admin wrote:Well bearhugger, I must disagree:
Most of your arguments hang on the rankings.
"an avenue for the top JV..."
"He has defeated numerous wrestlers that are ranked in both AAA and AA/A..."
"Independence had two wrestlers (Lawson and Kump) win the BNI and beat ranked wrestlers..."
If a JV wrestler is beating multiple ranked wrestlers..."
Your arguments hang on the rankings, and the rankings change from week to week, and are often just wrong, despite everybody's best efforts.
You seem to suggest that "ranked" JV wrestlers should be included in the State Tournament. Rankings should not determine who gets to enter the regionals or go to the state tournament. The OVAC, WSAZ, and other tournament do a fine job of seeding (ranking) the wrestlers on a given bracket, but the seeds (rankings) do not determine who may participate in these tournaments.
The real question, even if one were to accept the proposition that JV wrestlers should be allowed to earn a spot in the State Tournament, is "How may JV wrestlers qualify for the State Tournament?"
And in the final analysis, one would have to allow a team to enter its entire team, JVs and all, in the regional. You might find a weight class with 2, 3, or even 4 qualifiers from the same team. I noticed that at the WSAZ, Independence's Daniels and Hart each dropped a weight class which made room for Gunnoe at 195. If all wrestlers on the team could compete in the regional and qualify for the States, then one can ponder if this change would have been made.
Many advocate filling empty spots at the State Tournament (if such occur, we will see) with 5th pace finishers from another region. Question is, how do we pick which of the 3 5th place finishers get in? By rankings? (see above). Again, this would be a case of the rankings determining WHO gets in the State Tournaent, rather that deciding how wrestlers who are already in the tournament are seeded.
We are having a healthy and thoughtful discussion of these issues on the forum which is great. However, many (most, all) of the alternatives bring along their own set of unique difficulties.
The current system may have its flaws, but I have not seen a proposal for an unflawed system.
My $0.02
My JV arguments begin with head to head competition results. The two wrestlers get on the mat and one wins and one loses. This is simple when both are varsity wrestlers. However, when a JV wrestler wins, it opens more eyes. When the JV wrestler then runs through 3-4 wrestlers and wins a tournament, I really take notice.
I then glance over to the rankings to get a gauge for the caliber of wrestlers the JV wrestler defeated. East Fairmont's JV 106 pounder has proven time and time again that he is one of the best (top 5 all classes). He can't cut down. He has a tough road above. He is the exception. Only the exceptions would qualify.
As for the JV wrestlers mentioned above, the ranked wrestlers they have defeated have been ranked all season long. They will also more than likely qualify for the state tournament. Most of them will place. We will know for sure in 3 1/2 weeks.
Look at the WSAZ a few weeks ago. The JVs were allowed to enter. Only a handful placed in the top 8. I expect the same thing to happen in the regions. Only a handful qualify for the state tournament. For what it is worth, the people I was sitting with at the WSAZ were keeping their eyes on the tournament progression of Whorton and Cassucio. I was getting texts from across the arena from other people who were doing the same. It added additional excitement to the tournament.
By the way, Independence's Tucker Lawson weighed in at 161.5 and wrestled JV 170. He defeated the AAA #4 ranked wrestler. Lost both of his matches to the same kid from Ohio and finished 7th.
Here is how JV qualify for the state tournament. The JV wrestlers enter the regional tournament. There is plenty of room for them. Seed them based on the seeding criteria used for all. The wrestlers enter the gym (regional location), they all wrestle. The top four surface. These four go to the state tournament. The JV's team points are NOT mixed with the varsity's. Realistically (use the WSAZ as the experiment), only a few would break through. But, they break through because they were better. We then have the best wrestlers at the state tournament.
As for any team having wrestlers cut down, I figure it is to help the "cutting" wrestlers' chances to maximize their championship efforts. I doubt 2-4 wrestlers are going to cut down to just make room for somebody to make the line up.
How do we determine which regional 5th placer gets the nod? How would we seed three wrestlers in a tournament? Established criteria. If it was done this year, the three wrestler's records, head to head competition and common opponents would be a great place to start. See my recent posts about last season's 4th place finisher's combined records. I didn't look at 5th place. I am sure we could look at last season's 5th place finishers and determining who the best of the three is would not be hard. Another route would be to take the two best. Have them wrestle a pigtail match Thursday afternoon on February 25th. The winner wrestles the regional champion based on the Pill.
I think I addressed everything.
Holy smokes. Braxton Amos works out with a landmine now!!!!!!
