I know I am going to regret this but I would like to add a thought to this subject if I may. I coached wrestling for three decades in this state and did most of it in class 5A. For most of that time, that classification was hands down the toughest in the state. Like any of them, it rises and falls with the trends of the programs, no big deal. As coaches and parents, educators and providers, we only have a couple of obligations. We are given these jobs for one real reason and that is to help kids as they build their experience base for real life and the state wrestling tourney is not real life. We are here to help them experience exciting and stimulating days before things get real serious and sometimes ugly.
So, once in a while things get a little slim and some (wonderful) kids with less than stellar records make it to the state meet. Tell you a secret, when they walk in that meet in that big parade, they are just as thrilled and just a worthy as that kid beside him with that sparkling 40-0 record. It means as much to his parents, and to his school, but most of all to him as it does that three timer that he is following. They don't all have to be nationally ranked wrestlers of renown to deserve to be thrilled a little in this small window of their lives.
I coached 27 kids in my career who are no longer living on this earth, nine who are or were in prison, many who are very very successful in their vocational pursuits and hundreds who have wonderful families and meaningful careers and I didn't have much to do with their outcome, but I hope that I helped them to feel like winners and that day when they got to walk in with that parade was not the high point of their life, but something thrilling and fullfilling for that moment in time. After the first round most of those guys are gone anyway, so then all of you can get down to watching those guys that you think are so worthy of the state tourney. Fellas, I think we got to remember who we all do this thing for and somewhere along the line, not everybody does. That is a shame.
Well coach or former coach tell me something those kids that you talk about walking in the parade do not exist in 4a and 3a. So is it fair to those kids? Why is it that in 5a we allow the below .500 wrestlers, (45 of them) get to experience the parade but in 4a and 3a only 6 of those kids get to experience it. I can tell you why,
Logic tells me that if you have 4, 8 man regionals 50% of the kids in 5a make it to State.
Logic also tells me that in 4a if you have 4 16 man regionals 20% of the kids make it to state.
5a had 360 wrestlers in regionals this year, trying to fill 224 spots. That means that 62% of all wrestlers in 5a compete in the State Tournament.
4a had 603 wrestlers in regionals this year, also trying to fill 224 spots. That means that 37% of the kids in 4a wrestler in state.
That is the true reason that 45 wrestlers made it in to 5a stae this year with less than .500 records you take 62% of the field.
Thats not elite at all. 5a needs to drop down to 2 regionals and have an 8 man brackets at state. This would put you a 31% of the 5a wrestlers competing in the state tournament, also this would eliminate those guaranteed losses like you say that only help rack up team points.
Also you guys keep saying these kids earned there way to the state tournament. Well I disagree 5a had 13 kids make it to state this year with out HAVING TO WIN A MATCH! 13 KIDS ALSO 85 kids made it with only winning one match. 126 kids in 5a had to win 2 matches. 0 kids had to win 3 matches!0 kids had to win 4 matches!
In 4a 4 kids had to win 4 matches to make it to state, what about the 80 kids that had to win 3 matches, or how about the 140 that had to win 2
Im not talking total matches wrestled Im talking matches to qualify. Why is it so much easier to get to the 5a tournament. It should be that same for every kid in the sate. We should not give 5a a pass because they cannot fill a roster.
