Yeah, but not everyone is down to weight at the beginning of the year. If this tournament had been earlier Edgmon would not be in the lineup for FHSU, which would have made it a little tighter tournament in terms of the team race. It is also a little more representative of what the lineups should look like heading into the qualifiers and Nationals.

Also many of the regularly scheduled tournaments are in late November and December. Such as the Kaufman-Brand in Omaha, the Oklahoma Open, Mizzou Open, FHSU Open, and UNK Open. I think it is really the best time that you could ask for. If moved back a week or so that conflicts with many of the teams coming off a tough stretch of dual tournaments like the National Duals.

As for the club teams being involved it would be nice to see them in attendance because many of them have all Kansas native lineups. I think that a few years ago when Younkin was at Wichita State he would have definitely challenged for a medal. Marcus Bowman is another person who would have been a contender back when he was on Pitt States club team. This year I have not seen many results for the club programs in Kansas. The only person I can remember seeing in results was Aaron Hynick for WSU who gave Malloy a pretty tough match at the FHSU Open.

However, the quality of most of the club teams wrestlers typically cannot compete with the varsity level guys who are at Kansas' scholarship wrestling programs. Most of this has to do with a conditioning and practice factor. The clubs are on break for 3 to 5 weeks because of finals and winter break. They also do not typically have a large amount of bodies in the wrestling room and do not practice near the amount of time per session.

What I would like to see is an invitation extended to every varsity wrestler who graduated from a Kansas high school that is on the various DI, DII, DIII, and NAIA programs across the country. This would bring back the quality crop of freshmen wrestlers like CJ Naiper, Tyler Caldwell, and Kendric Maple who are all starting. You'd see national champion candidates Cody Garcia and Jacob Marrs in action. Along with several of the NAIA studs like Joe Cornejo, Aaron Ely, and Paulie Hansen. Not to mention the prospective DI All-American's in Jesse Strawn, Tristen DeShazer, and Neil Erisman. The list could go on for the various DII and NAIA. Shoot I bet Curtis Chenoweth would have joined in on the fun all the way from Newberry.

Just imagine how tough that 157 bracket would have been with Erisman and Cornejo in it, to go with Nelson and Grater. Shoot Grater and Cornejo could've ruined their rivalry from high school, except it would've likely been in the semifinals. 133 would have matched up Maple, Naiper, Ely, DeShazer, and Garcia.