I feel so left out...

Barring a distraction from his love for womens basketball, the Swayz should win this with half his brain tied behind his back. Richard's outside chance is limited by the fact that he only knows 179 additional facts. That would still leave him 300 posts short. I suggest we bronze the 5000th post and submit it to Gonzalez for consideration to the KS Wrestling Hall of Fame.

You do have to keep in mind the fact I've been a member of this board about a third of the time you top 5 have been...

... the way I see it is that now, you have ... tiiimmmeeee is on (your) side, yes it is!

Or basically what Furches is trying to say:

"Go ahead nad prove to eveyone that you have no life and sit and wait for someone to post to just have something to say..."

Just had to shoot this one in the rib the Furchie

... regardless, the aroma is getting strong ... must be the dog!

bump....

(Just to get off the 666th post) ha...

Or perhaps the Swayz just arrived?

I suggest we have a questions for Richard and Swayz section to maybe see if it all possible for Richard to make the race close. Keep them open and honest, and non threatening please.

I do have one for Richard.

Richard, I really do appreciate all of the updates you provide, I am amazed because they come from all kinds of places. My question would be, do you have those pages bookmarked or what? In other words how do you get your information? Again, I am impressed and realize the value that provides to these forums.

One for Swayz, would be: I know you keep in touch with various college coaches. What are they saying as of recent regarding Kansas HS wrestlers, and anyone under the radar that we don't know about?

Well not to go into deep into detail, but I know we were all dissappointed with the performance of our guys at Sr. Nationals, but there are college coaches (especially from the East coast) that are contacting me like crazy.

For the most part colleges right now are looking for these weights in order of need (top 3 weights): 174 is top need, 197, and 285. If you are a light weight there is really not a high need this year, but the flood gates will open, although I will say that in the last week a lot of kids that have signed have changed their minds freeing up scholarship money.

I know of a DII school that contacted me out of PA today asking about several guys that were mainly runners up or 3rd in KS this year in the 112-125 range. I will say this, if you are going to be 112 or 103 as a senior you best have a record that has you having about 30 wins and less then 5 losses to even drum up interest (especially if you don't do summer wrestling).

As for some of the other weights, there are guys that took basically a Tshirt home from state, but impressed coaches at tournaments prior to that. Guys that wrestled in offseason folkstyle events really get coaching eyes opening up because for a lot of coaches it is the first time they have seen a kid wrestle, and folkstyle is what college does so it translates over better in terms of style then free or greco.

Talking with about 3 coaches, they said Fargo is great for competition, but bad in terms of recruiting and really getting a feel for a kid because of the inability to walk around closer to the mats in a more intimate setting, and the fact that FS/Greco are a different Beast then Folkstyle (I've seen some guys that are just poor at those styles that will be in a Folkstyle Championship 9 out of 10 times). These coaches shocked me but they really want to see kids at stuff like Sunflower State Games, Fall Brawl, Super32 and other events like that which take place off season but are folkstyle.

However, don't think doing FS/Greco is a waist of time. A majority (like 99%) of college coaches love the FS/Greco for conditioning sakes during the summer, and realize that the better athletes you are going to get to your school are the ones that focus on wrestling year round.

I know there are some kids that are multi-sport superstars and another thing that shocked me is some coaches don't seem to mind. If a kid is doing Football, Wrestling, and Baseball...then good, reason being it is good is because some parents push their kids too hard at one sport and you see burn out majorly on the next level. A kid once they choose to enter college will be emersed in a sport anyway that for now they need to just be kids.

Although if you are a senior and are wanting to be a college wrestler but are playing football or other sports, you need to allow yourself time during the season to work out a bit wrestling wise and have the ability to tell your respective coach, hey...I'm doing this to help you all out, but my plans in college are wrestling, that way if a tournament comes up like Fall Brawl or something and you are on a team, you can say, "Coach I'm not going to be here" and they can find a body, if they don't understand your long term goals, then they are being selfish (especially if you are in a big school where talent is a dime a dozen) -That was a long run on sentence by the way.

A thing kids need to realize too is how few wrestling (or any sports for that matter) are out there on the collegiate level. I hear about dissapointments when a kid doesn't hear from a certain program...Well, this is a no brainer to me, You have to Sell Yourself! Create a resume with stats from 9th grade on up including offseason including things like Record and weight each year, # of falls, School, Contact Information, GPA, ACT, off season succes, awards and honors in sport you are being recruited for, awards and honors in other sports participated in [coaches love the diversity], and Coach's Contact Information (this is so that a college coach can learn more about your work ethic and leadership in the room).

I think I rambled on long enough. If anybody has a desire to wrestle in college (especially some of you that just graduated but still can't find a school to go to, then contact me asap, and I'll fight to find you some money...trust me it is still out there!)

Is there any benefit to filling out those recruiting questionnaires on the various college websites? My gut tells me no, but I thought I would ask the experts.

Yes that sometimes is your first contact with a coach. Some guys don't need to sell themselves, their ability and acheivments do it for them. But that questionaire is your first chance to let a coach know that you want to continue your wrestling career and your first chance to begin selling yourself. Some of the smaller schools don't get out of their own states or neighboring states much.

The odds are currently being put down for the first USAWKS poster to reach the 5,000 mark. This incredible feet will result in the winner being named the first The Mat King. Odds are being given on the top 5 posters, feel free to make comment or project predections on your own. Odds and projections are as follows.

Currently at 4575 The Swayz.
Odds: 2-1
History: Recently has been slacking off, he is the odds on favorite though because; he is after all in the lead. When he hits the spurts he is capable of watch out. One can learn from past history on this poster, that the likely 5,000th post will be informative, and well worth the read.

Currently at 4096 RichardDSalyer
Odds: 3-1
History: Recently he has been moving away from what he is commonly known as, the King of Cut and Paste with actually making comment on some of the threads. Salyer is a sleeper and while staying hidden most of the time he is a formable foe when it comes to making posts.

Currently at 2995 Mike Furches
Odds 8-1
History, can get on a tangent, and while he may not have the most posts, he may likely have the most words with the longest winded posts. He is an outsider looking in though.

Currently at 2088 Bronco Wrestler, (AKA Alex Ryan)
Odds 267,138-1
History: Once a forum regular this poster hasn't been seen in some time. It is feared that this former regular is long gone, but there remains some hope.

Currently at 1683 usawks1
Odds: 958-1
History: Randy Hinderliter may not be in the lead, he may not be the first to reach The Mat King status, but he is definitely one of the favorite posters. Most every post is worth the read and to the point. While he may be number 5 in the rankings he has attributes that each of the top 5 could learn from.

Who will win the coveted title The Mat King? Stay tuned, watch out, and let's get it on!