Now for something completely different...

To move us beyond who said what to whom, here is a new topic for controversy. In response to the ongoing class warfare conversations, instead of invoking Sun Tzu I have taken the wrestling schools, listed them by 2003-2004 enrollment size (source: KSHSAA) and made cuts. 48 schools in Class A, 68 schools in Class B, the remainder in Class C. This provides competitive balance and allows for two classes to still be held in Wichita, but with four-mats per class.

Opinions away...but keep it witty.

Class A
1. Derby (1543)
2. Wichita East (1539)
3. Shawnee Mission East (1523)
4. Olathe South (1488)
5. Shawnee Mission West (1480)
6. Olathe East (1445)
7. Shawnee Mission Northwest (1418)
8. Shawnee Mission North (1353)
9. Manhattan (1377)
10. Topeka (1327)
11. Shawnee Mission South (1279)
12. Lawrence (1269)
13. Wichita Southeast (1238)
14. Maize (1231)
15. Lawrence Free State (1223)
16. Dodge City (1221)
17. Garden City (1214)
18. Wichita North (1192)
19. Topeka Washburn Rural (1190)
20. Blue Valley Northwest (1171)
21. Wichita South (1167)
22. Blue Valley North (1151)
23. Leavenworth (1140)
24. Wichita Heights (1115)
25. Wichita Northwest (1104)
26. Hutchinson (1093)
27. Emporia (1071)
28. Olathe North (1063)
29. Junction City (1009)
30. Blue Valley West (940)
31. Goddard (915)
32. Saint Thomas Aquinas (911)
33. Kansas City Wyandotte (908)
34. Wichita Haysville Campus (902)
35. Wichita West (900)
36. Kansas City Harmon (874)
37. Blue Valley (856)
38. Olathe Northwest (826)
39. Kansas City Schlagle (815)
40. Salina South (808)
41. Tecumseh Shawnee Heights (808)
42. Newton (800)
43. Hays (796)
44. Salina Central (793)
45. Topeka Highland Park (781)
46. Topeka Seaman (764)
47. Great Bend (757)
48. Liberal (754)

Class B
1. Kansas City Washington (751)
2. Wichita Bishop Carroll (723)
3. Kansas City Turner (717)
4. Topeka West (715)
5. Gardner-Edgerton (665)
6. Winfield (650)
7. McPherson (642)
8. Arkansas City (632)
9. Shawnee Mission Bishop Miege (629)
10. Wichita Kapaun-Mount Carmel (598)
11. Shawnee Mill Valley (554)
12. Pittsburg (540)
13. Valley Center (525)
14. Paola (520)
15. Ottawa (512)
16. Bonner Springs (509)
17. Lansing (507)
18. Buhler (498)
19. Augusta (496)
20. Independence (492)
21. Kansas City Sumner Academy (492)
22. Altamont-Labette County (485)
23. Fort Scott (482)
24. Chanute (457)
25. El Dorado (450)
26. Mulvane (449)
27. Coffeyville Field Kindley (433)
28. Andover Central (427)
29. Rose Hill (424)
30. Parsons (414)
31. Basehor-Linwood (412)
32. Wellington (412)
33. Topeka Hayden (378)
34. Tonganoxie (368)
35. Ulysses (364)
36. Abilene (357)
37. Kansas City Bishop Ward (356)
38. Spring Hill (347)
39. Towanda-Circle (346)
40. Santa Fe Trail (340)
41. Louisburg (339)
42. Andover (337)
43. Wamego (337)
44. Atchison (330)
45. Baldwin (317)
46. Kansas City Piper (316)
47. Pratt (305)
48. Chapman (299)
49. Clay Center Community (294)
50. Clearwater (293)
51. DeSoto (293)
52. Columbus (285)
53. Concordia (279)
54. Haven (279)
55. Meriden-Jefferson West (278)
56. Andale (277)
57. Colby (269)
58. Holton (267)
59. Marysville (265)
60. Eudora (263)
61. Perry-Lecompton (259)
62. Osawatomie (255)
63. Hiawatha (245)
64. Council Grove (243)

