Arizona TRUE State Champion

[ThePoniesAz]

Can someone post the names and school of the kids that placed at the "true state champion"

Brackets are on TrackWrestling

 

[AveJoe]

With the current way the state tournament is set with the 4 divisions what I think would be a neat idea would be to have a champions duel after state is complete. This would have to be an AIA sanctioned event for this to work. You have all the champs from each division compete in a round robin duel so each division will face each other. Not only would this show the strength of each division but it would also settle the question as to who the true number 1 wrestler from each weight class would be. Just something that is rattling around in my head. I would like to here what everyone's opinion would be on this.

I like where that is headed just not the round robin part caus eif you have a scenario where D1 guys beats D2, D2 Beats D3, D3 beats D1 and day everyone Beats D4 then who is the champ. I say 4 man bracket with a true 2nd place would be best. That would solidify first place thru fourth place. No questions asked. What a tourney that would be. And yes AIA sanctioned event in Phoenix. Nothing against Prescott but I don’t understand why states is out there. Lol

 

[FamousLie]

I like where that is headed just not the round robin part caus eif you have a scenario where D1 guys beats D2, D2 Beats D3, D3 beats D1 and day everyone Beats D4 then who is the champ. I say 4 man bracket with a true 2nd place would be best. That would solidify first place thru fourth place. No questions asked. What a tourney that would be. And yes AIA sanctioned event in Phoenix. Nothing against Prescott but I don’t understand why states is out there. Lol

Because the AIA gets a kickback from the people who own the arena and they give the AIA a good deal on it for the 3 or 4 days state is going on. The aging guy in charge of wrestling with the AIA said the only reason it isn't at the Memorial Coliseum anymore (which is an awesome location, no joke), is because one of the security guards hassled him once years ago. So you can thank some petty grudge about why state is in BFE every year instead of somewhere that is actually close to the major population center of the state.

 

[Coachdoerr]

Because the AIA gets a kickback from the people who own the arena and they give the AIA a good deal on it for the 3 or 4 days state is going on. The aging guy in charge of wrestling with the AIA said the only reason it isn't at the Memorial Coliseum anymore (which is an awesome location, no joke), is because one of the security guards hassled him once years ago. So you can thank some petty grudge about why state is in BFE every year instead of somewhere that is actually close to the major population center of the state.

We travel 4 1/2 hours to get to Prescott and we love it

 

[Bullybulldog]

The area is beautiful! Still I would rather travel to Phoenix. Phoenix is a central point for most teams and there's less of chance of state being canceled because of unusual weather.

 

[chingon76]

I'm not sure of many of these wrestler's schools... if anyone wants to help.

106

• 1st Place - Sergio Ramos of Valiant
• 2nd Place - Pedro Billups of coconino
• 3rd Place - Davian Guanajuato of santa cruz
• 4th Place - Eathon Rider of Unattached

113

• 1st Place - Kaleb Larkin of Valiant
• 2nd Place - Michael Llamas of Unattached

120

• 1st Place - Andres Avelar of Cesar Chavez
• 2nd Place - Emilio Ysaguirre of Unattached
• 3rd Place - Gilbert Rodriguez of Unattached
• 4th Place - Damond Lujan of Unattached

126

• 1st Place - Ramon Ramos of Valiant
• 2nd Place - Bryan Aizu of Unattached

132

• 1st Place - Benji Alanis of Valiant
• 2nd Place - Benny Madrid of Unattached
• 3rd Place - Benny Madrid of Unattached

145

• 1st Place - Bryce Nickel of Valiant
• 2nd Place - Collin McCorkle of Liberty
• 3rd Place - Kyle Yazzie of Unattached
• 4th Place - GIO MEZA of Unattached

160

• 1st Place - Weston Milnes of Valiant
• 2nd Place - Sheldon Cole of Liberty
• 3rd Place - Marcos Gamez of Walden Grove
• 4th Place - Jesse Kovacs of Unattached

170

• 1st Place - Tanner Mendoza of Valiant
• 2nd Place - Keller Rock of Chino Valley
• 3rd Place - Matthew Stevenson of Unattached
• 4th Place - Dominique Johnson of Unattached

182

• 1st Place - Donovan Corn of Hamilton
• 2nd Place - Jacob Sanchez of Unattached
• 3rd Place - Charles Hindley of Unattached
• 4th Place - Jeremiah Voliva of Unattached

195

• 1st Place - Elijah Sobas of chandler
• 2nd Place - Jayden Dobson of Unattached
• 3rd Place - Erik Orozco of Unattached

220

• 1st Place - Tarik Sutkovic of Ironwood
• 2nd Place - Luke Padwe of Pinnacle
• 4th Place - MICHAEL MOUSSA of Unattached

285

• 1st Place - Orlando H. Molina of Tempe
• 2nd Place - George Roeder of Unattached
• 3rd Place - John Pina of Unattached
• 4th Place - JJ Keele of Unattached

 

[Allazallstars]

I don't know AIA rules.

