West Virginia High
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West Virginia Wrestling -- March 2000 Forum (Part Two)

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March 12, 2000
From: wrestling parent
comments: I think it is a shame the coaches in West Virginia for the Junior Youth Wrestlers cannot come to any agreements and have to gripe about who has the state tournament where how it is ran what ages what weights and anything else they can think of to gripe about. Riverside tried to run a tournament and give kids an opportunity to wrestle different kids with different brackets and all you hear is complaints. Now we have Parkersburg having their every year annual tournament Clarksburg and whomever else. I don't understand why each area cannot support each other and just let the kids wrestle and have fun! But that doesn't seem to be what is important anymore. Riverside has a nice facility and the manpower it takes to run a state tournament. Mountain State wrestlers have always supported Parkersburg and Clarksburg when they ran their tournaments and now all you hear is complaints when Riverside decided to have theirs. Why does Clarksburg feel "put out" because they were not contacted until they saw it on the web? Does Clarksburg contact Riverside and ask for their input? There never was a seeding meeting; it was cancelled before we got that far. I'm glad Clarksburg's tournament went well but it is a shame they felt they had to have their own because Riverside wasn't ran exactly the way they wanted.

March 12, 2000
From: KING Keeper
comments: I would like to congratulate Fr. Senior High School on being the #1 dual team in the state and to the Parkersburg South on recieving 1st in the state congratulations.

March 12, 2000
From: Erinn
comments: Congratulations Cameron Gallaher on your 1st place win at the West Virginia State Championship yesterday!! You did Great and we are all very proud of you! love your family!

March 12, 2000
From: Dennis Stanley
email: DStan81351@aol.com
comments: Several wrestlers from West Virginia competed in a Freestyle tournament in Indianapolis this week end. Congrats go out to; Jacob Stanley first place at Schoolboy 80 Chris Gibbs 3rd place at Cadet 132 Justin Stanley 2nd place at Junior 123 JP Stanley 1st place at Junior 123 Jared Walters 4th place at Junior 152 and Jason Mays 1st place at Junior 165.

Chris had a very good tournament going 5-1 in his first freestyle event. Chris ended up in a three way tie for 1st but lost out on criteria. He actually defeated the eventual champion Jason Buchert of ST Louis.

In all West Virginina wrestlers only suffered three defeats. Justin took an injury default against JP. (I would never hear the end of it otherwise). The next stop on the tournament trail after NHSCA in Pittsburg is The Central Region Junior Freestyle and Greco Championships. The tourament will be held Mar 31-April2 in Cincinnatii. If any one wants to go out let me or Coach Archer know.
Dennis Stanley

March 12, 2000
From: INDY WRESTLER
comments: I JUST WANTED TO TAKE THE TIME TO CONGRADULATE JOSH CROSS ON HIS TITLE. YOU DESERVE IT BUDDY

March 12, 2000
From: quarternelson
comments: Well Spencer and Waugh are making me eat my words. Look likes Spencer will be an All-American with a 5th or 6th place finish and Waugh will be an All-American as well at Division II. By the way Waugh's first round opponent Trevor Smittick is in the 197 final. Not sure why Tucker and Massouh did not do better.

March 12, 2000
From: Hedgesville Fan M
comments: I have alot to talk about Ill try to touch on some of it here now more to come. First the good. Congratulations to Anthoney Regalbuto on winning a 2nd state title and being named most outstanding wrestler. I have had the great opportunity to watch this great young man growup in this sport and outside the sport. He is a fine young man filled with class who put in all the extra work needed to accomplish his goals. He is a tremendous man off the mat as well. Good luck to you at Pittsburgh I will be there cheering for you also good luck at WVU. Go Mountaineers. Also congratulations to Jim Shetler on your runner up at states and in breaking the state win record. Congratulation to all eagles on your state performances and on your fine season.

