Connor Thomas vs. Tucker Erickson

[TomCat88]

Thomas, a possible football recruit here, beat Helena High's Erickson for the third time this year in the Western AA Divisional championship match. Each match between the two has been incredibly close and account for all three of Erickson's losses this year. Thomas got a takedown with two seconds left to win 3-1 this time. Erickson's brother, Toby, wrestles for Boise State and was a top football prospect as a senior.

[wbtfg]

Thomas, a possible football recruit here, beat Helena High's Erickson for the third time this year in the Western AA Divisional championship match. Each match between the two has been incredibly close and account for all three of Erickson's losses this year. Thomas got a takedown with two seconds left to win 3-1 this time. Erickson's brother, Toby, wrestles for Boise State and was a top football prospect as a senior.

Also, last I checked horn from glacier was the 3rd ranked hwt.

[Billings Cat]

Thomas, a possible football recruit here, beat Helena High's Erickson for the third time this year in the Western AA Divisional championship match. Each match between the two has been incredibly close and account for all three of Erickson's losses this year. Thomas got a takedown with two seconds left to win 3-1 this time. Erickson's brother, Toby, wrestles for Boise State and was a top football prospect as a senior.

Also, last I checked horn from glacier was the 3rd ranked hwt.

Actually, at least the top 4 heavyweight wrestlers are all from the Western AA. Unfortunately, I guess it's balanced out by boys' basketball were there're probably two teams that won't be going to state from the Eastern AA who are better than everyone except maybe the top seed from the Western AA.

The playoff system in the AA needs to be changed to have teams crossover conferences for their play-in game to make sure the top 8 teams are at the state tournament. This would be the sports of soccer, volleyball, basketball, and softball.

For the last three years of team State Championships played through the fall of 2010, the Eastern AA Girls have won 21 of 27 (77.8%) of the championships and have had 73/108 (67.6%) of the top 4 team placers in the 9 sports completed on in the AA classification. And this imbalance isn't just these last three seasons for the girls, it's been going on for some time now.

For the boys it's slightly less imbalanced, but still pretty signficant. For the last three years of team State Championships played through the fall of 2010, the Eastern AA Boys have won 18 of 27 (66.7%) of the championships and have had 62/108 (57.4%) of the top 4 team placers in the 9 sports completed on in the AA.

The only sport that the Eastern AA hasn't won at least once during these last three seasons has been wrestling with Kalispell Flathead's run. Of course, Eastern AA teams have finished 2, 3, 4, 5 in 2008, 2, 3, 4, 5 in 2009, and 2, 3, 4 in 2010 behind Flathead each of those seasons. And as good as Flathead has been winning the last 5 state titles, in the last three years Western AA teams have occuped the bottom 4 spots (finished 11th to 14th) at the state tournament 9 of the 12 times.

Of course, I can't imagine too many Western AA principals and ADs being in favor of crossing over for playoffs knowing that they'd probably only qualify 2-3 teams each year for soccer, volleyball, basketball, and softball verus the automatic 4 they get now. It's too bad because the best teams should be at the state tournament when you already have such a small pool relative to the other classifications in the state.

[HelenaCat95]

Don't forget - Tucker Erickson is only a junior. Both Thomas and Horn are seniors.

[CPACAT]

I predict that Thomas gets beat in his first match at state. The 8th seed from the East just got back from a broken ankle and is a beast.

[msutrackfan]

I predict that Thomas gets beat in his first match at state. The 8th seed from the East just got back from a broken ankle and is a beast.

Result of Round 1 - Conner Thomas pinned Conner Cappis is 12 seconds.

[CPACAT]

I predict that Thomas gets beat in his first match at state. The 8th seed from the East just got back from a broken ankle and is a beast.

Result of Round 1 - Conner Thomas pinned Conner Cappis is 12 seconds.

Actually Connor Thomas pinned Connor Cappis in 12 seconds. Thomas is a beast. I can't believe no one called me on this before the match. Connor Cappis is my son and I was playing with him as he reads here. I was hoping to get a couple of wrestling fans to call BS. ie Barechest.

Connor Thomas is a beast. He is running about 270 and looks pretty lean. I could see 30 pounds on him pretty easy.