But would Valiant kids have to sit out half a season if they transfer back to an AIA school?

 

[C-townwolves]

If they did transfer back they could probably get a hardship and not have to sit.

 

[chingon76]

If they did transfer back they could probably get a hardship and not have to sit.

ive heard about some parents being worried about the ncaa standing of VCP or something... I'm not too well versed on that end of it though. I will always have a preference to the whole school experience. Wrestling is great but academics and arts and social aspects of school like prom, performances, etc. are important to growing young people. I like the idea of teaching a person balance between all these parts of life. It directly relates to success in real life and college.

 

[David Jarman]

One true champ tournament ideas:
First of all love the idea and this will do wonders for AZ wrestling in the aspect of college recruiting and national respect. Frankly AZ forever has been known as a watered down state as far as wrestling goes. I was a state champion in high school and I heard talk about how weak my weight class was and how I wouldn't have won a different division. The state needs a true state or all state tournament.
That being said I don't like the name one true champ because being a division champ should not take away from the idea that you are a state champ. That is why I like term all-state or states tournament.
As far as valiant goes stop hating it. Valiant is the future and it's a wonderful program athletically and academically for the next level. We should support the boys that wrestle there and devote their young lives to the sport, as well as the sacrifice their parents make. Other states have Wyoming seminary and Bethlehem Catholic and the best wrestlers in college come from those schools. Valiant can make AZ a wrestling powerhouse.
As well I believe we should support the boys in their quests to become state champs they are after all AZ wrestlers and live in AZ. That is why we should have a separate tournament from state that it's as prestigious to place in as it is to win a division title. I love that valiant hosts this tournament. I have some feedback on rules.

First of all you can't have a serious tournament if you don't have months of anticipation so let's know about this tournament before regular season begins. I know most kids stopped watching weight as soon as state was over. As well, some were just happy to have their year finished and didn't want to go. As well they had not trained to compete at this tournament.

Second, you can't have a serious tournament when the weight allowance is 6 pounds. No more than 2 pound allowance and perhaps maybe 3 weeks after state so kids can enjoy their state accomplishment and heal from the regular season.

Third is criteria, top 4 (or 6 if you are willing) at state should qualify as well as anyone who has placed at a national level caliber tournament. This could be any one of the tournaments valiant attends, terminator, freak show, etc. If you took 5th at state, this would still count as a qualifier (sometimes the top 5 in one division would be the state 1 or 2 in the next division, if someone places at a giant tournament but bombs at state let them come).

Also I think people forget that being a state champ is not and should not be the end all be all for everyone. If this takes off it would mean as much as to place as it does to win your state division in many cases. It should not be a tournament solely for finding out who the very best wrestler in the state is that day (sometimes the best wrestler doesn't win) but it should be an accomplishment to just place. That being said it would be nice to place all the way to 8.

 

[ThePoniesAz]

Everyone has mentioned criteria in terms of placing top 4 or top 6 at the state tournament...well, what criteria do Valiant wrestlers have to meet in order to qualify for a tourney like this?

All in all, the idea of a tournament like this is great but the notion that in of itself, it's going to "change" or "lift up" AZ wrestling is silly at best...improving K-12 participation numbers, continuing to improve wrestling at the K-8 level, AZ-USAW being more transparent and emphasizing the community relations/outreach aspect of operations, and encouraging AZ wrestlers to compete at the regional and national level, along with the AZ community embracing a more collaborative attitude will be what improves AZ wrestling.

There are some top flight youth programs in the state now, AZ-USAW needs to step up and facilitate competition and development for these kids, while also prioritizing the new and beginner/intermediate wrestlers so that they stay in the pipeline. On the HS scene, numbers are dwindling and hardly any teams field full Frosh and JV rosters...participation in freestyle tourneys is down across the board as well.

 

[Bighead]

One true champ tournament ideas:
First of all love the idea and this will do wonders for AZ wrestling in the aspect of college recruiting and national respect. Frankly AZ forever has been known as a watered down state as far as wrestling goes. I was a state champion in high school and I heard talk about how weak my weight class was and how I wouldn't have won a different division. The state needs a true state or all state tournament.
That being said I don't like the name one true champ because being a division champ should not take away from the idea that you are a state champ. That is why I like term all-state or states tournament.
As far as valiant goes stop hating it. Valiant is the future and it's a wonderful program athletically and academically for the next level. We should support the boys that wrestle there and devote their young lives to the sport, as well as the sacrifice their parents make. Other states have Wyoming seminary and Bethlehem Catholic and the best wrestlers in college come from those schools. Valiant can make AZ a wrestling powerhouse.
As well I believe we should support the boys in their quests to become state champs they are after all AZ wrestlers and live in AZ. That is why we should have a separate tournament from state that it's as prestigious to place in as it is to win a division title. I love that valiant hosts this tournament. I have some feedback on rules.