Personally ladies and gentleman and I'm sure this will open some debate I feel that Hedgesville is the uncrowned dual meet state champions. They beat Fairmont Sr. early in the season and Fairmont beat Parkersburg South. If we had taken on south early we would have won. And somebody on here put a comment about Hedgesville would not have beaten Fairmont because certain people got beat by others later on. Well the same happened in our favor as well. Congratulations to Joey Mayle we knew you could do it never doubted it. Another fine outstanding young man on and off the mat. Truly deserving of your state title. Personally with the way you were wrestling at states I don't care who was in the finals with you I feel you would have beaten anyone in that bracket. Again congratulations and good luck with all your future endeavors hope to see you still on the mat. To the person who heard a "rumor" about anthoney wrestling at Pittsburgh for NHSCA its no rumor he will be there. Hoping a bunch of other WV wrestlers are there as well. Give me a bunch of people to cheer for. Would like to see Wenmoth there also Litten I feel that we have a number of wrestlers in this state that can represent this state well.

Want to touch on comments about Oak Glen and AAA briefly. I don't care one way or the other about Oak Glen. I do feel they are a very strong team with obviously good hard working wrestlers and coaches hats off to them. However it seemed there was no excitement over the team race in A-AA states and with a team dominating like that go figure. I would like to see Oak Glen come up to AAA just from a fans stand point that I feel it would make both state tournaments much more interesting more competitive and for us fans more fun. I feel that without Oak Glen in A-AA the team race may have come down to the wire. And also Oak Glen in AAA I feel would have made that team race very close. Now would it be fair to bump Oak Glen up to AAA just to make things more competitive of course not. But again as a fan I would love to see it. One thing Oak Glen may want to think about I believe that Bald Eagle of Pennsylvania is actually a small school that chooses to wrestle in there states big school division for better competition. Would Oak Glen be willing to make the same choice just something to think about.

To another topic I have seen on here. And that is the negative comments about the huntington civic center holding states. I think people should be thankful for what they have. Is the civic center the best place I have ever been in for a wrestling tournament no but is it the worst not by far. Don't get me wrong I hate the 5-6 HOURS it takes to get down there. That drive for lack of a better term SUCKS. But anytime you want to complain about the tournament there go to the Maryland State Wrestling Tournament once at Western Maryland College. That is only about 1 1/2 away for me. compared to wv there tournament not in competition but just in the facility and way its run is a joke. WV definitely has Md there. Now just something to think about how big is WVUs gym. I have never been there I'll get my first chance when Anthoney is wrestling there. I would imagine it would have to be big enough and should be a good facility also hey its closer for me ha ha.

Anyway just something to think about. Now one thing that has been bothering me for some time. This is also bothering a number of other Hedgesville fans and parents as well. We don't feel that we did as well at states as we should have. Personally I believe that is from the competition we took on in the second half of the season. Our first half schedule I feel is as tough as anyones in this state except maybe Parkersburg South and Parkersburg. We wrestled in and won The Wheeling Park Duals we wrestle in The Berkeley Springs Inv. Jefferson Inv and Fairmont Inv. But after that we take on weak teams no offense the rest of the way. Is that going to get us ready for states NO. For years many of us having been griping about getting better competition but the school is not willing to let us. We are located in the perfect spot in this state. We are less than an hour from Pennsylvania possibly the toughest wrestling state out there and we are less than half an hour from Virginia and Maryland which both usually boast at least one nationally ranked team. WHY do we travel around this state taking on A-AA teams that aren't contenders in there own state tournament or take on teams that can't even field a full roster. Nothing against these teams but it makes more sense for us to take on teams that will prepare us for the tough competition at states. The school will have us go 5 hours down the road for the St. Albans duals full of forfeits there instead of going 2 hrs north to take on a Nationally ranked PA team this makes no sense at all. Again I believe that we can do better at states but only if we upgrade the competition in the 2nd half of our season. Hopefully these comments will get back to the right people and hopefully changes will be made. We had a good shot of doing something special this year and it was thrown away. That shot may never come again but we ought to be ready for it. Anyway I have a good bit more to talk about but time is short so more to come.

March 12, 2000
From: quarternelson
comments: Looks like West Liberty is having a tough go at the NCAA division II tournament. They had some tough draws but have lost a number 2 seed (Tucker) already. Massouh and Waugh also lost early. Were there any illnesses? They seem to be underperforming as a team even considering the poor luck with the draw.

