No surprise....most are in NW Kansas. Here's my list. What do you think? Feel free to make your own.

1. Hoxie: hands down #1. EVERYONE in that town can talk wrestling. EVERYONE. Amazing

2. St. Francis: lots of knowledge from fans that have watched the sport for years.

3. Norton: a ton of excitement for a team that has a great opportunity to win back-to-back state titles

4. Clay Center: an Eastern Kansas school? Yep...from what I know and have seen, their fans are good, great school colors and fricken tough wrestlers.

5. Abilene: See #4 only not as cool school colors

6. Scott City: ugly blue, they still wear tights and a coach that makes Mark Mangino look like a Kenyan runner. You see a Scott City wrestler and you know he's from Scott City.

7. Ark City: a slew of fans every year in the 90's and still a great fan base and very good wrestlers.

8. Goodland: lots of great fans and terrific, young wrestlers whose best days are ahead of them

9. Oakley: where else could a long time well respected coach like Dale Samuelson leave and still tons of optimism for the new coach and program remain: Answer: Oakley

10. Columbus: is there a stronger 4A tradition over the last 30 years? Not than Columbus.

Honorable mention: Concordia, Emporia, Shawnee Heights, Colby, Santa Fe Trail, Goddard, Effingham

What about Mulvane? They have some pretty good wrestlers (although they have had a few down years) and they always bring A TON of fans to the regional and state tournaments no matter where they are!

Shame on you Mike, are you saying the Clay Center's colors are better than Abilene, when they are seperated by just the smallest amount of blue pigment? You lose.

My humble opinion, based on my limited travels:

1) Ark City: Can't argue with tradition, and nobody has more than the boys in purple.

2) Hoxie: Has any team been as dominant over the last 5 years?

3) Wichita: Home to the State Tournament (for now) and Bishop Carroll and Kapaun Mt. Carmel, perennial powerhouses in 5a.

4) Emporia: Nation's longest home winning dual streak ought to be good for something, right?

5) Hays: Home of the state's premier college program, the 321a State Tournament, Hays High and TMP (both of which have produced some high caliber competitors). Hay's Prairie Senior Classic is one of the most fun tournaments to wrestle in, the atmosphere is a blast.

6&7 tie) Abilene and Clay Center: See Mike Holliday's post.

8) Goodland: It seems like these guys are loaded with talent year in and year out.

9) Norton: So hot right now...

10) Colby: I've never seen a town taken over like Colby during the Eagle Invite. I think they used 4 different venues my senior year. Not to mention, a very strong Colby CC program.

Honorable Mention: Manhattan, Columbus, Saint Francis, Topeka/Shawnee County, Effingham, Derby

What are the criteria for top wrestling towns?

Tradition over the years?
Recent History?
Number of people wrestling?

There are numerous towns I would put in there but believe I would include Derby in there some place.

Tradition over the years, certainly deserve to be there.

Recent History, while down, they are coming back up and are getting stronger with a lot of young wrestlers on the high school squad this year. Middle school in the last 3 years has lost 1 dual, pretty good and gives a lot of hope if you ask me.

Number of people wrestling, Among the highest number of people wrestling in both kids wrestling, over 120 total, I believe the largest club in the state, and huge numbers in the high school practice room.

Mulvane does bring a lot of fans on Friday, but where are they Saturday?

1. St. Francis: not just for now, but since 1938, 69 years of always placing wrestlers at state.
2. Hoxie: almost always tough, not overpowering no's of kids out but who could forget a couple of years ago when they won a title with 13 at state and only 18 out for wrestling?
3. Ark City: 11 in a row can instill pride in almost anyone, and they desrerve their pride, having repeated success does not come without community dedication.
4. Goodland: years of tradition, continued success thoughout the "between coaches" period after Rocky left, and lots of mental toughness.
5. wichita. host of the big wrestling blowout at the Colinauseum, home of a whale of a bunch of very tough individuals over the years, and a few series of good teams like the only Grand State champs, the Kapaun Crusaders!
6. Emporia. long history of success, besmirched somewhat by the weight class cheating scandal, but with a dual longevity record that is impressive.
7. columbus: in recent and not so recent history, has exhibited an ability to remain at a respectable level.
8. Colby: Great high school tradition, and the most long term nationally respected juco program in Ks.
9. Abeline: Great team this year, last year, every year recently, with more to come.
10 Clay center: equal to abeline this year, but in my opinion a little short on tradition.

other towns that I wanted to list and didn't get around to were Scott City because of their community support and good performance record,
Douglass because they have maintained a quality state level program most years since the 30's, winfield for the same reason and because they produced Myron Roderick, and Beliot . Too bad I can't assign a town to Turner High school because they should sure be on the list! Also I neglect to list Norton, who should be in the top 3 or so. (DUH)

Great topic! I think you have to consider Salina as well. Outstanding kids program and many successful high school kids from there.

You're forgetting Belleville...

My list, My criteria is based on tradition, success at both the dual level, and the state tournament. Also crowd support.

