How do you pronounce Sebas? See-bus? Seh-bus? Please, please tell me it is pronounced Sea-bass. If it is Sea-bass and that kid goes D1, that might become the all-time best NCAA wrestling name ever.
Every time I've heard it, it's been sea-bass.
As for Valley/Shakopee:
Jackson hasn't been the coach in Valley for at least 3 years, as Jackson had a stint in Eden Prairie with Scot Davis for at least a year. This is his 2nd year at Shakopee. They were close in the section finals, last year.
Valley: They've always had transfers. Some have had less than legal living situations, but I've talked to guys that ended up there, and all of them have said that they weren't recruited, they recruited Valley. It was the place to be. They had like, 9 D1 commits one year, on their roster. Mostly, it was guys not getting what they needed at their original schools. They definitely could've been recruited. I'm pretty sure they have a good club in Minnesota Elite training out of there in the off-season, run by Chad Erickson. Older Manville went there for a year or two while Jackson was still around. The year he left might've been the year that Manville left for Blair, I can't remember. People hate Valley and the transfers. They are Goliath. I personally don't care, as they provide great wrestling and I've never met a person from there that's ticked me off. Their coaching staff is loaded with college AA's and natty champs at different levels.
Shakopee: Lots of guys train at Pinnacle. They did start with lots of numbers in youth, wrestling in the USA Wrestling ranks. Jackson came last season, I believe. There were no move-ins last year, I'm pretty sure. Lots of good people from Shakopee, too, and they showed up in DROVES last night. They were very, very confident, going into it. This season, they had Manville coming over. The Pinnacle parents were all gushing about it. Papa Manville coaches him in the corner. I don't know if I've ever seen him coach anyone else. They also brought in 4x D3 champ Marcus Levessuer into the program. Anyways, Manville comes. Then, Aaron Cashman (Pinnacle guy) ends up at Shakopee from much-lesser Mound-Westonka. It's very old school Valley-esque.
At the end of the day, neither team is all that "homegrown". AAA wrestling in MN rarely is, anymore. While St. Michael Albertville is obviously tough, they had their share of move-ins, in the last few years. They're no longer the hot commodity. It all happens in cycles, here. The little town (A school) of Kimball was the place to be for a season or two, as they built a really nice facility and scalped a couple of STMA kids, but they ultimately ended up at STMA, minus maybe 1 or 2. Kasson-Mantorville might be one of the best top to bottom teams in MN, and they have move-ins. The old Jackson County Central teams with Travis Ruth had move-ins. Anoka has a move-in or two, this year, that will help them keep it close with Valley at state. Heck, even the single-A small schools are getting a move-in or two, nowadays. It's hard to compete at the very top if you don't have a few additions, but there are teams that do their best. It's not the wild west, like some states, but as long as you transfer before 9th grade, it might as well be. People like to come here for MS, as we let 7th/8th graders wrestle varsity, which is it's own other topic.
