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Southern_Hospitality
01-15-2007, 02:44 PM
After reading this article, I have to ask myself why in the world is Highland in this tournament. I am not knocking Highland one bit, but this is just raising a question about their scheduling process. If someone want to give me some insight on this, I would love to hear it.

Redbirds second at own Invitational

By Allen Parker, Editor
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 12:04 PM CST
WEST FRANKFORT — Frankfort Community High School varsity wrestling coach Jack Calvert told The Daily American today he was proud of how his team performed Saturday when it found itself in a three-horse race during its invitational. The Redbirds were able to split the difference and finish second behind Union County, Ky. (220) with 149.5 team points. Harrisburg was third (146) with Highland (118) and A-J (110.5) rounding out the top five. Also at the tournament were: Carmi (88), Carterville (68), Effingham (St. Anthony), Red Hill (13) and Fairfield (5).

FCHS wrestling coach Jack Calvert was pleased with the team finish.
http://www.dailyamericannews.com/content/articles/2007/01/10/sports/sports1.jpgThe Frankfort Community High School wrestling team finished second overall at the 10-team Redbirds Invitational Saturday.
"I can't say enough for the job coaches Arrington and Minor did as I was trying to keep the tournament running," Calvert noted. "They are taking a more assertive role in practices and have been so valuable to our program. We thought it would be a little closer but Union County is stacked. We were happy to hold off the Bulldogs."

The Redbirds had two wrestlers earn title honors in Aaron Phemister and Cody Simpson.

Phemister continued his dominating run through the season. Phemister pinned Carmi's Jake Wheeler (2:24) and beat Union County's Isaac Ervin on his way to the 130 class title. The senior, in his run this year, has only been scored upon on escapes — so he can take an opponent down again.
Phemister was also named the tournament MVP.

Simpson (171) pinned Red Hill's Jake Miller, beat A-J's Todd Fahlberg 10-6 and Union County's Jarad Burke, 8-5.

"Cody had an awesome day," said Calvert. "He is such a competitor and always finds a way to win."

At 135, senior Austin Phemister was second. Phemister pinned Harrisburg's Jerrick Thetford (1:35) and beat Union County's Luke Erwin, 3-0. Against Highlands Phil Rensing, he recorded a 7-4 victory.

"This was one of the toughest weight classes in the tournament. This will help Austin in the state series," noted Calvert.

Freshman Keelan Garza (112) received a forfeit to begin the tournament then pinned A-J's Kris Treat. He lost to Union County's Adam Carr, 4-2, in the title match.

"Keelan continues to step it up to the level of competition," Calvert added. "He made quick work of a tough kid from A-J, but was most impressive in his loss to a nationally-ranked wrestler."

Junior Josh Johnson also finished second. Johnson, in the 119 class, started the tournament with a forfeit then pinned Highlands Josh Lee (:37) before losing to Effingham's (St. Anthony) Jayson Swanson, 10-6.

"Josh has been so consistent on his feet," Calvert said. "He took the state-qualifying Swanson down but fell a little short."

First-year wrestler, senior David Butler continued his improbable success on the mat Saturday. Butler, a surprise in a sport that relies on experience, has picked things up quickly. The 285 wrestler finished second.

He pinned Carterville's Bobby Beckman (42-seconds) then did the same to A-J's Nolan Vail (1:10). Butler was defeated by Harrisburg's Phil Morgan, a pin at the 3:32 mark.

"David is starting to get more of a feel for wrestling and keeps getting closer to Morgan, who is rated in the top five in the state," Calvert said.

Senior Bert Smith placed fourth in the 145 class. Smith lost to Red Hill's John Clevy, 9-3, then pinned Highland's Hudson Seegen before besting Brian Smith, 8-7, in the third place match.

"Bert made a couple of mistakes his first match but was able to suck it up and come back," Calvert stated.

At 103, sophomore Zack Frazier placed fourth. Frazier started with a loss (pin) to Highland's Ryan Graminski (1:11) the won a Major Decision (18-9) against Fairfield's Tyler Lashbrook. Frazier received a default victory against Harrisburg's Nick Sumner before losing by pin (1:04) to A-J's Dustin Young.

"Zack keeps getting better every time out," Calvert noted. "As he gains experience, he can be a factor at regionals."

West Frankfort also received a fourth place finish from Tyler Chance in the 125 class. Chance won by fall against Josh Fuller (3;57) then dropped an 11-4 decision to Dustin Morse. He came back with a pin of Effingham's Cody Sandschafer before losing, 10-9, to Cody Tatum.

"Boy, did Tyler step it up," Calvert commented.

"He beat the 3-seed and pushed the 2-seed until the end. He was awesome from the bottom with constant movement and determination."

wrestlingstud3
01-18-2007, 02:02 AM
well the highland schedule has actually gotten a lot tougher tournament wise in the past few years. they switched from jerseyville to cm. then they switched from cumberland to mascoutah. and then they also went from mt. olive to west frankfort. in my opinion they should have gone into murdale or an equivalent AA tournament. one of the main problems why they cant compete that well with AA schools is that their numbers seem to always stick around the 20 to 25 mark with holes all over the lineup. as we all know its pretty hard to compete even with mediocre teams when you cant fill out an entire team. they are trying to get the program going in the right direction but wrestling is not backed by many people in the highland area so its pretty hard to get kids to come out.

Southern_Hospitality
01-18-2007, 02:08 PM
well the highland schedule has actually gotten a lot tougher tournament wise in the past few years. they switched from jerseyville to cm. then they switched from cumberland to mascoutah. and then they also went from mt. olive to west frankfort. in my opinion they should have gone into murdale or an equivalent AA tournament. one of the main problems why they cant compete that well with AA schools is that their numbers seem to always stick around the 20 to 25 mark with holes all over the lineup. as we all know its pretty hard to compete even with mediocre teams when you cant fill out an entire team. they are trying to get the program going in the right direction but wrestling is not backed by many people in the highland area so its pretty hard to get kids to come out.

Honestly, Highland have a quality feeder program to its high school. I am pretty sure Highland High School is larger than other Mississippi Valley School (i.e. CM and Mascoutah). CM and Mascoutah does a good job competing with AA school. I would believe Highland would have no with recruiting kids to come out for wrestling from a larger group to pick from to fill those gaps and be able to compete with other schools in AA. The only problem I see what Highland doesn't have and CM and Mascoutah have is a middle school program. When I was in high school, I remember when the program was competitive and this is just mind boggling to me that they can't get more kids out for wresting.

MVC 2006 Official Enrollment from IHSA

Triad 1331
Jerseyville 1048
Highland 1038
Waterloo 920
CM 888
Mascothah 863

Mr. White
01-18-2007, 06:50 PM
From what I have heard, Highland now charges students a fee of $150 for each sport they play. Think about it, if you're a parent with 2 or 3 kids and they all want to play 3 sports, that could be up to $1350 each year just for fees. We all know wrestling isn't exactly the most mainstream sport, so if a kid is forced to choose, I'm sure for many kids that wrestling is an easy choice to drop. In order to have a good team, you have to get lots of kids out at all weight classes. Many kids don't even consider wrestling their main sport until they have had some success at the high school level. I'm not trying to make excuses for Highland, but that has to be a factor.