Quote:
Originally Posted by Brianfo
Ryan Morningstar is an assistant coach. Need I say more. That's where the problem starts. He's never been aggressive ever. He has my respect as he was a multiple all-American but boring as hell to watch. I'm with you Rico. Push the action. That's how I'm coaching my boys.
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Ryan Morningstar was a highly anticipated wrestler from Lisbon coming in to high school...I think he won 5-6 AAU state titles as a youth wrestler. That along with the fact that his father was well-known for his accolades made him a pretty big freakin' deal coming in to high school.
Guess who he wrestled in his FIRST EVER wrestling match in high school? My brother...and it was at Lisbon High School.
Guess who won??? My brother. I was banging my chest and hootin' and hollerin' like a freaking caveman during that match. I probably looked like a fool. I think my brother won something like 6-3 or 6-4... it was somewhat of a barn-burner. Granted, my brother was the upperclassmen...and was a Junior who had been a runner-up at state as a Freshman and Sophomore (so close to winning it both years...ugh)...and was also the eventual 2A state champion that year... It was still a big win for him. Lisbon people mention it to me to this day. My brother and M* met up like 6 times over the years and M* won only 1 match...which was the last time they ever wrestled each other when my brother was a Senior. He beat him by 1 point with a last second crotch lift at Freestyle State that year...Justin was pretty pissed.
I am not sure when Morningstar became as defensive as he ultimately ended up building a reputation for being in college. He wasn't real offensive and/or stallish in high school or youth. He was definitely difficult to score points on, but he did have an offense that he went to and did well with it... I just think when the competition got stiffer at the D1 level for him, that's basically when he went into full-fledged defensive mode. He went from being one of Iowa's most highly touted and respected high school wrestlers to a wrestler who had some success for the Hawkeyes, but as most of us know, became mostly known as defensive/stallish.