Big Walnut Wrestling
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Coach Moore’s Blog
A
New Decade
January 12, 2010
Since my last update, the team has
been very busy. We had a very good winter break of practices and also
travelled to Medina, Ohio to wrestle in one of the best tournaments in the
nation. We also competed in the Groveport Madison JV Tourney on January
2nd. After returning to school, the schedule has been flipped upside down
because of the Ohio winter weather. We had a tri meet with Orange and New
Albany cancelled last Thursday and also had to pick up a last minute tournament
at Licking Heights to replace the Meadowbrook Duals which were postponed due to
heavy snow.
At Medina, we did not have the kind of
success that we would have liked. Due to the amount of injuries we have
sustained in the first two months of the season, we were only able to take
seven wrestlers to this prestigious event. Of those seven, Luke Worley
and Mike Foley were the only two to win matches. Despite the subpar
performance, I feel it was a good trip for the team. I think the guys
learned a lot by seeing how the best wrestlers in the nation prepare, and how
intense they wrestle. I think this weekend will go a long way in making
us a better team.
The beginning of the New Year started
with us taking a large group to the Groveport Madison JV tournament. This
was a good day for our team as we saw some guys get back onto the mat that had
previously been injured, as well as get our younger guys some more mat time.
Of those who went, we had 6 guys place in the top four. Zack White
and Aaron Gase both won their weight classes, Ryan Tutorow placed second, Jakob
O'Brien and Gene Hogg both placed third and Chad Harness finished in fourth
place. In addition to these wrestlers, we had many other wrestlers win
some tight matches and show great improvement since the beginning of the year.
The following weekend, we travelled to
our newly acquired destination of Licking Heights due to the weather.
This was an extremely successful day for our team. We ended up in
third place out of 11 teams and placed 8 individuals. The highlight of
the day was Tyler Schenz who was our lone champion in winning the 135 pound
weight class. Other placers included Anthony Roberto (4th), Aaron Gase (3rd),
Mike Foley (3rd), Luke Worley (2nd), Jakob O'Brien (5th), Gene Hogg (4th) and
Jason Griffith (3rd). I think this tournament will serve as a turning
point for the remainder of the season. I think it gave our guys a lot of
confidence and justified the hours of hard work they have put in up to this
point.
As we move forward, we will look to
prepare for league dual meet action as well as the post season. We have a
little more than a month remaining before we hit sectionals. This is a
very important time of the year in terms of conditioning and technique. I
am very excited about where our team is at right now mentally and physically
and I fell we will continue to improve.
Showing
Improvement
December 14, 2009
This past week, we had two days of
competition as we faced off against Olentangy Liberty on Thursday and wrestled
in the Big Walnut Duals on Saturday.
Against Liberty, we lost! That’s
about all we need to say about that.
Saturday, the Eagles wrestled five
dual meets on our way to a strong 4th place finish in our own tournament.
We ended up 2-2-1 on the day with wins against Shawnee and Galion, losses
to Jonathan Alder and Northmor and a tie against Kenton Ridge. We lost on
tie breaker criteria against Kenton Ridge in the 3rd place match.
There were many highlights on the day
led by Luke Worley who went 5-0 in dominating fashion. Luke had 3 pins,
one major decision and a forfeit on the day. Also with impressive days were
Zack White and Jason Griffith who both went 4-1, Jeff Linn with a 3-1 record
and Sean Conley with 5 very quick victories on the day. The very bright
spot was the performances of our freshmen class. Led by Linn's 3-1
record, the class did very well in stepping up to the competition throughout
the day. Joining Conley and Linn were Chad Harness, Brant Weiss, and Tony
McMillen. I thought all of these youngsters did a great job and are
showing improvement every time they step on the mat.
We now have a long break to get
prepared for the second half of the season that will begin as we head to the
very tough Medina Invitational on December 28-29. These last weeks of
practice in December are very important to correct and improve on any mistakes
that we can as we look to get back on top in the OCC.
