I first want to make clear that many people were involved in the Dual State proposal that was started two years ago. My name seems to get attached to it most, and I guess that is primarily b/c I was KWCA president at that time and was coordinating meetings, submitting the proposals, etc. But it in no way was it "my" idea. Many deserve credit (or blame?!?). I was simply one person in a room full of coaches from all levels and all areas of the state discussing the details, pros/cons, etc.

In regards to dual state vs. grand state, the KWCA board wanted to discuss the possibility of adding one of these major events. We realized we could ask for one, but not both, and thus needed to choose. We all felt both would be great events. We decided, however, that a dual state had a much higher chance of approval, for a variety of reasons. One was the Grand State was once attempted and was disbanded. It is also something other sports could want and we felt the KSHSAA would be unlikely to pass it for fear of "opening up a floodgate."

But with a dual state, few (if any) sports compete in two completely different formats as wrestling does (perhaps tennis?). We felt this was something that wrestling could ask for w/out the KSHSAA having fear of other sports asking for a "second state tournament."

Also, many other states have a dual state (I believe 21 of the 47 wrestling states, something like that?) and all had extremely positive comments on the event. However, I don't know if any have a Grand State in the way we would be proposing it (after the ind. class state tournaments). Some states (like California) have only one state tourney (thus a grand state in that regard). We didn't know of any that had ind. class state tourneys, followed by a grand state. We felt it would be easier for us to go to the KSHSAA and be able to say, "look these other states have a dual state and love it, they say it makes money, is simple to operate, and gives more kids recognition for wrestling success as a kid who can not otherwise qualify for a state-level event can now do so if he is on a winning team." We weren't sure we could say all of these arguments with a Grand State.

If it is a "Grand State" Kansas wants, perhaps we should push for one state tourney: with regionals, followed by 3-1A/4A/5A/6A "qualifiers," followed by grand state. That way kids could still lay claim to being one of the "best in 4A" (or whatever their class is) but we could also then have a true state champion for each weight class. That is not a bad thought to pursue.

We could then also have our ind. class dual state for schools to compete against others their size in a dual format.

However, it sounds like a major change, and that takes many years, many arguments, many proposals, many meetings, etc. It would mean that wrestling is doing their own state series, different from every other sport. I am not sure how well the KSHSAA would receive that.

I don't know what the answer is, these are just some thoughts. What I do know is that currently the high school coaches continue to show overwhelming support for the dual state proposal (with only a few dissenters so far). And as long as this is the case then the KWCA board will work to act on their wishes.

Hope this helps provide some info. for the discussion.

Regards,
Kit Harris