Class C
1. Anthony-Harper-Chaparral (240)
2. Hugoton (240)
3. Nickerson (240)
4. Goodland (236)
5. Caney Valley (234)
6. Larned (231)
7. Scott Community (227)
8. Anderson County (225)
9. Douglass (224)
10. Prairie View (221)
11. Royal Valley (219)
12. Saint John's Military (216)
13. Baxter Springs (208)
14. Hays Thomas More Prep (203)
15. Burlington (201)
16. Russell (199)
17. Hesston (195)
18. Lyons (195)
19. Atchison County Community (194)
20. Norton Community (192)
21. Fredonia (191)
22. Cheney (186)
23. Beloit (184)
24. Maur Hill Mount Academy (180)
25. Sabetha (179)
26. Pleasant Ridge (178)
27. Southeast of Saline (176)
28. Ellsworth (175)
29. Leon-Bluestem (174)
30. Silver Lake (172)
31. Lakin (171)
32. Oskaloosa (171)
33. Eureka (170)
34. Hoisington (169)
35. Halstead (168)
36. Wellsville (168)
37. Neodesha (167)
38. Rock Creek (164)
39. Central Heights (158)
40. Cimarron (157)
41. Hillsboro (158)
42. Wichita Independent (158)
43. Minneapolis (157)
44. Phillipsburg (156)
45. Marion (151)
46. Belleville (148)
47. Frontenac (145)
48. Cherryvale (144)
49. Rossville (137)
50. Alma-Wabaunsee (136)
51. Garden Plain (136)
52. Mission Valley (136)
53. Oakley (135)
54. Hutchinson Trinity (132)
55. West Elk (129)
56. Elkhart (127)
57. Leavenworth Immaculata (127)
58. Herington (126)
59. Doniphan County West (125)**
60. Saint Marys (123)
61. Oberlin-Decatur Community (121)
62. Smith Center (121)
63. Chase County (118)
64. Osborne (116)
65. Horton (112)
66. Plainville (111)
67. Sublette (111)
68. Remington (108)
69. WaKeeney-Trego Community (108)
70. Hill City (105)
71. Saint Francis (105)
72. Sedgwick (103)
73. Hoxie (100)
74. Stockton (100)
75. Wichita County (99)
76. Ellis (97)
77. Kinsley (92)
78. Quinter (90)
79. Stafford (90)
80. Onaga (89)
81. Burlingame (85)
82. Atwood (83)
83. Goessel (76)
84. Deerfield (74)
85. Rosalia-Flinthills (72)
86. South Gray (67)
87. West Smith County (58)
88. Burrton (54)
89. Sylvan Unified (48)
90. Kansas School for the Deaf (43)
91. Eastern Heights (42)
92. Kansas School for the Blind (28)

Boy Class B looks like a doozy! With Turner, Ark City (still have to give them props), Abilene and quite a few others...wow!

I would like to take # males in school and use that number to get a more even distribution..I think some schools have so many females it's like Lilith fair High school.

I'd have to say Class B would be a dogfight... Turner, Ark City, Bishop Carrol, Goodland, Abilene. I mean those are all powerhouses, and to have them in the same class would be nuts! Nice idea though it would be a lot of fun!

Is this just an idea or is this going to happen?

I believe its just an idea, however, it would create more competition, especialy in the bigger schools, and allow for all classes to compete at the same state site.

I agree. I've never exactly known why KS has 4 classifications. You basically have the same number of schools w/ wrestling as MO (208 v. 212), and MO is talking about going to 4 classes, which would be a monumental mistake. It looks like KS has a lot more "smaller" schools than MO. Having everyone together at state makes it a much better experience for everybody.

FINALLY!!!! An intelligent idea that surpassess the everyone-gets-to-be-in-the-school-play mentality that gives us classifications in which half the wrestlers in the class qualify for State.

About the only observation I would make would be to make Class B a 64-team class and Class C would always remain whatever is left. And Aaron, dividing out by sex is silly when you consider that girls are eligible to wrestle in high school in Kansas.

As for us, we'd be Class B, and we know it would be a dogfight, but bring it on. By far the best idea I have read on these pages in two years!!!

And for the record, my reasoning for making Class B 64 schools has nothing to do with Goodland being in the four that would drop down. It just makes sense.

OK, and just for fun — this is a great topic — try this on for size.

Under the above plan, Class A would have four 12-team Regionals, Class B four 16 team Regionals and Class C four 23-team Regionals. But, what if we tried EIGHT six-team Regionals in A, EIGHT eight-team Regionals in B and EIGHT Regionals of either 11 or 12 teams in Class C. Out of each, TWO wrestlers will qualify for State. Wrestlebacks to a true second-place would be used.

This plan would accomplish several things:
1 — It would cut way back on travel time and missed school for most of the schools involved. Instead of two-thirds of the schools having two-day tournaments for Regionals, all of them could be wrestled in one day.
2 — It would much, much easier to seperate teams from one another this way. It's easy to rearrange one or two tough schools from each other without a lot of upheaval if you have more tournaments to choose from.
3 — Wrestling for true second would eliminate any discussion as to who is most deserving to advance to State.

Again, it's just an idea, and one that makes a great deal of sense. If only the Coliseum would hold 12 mats (which I doubt it would).

Where did these numbers come from? My school, Shawnee Mission East, has well over 2000 kids, around 2300 to be more specific.

The numbers are from students in 10th grade through 12th grade, I believe.

Those are the figures for grades 10-12 that (I assume) were taken straight from KSHSAA and are the ones used to determine classifications.

"2 — It would much, much easier to seperate teams from one another this way. It's easy to rearrange one or two tough schools from each other without a lot of upheaval if you have more tournaments to choose from."

Not sure it would have that effect. The KSHSAA is still going to assign based on the least amount of travel costs as possible. Some people may think this is a wrestling only problem but the other sports have the same complaints.

Nutty idea.

I know — makes way too much sense and would go against established norms that as we all know came down from Siani — or somewhere in Western Kansas — with Moses or something or other, right Fanatic?

Those darn Iowa boys...

How about throwing them all together-- 8 32 bracket districts one week, with the top 8 from each meeting the next week for 4- 16 bracket regoinals, then 4 from each going the next week into a single state championship. Wouldn't the seeding meetings for the districts be a hoot? In the sixties and early seventies there were districts, regionals and state, making it a little tougher to get there if you were marginal in wrestling skills.