Joe got the invitation yesterday to wrestle in this year's NWCA All Star match down in Stillwater. I'm not sure who he will be wrestling, yet. If the invites are out, then the announcement should be next week sometime after all the acceptances are in. See ya in Stillwater on November 21.

for those that can't make it, do you know if it will be televised?

This would be great to go to. Last year CSTV televised it. They showed it several times, I have VHS tapes of it. I think it was live but am not sure.

40th Annual NWCA All-Star Classic Presented by the Unites States Marine Corps
Gallagher-Iba Arena - Stillwater, Okla.
November 21, 2005

125- Sam Hazewinkel (Oklahoma) vs. Nick Simmons (Michigan State)
133- Tom Clum (Wisconsin) vs. Mack Reiter (Minnesota)
141- Teyon Ware (Oklahoma) vs. Nate Gallick (Iowa State)
149- Zack Esposito (Oklahoma State) vs. Jon Masa (Hofstra)
157- Joe Johnston (Iowa) vs Alex Tirapelle (Illinois)
165- Johny Hendricks (Oklahoma State) vs. Ryan Churella (Michigan)
174- Mark Perry (Iowa) vs. Jake Herbert (Northwestern)
184- Paul Bradley (Iowa) vs. Pete Friedl (Illinois)
197- Jake Rosholt (Oklahoma State) vs. Joel Flaggert (Oklahoma)
285- Steve Mocco (Oklahoma State) vs. Cole Konrad (Minnesota)

i wonder if Shawn Bunch wasn't invited to participate in this, or if he was and just had other plans. With him being the number 1 ranked 133lber im guessing he recieved an invite.

He did receive an invite. He typically is a kid that will wrestle anybody anytime anywhere, the Edinboro team probably needs him that weekend. I know Bunch will be at the CMSU tournament for those that want to travel out the Warrensburg with me.

I saw Masa and Esposito wrestle this year at an OSU/Hofstra dual. Esposito was pretty ma-ohny...

I also tried to get punched in the face by Mocco so he would get ejected. It did not work.

At the same dual, I saw Chris Streitkowicz (aka Zach Hemmerling clone) wrestle Rosholt--it was a repeat of Hemmerling vs. Bedore, Newton 2003. It was an unbelievable match.

wow, Masa is the only one who isn't from the Big 12 or the Big 10 in this dual.

Any suggestions for tickets to the event?

Coach Joe Renfro from LCC is one of the coaches for the NWCA All Star classic.

Wow, Johnston in the all-star, congratulations to him and his family. Yes, Bunch would be a great candidate too. I can't believe either one of them even got recruited being from Kansas. You know the "watered down" system of multiple classes that we have makes it quite difficult for kid's to get the "exposure" that they need. Other all-americans in action this year include Kline and Murray, with qualifiers like Dyer, Kreigbam and others to watch. DI'ers like Devoe etc. Akin still on the world scene.
Go figure.

I know I'm planning on going to root for Johnson even though before his opponent was named I picked Tirappelle on my mat.com contest for Last man standing. I also urge Kansas to go down and root for my boy Josh Leadingfox (unless he's wrestling a Kansas guy in which case I'll still root for him and you all can have the Kansas guy...it's a teammate loyalty issue).

Leadingfox, now that's a blast from the past. I used to coach against his brother Pawnee Ben Leadingfox down in Oklahoma back in the mid 90's. And also his teammate Craig Adams, my boy's coach at Carroll Junior. They all bad.

WSEWC--I'll take the bait. The guys you mention had to leave their beloved state to find opportunity...just like unappreciated coach, Klemm. And if Bunch had been from a higher profile state every college in the nation would have offered him the money he needed. He's one of the 2-3 best athletes out there and was in high school. Bunch, a runner-up at NCAAs as a Junior was overlooked by the closer powers like OU, IA, OSU, ISU, MU, NE, MN and the list goes on. Why? Because of the obscurity of this state and the lack of respect these programs give KS wrestlers.

Klemm wasn't unappreaciated he just left being a club coach to coach DI. If you had the choice to go coach DI anywhere would you take it? He did...

I'm sure he "overlooked" by everyone, but some teams won't sign people if they already have 2-3 people in a weight class, and if he really wanted to go their anyway he woulda walked on and made is presence felt and earning a scholarship. Some kids would rather not just stay locally and go to college, maybe he wanted a specific major from Edinboro?

I have a sneaking suspicion that gutwrench is affiliated with East Kansas is very close to coach Klemm.