And so it begins
December 7, 2009
We kicked off the 2009-10 season this
past weekend in 2 different locations. The varsity team competed in the
Cambridge Invitational and the JV wrestlers were at the Meat and Potatoes
Classic at Northmor High School. Despite the sub par team finishes, there
were some bright spots on the day.
At Cambridge, the varsity squad did
not finish very high, but we were competing with a few wrestlers missing.
We entered 8 guys in the tournament and lost one of those 8 in the first
round when Braden Hale hurt his knee. The remaining 7 had a pretty
successful day. We had 5 guys place in Anthony Roberto (6th), Zack White
(5th), Mike Foley (5th), Luke Worley (2nd) and Jason Griffith (4th). Luke
Worley wrestled a very strong tournament finishing 4-1 with his only loss
coming to a returning state qualifier in the finals. The highlight of the
day was freshman Anthony Roberto. Wrestling in his first varsity
tournament, Anthony won 2 matches and got some much needed experience.
The JV squad did very well in
Northmor. In all, we had 3 placers in Jakob O'Brien (1st), Nate
Linnabarry (5th) and Jeff Linn (5th). The report from Coach Morris was a
very good one. He was very impressed in the fight and will of each of the
younger wrestlers. The highlight of the day was Jakob O'Brien.
Jakob has only been wrestling for 3 weeks now, but despite his
inexperience, claimed a title in his first wrestling competition. It was
a very impressive run for this newcomer.
We have had some unfortunate luck to
start the year with some guys going down to injury. This week we will be
wrestling at Olentangy Liberty on Thursday night and at home in the Big Walnut
Duals on Saturday. With the injuries mounting, we are calling on some of
our younger guys to step in and share the load for a while. While it will
be a challenge, I feel each of our wrestlers is up to the task of facing and
competing with tough competition. I am very excited about this week and
watching our team continue to grow.
Another
Good Start
December 1, 2009
The season began on Friday, November
13th with 23 eager wrestlers all working together to continue the tradition
that has been left by past graduating classes. This group of athletes is
very hard working and united in the goals that they have set for the team and
for themselves.
Our roster includes seniors Luke
Worley, Mike Foley and Nate Linnabarry and juniors Matt Brown, Zack White and
Braden Hale. These six wrestlers have provided great leadership in the
early parts of the season and look to have big years. The underclassmen
consist of sophomores Tyler Schenz, Aaron Gase, Gene Hogg, Ryan Tutorow, Ian
Barney, Dylan McCarrell, Jakob O'Brien and Jason Griffith and freshmen Shawn
Conley, Zach Kane, Anthony Roberto, CJ Harness, Brandt Weiss, Jeff Linn, Bo
Stambaugh, Tony McMillen, and Jordan Lutz. This group has been
working very hard and is doing a great job of picking up technique and
position.
It is easy to see that we are going to
have a very young team. Looking at our lineup right now, we will be
starting 8-9 freshmen and sophomores and possibly more if we do not stay
healthy. Fortunately, a lot of the sophomores gained a season of
experience last year wrestling a varsity schedule, and most of the freshmen
have been wrestling for 2-3 years now. Despite our youth, I think
we have a great mix of leadership and experience to compete for an OCC Capital
division title.
In addition to the early season practices,
we had 2 wresters compete in the Central District All Star meet. Matt
Brown and Luke Worley were both voted in by the coaches of the district to
represent Divisions 2 and 3 against the Division 1 wrestlers. Luke lost a
very close match to a returning state qualifier from Teays Valley and Matt
Brown ended his match in a tie against a tough wrestler from Northmor.
Both wrestled very good matches and should be proud of the accomplishment
of being honored by the coaches.
We will start competition this weekend
in 2 different locations. The JV team will be travelling to Northmor and
the Varsity will be making the long trip to compete in the Cambridge
Invitational. The guys are determined and are ready to begin their
2009-10 campaign. It should be a great week of wrestling.
Preparing
for the Season
October 12, 2009
The fall has been going very well for
the Eagles. The football team, which is well represented by the
wrestlers, is now 5-2 and is looking to make another run into the playoffs.
