aacoach117 wrote:wre157 wrote:aacoach117 wrote:
What defines the top 16?
Record? Nope. It has already been shown in this thread that wrestlers with a losing record can place over wrestlers with substantially better records.
Rankings? Nope. I guarantee you that this year ranked wrestlers will not be on the podium and unranked wrestlers will. Happens every year.
Head-to-head? Might be possible if a bunch of the "powerhouse" R1 teams actually came to the biggest tournament in the state (WSAZs) instead of going to some small tournament or staying home and wrestling the same teams they have been wrestling all year.
WSAZs is in Huntington. There’s a lot of travel and hotel cost with the tournament. Brooke classic is the same weekend and a much closer drive for some teams. Also, you saw two Region 1 “powerhouses” Fairmont Senior and Oak Glen head to head at the state duals. How’d that go for you!?
I coach a small middle school team with ZERO funding provided by our district. We go to WSAZs because of the effort put forth by parents and myself to raise the funds to pay for hotels. I took my team, paid for their hotel rooms and even took the team out for breakfast. Coach Archer said he turned down teams from as far away as Texas that wanted to attend. If you want to be there, you will find a way to be there. If you want an excuse to stay home, you will find an excuse to stay home.
What does the duals state champion even have to do with this? Literally nothing. It has nothing to do with any argument that a #5 regional placer has more of a right to be at states.
My point was why attend WSAZs and spend the money when we can attend the Brooke Classic, which is a tough tournament, and save money.
You spoke about head to head competition. Therefore I gave an example of head to head between teams in different regions to show how Region 1 teams dominated region 2 and 3 teams but qualified less wrestlers. For an individual example, at 126 CJ Duty for Oak Glen pinned Anthony Currence from Braxton, however Currence is a state qualifier while Duty is not due to an easier region.
The whole argument isn’t that region 1 wrestlers are more deserving, it is simply to point out how a change is needed within the regional alignment for 2 reasons:
1) to allow the top 16 individuals (or as close to the top 16 as possible) in a weight class a chance to compete at the state tournament.
2) to give each team a fair chance at the state tournament.