March 12, 2000
From: True Wrestling Fan
comments: After reading thru many debates as to who is the best team in the state South or Oak Glen and who wrestles the best teams or best tournaments I wonder how come these teams do not send anyone to High School Nationals. These should be two teams that would lead the way at the Nationals but yet none have registered as of today. This is like telling Regis "I am going to stop after the $200 question. Who only wants to stop at State Champion without ever knowing if he could be a National Champion or All-American. We need to get out of the little pond and jump into the lake to ever get any respect for our state. Same goes for not going to Fargo N.D. for Jr. Nationals. So to the MEN that are going to Pittsburg J.P. Stanley Jared Walters Anthony Regalbuto and Josh Coffey best of luck Put WV. on the map. And also a big CONGRATS to the Stanley brothers on their two state championships.

March 10, 2000
From: Jenny Sullivan Fan
comments: OK where is it Jenny? I am anxious to hear your comments on the state tournament.

March 9, 2000
Good luck to my bros Codie Corie Colton and Colin! Kick butt at States and Mason Dixon this weekend. I will be there to watch it all! Love u guys!

March 8, 2000
From: will schenerlein
email: scheny46@usa.net
comments: comments to dean moore
brothers winning state in same year: I think the first to do it was Jeff and Greg Morris of John Marshall in 1977. Hey Dean you coached one set of them in peewee.....Rich and Gary Tuttle of PHS in 1989. Also being the avid South wrestling fan that you are you should have realized that the Wehrle brothers of Herbert Hoover did last year......they both beat wrestlers from South.

March 6, 2000
From: Ray Robe
email: Bstztr@westco net
comments: East Fairmont Junior Wrestling Club would like to express their thanks to all wrestlers coaches and parents that competed in and/or attended the East Fairmont Eighth Annual Wrestling Tournament last weekend (March 4 2000.) Because of you our tournament was a great success! The club wishes to extend a special thanks to the East Fairmont High School wrestling coaches wrestler's mat maids and parents of the wrestler's for their help and hard work. A special thanks also to Slick Hickman for his hardwork and loyalty to the sport of wrestling. We hope to see all of you back again next year. Thanks
Coach Ray Robe

March 6, 2000
From: JJ
comments: Congradulations to Casey Hughes Heath Beecher David Kuhn Alex Lee Jesses Mestrovic and Derrick Knapp on your placings at the state tournament!

March 6, 2000
From: South Wrestling Fan
comments: I was reading some past comments to the forum and some statements from a couple of young men caught my attention.First of all Eric Noel of Oak Glen for saying thanks for the support but he agreed that Ash Wenmouth deserved his OW award. That's classy Eric! Jason Litten of Frankfort High wrote in thanking many people for the success he enjoyed.You are right on the money Jason for most of us know that it takes many dedicated people to succeed in wrestling you showed tons of class in your comments.Best of everything at Pittsburg-you will no doubt excel there too! I would love hear from some other young wrestlers and feel some of their excitement from a successful season.We could all learn a little from these outstanding young men.Thanks!

March 6, 2000
comments: Wirt County won states with five wrestlers in 1968. Parkersburg won states with five wrestlers in 1971. John Marshall won states with five wrestlers in 1972. If you seperated Single A from Double AA there would be about 8 single A schools that would field close to full teams. Not very rewarding if you ask me.

March 6, 2000
From: MR comments: I've had the pleasure of wrestling with some of the best wrestlers the state has ever seen. For a while though the quality of wrestlers really dropped. This new crop of young guys are getting back to the level that I can remember. I also had the pleasure of coaching some of these new guys like Jason Trusty Matt George and Brandon Williams and I used to beat on Matt and Brandon when the where the little guys in pee- wee.well congrats to all again and like I said before even the best have a bad day but what makes them the best is if the use that loss as a wake up call or not.

March 6, 2000
From: South Wrestling Fan
comments: This note is to all Oak Glen and South wrestling fans: Maybe we can encourage our school's atheletic directors to make sure the two schools meet for a dual next season.Perhaps we can put together a 2 year deal where both schools host the match.It would be exciting! Thanks!

