I just heard on the radio that Troy Bainter of Norton won his first match in a shoot out with Brandon Ray of Eureka. The score was 11-9. Ray tied the match in the beginning of the 3rd period with a stall call against Bainter. At the end of the 3rd in the last 5 seconds Bainter reversed Ray for the victory. An upset here would have been a huge hit to Norton's title hopes.

Is there a live feed anywhere to watch online?

Ya Bainter was up 9-8 and got his 2nd stalling call on bottom to let Ray tie it 9-9. Bainter then reversed him with about 5 secs to win it.

"An upset here would have been a huge hit to Norton's title hopes."
Wrestler 15

No it wouldn't.

Greg,

That was before I realized no 321A team has the depth that Norton does this season. The Bluejays have six in the finals and two guaranteed medals to go with two wrestlers fighting through the back door. This Norton team is right on par with the 2006 team that had six finalist and won the team championship. I thought with one upset there might follow some more, but this looks like a team that came to Hays to TCOB.

Definitely a throwback Norton team with those singlets that are twice the age of the wrestlers. They are pretty slick singlets though.

I saw several botched calls during the semifinals today. The two most glaring were illegal head locks called on pinning combinations when one wrestler was in either a grapevine or in another situation it happened on a guillotine. It is my understanding per the rule book it is legal to pick up on the head or lock the hands from these two specific moves. One of the calls affected the outcome of the match, while the other did not. The same referee made the call, you'd have thought he'd of read the rule book after getting booed the first time.

GOD BLESS THE REFEREES! Until you do what they do, please don't judge them!

17 of the 28 finalists are from the Norton regional. As the day finishes out, it will be interesting to see what percentage of state placers end up coming out of the Norton regional.

The team race for third is pretty interesting with a couple of teams from the Marion regional having a chance to win. At the start of the finals Eureka was tied with Oakley. However, Oakley just got a win from Campbell. Lookout for Douglass who has a finalist left as does Oakley. Douglass got a victory by their 119, Zaldivar to narrow the gap. Smith Center has second wrapped up, while Norton is untouchable at 1st place. Hoxie and Halstead could both crack the top 3 with bonus points from their finalist.

FYI:

33 of the 84 (40%) 321A medalists came from the Norton Regional.
33 of the 56 (59%) qualifiers from the Norton Regional medaled.

It sure seems strange to look at the final team scores and not see Saint Francis and Oberlin up in the top 10. Mr. Mann, 30 years ago that percentage was normally closer to 75% from the NW regional, most of them from the old NWKL!

oldtimer1979. . .times change and the State's population has shifted--to the east. When taking the population loss "out here" into consideration these numbers are impressive, still; perhaps more so than 30 years ago. 60% of the top two (17 of 28) came from the Norton Regional (MCL and MWKL schools made up 15 of the 20 schools in the regional).

Ricky Bobby:
Overall I thought this was the best officiated tournament I have seen in a very long time. You're always going to get questionable calls, but I thought they were consistent on the calls. Great Job 321A officials!!!

On a side note 10 out of 14 champions and the top 3 teams from the same Regional says something. KSHSAA needs to split these regionals up!!! GREAT JOB EVERYONE OUT OF THE NORTON REGIONAL!!!!

Congratulations to Halstead for placing fourth as a team with three wrestlers!! Great job Nick Thibault on your state title!! (all pins and one major decision)

I always find this "#s game" thread that tends to start every year right after the state tourament very interesting. First off let me be clear that I am aware of the history and traditions of "NW Kansas Wrestling" as I am a former wrestler from a "few years back" in the old NWKL & had to battle through that Regional myself. I also coached a couple years out west.

I have since been coaching in the central part of the state (or eastern for you tradionalists). I can never seem to sleep right away after getting home from Hays, so I did some number crunching myself. Heres what I came up with:
Norton Regional: 33 medalists (39%)
Marion Regional: 26 medalists (31%)
Rossville Regional: 15 medalists (18%)
Hoisington Regional: 10 medalists (12%)

Doesn't seem quite as unbalanced toward Norton's Regional as everyone thought going in. Now granted, the finalists numbers were definately shifted that way. Also, I've been around long enough to know that if the brackets are re-drawn and re-wrestled, the outcome could look entirely different.

My main interest was to see how many "potential placers" were left home due to the depth of that Norton regional. The only weight that all four Norton Regional wrestlers placed in was at 112 lbs. They had three medalists @ 119, 135, 145, & 285. The remaining 9 weights had four or more placers from the "rest of the state."

In no way do I intend to take anything away from any of those that qualified and battled their way through the state tournament to earn a medal. Great job to all of you. I just thought I would share these few observations.