1. Ark City - for all that they encompass even though I personally believe 5A to be weak, they still have an impressive streak of state titles and when you really get down to it thats all that matter.

2. Hoxie - If you want to talk about pure tradition plus dominance both this team and #3 both now and in the past they have it., these two team are very close to each other, and both coach Gable and Baker demand complete respect from me for their accomplishments.

3. St Francis (see above) Bye they way the only reason SF is third is because they come later in the alphabet than Hoxie, I'd almost call it a tie

4. Abilene. Boy I could go on forever here and of course I have a slight bias as well. How can you argue against my former team. 3 state titles in the last 8 years, plus top 4 finishes in all but 1 of the remaining years. They have finished out of first place by less than 12 pts in 3 out of the 5 years they didn't win state. a 6 year undefeated dual streak, 7 league championships out of 9 years I believe. Most of this under the guidance of a Coach (Bill Christner) who if I remember right, only wrestled for 2 years in high school, neither with a winning record. You can't hardly argue with sucess.

5. Norton - With the success they have had recently and in the past they deserve to be right where they are if not even higher on my list.

6. Goodland - has been the same as Columbus, the difference being Goodland has won a couple, Columbus has 1.

7. Columbus - Although not so much recently Columbus has been toe-to-toe up there in the 4a ranks for some time.

8. Kapaun Mt Carmel - How could I possibly leave out a Wichita area school in my list of greatness, particually one who has so many multiple time state champions.

9. Clay Center - One of our biggest rivals and frankly a team that has just come on in the last 4 years, evey year they have had at least one state champion and Coach C up there has those kids doing wonderful things. All of this back up by a fairly large kids program. They will do some major damage for many years to come.

10. Emporia - I have a ton of respect for former Coach Simmons, they had a great program down there, although I still think their league schedule was very week for many of those years, but they faired well at the state level and for that reason they deserve to be on my list.

Oh and a few honorable mentions only because Im not old enough to remmeber them but I have seen their accomplishments. They inlcude Beloit, Concordia, Goddard, Turner ( Very Recently), and though im shamed to admit it Manhattan
Take em as they are.

Belleville has to be a top 10 *L*- With the great assisant coach they have now it is only time to get that changed from what I hear. It is also heard that next year they are putting the Kids Program back to the way it shouold be- High School coaches involved

Clay Center I think has to be very high on the list- great fans- great numbers-- and they had Winter Ceremonies on a wrestling night this year

Mr. Fairleigh I just wanted to tell you in case you didn't know. It's common knowledge that Turner High School is located in the heart of Steveville. So if you believe that Turner should be on your list, just put it as Steveville and we'll all know who you're talking about. Good Game.

While talking about top wrestling teams, I would suggest that you remember Ulysses and Leoti as teams with regular and post season success. These two schools have won some state championships and some of the schools mentioned have not achieved that goal. Another program with a great state championship history is Wichita East. A great topic, the first I have felt the urge to post a reply to, after watching the forum for a couple of years w/o replying. Good job!

Being from a small town and not getting out much my list will be from the smaller schools-

1. Abilene
2. Clay Center
3. Concordia
4. Beloit
5. Hoxie
6. St Francis
7. Norton
8. Colby
9. Stockton
10. Osborne- out of respect for the Grieve Boys-

I always look at the best wrestling towns as being the ones that empty out the most when state comes as well as the ones that have the most history.

1 (Tie) Hoxie and St. Francis (there is no way to seperate the two)
3. Colby
4. Norton
5. Abilene
6. Clay Center
7. Effingham
8. Columbus
9. Goodland
10. Beloit

What about Plainville? I know that lately, they haven't been as consistent as they were in the 1980's and 1990's but the town still anxiously awaits all wrestling dual, tournaments and of course state. I would have to also say that I have never seen a town as dedicated to wrestling as Hoxie. That town is like a ghost town during state.

I don't know about towns, but here are my picks for teams with the best following:

1. Belleville
2. Rock Creek
3. Cuba
4. Wichita South East
5. Wichita North
6. Salina Central
7. Topeka High
8. Chapman
9. Washburn Rural
10. Smith Center

How about Garden City. Strong wrestling tradition. they should atleast be honorable mention on some of the lists.

Some honorable mention shoud also go to Newton .... 3 team titles ...... great tourney hosts ..... they may be down a bit now but they have produced some great champions.

It's an interesting topic. Here's how I came up with my Top 10. Hoxie is #1 basically because you can stop at say - the local convenience store - and say "How's your wrestling team doing?" and the person working can tell you EXACTLY how they are. You can go to Abilene or Norton and they may know...or they may not. People in Ark City would probably look at you funny and a convenience store worker in Wichita may call the cops. It's no disrespect to Ark City and Wichita (for example) but they're larger towns and quite frankly there's more to do. Same in my home town of Hays (not a strong wrestling town IMO). Sure fan support, wrestling success and tradition play a HUGE part, but how many of the locals know much specifically about the sport or season the wrestlers' are having. In Hoxie or Sainty almost everyone does.