Through the years I've heard a lot of stuff about how Western Kansas wrestling is better than Eastern Kansas wrestling. And in most cases, I believe this. But i think the big reason for that is that there aren't as many cities out there with multiple schools. If all the Wichita or Kansas City wrestlers wrestled on one team, I think those teams would dominate all the other schools. In western Kansas there aren't as many schools for wrestlers to go to because the schools are a little more spread out. I don't know if this makes sense to anybody else, so give me your opinions.

There aren't as many students out west. you make no sense, bigger population=more schools.

I get what he's saying. Take into account the fact that there are several Wichita schools, the good wrestlers all live in different parts of the city, so they have to go to different schools. Just think of how good a Wichita team would be if all the schools consolidated their wrestlers to one school. That school would crush any western school.

that team would also have way to many wrestlers on it. out west, where there are less than or equal to 200 boys max in a school, with all the consolidations, still leaves eastern kansas at an advantage when it comes to numbers, but yet western kasnas still seems to produce outstanding programs.

No doubt that if all the Wichita shools went to together they would be good. But how many students would that give them to chose from ? We are not comparing apples to apples. To equal the same # of students you might have to take all the school from Hays west to make it equal. I doubt if a combined Wichita team would crush a combined Western Kansas team.

Wrestling is better in the Northwest for several reasons.

1. Heritage
Many of the Northwest Kansas kids today had a great grand father, grand father, and father who were successful in the sport, and striving for excellence is the norm, not the exception.

2. Program in middle / junior high schools
Wrestling programs at the middle / junior high school level have been in existence for sixty to seventy years. The public schools in Wichita do not offer the sport until high school.

3. Work Ethic
Generally there is a difference in the work ethic of kids from smaller rural areas and kids from urban areas. Contributing to this phenomenmon is lack of outside activities available in the rural areas. While many urban youth may be hanging out at the mall or swimming pool, rural kids may be assisting their fathers putting up hay, fixing fence, driving a tractor, moving irrigation pipe, and working cattle.

i get what your saying and that out in western kansas there isnt as many schools unlike were i live theres schools located 15-25 miles apart at the most

Excellent explanation Mr. Salyer. I strongly agree!

Even if Western Kansas is better, Eastern Kansas kids i have noticed seem to be alot freindleir. With the exeptions of Tmp and Russell. All those guys are awsome!

So am I understanding this right...the only way to beat Norton is to combine every Wichita school? I'd still take the Jays.

D. Fairleigh:
I am going to have to agree with you on TMP not being friendly. All them kids, I shouldn't say all but alot of them are pretty pathetic for a private Catholic school

Russell is friendly! If they weren't.....why did the wrestlers that made it to state offer fresh hot coffee all night long from their balcony to complete strangers? (A little more sleep might of helped them a little!)

Coffee? You want some coffee? Coffee? No Coffee? Coffee? OKAY NO COFFEE!.....I am not sure how many times I repeated that saying....man it sure was fun and I met some new people, as for the sleep I didn't need it anyway, I had coffee (actually for the record I hate coffee so I drank none of it, but had gatorade and plenty of sleeping time saturday).... Denis Fairleigh is awesome as well, he's the only one I know of, and Yes TMP isn't too friendly, but don't tell them but I have a shirt they may be looking for sssssssshhhhhhhhhh

Coffee is nasty and dont drink alot in one night you'll never go to sleep

There are plenty of TMP Monarchs (that is a buffalo by the way and not a king or butterfly) out there that aren't quite as grumpy. Those kids need to loosen those ties a little bit and relieve some angst.

Before my first match at state is was nervous wrestling some kid from Mill Valley (eastern KS) because his record was like 28-9. My record wasnt so great, 21-15 but i pinned him. I think that that shows the different level of competition from west compared to east, being that hays is more western and mill valley is east.

Mill Valley did make an appearance at the Norton Tournament, and did compete fairly well, taking 5th place, with one champion.

I have lived in Western Kansas and Eastern Kansas. In my personal opinion-I would move back to western Kansas in a heartbeat if there were any jobs. Now, before I continue I want to say that there are exceptions everywhere and I know I am generalizing.
The people out in Western Kansas treat each other as neighbors, they are among the nicest people and are the hardest working people I know(you try to farm 365 days for 12 hours every day or deliver a calf at 3:00 in the morning then go to school). You have to be nice to each other when it is a 30 minute trip to the grocery store and all you need is a couple of eggs. Or your car brakes down and you are on a dirt country road where the next house is 2 miles away. Growing up on a farm in a very small town-I knew that if I ever needed help, I could go to any of the houses in town and they would take care of me (most of them were relatives anyway). There wasn't that much to do so we would get "creative" (CB tag, racing down the highway, mudding, and of course keg parties in pastures).
Kids in Eastern Kansas have shopping malls, fast-food joints, concerts, ect to keep them entertained. Out in Eastern Kansas, people are more open to new people in the neighborhood and are still helpful and really nice, but there is a difference in style. Here, people complain if they have to drive over 30 miles to go somewhere or if it takes over 40 minutes to do something. There, that is a way of life. Here, sports is something some people do but not the majority. There, sports is not just a game-its the only entertainment for the town that week so everyone goes. The community supports the town and the school because they are usually the same. Almost the whole school body will go out for at least one sport because there is nothing else really to do. (I really liked what Salyer had to say-so true) There is a completely different mentality in when it comes to sports. If the school team wins State in a sport-the whole town feels like winners. They want to keep that feeling and so will work hard to maintain it because that is the only thing they may have. We can loose a lot of jobs, be in a drought and see a shrinking town population but if the high school wins state wrestling-we still feel like winners.

It is still Kansas but spend a couple of years in Western Kansas and then come back to Eastern Kansas and you will know what I mean. Personally, my heart will always be back west.

P.S. TMP is a private school that is also a boarding school. There are many students who attend TMP that are not from Western Kansas. My sister taught there and it is just like any other school: there are the nice and respectful students and then there are the rude and spoiled ones.

Western Kansas is better than Eastern Kansas in wrestling. This is a proven fact backed by years of statistics, get over it!

Ok my post was pretty confusing. What i ment to say is that Im not very good freinds with anybody from western kansas with the exeptions of tmp and russell. Between the 2 teams i have many good freinds. This is probably because pratt is pretty big rivals with quite a few western schools