So wouldn't you like to see one of our schools grow into a Blair or OP-Riverforest? Or even better? When I asked Michael Olsen why he was wrestling up a weight this weekend at Eudora his answer was, "To be the best you have to wrestle the best!" That's the mentality more kids and teams need to have and you will not always get the best competition around your area so some teams, like Olathe North, Olathe South, and SJA try to travel outside the state. The mentality you are showing is clearly not the same as Michaels.

Bill,
Were you at the Eudora TOC? I know you were not in Council Bluffs. You don't coach, you don't have any kids wrestling, why do you care? At this point I am going to have to assume you are the gentleman that went to the tournament management team in Eudora and suggested that they NOT invite SJA next year. Why do you care? Why don't you ask the kids? Kids got 36 matches that they would not have otherwise gotten. If you think Kansas kids should only wrestle Kansas kids then move to Michigan where their HS athletic association doesn't permit travel outside of the state. Maybe you will be happier there. If you like wrestling then watch it and enjoy. I have no idea what your goal is but it certainly has nothing to do with making Kansas wrestling better.

Eudora Tournament of Champions Results for St. James Academy
106 - TJ Miller (3-2) placed 24th and scored 3.00 team points.
Round 1 - TJ Miller (St. James Academy) 3-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 2 - Hunter Ostertag (Effingham-ACCHS) 13-3 won by fall over TJ Miller (St. James Academy) 3-2 (Fall 0:44)
Round 3 - Tanner Snow (Prairie View) 15-3 won by fall over TJ Miller (St. James Academy) 3-2 (Fall 1:48)
Round 4 - TJ Miller (St. James Academy) 3-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 5 - TJ Miller (St. James Academy) 3-2 received a bye () (Bye)

126 - Max Goode (3-2) placed 24th and scored 4.00 team points.
Round 1 - Max Goode (St. James Academy) 3-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 2 - Cody Slyter (Spring Hill) 8-5 won by fall over Max Goode (St. James Academy) 3-2 (Fall 3:38)
Round 3 - Jerad Heckman (Ft Scott) 7-1 won by fall over Max Goode (St. James Academy) 3-2 (Fall 4:26)
Round 4 - Max Goode (St. James Academy) 3-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 5 - Max Goode (St. James Academy) 3-2 won by major decision over Reece Williams (Wellsville) 5-5 (MD 13-4)

132 - Tyler Hensley (6-2) placed 2nd and scored 30.00 team points.
Round 1 - Tyler Hensley (St. James Academy) 6-2 won by fall over Chase Holub (Paola) 5-4 (Fall 3:16)
Round 2 - Tyler Hensley (St. James Academy) 6-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 3 - Tyler Hensley (St. James Academy) 6-2 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 4 - Tyler Hensley (St. James Academy) 6-2 won by fall over Timotheus Boyd (KC Sumner) 2-7 (Fall 1:33)
Round 5 - Jake Gentry (Rossville) 8-3 won by decision over Tyler Hensley (St. James Academy) 6-2 (Dec 7-5)
Quarterfinal - Tyler Hensley (St. James Academy) 6-2 won by fall over Jordan Girard (Lansing) 5-3 (Fall 5:54)
Semifinal - Tyler Hensley (St. James Academy) 6-2 won by fall over Logan Bowen (Effingham-ACCHS) 14-2 (Fall 3:54)
1st Place Match - Logan Marx (Mill Valley) 12-1 won by decision over Tyler Hensley (St. James Academy) 6-2 (Dec 7-4)

138 - Sammy Cokeley (5-3) placed 7th and scored 14.00 team points.
Round 1 - Sammy Cokeley (St. James Academy) 5-3 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 2 - Brad Smith (Spring Hill) 10-4 won by fall over Sammy Cokeley (St. James Academy) 5-3 (Fall 2:13)
Round 3 - Sammy Cokeley (St. James Academy) 5-3 won by decision over Willy Dieckman (Effingham-ACCHS) 11-1 (Dec 4-3)
Round 4 - Sammy Cokeley (St. James Academy) 5-3 won by fall over Lewis Smith (Shawnee Mission South) 4-7 (Fall 5:04)
Round 5 - Sammy Cokeley (St. James Academy) 5-3 won by fall over Ben Powers (Louisburg) 5-5 (Fall 0:36)
Quarterfinal - Jake Elbrader (St. Thomas Aquinas) 13-0 won by major decision over Sammy Cokeley (St. James Academy) 5-3 (MD 10-0)
Cons. Round 2 - (Maize South) 11-2 won by decision over Sammy Cokeley (St. James Academy) 5-3 (Dec 8-2)
7th Place Match - Sammy Cokeley (St. James Academy) 5-3 won by decision over Hunter Miller (DeSoto) 4-4 (Dec 13-6)