The boys soccer team is currently ranked 4th in the state and should have
a lot of post season success. Those wrestlers not in a fall sport have
been working very hard. They have continued to lift and condition to
prepare themselves for the season ahead. The start of the year is fast
approaching with the first day of practice less than a month away.
In addition to the success of the fall
athletes and the preseason work, the guys have been representing the wrestling
team in other aspects within the school and community. We had our yearly
tailgate where we were able to cookout, play some cornhole and meet with some
of the supporters of the program. The wrestlers not in a fall sport have
also been making appearances at various fall sporting activities to show their
support to their peers. I have been very proud of their willingness and
enthusiasm to give up a night or two in support of their classmates.
Last, but certainly not least, the guys have been doing great in the
classroom. All of this really makes the team and the wrestlers look great
in the eyes of the community and school.
I am getting very excited for the
start of the season and I am sure the guys are as well. As the weather
gets colder and the leaves begin to change, I know that it is almost time to
get back on the mats.
Back to School
September
8, 2009
Well, the school year has started back
up and the weather is starting to cool down, and each day it feels a little
closer to wrestling season. The guys had
a great summer of workouts, with a group of 7-8 who committed themselves to
work on their strength and conditioning during the hot summer months. The rest are all involved in a fall sport, so
they have been training for quite some time now.
The school year has started off great
with the same group continuing their work in the weight room as well as on the
mats. The wrestlers involved in a fall
sport have represented the team well in their respective sports starting off
their seasons in very impressive fashion.
All in all, I would say that we are doing exactly what we should be
doing to make ourselves better for the upcoming season.
I am very excited about the prospects
of the season ahead. We return 4
district qualifiers, 2 district placers and a state qualifier. On top of that, we have a great group of
young wrestlers who spent last year gaining very valuable experience that will
no doubt pay off on the mats this season.
Although we lost a great group of seniors, I feel like we can continue to
reload and be a very strong team and contend for a 4th OCC Capital Division
title.
As we move through fall, we will
continue to lift 3 days a week, and have open mats every Wednesday after
lifting. Also, we will be having our
annual wrestling tailgate on September 25th before the football team takes on
Olentangy Orange. Please continue to
check the website for announcements and updates as we move closer to the
season. I hope to see everyone on the
25th and Go Eagles!
The
Offseason
June
1, 2009
Hello Big Walnut Wrestling fans.
It has been a long time since the website, or the blog, was updated and I
would like to apologize for that. Starting this summer we will continue
to update the site on a bi-monthly basis to make sure that all supporters are
able to follow the program and keep up with the progress of the Eagles.
Please keep track of the team though the blog as well as the
announcements page throughout the summer and fall.
Much has happened since I last wrote,
so let me try to get you caught up. The end of the wrestling season was
outstanding. The team finished the year by placing second in the OCC
Capital division behind a very strong Mt. Vernon team. We followed that
up with a 3rd place finish at the sectional tournament where we qualified an
impressive 8 wrestlers for the district tournament. At districts, the
team finished in 11th place qualifying 2 wrestlers for the state tournament in
Ryan Nakama and Matt Brown. Luke Worley finished in 5th place becoming a
state alternate.
The state tournament provided me with
the 2 highlights of my young coaching career. The first was seeing Matt
Brown on the floor of the Schottenstein enter. Only a year removed from
being injured and unable to compete in postseason action, Matt made it to the
state tournament. He was the only sophomore in the state to qualify at
215. It was quite an accomplishment, and has big things ahead of him.
The second highlight of the weekend
was Ryan Nakama. This young man, a 4X state qualifier, had a phenomenal
tournament becoming only the second state finalist in school history. He
did so by recording three very impressive wins, one of which was a come from
behind victory in the semifinals. It was a great weekend and one I will
never forget.
