State wrestling needs to go back to 16 man brackets and only the top 6 place. Have sectionals and districts again. No more exciting time in high school wrestling than the last four weeks of Conferences, sectionals, districts and then state.
IHSAA State Wrestling 2024
- Thread starter Dirtguy4CY
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Yeah I get what you're wanting with that. Maybe those powerhouse programs are content with the level of competition because it makes them look great having success year in and year out? Who knows.
I think your bolded is more of an argument against having these lower weight classes, certainly having a 106 at all. You could add a class or two even and have plenty of kids to compete at most of the weight classes.
As for winning or standing on the podium, adding an additional class adds one state champ per year. I don't see the big deal. Compare that to having a bunch of weight classes. Does it really mean less to win a title at 126 knowing that there are tons of guys at higher weight classes that would beat you?
I grew up wrestling in small town Iowa and now live in NJ. I can see both sides of this.
* It is cool to see the small town rally around the 1 or 2 kids who make it every couple years.
* However, I'm not sure multiple classes really make that much difference. Even today you have small schools having to fight through the DonBosco's of the state. Also, at least back when I was there 3A's were only Districts and had to fight through far fewer opponents to get to the tourney than small schools.
* To answer someone's question above, NJ has one class. 12-16 make it to 'Regionals' (equivalent to districts in Iowa), then 32 man brackets for State.
* The big school/small school equivalent here is North jersey vs. South Jersey. North jersey dominates, but South Jersey has at least a couple champs every year.
* I don't think it effects participation as much as some here believe. NJ/CA (one class) and NY/PA (2 classes) have passed IA/OK in terms of participation and quality recruits.
* Now what will get my panties in a bunch is this talk to too many weight classes. My brothers and I were all under 98/103 lbs when we were freshmen. I believe the Schwab kid was a national champ, but 'redshirted' 8th grade because he was too small. One of the things that makes wrestling great is that you take away that genetic-lottery advantage that is given to FB & BB players. Thankfully, most states added a 215/220 class fairly recently. College and Olympic weights are far too few.
That's the way girls went this year. 201 teams split into 8 regions. Only top 4 at each weight make it to state. Total of 32 girls at each weight.
Some regions were more loaded than others. At my daughter's weight at state, I'm sure there may have been a very few number of girls that probably took a spot away from a more deserving girl in a more loaded region.
I also agree with other posters... why not split into 2 classes to get more kids to state. It's exciting and helps to grow the sport. If one is worried about watering down the competition, there's always aau state and national competitions that will be more competitive.
So, his plan is to take it out on the administration by making himself look bad. Makes sense.
I grew up in California and wrestled at the State tournament a couple times, but never placed. It was a 32 man bracket. Now it seems to be a 40 man bracket. It's not all equal though. Some of the more rural areas have to win their league and place at their CIF to move on to state. In the Southern Section CIF, where I wrestled, you had a qualifier after CIF, called the Masters Tournament, to move on to the state tournament. So when I wrestled, I had to place top 2 in the league, top 8 in CIF, and top 6 in Masters to move on to the state tournament.
Hard to be fair. Look at 2A at 190.
2nd place at State was Ben Bryant of North Polk ( got 2nd at Roland Story District)
3rd place at State was Brody Sampson of Ballard (got 1st at Roland Story District)
Gaige Allen of Humboldt was 39-2 and ranked 3rd in the state, I think. Got 3rd at Roland Story District and didn't get to state.
I remember many time in our area, our sectional and district guys met in the finals at State. Lots of battles with Algona, Humboldt, Eagle Grove, Clarion
2nd place at State was Ben Bryant of North Polk ( got 2nd at Roland Story District)
3rd place at State was Brody Sampson of Ballard (got 1st at Roland Story District)
Gaige Allen of Humboldt was 39-2 and ranked 3rd in the state, I think. Got 3rd at Roland Story District and didn't get to state.
I remember many time in our area, our sectional and district guys met in the finals at State. Lots of battles with Algona, Humboldt, Eagle Grove, Clarion
Also noticed Blume in Immortal Athletics’ instagram post with all the state champs from their club. Same club the Schwab kids attend. Wonder if Sebolt gave him the boot or if he sought out Immortal on his own (or was recruited there). Nico DeSalvo (SEP) is another former Sebolt kid now at Immortal but I think his Sebolt stint was pretty short lived after he moved to Iowa so May have just been a fit thing. Blume had been with Sebolt for several years.
Because of this, rather than an inflated bracket, go back to 16 and have wildcards and make them pigtail matches for guys that got unlucky with a loaded district.
1) I don't know the kid or any of the specifics.
2) I hope ISU is not recruiting him.
3) The kid made a huge mistake. Calling him a sexual predator seems like a bit much.
Sexual assault is not a 'huge mistake'. It's dangerous, predatory behavior.
Not saying I know all the details nor am I going to discuss any further. But you definitely don’t know anything from the sounds of it. I believe there’s a lot from this story that hasn’t gotten out and the kid paid the price already. From my interactions with him he isn’t a terrible kid.
Yep. Paid the price. Only got to be a 3 time champ instead of 4.
I'll leave it here too because we're obviously incredibly far apart here...
Yeah my brother back in the day had the #1 ranked guy and the #3 ranked guy at his weight, both went to Iowa one beat Cael, they also both won a state title . So my bro for two years didn't qualify for state, then when they graduated by brother takes 4th at state.
Back in the day with the old way they did it, I remember some epic battles in semis or qtrs at state, like when Dan Gabrielson beat Ike Light who was going for his 4th title, I never heard the barn louder than that match. I miss that place, such a better atmosphere and you could get so close to the action.
