Snoqualmie18

That wouldn't surprise me. He came from a pretty tough part of NJ at the time (Paulsboro, Absegami, Delsea, Highland, etc.). Pretty sure the 2 regional finalists ahead of him that year were Delsea and Paulsboro. I think he started his career out at Wagner before transferring to Seton Hall the next year. Started out every match with a 1 to 2 point lead. He was going to escape and get riding time if you were dumb enough to choose down. He might even choose top on you, too. You needed to score at least 1 takedown on him to win. Coast Guard tourney was interesting because the winner of the 'winners' bracket would wrestle the winner of the consolation bracket (with the loser of the finals going back to wrestle the winner of consolation bracket for the right to wrestle the winner again). If winner of the winner's bracket lost in that next match, they'd have a deciding match after that round was done. There was typically a 16 man bracket, so to win, you had to win at least 5 (unless you had a bye in first round). I am probably not remembering correctly, but there was 1 weight where 2 guys met in the first finals (feel like saying Brown and Central CT State). Brown guy won that first finals, Central CT State beat winner of the consolation bracket and then Brown guy twice to win the whole tourney. Quick math would have him winning 6 and losing 1. I am sure there are other situations like that where eventual winner lost in semis and went on a roll.

One off the top of my head. Joe Burke from Seton Hall was 2 time AA (4th in 1993 and 3rd 1995) and was #1 seed at NCAA in 1995. He lost first round of NJ states as a senior in the only year he qualified (think he lost to a Somerville guy, but too lazy to look it up). The guy he beat for 3rd in the region tournament (back when only top 3 went to states) was a 4-time Division 3 AA too. Joe was a hammer on top.

Is this situation more egregious than the 'slam' call of '93 of which Karam (then at Delaware Valley) was also on the receiving end?

In late 80s/early 90s, a couple of Cedar Falls (pre-Fargo) fame that were very well-known were Alan Fried, Scott Schlucter and TJ Jawrosky. Closer to my neck of the woods, it was Ty Moore and Cary Kolat. Kolat was on another level. We in NJ had a guy named Pat Lynch who would typically place at Jr. Nationals. He was one of the first of the ‘man-children’ – middle/upper weights who came in as freshman who could compete for state titles. He had a great scholastic and freestyle/Greco career, but he is probably and unfortunately best known for not winning states as a senior after winning as a sophomore and junior largely untouched. A real underrated wrestler from Lynch’s year was Steve Dalling. 2-time champ and 3-time finalist. Don’t think he was nationally known - nothing flashy but solid in all positions. Would have been a great college wrestler.

It does a little bit, but I take solace in the fact I have a hotter and younger wife - lol.

Wrestled my brother back in the day at a big (40 to 50 man bracket) tournament – a lot of things had to happen for us to meet, but we did. He almost teched me. Ended up seeing him in a dual the next year. Our grandmother was there and he was nice enough to keep it to a low major decision that time. He was the younger one. The end.

Come from a wrestling family where I was battling my dad for 3rd string on the family team. Good HS career and lucky enough to start for a couple of years (about .500 record) at a low-level D1 school which has greatly improved and now pops into the rankings from time to time. We had 1 NCAA qualifier in my 4 years there. They now have at least 3 or 4 a year. Was very dedicated in HS (FR/GR, Cedar Falls, working out in off-season, etc.), but once conference tourney in college ended (I never sniffed NCAA qualification) my only lifting was the 12 and 40 oz. variety until September. My college experience set me up for a nice professional career and I did a lot of catching up on the social side of things since I was a lightweight (literally and figuratively) in HS. I had a funky/unique style that I wish I would’ve developed more in the off-season, but that’s life. Still follow wrestling now where I live. Would like to get more involved when my younger kids get older (older son was not really interested), but we’ll see what they want to do.

First time posting in a while so new log-on. In North Carolina, we have 4 public school classes (1A to 4A). Each have about 100 schools, with the 1A having about 50 schools that sponsor wrestling. These 100 schools are divided into conferences based on location and class. They are also revisited every 4 years. For the dual state tournament, conferences are allocated into either the East or West region. Each region probably has about 8 or 9 conferences and qualifies 16 schools based on conference place and they may take a ‘wild card’ or 2 based on power points. Larger conferences qualify 2 teams while smaller or split (between 3A/4A in the east or mountains) conferences qualify 1. The first 2 rounds are held on a Tuesday and the region semis and final are held on a Thursday. The dual state final between East and West for all classes is held on Saturday. Recently, they’ve been held in Greensboro with 2 matches in 1 session followed by a proceeding session for the other 2 class finals. The following weekend is individual regions. For individual regions, we have 4 regions for each class (E/ME/MW/W) split evenly based solely on longitude. Therefore a couple of teams in the same conference in the middle of the state may wrestle in the west for dual states, but the ME for individual regionals (or vice versa). This happened to my kids’ school when we were down in 3A. For regions, they take the top 16 based on prestige points (winning percentage combined with last year’s region/state advancement). The top 4 individuals qualify for individual states with team scores being tabulated to crown a regional champion. For the 1A, there are 2 regions (E/W) and they take the top 4 to states. 2A and 1A used to be combined, but that changed about 13 years ago. At states, they use a formula to create the 16-wrestler bracket (1E vs. 4MW, with winner wrestling winner of 2W vs. 3 ME, etc.). There is no seeding and the 2 best region champs may meet in semis as opposed to the finals. Team scores are also tabulated to crown a state champion from this tournament as well. Like mentioned before, we revisit our classes every 4 years and recently they did something different. 80% of the class calculation is based on enrollment while 10% is based on ISP (identified student population) which represents the % of kids who receive free and reduced lunch while another 10% of the calculation is based on previous years’ state cup points (running total of athletic success over previous 4 years). Our school is in a bit more affluent area and had success from 2017 to 2021 with state championships in dual wrestling, baseball and girls basketball, so we bumped up from 3A to 4A and are one of the smallest 4A schools in the state. There are actually more than a dozen 3A schools that have a higher enrollment than us. We have come back to earth in our new class across most sports, so we may be going back down to 3A in 2025. For dual wrestling, we are now in the conference with a perennial state power (they won dual states this year and lost in the final last year), so 7 teams are battling for that 1 remaining dual spot. Depending upon the time of year when they wrestle conference matches (overlap with 6-week football playoffs, holidays, etc.), it is a real crapshoot.