This is just a thought, but what does everyone think of moving the tournament around so some of us in the West don't have to drive clear across the state EVERY year? Surely there are other cities that could host the tournament. Yes, Topeka has a great place to hold it. It would just be nice to not have to travel so far each and every year. Maybe it would generate a little more interest in the sport if the traveling wouldn't be so far away. I don't want to make anyone mad by suggesting this, but I have heard several people comment on this topic.

Congrats to all who made it to state this year and all the winners. You all did a great job!!

I have heard in the past that Topeka is chosen because the location is centered in between the largest population of USA kids card holder. I think it is close to the middle of Kansas City and Wichita???? I don't know if this is true, but it makes sense.

I think it would be great if Wichita would hold it at the Kansas Coliseum. It works out great for High school state.

I live quite some distance from Topeka but I believe it's a great, centralized location. The tournament is run well, and besides the occasional security idiot things are pretty nice.
Based on the horror stories about high school state in Wichita I for one hope we never end up there. Thanks everyone for another great state tournament. I hope to be there again next year.

The State Tournament went out for bid last year. Topeka was awarded the the bid over Wichita and Hays. All three cities submitted nice bids. The selction of the city has nothing to do how many wrestlers there are in a certain part of the state. Looking at the survey from the tournament this past weeknd there seems to be alot of people wanting to go to Salina, But the Bi-Center was not open on this date. Someone wrote on a survey from that Hays had the Special Olympics was in town and there were no hotel rooms. I do not know if this was true or not just what I read.
Ned

Maybe after the Coliseum in Wichita has its remodel the State tourney will go there. Some of the new plans will fix alot of the bad things there. (restroom, seating, ect)But there will still be the terrably high food prices & the cloned security gaurds I'm sure. I don't think the hotels are as rude in Wichita as in Topeka. They have you over a barrel there and they know it.

Ok...I know they host high school state...but HAYS for Kids? they don't have the room for it.

The same security issues are present at the Bi-Centennial Center in Salina as well as the outrageous concession prices. Also, there is not as much floor space in the Bi-Centennial Center.

What Ned failed to mention is Wichita submitted the lowest bid. However, Topeka was still selected.

Make no mistake, Wichita is far more centrally located than Topeka, and has more Hotel/Motel accomodations as well as restaurants.

Imagine the three (3) hour drive from Dodge City to Wichita, instead of the four and one half (4 1/2) drive to Topeka.

I also agree that Wichita would be better. It has many more hotel rooms available, once updated the Coliseum will far outshine Topeka, and you may actually get some state-wide press since all of the major network TV stations are in Wichita.

ks Dave, Hate to pick your post apart but Topeka has an ABC, CBS, NBC, AND FOX affiliate. Unless ESPN has relocated from Bristol Conn, to Wichita Kan, I don't see what press advantage there could be.

wrestleville;
I'm just going by past experience. I have run several large events in the Wichita area. All I have had to do was contact the three major stations a few days in advance and all of them had camera crews and reporters there to cover the events. They have also done special reports during their 12:00PM news shows and one even let us use one of their anchors as an announcer for free. They are very supportive of local activities, particularly those involving youth.

I was thinking move the high school state to Topeka. Rooms are closer and more accessible. People that we have dealt with were courteous, prices at restaurants were fair. The bathrooms at the Expo center were clean and accessible. Security was not a problem,
(Sorry that some people had bad experience) they have a job to do, and the safety of all is the main concern. The mullets in Wichita take security to an all time low.

As far as the tournament being centrally located- unless it’s in my backyard I have to drive. As a wrestling parent that’s what I do on week-ends is drive. I’m sure that some had a shorter drive than others. I’m sure everyone has to drive a long distance at one time or another.

As far as recognition, Wichita doesn’t do much for the wrestling tournament. The Wichita Eagle runs a couple of pages on the tournament. Garden City, Scott City, Liberal, Dodge City have live all day radio coverage. Other communities like Emporia, have coverage when their wrestlers are going. (I’m sure there are more I just don’t know them all). All local papers cover their local school. But as far as promoting wrestling I haven’t seen Wichita make a big attempt to help promote this wonderful activity. If you know of some please share them.

After reading the High School wrestling forum about the HS state that was held in Wichita, I would gladly say go back to Topeka. Oh and about Hays not having enough room..... how long has it been since we were out there? Have you seen the expansion that Hays has undergone in the last few years?

I do not think that Hays would have the quantity of Hotel Rooms that would be needed to suport USAW Kids State.

Topeka has 3000 rooms while Hays has around a 1000.

I would hate to eliminate Wichita just because there were some complaints - there were complaints about every tournament from what I've seen on this forum. I don't think that any good would come from the wrestling community just disappearing from a city because we/you don't like the publicity - we need to educate people and let them know what we do want. Did anyone contact the management of the buildings in which the tournaments were held? I don't believe for a minute that they aren't interested in improving. Am I pushing to have tournament at Wichita - nope. I personally like driving to Topeka and staying in a hotel, eating out, not being home to cook and clean. BUT, I understand about people wanting to shorten their drive. As for Hayes, well, at the high school state tournament there was room for 4 mats - you could get 6 if you wanted. There would not be enough seating.