March 6, 2000
From: Topdog
comments: To Matman
If AA and A split up you would have to re do all of the regions and it would make all of the competition in the states easier. I am from a A school. A few years ago a A school was getting 2nd in the states almost constantly. they were a force in the A and AA states. But I would like to see the A AA & AAA states combined. IT would make for a more exciting and more competitive tournament. It would also let us see who is really the best wrestler in each weight division! All the states do now is let us compare the two individual champions from each class. No one really knows who would win if the champions from A AA & AAA compete against each other

March 6, 2000
comments: st marys took five wrestlers to state and won it one year

March 6, 2000
From: jeremy berry
email: jeremy_berry@mercersburg.edu
comments: At the PA freestyle state tourney wrestlers are given a three pound allowance. There is good reason as to why they do this. PA wants to be the most competitive state team in Fargo. The PA coach Pete Schulyer of Franklin & Marshall Univ wants the best possible wrestlers in each weight class. They want their wrestlers to focus on getting to the weight that would put them in the best possible position to win.

WV is holding their qualifier a little more than a month after this years season. While many Christains are celebrating Christ's suffering through fasting most wrestlers are celebrating the end of the wrestling season by enjoying something that they may have had to sacrifice so that they could get down to a weight that they felt would give them the best chance to win a state title. It will be much much much easier to lose the weight this summer at the WV training camp than it will be at home a month after wrestling season.
I have heard that the reason for not having a weight allowance is to ensure that the wrestlers will be able to make the weight they wrestle at in April. I disagree. If a wrestler can make the weight within three pounds a month after the season and when wrestlers have their highest fat percentages I am positive that it would very easy to make the weight in July after two (and hopefully more) weeks of intense training. Give us a break!! At HS Nationals wrestlers get 5 pounds!! I think but I'm not convinced that the tournament director is more concerned with the quality of the wrestling than he is making wrestlers cut weight after their seasons are over and when they weigh more than they do ALL YEAR!!

March 6, 2000
From: Dennis Stanley
email: DStan81351@AOL.com
comments: I would like to remind everyone of the Team West Virginia Qualifier Tournament on April 15 at Cabell midland High School. This is a tremendous opportunity for those boys who aspire to become State champions. You will get a chance to train with the best wrestlers in West Virginia and to complete against the best in the nation. You will get almost a month of intense wrestling. I can't imagine a more inexpensive way to get to the top.

Remember that we will have two teams one for Cadets which is 8th and 9th graders depending on year of birth. The other team is Juniors whihc is basically high school age.

If you have any comments or questions let me know. Dennis

March 6, 2000
From: Jason Litten
comments: I will probably go to Pittsburg. I don't know how I will do but I would like to see how well I can compete with the rest of the country. I think all seniors from our state should go since it is relatively close. What do we have to lose? Good Luck to everyone who does go.

March 6, 2000
comments: Update on WVU Recruit

March 6, 2000
From: mc
email: curreyml@wirefire.com
comments: Hey some info you may want to add to the upcoming Headline Events. Two big events occuring in Pittsburgh the weekend of March 24-26. The Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic will be held on March 25 2000 @ the University of Pittsburgh. A Pennsylvania all star team will wrestle a U.S. all star team. Details at wrestlingreport.com/classic. U.S. team roster on the website. The Preliminary match will be WPIAL vs Nebraska. No W.V. wrestlers competing this year but past WV wrestlers who have competed for the US all star team included Randy Pryor, Ken Chertow, Mike Lantz, Jay Michael and Doug Moore. To give you an idea of how tough the competion is - None of them won.

The NHSCA Senior Wrestling Championships are scheduled for March 24-26 at the A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh. The Senior National High School Wrestling Championships is open to any high school senior who has been a state finalist during his high school career. Last year 800 wrestlers from 47 states competed. At nhsca.com they have a list of 200 wreslters who are already registered. They include J.P.Stanley Josh Coffey and Jared Walters.

I thought I read in the Dominion Post that Regalbuto was also competing. Does anyone know if anyone else will be there from W.V.? Would love to see Heath and Wenmoth. Good place to be seen by college coaches.