The spring has gone well for the
Eagles, of the returning wrestlers that we have coming back, only four do not
play a spring sport. This says a lot about the character, work ethic and
versatility of the wrestling team. The guys who were not in a spring
sport spent the spring in the weight room and on the mats. I feel that as
we enter summer, our guys are all prepared to take the program to another
level.
The highlight of the spring, however,
has to be the graduation of the 6 seniors who brought home 3 OCC titles in
their careers. They include Curt Blase, Josh Pace, Corey Pace, Travis
Richey, Danny Kelly and Ryan Nakama. Those six young men brought a lot to
the community and program throughout their careers and they will be sorely
missed. Good luck to all 6 and I will miss you.
As we move forward, we have plenty
planned for the summer. The first is the summer wrestling camps.
The high school camp is a combined camp with Delaware Hayes, Dublin
Coffman and Gahanna Lincoln. This camp will run the month of June and
will feature many great clinicians. The youth camp will be June 15-18
from 6-8 PM each night. This is for all wrestlers in grades K-6.
Lastly is our lifting schedule. Any junior high or high school
wrestler can come in and lift with the team on Mondays from 5-6 PM and Tuesdays
and Thursdays from 3-4:30. I would love to see all ages participate in
these great opportunities because champions get better during the summer
months.
If you have any questions about
upcoming events, feel free to e-mail me at luke_moore@bigwalnt.k12.oh.us and have a great summer.
The
Meat Grinder
January 26, 2009
In the past three weeks, we have run
into what has to be considered the toughest stretch of our schedule. Since my last update, we have wrestled at the
Meadowbrook Duals, Top Gun and had a tri meet with West Jefferson and DeSales,
two teams ranked in the top ten in the state.
We have had our share of ups and downs and I feel as if it truly
prepared us for the end of the season.
At Meadowbrook, we had the opportunity
to wrestle against some competition that we would not normally see, and also
some teams we would run into at districts.
It was a good weekend as we went 6-2, with our only two losses coming by
way of tie breaker criteria. The team
finished in 9th place out of 24 teams.
Some impressive individual records include Zack White at 6-1, Corey Pace
4-0, Danny Kelly 3-0, Braden Hale 3-2, Ryan Nakama 8-0, Travis Richey 6-2, Josh
Pace 3-4, Luke Worley 6-2, Mike Foley 4-4, Curt Blasé 6-2, Ryan Tutorow 4-4,
Matt Brown 7-1 and Jason Griffith 4-4.
All in all this was a great weekend for the teams as a whole.
After Meadowbrook, we went to one of
the toughest tournaments in the state, the Top Gun invitational in Alliance,
OH. To say the least, this was a rough
weekend for the team. Our lone placer
was Ryan Nakama. Ryan became just the
second finalist in the history of Big Walnut at this prestigious
tournament. Ryan was very impressive in
his run to the finals and had a great weekend.
Curt Blasé also had a good weekend going 3-2, and Matt Brown lost a
heart breaker in his match to place. It
was a good test for our guys and showed a lot of areas where we need to do a
lot of work.
After Top Gun, we had a week of big
dual meets. We first wrestled New Albany
and won 36-24. This was a great night
for our team and quite possibly the best we have wrestled all year. Out of 13 matches that were wrestled, we won
10 en route to the victory. Two days
later, we hosted West Jefferson and Columbus Desales. This was a special day for the whole
team. To start, it was alumni day as we
welcomed back many former Big Walnut wrestlers.
Secondly, we had a very special guest in former head coach Mark
Bowman. It was very nice to see him back
in the gym. Lastly, this was a day that
we got to honor our seniors for their outstanding careers. All in all, it was a great day, other than
the wrestling. The Eagles did not fare
so well in their competitions as we fell to both West Jefferson and DeSales,
but many close matches were contested.
We now look forward to the OCC
Duals. This is the first time the
conference has run a one day tournament to decide a champion. We will wrestle five duals in our home
gymnasium in our quest for our 4th OCC title in a row. Hopefully, we will bring our A game.
Success
Early, Hopefully More to Come
January 8, 2009
Well, I have not updated the blog in a
while so I have some catching up to do today.
