Will, the Toshiba/KCI Classic is a great tournament. It certainly would be a very challenging test especially for the Johnson County wrestlers who have won state championships. It would also be a good test for former State placers or qualifiers.
It is doubtful though that the organizers of the Johnson County Classic would be willing to change the date of the Classic. The Classic does get a lot of attendance from college kids who were ex-high school Johnson County wrestlers and their parents. I know over the years that my son wrestled in this tournament I noticed that this tournament was the best attended tournament by former Aquinas wrestlers and parents. It has become a holiday wrestling tradition in Johnson County that I doubt the organizers want to change. Jacob, my wife and I are both going this year. This will be the first high school tournament that we will attend.
Vince,
Not every wrestler in the Toshiba Classic is a state champion or state placer. This thinking is what is helping pull down the quality of our own wrestlers. "We can't go to XYZ Tournament because our team isn't good enough." What a joke! If you don't go your team will never be good enough unless you are counting on your kids program to do the job for your high school coach. Watering down the schedule to make your coaching record look better is not the way to raise the bar. Placing in the top 8 at the Toshiba is more prestigious than winning the Johnson County Classic...
I post on here a complaint about the travel limit and teams like yours don't care because they won't travel more than 30 miles unless the coach feels like he can win or place. The travel limit remains because of apathy. The Toshiba Classic is THE BEST national level tournament Kansas high schools can travel to but the JoCo conflict prohibits our local schools from being able to attend even though it is only 45 minutes away. Vince, EVERY wrestler on your team would get eight matches against wrestlers they will NEVER see the rest of the season while we are in the Blue Valley gym wrestling guys that some will see SIX times during the season! Get rid of all of the joke league tournaments and hold this one at the end of the season. The pre Christmas schedule is for travel and seeing the best in the country (RTOC, Beast, Ironman, etc). If you want everyone to get together have a holiday party and invite all current and former wrestlers during the winter, stupid "buffer" week to a wrestling reunion. We can even announce their names but no gifts or wrestling because KSHSAA forbids it.
What would happen if some of the BEST JoCo wrestlers went to the Toshiba Classic next year?