And as for Bunch walking on to a college just to go there, that is easier said that done. It takes a lot of money to move out of state and wrestle at a D1 school without any help. I agree with gutwrench, Bunch is one of the most talented athletes out there and should have been heavily recuited. I am sure a lot of recruiters are kicking themselves now about missing the Bunch bus.

gutwrench1,
You took my bait, so I will take yours. Bunch wasn't really overlooked, it is just that at that time, he was not as good as he is now. Also, the "big boys" probably had no need for him at the time, no disrespect to Bunch. Perhaps he wanted to start right away and could not realistically start right off for a DI big boy, he was and is at one of the toughest weights. Yes, he has always been a great athlete, but his wrestling skill and technique hadn't caught up with his ability at that time. He is much polished since then, just like Johnston, Kline, Murry, Dyer and others. Think about all the Kansas All-Americans that did not get recruited by DI or even make DI as a starter, let alone as an All-American.
As for Klemm, I am glad that you brought that up again because I really wanted to respond the last time you brought up Klemm but I bit my lip. I do not believe that Klemm was unappreciated in Kansas. If anyone did not appreciate Klemm, it was the boys in Missouri. Granted, most people in Kansas probably do not realize how good of a coach he is but that is in Freestyle/Greco and as a club coach. I coached with Klemm on the Kansas National Team. When it comes to freestyle and greco, there is no one better. If I had a question to ask, I would certainly ask him. I would ask him to sit in my own boy's corner over me. That is how much I respect him as a FS/GR coach. But when it comes to folkstyle, my opinion is that he is no better than me or a hundred other coaches in Kansas. The past comment that you made was something to the effect that he was better than Wayne Jackson and Larry Gable or who ever it was and that is a joke and that was an offensive comment. Those guys and others are icons of Kansas high school wrestling. Klemm was not in their league then. Perhaps he is now, but he certainly was not when he was just a club coach. You can not compare a club coach to a high school coach. They are night and day. Sure everyone loved Klemm. It is easy to be loved when you do not have to worry about grades and discipline and parents and making practices and ensuring consistency and true finances and logistics and schools and administrators and athletic directors and rules. Compared to a high school head coach, all a club coach has to worry about is instructing kids at the practices that they show up at. There are no headaches. The most important thing though is that Klemm is a great "stand up" guy and a great person. I love the hell out of him. And also these things are obviously my opinions.

I don't like back-handed compliments, so I am responding. Kevin Klemm is a great coach, period. It is true he focused on Freestyle because that was where he was most interested. Just because he chose to make his living outside of teaching/HS Coaching does not mean he was an average Folkstyle coach. His folkstyle wrestlers were very competitive and contributed to many high school's success throughout the KC Metro area.

Further proof of his folkstyle coaching ability can be found with Matt Gentry at Stanford. Gentry was an average wrestler until Klemm showed up at Stanford, and I contribute Gentry's turn-around to Klemm's ability to get inside a wrestler's head and get them to believe in themselves.

His coaching ability is very well respected in Division 1 circles and the Division 1 coaching references on his resume reflect that level of respect.

Good response John Johnston although I was expecting it from gutwrench1.
I don't know about all that "back-handed compliment" stuff but for the sake of argument, I'll take your word for it.
I guess that I could have made one of my points without dropping names but everyone would have known what I was talking about anyway. One of my points, I could not have made without dropping a name.
My points were:
#1 Klemm was appreciated by many in Kansas, more than what was represented in previous posts, me for one.
#2 Most people in Kansas will probably never know how good Klemm really is, but then again, he could coach his whole life and most people would not know how good he really is, including people in California. We, as coaches, all have that problem. It comes with the turf.
#3 Klemm could be light years ahead of his counterparts in FS/GR but no way in Folkstyle, he has not coached long enough. But I would never call him average.
#4 You cannot even begin to compare a "club coach" to a head high school wrestling coach, that is simply an insult to all head high school wrestling coaches. It is not just about the fact that a club coach "chooses to make his living outside of teaching/HS coaching" and should not be "punished for that decision" as you put it. You want to talk about pouring your heart and soul into something, that is what most head HS wrestling coaches do. They live and breath it, every hour of every day, especially during the season. I've been a club coach, folkstyle, freestyle and greco, and still am for my boy's team. They do not compare. The "club coach" does not have to worry about everything that the head hs coach has to, particularly "rules and regulations", "checks and balances", "t's and i's". It is easy to be loved when all that you have to worry about is instruction. Some of the names that were insulted, are as I put it, "icons" in Kansas high school wrestling and it was wrong. Put yourself in their shoes or even put Klemm in their shoes to see how that would feel.
#5 Klemm is a great person, but I am sure that you will take that as a "back-handed compliment".