Since the last time I posted anything, a lot has happened for the Big
Walnut wrestling team. After our
exciting team championship at the Big Walnut Duals, we travelled to Marysville
for a dual meet with one of the best teams in central Ohio. Even though we lost the dual, I felt like the
guys wrestled pretty well. We got wins
from Zack White, Corey Pace, Ryan Nakama and Matt Brown. On top of that, Curt Blasé and Luke Worley
both wrestled great matches but came up just short.
While the varsity was wrestling Marysville,
the JV team was at the Ben Logan tournament.
Coach Morris and Coach Worley were both very impressed with the
improvements the young guys have shown for this early in the season. We had two guys win their respective weight
classes in Jason Griffith and Aaron Gase.
Aaron has still not lost a match in his young high school career. The most impressive part of the day was the
wrestling of Oliver Draskcozy. Oliver,
an exchange student from Brazil, had never wrestled before this season. He ended up the day 2-2 after recording his
first wrestling wins in his life. After
this long day of wrestling for both the JV and varsity, the team got a long
break for Christmas.
The guys returned from the break on
December 26th and got right back to work.
We had 3 real good days of practice and then travelled to Marion Harding
for a tough, 28 team, 2 day tournament.
We took third place at this tournament last year and were hoping for a
good showing. The guys came through in a
very big way. After two grueling days of
competition, we walked away with our second tournament title of the season,
edging out Liberty Center by two points.
We had eight guys place in the top eight in Zack White (2nd), Corey Pace
(4th), Danny Kelly (8th), Ryan Nakama (2nd), Travis Richey (5th), Luke Worley
(2nd) , Josh Pace(8th) and Curt Blasé (1st).
There were three big highlights for
the Eagles which propelled us the title.
The first was the first varsity win for Jason Griffith. He recorded a pin against an opponent from Bellefontaine
which we later found to be crucial for the team race. The second highlight was from Josh Pace. Josh, who normally wrestles 140, had to gain
some weight to be able to weigh in at 145 and wrestle at 152. Despite being in a lot of pain, Josh made the
sacrifice for the team, made the weight, and won three matches to take 8th
place. Josh showed a lot of character
and leadership in his performance that weekend.
And last but certainly not least was Curt Blasé. Going into the tournament, Curt was unseeded. He rallied from his bad draw to beat the 2nd
seed in the first round, the 3rd seed in the semifinals and the 1st seed in the
finals. The title was the first
tournament win for Curt in his career. I
think he was surprised by the result, but the coaching staff certainly was not
after watching Curt work so hard throughout the offseason and early part of
this season.
We now begin 2009 with a month that
will prove to be very demanding. Our
first tournament is the Meadowbrook Duals.
At this competition we will see a lot of great teams from our district
and also some very solid teams from West Virginia. In all, we will wrestle eight dual
meets. Hopefully, we will continue to
see improvement as we move closer to the post season.
A
Promising Beginning
December
15, 2008
The season is off and running and we
are now through two weeks of competition.
As a coaching staff, we could not have asked for a much better
start. The guys are wrestling and training
hard and they are seeing some good results.
Our season started at the Olentangy
Invitational on December 6th. We ended
up 4th as a team in a pretty tough field.
We had 7 guys place in the top 4 in their respective weight classes led
by senior Ryan Nakama, who placed first defeating a returning state placer in
the finals. Two Eagles were runners up
in Zack White and Corey Pace, and 3 guys finished 4th in Luke Worley, Travis
Richey and Matt Brown. It was a great
start to the season and very nice to see some of our young guys start to come
into their own. White and Brown, both
sophomores, let it be known that they are ready for a big year.
Also on the 6th, we had our reserves
compete in the Meat and Potatoes Classic at
On Thursday, December 11th, we had one
of the most exciting dual meets I have ever been a part of. I think I said this same thing last year when
we wrestled
The Big Walnut Duals followed this
dramatic win on Saturday December 13th.