First of all you can't have a serious tournament if you don't have months of anticipation so let's know about this tournament before regular season begins. I know most kids stopped watching weight as soon as state was over. As well, some were just happy to have their year finished and didn't want to go. As well they had not trained to compete at this tournament.

Second, you can't have a serious tournament when the weight allowance is 6 pounds. No more than 2 pound allowance and perhaps maybe 3 weeks after state so kids can enjoy their state accomplishment and heal from the regular season.

Third is criteria, top 4 (or 6 if you are willing) at state should qualify as well as anyone who has placed at a national level caliber tournament. This could be any one of the tournaments valiant attends, terminator, freak show, etc. If you took 5th at state, this would still count as a qualifier (sometimes the top 5 in one division would be the state 1 or 2 in the next division, if someone places at a giant tournament but bombs at state let them come).

Also I think people forget that being a state champ is not and should not be the end all be all for everyone. If this takes off it would mean as much as to place as it does to win your state division in many cases. It should not be a tournament solely for finding out who the very best wrestler in the state is that day (sometimes the best wrestler doesn't win) but it should be an accomplishment to just place. That being said it would be nice to place all the way to 8.

Once again most states have multiple state champions or divisions. Iowa an amazing state when it comes to wrestling has three divisions with half the population of Arizona.

 

[David Jarman]

Once again most states have multiple state champions or divisions. Iowa an amazing state when it comes to wrestling has three divisions with half the population of Arizona.

How many of those have an all-state tournament?

 

[David Jarman]

Everyone has mentioned criteria in terms of placing top 4 or top 6 at the state tournament...well, what criteria do Valiant wrestlers have to meet in order to qualify for a tourney like this?

All in all, the idea of a tournament like this is great but the notion that in of itself, it's going to "change" or "lift up" AZ wrestling is silly at best...improving K-12 participation numbers, continuing to improve wrestling at the K-8 level, AZ-USAW being more transparent and emphasizing the community relations/outreach aspect of operations, and encouraging AZ wrestlers to compete at the regional and national level, along with the AZ community embracing a more collaborative attitude will be what improves AZ wrestling.

There are some top flight youth programs in the state now, AZ-USAW needs to step up and facilitate competition and development for these kids, while also prioritizing the new and beginner/intermediate wrestlers so that they stay in the pipeline. On the HS scene, numbers are dwindling and hardly any teams field full Frosh and JV rosters...participation in freestyle tourneys is down across the board as well.

The criteria for valiant or any other wrestler that doesn't place in the top 4-6 would be placing in a national caliber tournament. If you place at freak show or terminator where there are 100 kids in a bracket you should be able to compete at all-state. I am not familiar with all the national caliber tournaments but I know valiant focuses on those and I am sure the valiant coaching staff could make a list of quality tournaments. They are the ones hosting the all-state tournament and I have no problem with their ideas of what a reasonable qualifier would be.
The real purpose for the valiant kids is two fold, they need similar rules to everyone else. If they don't qualify then anyone should be able to enter no matter your place at state, and it doesn't seem fair that everyone has to worry about weight all year but valiant kids can go to any weight class they desire. That way they qualify at a tournament at the weight they propose to wrestle at all-state.

 

[Richard Lopez]

Does it matter who the “best” state champion is? And if it does matter, why does it?

How many of our 4 time state champions in recent history (2000- present) wrestled in college? How many wrestled for 4 years in college?

 

[David Jarman]

Does it matter who the “best” state champion is? And if it does matter, why does it?

How many of our 4 time state champions in recent history (2000- present) wrestled in college? How many wrestled for 4 years in college?

I think it clearly matters who the best state champion is for the same reason it matters to be a state champion.

 

[Coachdoerr]

Does it matter who the “best” state champion is? And if it does matter, why does it?

How many of our 4 time state champions in recent history (2000- present) wrestled in college? How many wrestled for 4 years in college?

There have been quite a few that have wrestled all 4 years in college. They might not have won a national title but they did wrestle 4 years in college

 

[Bighead]

How many of those have an all-state tournament?

So I had a few minutes today and started looking through some of the top states. It was a difficult search because it appears the few states that do it it is like the tournament was here, an unsanctioned locally run tournament. If you look at that table there are a few locations like the Northeast where several states will combine to have a second tournament.

 

[BDBlue]

The idea of a ONE TRUE CHAMPION TOURNAMENT is great because it creates a tournament to decide who the best of the best is, however this tournament SHOULD NOT ALLOW wrestlers that DID NOT WIN STATE for this year. Otherwise its just another "freestyle" tournament, whats the point?

If you didn't win state, then you didn't earn the right to be in the tournament, YOU ARE NOT A CHAMPION! Better luck next year! If you are a senior, sorry and the best of luck to you in the future and your future endeavors!