[Billings Cat]

Thomas and Erickson both got upset in the semis. Erickson injured his knee getting thrown to his back and had to injury default to 6th place. Thomas got thrown to his back in the first period and for a heavyweight surprisingly fought for a minute and stayed alive. But, he got handled the rest of the match.

Question for folks who are wrestling fans--I saw two state runners-up who made complete idiots of themselves following their matches. One of them on the award stand crumpled up the certificate and medal and threw them down in disgust when he was stepping of the podium. I'm leave it his name out of it, but it was oddly (and ironically) reminiscent of Cody Tolliver from Great Falls High when he was beat by Tanner Sprenkle at the state AA tournament and did pretty much the same thing. Hopefully, this kid will not follow Tolliver who never wrestled again after being a state champ as a freshman and sophomore.

Then there was a runner-up from Billings who sprinted off the mat after losing and attempted to hurdle a barrier. He caught his foot and went face down. But apparently this wasn't enough of a reality check for him. Then when it was his turn on the award stand, he insisted on shaking his head the entire time generally acting like a punk and crumped up and threw down his certificate and medal while he was still up there.

So, my question is this, why is it that these kids are so unable to accept a loss? It's been a while since I've seen one let alone two of these incidents in the same year. No one expects you to like losing, but if I were their parent or coach, I would be the first to jack these kids up. And do you think it's getting worse?

[cats2506]

So, my question is this, why is it that these kids are so unable to accept a loss?

Firsts of all let me say that there is no excuse for poor sportsmanship. As a youth wrestling coach I wouldn't accept that kind of behavior. Wrestling is a very personal and emotional sport, and probably because of that most wrestlers have a great deal of respect for the opponent and the sport. remember these kids train very hard to make it to that point and when they step on the mat they are alone, losing usually means that someone physically beat you and there is no one else to take any responsibility. I don't think I have been around any other sport that is as emotional as wrestling. the highs are very high and the lows are very low. I hope these kids have somebody to help them out.

[Air Force Cat]

So, my question is this, why is it that these kids are so unable to accept a loss?

Firsts of all let me say that there is no excuse for poor sportsmanship. As a youth wrestling coach I wouldn't accept that kind of behavior. Wrestling is a very personal and emotional sport, and probably because of that most wrestlers have a great deal of respect for the opponent and the sport. remember these kids train very hard to make it to that point and when they step on the mat they are alone, losing usually means that someone physically beat you and there is no one else to take any responsibility. I don't think I have been around any other sport that is as emotional as wrestling. the highs are very high and the lows are very low. I hope these kids have somebody to help them out.

I agree. A loss is always hard to take and in wrestling especially because it is just you and the other guy. And when you lost, you took it and accepted what happened. I could never stand the ones who would throw their head gear off the mat and push everybody out of the way so they could go pout. But besides the two incidents mentioned in Great Falls at AA finals, I thought the sportsmanship was pretty good. Even most of the celebrations by the champions were pretty calm. I was VERY impressed by the behavior of the two champions from Helena High. One was a freshman and the other a sophomore, and both took the championship like it was just another match. No screaming and yelling, no jumping up and down, just a smile of accomplishment. I wish that there were more that were like that. Good tourney tho

[Platinumcat]

I was sorry to see the action of the two young men after their losses. The Billings and Great Falls kids are both good young men who allowed their disappointment of the moment to act out of character. I've used the Tolliver story for years with my sons because sadly Cody is remembered more for that then his tremendous wrestling abilities and being a good kid in general.

Air Force Cat- I have a little different viewpoint on the two Helena High wrestler's reactions. Both of those two are very accomplished wrestlers on the national level. In a way, their lack of reaction to having won something, that many feel is a very very difficult thing to accomplish, came across as a little ho hum from them. For me, I enjoy when a wrestler alllows the emotion of the moment to envelope them and celebrate. The dedication requirement for any title almost seems to demand it. Can you imagine a football/basketball team winning the title and just walking off the field/court without celebrating? I am not judging those two young men by any means for their reactions. But, I found them to be more of an oddity then those that did celebrate.

Billings Cat - I agree with all of your comments about the Thomas/Horn match save for the one regarding Horn dominating after Thomas escaped pin in the first period. Horn did an effective job of dodging the rest of the match and didn't allow Thomas to move in to position for the throws he was looking for. On a side note, it will be very interesting to see Horn after 4-5 years of dedicated lifting on that frame; big body!