This was a great day of wrestling for the Eagles as we went 4-1 to
capture the team championship. The guys
battled all day long and everyone contributed.
We had four wrestlers go undefeated in Ryan Nakama, Travis Richey,
Anthony Guerra and Zack White. Mike
Foley and Matt Brown both went 4-1 on the day.
Ryan Nakama was named the tournament MVP after recording 5 pins in under
six minutes of wrestling.
Our next competition will be on
December 20 as we travel to Marysville for a dual met with one of the best
teams in central
Another
Great Year Ahead
November
30, 2008
On Friday, November 14, we began yet
another wrestling season at Big Walnut. It was a promising beginning with
31 wrestlers signed up, including 11 very talented freshmen. This is an
increase of 11 guys from a year ago.
We enter the year with a bit of a
bullseye on our backs since we are the three time defending OCC Capital
division champs. Our main goal as we get things going is to make it four
in a row and to continue to build on our past successes. This will not
prove to be an easy task however. The restructuring of the OCC has made
our division even tougher with a few new teams and a couple who have seemed to
reload.
Our team is lead by 7 phenomenal
seniors who have been wrestling together since junior high and have put in many
hours during the off season. The seniors are 3X state qualifier Ryan
Nakama, 2X district placer Travis Richey, and 2X district qualifier Corey
Pace. Joining these three exceptional athletes are Curt Blasé, Danny Kelly,
Josh Pace and Kienan Coffman, all of which are returning letter winners.
Our seniors will be leading a fine
class of underclassmen who have put forth tons of effort to try to send these
seniors out on the right note. Leading the youngsters we have two
sectional champs returning in junior Luke Worley and sophomore Braden
Hale. Joining these two we have returning letter winners in junior Mike
Foley, and sophomores Zack White, Matt Brown, Anthony Guerra, Nick Keller, and
Donald Champ.
Adding to the depth will be a room
full of eager newcomers who have already made an impact in the early season
practices. These include juniors Richard Zanon, Ben Der, Robin Pierolt
and Oliver Draskcoczy, and freshmen Aaron Gase, Tyler Schenz, Brandon Hoover,
Keith McBride, Ryan Tutorow, Jared Watkins, Rayshawn Rankin, Jay Silvia, Gene
Hogg, Ian Barney and Jason Griffith.
I am looking forward to the promise of
this year and getting competitions underway. The guys have been working
very hard all spring, summer and fall and are ready to make their mark on the
2008-09 season. I am certain that all of their work will be
rewarded.
Guest Blogger: Aaron Morris
March 11, 2008
The season has finally
come to a close. Coach Moore is enjoying
a much deserved vacation from his blog duties so I will do my best to fill his
rather large shoes. As many of you know
who are fans of Big Walnut, Ryan Nakama capped his very successful season at
the state meet a little over a week and a half ago. Ryan grabbed his first win at the
Schottenstein Center but failed to place, results that I’m sure if you ask Ryan
leave somewhat of a bitter taste in his mouth.
Nevertheless he had a magnificent season, and has much to look forward
to in his upcoming senior season. This
past week the Eagles marked the end of the season with a banquet to recognize
the accomplishments of this year’s team.
Winners of various awards are as follows:
Most Outstanding
Wrestler – Ryan Nakama
Most Improved Wrestler –
Corey Pace
Most Courageous Wrestler
– Mike Cassidy
Lehman-Morgenstern
Character Award – Keith Kintner
I have uploaded a short
montage of pictures if anyone would like to download it, just save target as:
It was wonderful to see
the family and friends that came to applaud the Eagles both at the banquet and
the potluck. It is nice to know that not
only the wrestlers, but also the coaching staff have such a great support
system in place for this team.
Personally I would not have changed a thing about this season, not only
did we have success on the mat, but off the mat I got to know some pretty
special young men. I was also awarded
the opportunity to work with a great coaching staff. I met Luke Moore for the first time as a
freshman in high school and it didn’t take me long to figure out that he was
destined to be involved in wrestling for a long time and would undoubtedly some
day make a terrific coach. To have the
opportunity to be at his side during his first season as a head coach was
pretty darn exciting.