145 - Curtis Radakovich (1-4) placed 24th and scored 1.00 team points.
Round 1 - Jon Pratt (Baldwin) 8-4 won by fall over Curtis Radakovich (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 5:59)
Round 2 - Tanner Madl (Blue Valley) 11-3 won by fall over Curtis Radakovich (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 3:43)
Round 3 - Marcus Gaeddert (Buhler) 4-6 won by fall over Curtis Radakovich (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 5:19)
Round 4 - Keaton Barnes (Paola) 5-5 won by decision over Curtis Radakovich (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Dec 5-0)
Round 5 - Curtis Radakovich (St. James Academy) 1-4 received a bye () (Bye)

152 - Tanner Schmidt (1-4) placed 24th and scored 1.00 team points.
Round 1 - Caleb Volkman (Spring Hill) 8-5 won by fall over Tanner Schmidt (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 0:56)
Round 2 - Michael Olsen (Lansing) 13-0 won by fall over Tanner Schmidt (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 0:16)
Round 3 - Avery Reynolds (Shawnee Mission South) 6-5 won by fall over Tanner Schmidt (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 2:40)
Round 4 - Blaine Ray (Ottawa) 4-6 won by decision over Tanner Schmidt (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Dec 10-4)
Round 5 - Tanner Schmidt (St. James Academy) 1-4 received a bye () (Bye)

160 - Derek Knoeferl (1-4) placed 24th and scored 1.00 team points.
Round 1 - Owen Tuckfield (Baldwin) 9-5 won by major decision over Derek Knoeferl (St. James Academy) 1-4 (MD 10-2)
Round 2 - Isaisa Rojo (Lawrence) 5-4 won by fall over Derek Knoeferl (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 1:01)
Round 3 - Foster Hartman (Blue Valley) 4-6 won by fall over Derek Knoeferl (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 0:21)
Round 4 - Seth Burnett (Mill Valley) 10-4 won by fall over Derek Knoeferl (St. James Academy) 1-4 (Fall 1:19)
Round 5 - Derek Knoeferl (St. James Academy) 1-4 received a bye () (Bye)

220 - David Feist (7-1) placed 2nd and scored 34.00 team points.
Round 1 - David Feist (St. James Academy) 7-1 won by fall over Kristian Ellis (Shawnee Mission South) 5-6 (Fall 2:00)
Round 2 - David Feist (St. James Academy) 7-1 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 3 - David Feist (St. James Academy) 7-1 won by fall over Brennan Haley (Paola) 4-6 (Fall 1:36)
Round 4 - David Feist (St. James Academy) 7-1 received a bye () (Bye)
Round 5 - David Feist (St. James Academy) 7-1 won by forfeit over Daylen Pressler (Prairie View) 13-5 (For.)
Quarterfinal - David Feist (St. James Academy) 7-1 won by fall over CJ Dyhouse (Spring Hill) 7-6 (Fall 0:47)
Semifinal - David Feist (St. James Academy) 7-1 won by fall over Chandler Carter (DeSoto) 7-2 (Fall 2:37)
1st Place Match - Ben Ewing (St. Thomas Aquinas) 13-0 won by forfeit over David Feist (St. James Academy) 7-1 (For.)

Injuries, illness, academics, and strategy. Every year, for the past 7 years at least, Derby has sent a split squad to at least Douglas and SMNW but it has never been a topic on here before. Coach Bacon told me that he used to send his Blue Vally JV to Varsity tournaments when he had the numbers. Mill Valley has a full varsity schedule for its JV team this year. Eudora is a good tournament but without Chanute, Gardner, Tongie, Holton now missing it isn't what it used to be. It was NOT as tough as the Council Bluff tournament. Champions vs Champions would be 11-3, Council Bluffs champions leading the way.

Will,

"Making kansas wrestling better" So quality teams (chanute, ON, SJA...etc) and quality kids not wrestling at the Eudora TOC makes kansas wrestling and kansas wrestling tournaments better?


not taking full team was "strategy". Could you explain?

Not me! must have been some other gentleman who went to Eudora and made a recommendation on who/who not to invite. That's a tournament director's call. But, if I were a tournament director 1) I would not accept a JV team entry into my tournament and 20 if I thought you were cheapening my tournament by taking you top wrestlers to another tournament and sending me your second stringers or mostly JV, you would not get an invite. If you can't fill a complete roster with varsity quality wrestlers, then go with a bunch of openings. If you have a couple/few temporary openings due to injury, grades, discipline, etc. by all means flesh out with a good JV wrestler. If you have a good-and I mean good- JV wrestler locked out by a better varsity wrestler, see if he can wrestle up a weight class. The exceptions and not the rule.

