How does it work when due to small numbers in different districts at a given weight class there are not 4 qualifying kids from each district? i.e. there are 20 kids from district one, 10 from district two & 2 kids from district three & four. Do more kids get to go then top 4 in the two districts to compensate for the other two, or are there byes at state?

I believe more than the top 4 will go from the other districts. Not positive though.

I posed the same question last year. Unless something has changed, the answer I was given was that each District was only allowed four spots in the bracket at State. If you did not qualify in the top four in your District, you were not allowed to take up an open spot from another District. I believe that there ended up being only 12 or 13 wrestlers in the U12 68 pound bracket last year at State, the remaining positions were byes.

I don't know if this has changed or will ever change. It seems to me that Districts that have more wrestlers in them could be allotted openings from other Districts that don't field as many kids at each age/weight class. I know for a fact that one wrestler from our District that did not qualify for State was good enough to beat at least one, and possibly as many as three or four of the kids that were in the bracket at State. One more example, I also know of a wrestler that qualified for State last year without winning one match at either Subs or Districts (he went 0-4 and wrestled the same kid all four times because they were the only two kids in that age/weight group in their entire district. Our District had around 10 kids in the same age/weight group trying to fill the four spots for State. I hate to see byes in a State bracket when there are kids that deserve to be there but are being penalized (possibly) because they have a lot more wrestlers in their District. Just my thoughts.

You should have had a maximum of eight.


Push your club and district to redistrict if it's a problem.

sportsfan02,

I may have stated something incorrectly there, my bad. When Subs started last year there were a total of around 10 or 11 kids total (5 or 6 in District 1 North, 5 in District 1 South). Four from each qualified for Districts for an 8-wrestler bracket. What I was saying is that another District had two wrestlers (one Sub had 0, the other had 2). These two advanced to Districts an on to State. It is not their fault, and don't get me wrong, the kid that won that District got fourth in State, so it wasn't like the two that represented their District didn't belong at State. It is just too bad that there was likely a few wrestlers from other Districts that were good enough to wrestle at State and fill up the remaining openings.

They only take 4 from each district. And if any district only has less than 4, then there is the bye. I know it sucks as it affected my son several times 2-3 years ago when there were 2 byes at state.

I even called and they said the only way to change it was to approach the administration and see about getting it on the next years agenda. So it wont help you this year.

In our sub-districts I think they allow the south to bring more thas 4 if the north doesn't have 4 to fill the eight man bracket for district. But the districts would only have at most an 8 man bracket.

VanFam7,

I would agree with you. I recall a wrestler who got 5th in Subs (District 1 South) and was allowed to wrestl at Districts because they only had three wrestlers from the North Sub. I think that is great.

I am curious if the allowing Districts to get more than four wrestlers through to State if there are openings left by other Districts due to low numbers has been discussed at the State Meeting. I can think of pros and cons in both scenarios (only 4 per District vs filling up the bracket). It may cause more problems than it fixes. I still think that it is unfortunate that some wrestlers are unable to wrestle State because their District is loaded with tallent, whereas another District can't even fill their four slot quota. At the end of the weekend, the six kids that did the best wrestling would still be standing on the podium.

It would!

Well, I was looking for a little more input than "It would!" I decided to come up with a list of pros and cons to see if I could convince myself one way or the other that this would be good or bad for the sport. I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here, as I am sure that all of this has been thrown out there in the past. I am just looking for the reason(s) behind this rule and why it would be a bad for wrestling if it was different.

Pros:

1) Sixteen kids would get to go to State instead of maybe 12, 13, 14, etc. (seems good to reward as many kids as possible for busting their tail for four plus months).

2) What a great thing for a kid to qualify for State (hate to make it that far just to get a bye somewhere during the course of the tournament). Kids get sick/injured and you may lose out on a match because of this as well.

3) As it is now, the State tournament is supposed to be for the sixteen best wrestlers (top four from each District). How many times does this rule eliminate one of these kids (the fifth and/or sixth place finisher in a District may be better than the third/fourth place finisher in another District, or worse, there is no third/fourth place finisher so "bye" gets to go to State instead). I am not suggesting having a challenge match between fifth/sixth place finishers from one District against the third/fourth place finishers of another District to determine who deserves the trip to State. In the case of the "bye", the fifth place finisher from one or more of the Districts would have the opportunity to wrestle State.

4) Better overall competition at State. Any bracket that is not filled at State would look to be a little weaker in regards to overall top to bottom competition than a bracket that is filled. This may not be true for the top placers (1-6), but it seems likely to be true for the remaining wreslters in the bracket.

5) Increase the chances for someone to get at least one win at State instead of going home two and out. (Example: Lose, Bye, Lose)

Cons:

1) The most glaring issue I can see is determining who should be awarded one of the byes from another District. This could open up one ugly can of worms with the ugly being the disagreements from parents and coaches as to who should be awarded an open spot in the bracket. (I believe that there are a lot of very intelligent and wise individuals within the Kansas wrestling community to come up with an agreeable tie-breaking criteria - i.e.: overall record, head to head record against other State qualifiers, etc.)

2) Districts would have to open up one more match per age/weight class at Districts to wrestle for fifth/sixth (Logistical nightmare? Too time consuming? Or is it?).

3) This would not be fair to other kids who did not qualify in the top four of their District because there weren't any byes left over from other Districts (all Districts full, my child had an off day but he/she is better than - beat x,y and z wrestler from this District or that District during the year).

4) ????? This is where I need help. These are the only two reasons that I can see that this rule is in effect. I am sure that there are more, but I just can't seem to come up with one at this time.

Why do I really care? Was it my kid that got robbed of his/her opportunity to wrestle on the big stage? Well, it very well could have been, but it wasn't. Fortunately, my son is the one who wrestled the best match of his season (winning 4-2 in overtime) to end another fine young wrestler's season last year at Districts. With the season this young man had, winning his District and being a previous State qualifier, I felt like he deserved to wrestle at State instead of the three byes that made it to Topeka. I am sure that there have been others, maybe not a lot, but at least as many as there are byes that are are drawn into the brackets at State every year. I know that these byes usually only occur in the lighter and heavier weight classes of each age group.

I am only looking for the reason(s) behind this ruling. It may never be an issue for any of my boys, but it will likely be an issue for a number of deserving wrestlers in the years to come.

"winning his District and being a previous State qualifier, I felt like he deserved to wrestle at State"

Editing my own material. Should have read, "winning his Subdistrict". I have been a little overworked and sleep deprived here lately. Just got out of bed and I already have a headache.

My previous post must have been taboo or moronic. Either way, if anyone has any feedback, I would be glad to hear your thoughts.

I do believe that they ask those that place in the top four at sub's if they plan to go to state. If there are only 3 out of a district then they fill the remaining slots with those that did not place in the top four from the district that they will face directly at state, ie. if district 1 had only three wrestlers in a weight class and they were facing district 4, they would invite the 5th place wrestler from sub-district 4 to participate at state. If district 3 was facing district 2 and the weight class was full then only the top four would be invited from each of the sub-districts. It is my belief that the only reason that there are byes at state is because those that were invited did not show. Not sure if this is the case but I do think so.

Sorry, I guess it moves up the ladder... sub's to district... distict to state. They try to fill the brackets the best they can. I agree, state should be full sixteen man brackets. I think that kids can walk on to state so long as their weight bracket has openings. Watch the bracket and go for it if there are openings. NO-ONE is a loser in wrestling!
There are the winners on that day and at that time... but tomorrow is another day and things do change!!! Love the sport, it is the true test of an athlete!