I remember this team
most for its display of grit and determination during the Sectional
Finals. It is a round that I will never
forget; two huge throws by our seniors, two improbable comebacks, and an
overall record of 7-2 which vaulted us into first place for a moment in time
during that round. As we put this year
behind us it is hard not to look to the future, which indeed looks bright. Next year’s team will feature 9 seniors and
the prospect of another successful season seems very likely, however what
degree of success will be determined by the hard work the Eagles put in during
the off-season. I am excited to get to
continue to work with these individuals and help them achieve their goals. Go Eagles.
The End is Near
Last weekend our seven
district qualifiers made the long trip to
For those six wrestlers
that did not reach their goals, they have nothing to hang their heads
about. They all worked very hard and
should be proud of what they did this season as a team and as individuals. There are two guys in particular I would like
to say a special thanks to. Keith
Kintner and Chris Franklin, our only two seniors, ended their careers this
weekend. They both ended up three time
district qualifiers and won 3 OCC Capital division titles. They had great careers and represented their
families, school and community very well for four great years. Thank you and good luck to both of these
special young men.
Now its time to
concentrate on the upcoming weekend, Ryan has been to the state tournament 3
times now and has yet to reach the podium.
He set some very big goals for himself at the beginning of the year and
has had an amazing season. I know that
he is ready mentally and physically and I look for him to have a great weekend
at the
Moving On
The part of the season
that every wrestler in the country trains for came upon us this past
weekend. The sectional tournament, the
first in the post season series, was held at
For the guys that did
not make it, we are very proud as a staff for all that they did throughout the
year. Every guy on our team contributed
to the successes that we had and are going to be a huge part of any success we
may have in the future. I would like to
thank all of these guys for the hard work, time and effort that they put into
every single practice, match and tournament.
We now move on to
districts, the step preceding the state tournament. When you reach this level everyone is good
and every match is tough. After looking
at the brackets I think that each wrestler has a very legitimate shot at
wrestling at the
3 in a Row
Well, one of the goals
that we set at the beginning of the year was reached this past week. With a win over
The clinching win
against
We now enter the
postseason. The sectional tournament is
this week at
One Win Away
This past week brought a
lot of optimism to the Big Walnut wrestling program. With a huge win over rival New Albany and a
little help from Dublin Scioto, we are now back into the OCC title chase. With one dual remaining we are locked with
both Watkins Memorial and
The dual against
Two days after our win
against
Another big event of the
weekend came on Sunday when we found out our sectional site. We will be wrestling at
Back on Track
Well, the Eagles got
back into the swing of things this past week with a big win over OCC rival
Another thing that made
this night so special was that it was youth night. We introduced about 50 youth and junior high
wrestlers before the meet. This was a
chance to show off the future of our program and recognize their hard work that
they have put into the season.
On Saturday, we took 5
JV wrestlers to a tournament at Galion high school. Our lone placer was Zack White who placed
second losing a tight overtime match in the finals. Zack has had a great season placing second at
two tournaments and winning another.
There are big things to come in the future for Zack.
The upcoming week is a
big one for the Eagles. On Thursday
night we will be facing a very tough
Wrestle the Best
This past week of
wrestling was not as successful as we would have hoped for but was very good
for our team. One rule of any sport is
that in order to be the best you must compete against the best. That is what we did this week. On Thursday, we had our second OCC dual meet
against Watkins Memorial. We lost the
dual 40-27 but saw some good things out of the guys. One real bright spot on the evening was Matt
Brown. He came through in a big way for
us with a huge win over a tough upperclassman.
We had a game plan for his match and he followed it perfectly to record
the win. Others who recorded big wins
for us were Josh Pace, Ryan Nakama, Travis Richey, Luke Worley and Mike
Foley. Although we lost the dual I think
we learned a lot on this night of wrestling.