Doubt if the Council bluffs tournament was much better than Eudora. What about the SMNW Cougar TOC--a very good list of teams. Or the Holton 12 team tournament (Holton, Clay Center, Beloit, and several other of those smaller schools can kick about any body's butt on any day). Check out this forum on the reports of near by tournaments.

St. James JV would place top 10 at the Johnson County Classic.

How many people expected a comment like that from Chief?

Just Wandering,

Do you agree?

If you have kids with varying levels of skills you tailor your schedule to improve them all. I, for one, don't want to wrestle anyone more than once during the season so mix it up. I don't believe in going with the same schedule year in and year out. I don't believe in wrestling kids multiple times. I think my position speaks for itself. JW, tell me how sending competitive wrestlers whether they are called varsity 1, varsity 2, or JV makes KS wrestling worse? Chanute left to go to Perry, OK to seek tougher competition so direct that question to Andy Albright. Gardner must have felt the same way about the tournament they wanted to attend. I think travel makes the sport more attractive to the athletes as well. Time in a van with your teammates and sharing a hotel room is quality team bonding. A life time of memories you don't get by being dropped off at the nearest tournament every weekend. I would hope every team has goals that go something like this: qualify as many as state as we can, get each wrestler ready to place as high as they can and then the team score will take care of itself. Of course staying healthy and academically eligible comes into play as well. State is the ultimate goal. It is a two day, individual event with two weigh ins. It requires two nights in hotels. How do you prepare for that? Go to as many two day events which require two weigh ins and overnight stays! Pretty simple. Wrestle kids who are the toughest you can find in venues that will make state seem less intimidating. There you go... the secret formula.

The answer is...District one bitching about District one. The rest of the state doesn't care who goes where. They just show up and wrestle.

Will is correct. State is the easiest tournament of the year for Ark City. Regionals is tougher than State.

Three thoughts

1/I think the thunder should enter a team in both tournaments.
Is there a rule?

2/The Thunder can go to the stampede but but no one is going to put an astoric (SP) on the championship trophy, *Little sisters of the poor was missing their best wrestler who didn't make weight -so the team race should be different" or what ever "Fact" ST Will can come up with.


3/ who cares. It is about who shows up and wrestles!

#2 ??? What is that all about??? I am no Saint. I am not even Catholic. I only made that statement to explain how results differed from rankings. I didn't expect that attack from you Mark.

Yeah I don't know that there's a right wrong here. This doesn't fit every team or school. But we've definitely ruffled some feathers today. Good job thunder u do what's best you and yours. Mean while Kansas Wrestling is getting better every year

Chad take that district 1 BS to the kids forum. The adults are talking Lol hater

The DISTRICT ONE....Ummmm ADULTS ;-)

Ps..the boys looked pretty dam awesome today I'm told toughest Kansas team ever

Of course, first year you guys picked up some District 2 guys Seriously I heard the team did really well.

Nothing wrong with sending two teams out in a weekend. If you got depth, why not get these kids matches. SJA is top team in the state and one of the reasons is they have good competition in the room. Someone has to loose a challenge match, and it doesnt mean the kid is only good enough to wrestle a JV level because he lost a challenge match.

MY son's team in Indiana has two varsity teams. We have a Varsity A and Varsity B team. Coach gets really gets mad if somebody calls the Varsity B a JV team. The Varsity B has won two varsity tournaments this year already. They weren't the toughest tournaments and against small schools but still impressive. We have 65 kids out, and this is a huge motivator to keep kids involved and hungry. It also accelerates the kids progression as they are wrestling stronger competition.

A lot of schools dont necessarily like to wrestle the 2nd team because if you win, they think they were supposed to win and if they lose they lost to the 2nd team guy. I think some coaches just dont like to come to the realization that some teams 2nd string is better thatn their first.

I know a lot of schools in OH and Indiana have two teams, and its becoming accepted as a norm. A really good team in Indiana this weekend won two tournaments and placed 3rd in another tournament. We wrestled one of these teams and they were solid and it was a hammer tournament.

We send our JV to a couple of varsity tournaments every year. Over the past couple of years, we have had quite a few kids go from JV one year to the state podium the next year. I think sending our JV to a few varsity tournaments has helped in this!

I also think these varsity tournament directors and the teams in attendance are happy to have our JV team at their varsity tourney because a match is better than a bye!

FOTS / RJW1

Well stated and I completelyt agree IF you have two teams. Not sure anyone is saying if you have two teams don't send them out.

My dislike is when a teams SPLITS their teams. And both tournaments then get a 5, 6, 7 man TEAM.

appreciate you thoughts and opinions.