forvac,

First of all it doesn't take me hours to research my son's group on the internet. I could easily do that in a few minutes. The kids I would have rated one thru five were based mostly from my seeing them compete in or around my son's group for the last several years including this year before Salina. Could I have seeded this bracket better? Yes I could have because of this experience. I am sure you could do the same with your child. Of course I or you do not expect the seeding from the tournament directors to have that close of knowledge of my son's bracket nor would I volunteer it or expect them to ask for it.

My whole point is that for the major tournaments during the year like Salina, Topeka and Wichita-Park City that I believe that there can be a better system like the one LegRider proposed or that asks for the information that Wichita-Park City does on their entry blank. My reason is that there are a lot of people who come from a distance and have to go to the expense of overnight stays and added travel expenses for a high quality competitive experience. Like I said I do not care where my son is ranked at our local tournaments. I just would rather not see the No. 1 and 2 or 3 kid meeting in the first round at one of these big tournaments.

Salina's scale is A-State Qualifer, B-Above Average, C-Average, D-Beginner. In a tournament like this one you are going to attract a lot of state qualifers. I know at least five of the eight wrestlers in his bracket this weekend have been state qualifers. State Qualifer does not tell enough if you are trying to get an accurate seeding in a big tournament with a lot of out of area wrestlers. It would be helpful to know if there are state champions and placers in the mix. Wichita's entry asks for that.

Forvac, was I concerned about other brackets or did I know of any others done incorrectly? I did hear of others done incorrectly that people were not happy with. I know for a fact that I was far from the only person not happy with Salina's seeding. I would like to see all the brackets seeded as accurately as possible at these big tournaments. People invest a lot of time and money when they travel a distance to these tournaments and I think they should expect that the seeding will be reasonably accurate.

To answer you, Mike and others who have made statements about not worrying about it and that the best wrestler will usually finish first anyway. Well I know that and I also realize it can be used as a motivational tool and that is what we did when my son expressed a slight bit of disappointment after he found out about his seeding. I really don't think that is the point though. If you have the top two wrestlers wrestling in the first round one of them is going to lose their chance for second. Again I know that is not a big deal but it does mean a little something to these kids at these bigger meets.