Watkins was very excited to wrestle and were the aggressors in most of
the matches. I think that seeing that
showed the guys what getting pumped up and being aggressive for a match can do
for you.
After the dual on
Thursday, we traveled to
While the varsity guys
were at Top Gun, the freshmen got a chance to wrestle at the Marysville freshmen
tournament. Five guys went to the
tournament and three of them placed.
Matt Brown won four matches and Zack White won five matches on the day
to win their weight classes, and Anthony Guerra won twice to place fourth. Kyle Goode also recorded a win for the
Eagles. The freshmen class continues to
impress every time they compete. If this
class can stay together and work hard for four years, we will be a force to be
reckoned with in the future.
All in all, this was a
good week for the team. We continue to
be very intense in the practice room, and our technique gets better every
day. The season is winding down and the
post season is rapidly approaching. We
only have one tournament and three dual meets before we reach the sectional
tournament. Hopefully, we will continue
to get better and peak at the right time in the season. Go Eagles!
League Duals Begin
Well, the OCC season
began this past week. We opened our
league schedule with a good win against Olentangy Liberty. The guys really wrestled well against a
strong
The upcoming week is
going to be a chance for us to really see where we are as a team and what we
need to do to prepare for the rest of the season. On Thursday we continue our tour through the
OCC with a dual against Watkins Memorial.
This will be a tough meet against a strong Watkins team who opened up
their league schedule with a win over
The season has flown by
and we are nearing the final parts of our schedule. We only have two tournaments and four dual
meets left before we get to the postseason.
The guys are really beginning to turn up the intensity in practice and
are excited for what is to come. The
practices and the competition are getting tougher every week, but this team
always seems to rise to every challenge.
This week would be a great time to continue that trend.
The Start of the Season
Hello Big Walnut
Wrestling fans. Welcome to our new
website. The site is still being touched
up by Coach Aaron Morris, who has designed all of the pages, but we are up and
running nonetheless. This site will be
used as a tool by the coaching staff to make announcements, deliver results and
give updates on anything that is going on with Big Walnut Wrestling. My blog will be updated every week during the
season and will address anything that is going on with the Eagles. Please feel free to explore the site at any
time and contact me with any questions you may have. I would like to thank Coach Morris for all
the work he has done to get this site up and running, and Brett Brown who made
it possible to get our site onto the web.
Before I talk about our
season, I would first like to thank the parents for everything they have done
for the team. It is so amazing to have
the support and encouragement that we have at every meet and tournament. I know the team and coaching staff are very
appreciative for all that you do. Also,
I would like to thank the coaching staff for all the hard work they have put
into the first part of the season. Their
dedication makes it very enjoyable to be a part of the staff.
The very first competition
of the season was the Meat and Potatoes JV Classic at Northmor. The young guys wrestled very well at this
tournament and we got to see what the future of Big Walnut wrestling is going
to be like. We had four placers with
Kyle Goode and Matt Brown both taking third, Zack White placing second, and
Luke Worley placing first. The results
are very encouraging for what is to come in the coming years.
The varsity season has
started pretty well for the Eagles. We
opened up with a win at DeSales, the first ranked team in central
After the DeSales match
we went to the Marysville Duals and had the opportunity to see some great
After Marysville, the
Eagles traveled to
Our first meet after
Christmas was the Marion Harding Invitational.
This was a great weekend as the Eagles took third out of 27 teams. We had 7 guys place in the top six, the most
impressive of which was Braden Hale.
Hale won four matches on the weekend as an unseeded wrestler. Other placers were Corey Pace (4th),
Ryan Nakama (1st), Travis Richey (5th), Luke Worley (6th),
Keith Kintner (5th), and Chris Franklin (4th). Nakama was also named the tournament
MVP.
To begin the 2008
portion of the schedule, we went to
It has been a good
season so far and should only get better.
The boys are working very hard every day and are improving in every
position. I have been very impressed by
the work ethic and attitudes of each wrestler in the room. We only have a little over a month left until
sectionals, and I think the guys are focused on the goals they have set.
