I bet you don't have more than 30 go to Calsbad, NM. Just my guess. How many went years ago when it was placed far away? Dallas is only 8 hours away. How many went there?
SlamBam

I think you're shortchanging the numbers. One, as pointed out before, we took two busses to Dallas and you're right, it's only 8 hrs away. But here's some food for thought.

We do very well at the Regional tourney and are consistent in numbers. Remember, not everyone places so there are people that are missing from my totals. I'm only posting the medal winners for each style. I might have them mixed up (my eyes are blurry), but the totals are close to accurate.

Denver - 47 Greco and 46 Free (1999)
Denver - 43 Greco and 47 Free (2000)

Dallas - 39 Greco and 47 Free (2001)
Dallas - 54 Greco and 59 Free (2002)

Topeka - 70 Greco and 73 Free (2003)
Topeka - 62 Greco and 67 Free (2004)

Big leaps in numbers for Topeka and there's a good reason why, it's our home state. All states upon hosting a regional have huge jumps in numbers.

What's interesting is Denver and Dallas. Just supposing that each tourney, the medalists medaled in both styles (quite often the case, but not necessarily), we would have at least 50 attending. But as we know, kids do go to these tourneys and not place. So what would be an appropriate success rate? 50% ? That's rather high, but if that were the case, we'd have close to 100 at those tourneys. Looking at the medalists, many are national wrestlers/AA. Not many will jeopardize a chance at Nationals and sit it out.

I understand entirely the cost issue and I'm not debating it in the least. But to predict such a drop to 30 is probably way pessimistic.

I do see a drop in the Cadet ranks. Our top cadets will wrestle the state tourney and place instead of traveling to Carlsbad. For all other age groups, the only way to get to Nationals is through wrestling the regional.