March 6, 2000
From: Mat fan
comments: First off hats off to Oak Glen and their accomplishments this year. Take nothing away from Coach Shaw and his kids they've got a great program going. I think it's great for the sport of wrestling to have built such a program and established the community pride that they have. They've won 4 consecutive state tournaments just as Cameron did in the early 90's. The only difference being.....Cameron beat teams in it's own class as well as one class above....A/AA. Oak Glen has beaten teams in its own class as well as one class below. Too many people are bashing Oak Glen for their success when the root of the problem lies with the SSAC. My point is why make A schools compete with the AA schools at the state tournament level??? The AAA schools have their own state championships. Why not have a separate A and AA state championship tournament to give some of the smaller schools a chance to compete for a title that they rightly deserve. We've awarded the best AAA team in the state Parkersburg South. We've awarded the best AA team in the state Oak Glen. Why can't we award the best A team in the state???

Does anybody even know who this team might be?? I think those kids deserve the recognition. Say what you want but Oak Glen has over 500 kids enrolled and between 40-50 kids on the wrestling team. A typical A team has less than 200 kids enrolled and in most cases not enough kids to fill a full squad. They can't compete!! Lets compare apples to apples. Give the A kids their title. And if we can't agree on this let's lump all of the wrestlers together into one huge state tournament similar to the giant OVAC format. Put A AA and AAA teams all in one tournament and split up the scoring for each division. Either way something has to change. Feedback???

March 6, 2000
From: baldy
comments: Trivia: In what year and what team took the fewest number of wrestlers to state and won the state title?

March 6, 2000
From: Ripley Wrestling Fan
comments: I would like to let all wrestling fans know that a past wrestler from North Marion has been named as the next MOUNTAINEER at WVU . Congradulations to Scott Moore stay enthused and LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO MOUNTAINEERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 4, 2000
From: OG wrestling fan
comments: First off congratulations to the OAK GLEN GOLDEN BEARS!! You gave us a great season and finished it in fine fashion. Second of all congratulations to everyone that made it to states. Whether you placed or not you all deserve a hand. To get to states you have to be a top 4 finisher in your region and that ladies and men makes you someone special. I didn't meet any parent at states that disagreed. To the Parkerburgh South wrestling fans if you really want to wrestle the Golden Bears have your high school Athletic Director call ours. Finally I'm curious why nobody whines about Weir Brooke John Marshall and Wheeling Park being located in a geographic area that gives them the opportunity to wrestle top notch wrestlers from PA. and Ohio. Or as some uninformed would ponder! How many of their wrestlers come from Ohio or PA?

March 4, 2000
From: Wrestling Fan
comments: Great job to Coach McCartney and all South wrestlers on another State Championship. Matt Jason and Brandon I have followed you guys since you were pee wee wrestlers. Good Job!!! Matt George what can I say what a class act. A great display of a true champion. Good luck in all you do.

March 4, 2000
comments: It doesn't matter if East has beat North or West in a duals match in the 90's because the state team title has nothing to do with dual wrestling. It comews down to individual wrestling. And Eas beat North at regionals and destroyed them at states. They were only a few points behind West who was suppose to upset South. Even though West didn't this year I think East will next year.

March 4, 2000
comments: Lewis County @ States
http://www.westondemocrat.com/Sports/Sports_ThreeMatmen.htm

comments: Petersburg Vikings
http://www.gcpress.wvweb.net/Sports.html

March 4, 2000
comments: I think that when it comes to states there should be no AAA or A/AA. They should all be put together. The size of your school doesn't change how good of a wrestler you are. To determine team titles they should have a duals state tournament like many other states do. I think this would solve the problem about who the best team and wrestlers in the state are.

March 4, 2000
From: Oak Glen Wrestler
comments: People don't realize that Oak Glen only has around 500 students. What we do have is the hardest working wrestlers and coaches year in and year out. We beat everyone in AA-A because of all the great competition in the panhandle. We do wrestle in some of the big tournaments in WV. We wrestle in the Brooke Classic and OVAC tournament every year. If some of the other WV schools want to complain come to the Brooke Classic and see how you do. We placed 2nd last year. We do want a dual meet with Parkersburgh South next year. And we beat the teams that beat us at OVAC in dual meets because top to bottom we have the better team. We only have 40-50 kids each year because of our great youth program and our continued success.


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