaller in population than New Jersey – crowns seven state champs – six public-school classes and one private. And Garden State fans think the PIAA is crazy for having two classes!"
Just food for thought. Feel free to discuss.
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Post by Five Em on Dec 19, 2016 20:41:24 GMT -5
I was sitting at The Beast this weekend, and overheard a conversation between some Pennsylvania parents. One inquired to the other who their son had to wrestle next, and the answer was "Some state runner up from Virginia". The response from the other parent was "Virginia is a joke, they have SEVEN state champions at every weight, don't take state placing into consideration for Virginia kids".
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Post by Wrestling Fan on Dec 20, 2016 8:14:24 GMT -5
VA wrestling is for from a Joke. The state was represented well. In that same aspect, we had a VA kid from Colonial Forge beat the Number one seed and returning Beast Champ. So it goes both ways.
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Post by Wrestling Fan on Dec 20, 2016 8:17:07 GMT -5
we also had 3 VA champs (106,138,195), and several placers.
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Post by Wrestling Fan on Dec 20, 2016 8:22:15 GMT -5
we also had 3 VA champs (106,138,195), and several placers. sorry i forgot about 160 Champ Hunter Bolen, and i looks like we had 14 placers.
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Post by Eiwaman1 on Dec 20, 2016 11:08:08 GMT -5
VA wrestling is for from a Joke. The state was represented well. In that same aspect, we had a VA kid from Colonial Forge beat the Number one seed and returning Beast Champ. So it goes both ways. One thing to remember is all #1 seeds are not created equal. Bolen was the #2 seed but is ranked #7 nationally. Seedings are based on points, not national rankings. If you check the brackets you will see they met again for 5th place and the Foca won by fall in the first period. The point is no one here is saying we're a joke, it's the perception when our "top" guys lose badly to lesser opponents. Another example would be the #1 and #3 ranked kids at 113 (Wittenberg and Braswell) were both pinned by a freshman. They are both returning state champs so the perception is diminished. We're not talking about upsets (10-7, 6-5, 4-3) those happen and yes go both ways. These are bad losses and the majority of them go against us.
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Post by Vawrestle on Dec 20, 2016 13:31:33 GMT -5
To remark on your comment about McCormick which started this thread, maybe it isn't VA wrestling as a whole that is struggling. If you look at 120 for Virginia wrestling there were over a dozen competitors at that weight. Only 2 others shared the 0-2 fate that McCormick suffered, Jacob Mills (who lost his second match to another VA kid, Alex Smith of CF) and Beau Curtis. That leaves 11 individuals with at least one win with half of the VA field notching at least two. Some of them even lost matches to other VA kids who were performing well. I couldn't agree with you more that 7 state championships is ridiculous, having won one myself when it was 4. However, a bad performance, or draw should not dictate your opinion on the state of the state's wrestling. Instead, look at the success stories of those like Aaron Howell, Sam Book, the THREE place winners at 132 (Marshall Keller, Marc Garofalo, and Caden Darber), Stanley Smeltzer, Eze Chukwuezi, John Borst, Jeffrey Allen and the many others who have not only placed at beast but threaten to or place at every big tournament they walk in the gym to compete at. Winning a state title in VA should be a goal of every competitor, but those that I've listed above surely have goals of placing at every event they compete at, if not winning. Those that attend an event like the Beast and don't place that have won titles (Brandon Wittenberg, Brandon Woody, Pat McCormick, and others) are surely disapppointed in their showing, but it is the greatest measuring stick one can ask for during the season. Those individuals get a taste of what they hate and somebody like Brandon Wittenburg will only get better from the defeats he had to freshman or sophomore studs, much like he was a year ago. The state of VA at the top is not bad, and to say that with the showing VA had as a whole this past weekend is silly. Every big, national tournament has kids from VA realistically eyeing up first place and it may never be what PA, NJ, OH, or CA does but it surely isn't bad.
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Post by Eiwaman1 on Dec 20, 2016 14:50:33 GMT -5
Allow me to clarify a few things before this goes in the wrong direction. First, no where did I say the state of VA wrestling is struggling. I also did not intend to single out the young man who was first mentioned. My post was a quote from an online article with the emphasis on the multiple classifications, hence the subject line note to VHSL. I think VA has made great strides every year and is constantly improving. The damage is in the perception the 7 classis provides.
Most states have to deal with losing to kids from your home state or area so that point is moot. I agree there are many success stories from this weekend. There were 33 VA schools represented and even though all did not send full teams we should expect multiple placers as we sent our top kids. My post was primarily about perception. Depth, strength, and quality are different subjects (though I'm will to discuss or share an opinion on that as well.
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Post by Eiwaman1 on Feb 9, 2017 22:03:50 GMT -5
Schools closed in the eastern part of PA due to the snowstorm, yet the state duals went on as scheduled at the Giant Center in Hershey. Every team from across the state that qualified made it and despite the snow they still had almost 2000 in attendance...on a Thursday night.
Just sayin'
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