Bracket man, were you in my bracket at the NCAAs? I don't remember seeing you on the awards stand. Flush. Classifications that are based on the size of a school presumes that the larger schools have an advantage. That logic, while it may have once served KSHSAA, is flawed today. There is virtually no corelation between wrestling quality and school population. In Kansas the largest high schools are Wichita East, Shawnee Mission West, Derby, Shawnee Mission East and Olathe East. Does anyone think these programs have an unfair advantage because of their student populations? Do kids going to 5A and 6A schools deserve an easier time qualifying, placing or winning state than a kid from say Abilene, Columbus,etc. Is there anything more equitable about giving kids in the Olathe and Shawnee school districts an easier road to State because of the size of the school? They already come from the state's highest family income brackets and have more cash available for camps and off-season tournaments. In several of these 6A regions there are less than 8 kids in the brackets. So a coach throws a kid with no varisty experience into the region because they might qualify with one or no wins. That's a weak system and, might I remind you, what you're defending. The fact is that wrestling has no greater following at larger schools. Many of the bigger schools have the smallest squads and least participation. Now I think it's kind of a disservice to kids to give them a state qualification with one or no wins. That's an example of how the KSHSAA system waters down wrestling in Kansas. With respect to the high-minded academician on this board, please explain how the current classification system meets KSHSAA's high-minded mission statement? How does lowering the bar serve to prepare kids for a competitive society? Does the ACT give consideration to the population of a school before handing out a test score? I've said before great individuals find their way to the top no matter how little a system helped or hindered them. So the fact that Sanderson or Bunch/Johnston/Roberson made it to the top doesn't mean that high school classifications shouldn't be re-evaluated. KSHSAA can claim no credit for what the elite wrestlers have achieved because it fails to wrestle the best kids against one another.
