Overheard the big boys talking at the poolhall. KSHSAA supposedly has a proposal on the board to be voted on to split 4A into two 32 school classes--4A and 4B--each with a whole list of state tournaments. Any truth to this?

I think this is an excellent idea! Then we will have nearly 50% of all HS wrestlers in Kansas competing at the state tournament. Stupid!

WOW!! I really hope there is no truth to this. This would kill the competitive side of being the best in the state in your class. If this is true somebody needs to inform KSHSAA that not everyone can be a winner, kids need to work for their recognitions.

Surely this is not true. I would be in favor of one of these...

1. One state tournament crowning a true state champion.

2. Class 1/2/3.

Like I said, I just heard it (from an ex HS and district AD). If it has been proposed think it would have to had come from 4A wrestling schools to even out state Tourney qualifaction percentages with 6A and 5A.

Personally I liked the 48 48 48 48 split discussed a couple of years ago---but that would have ripped the biggest 16 schools out of 3A---although it would have created the fourth 48 school class for 3A. I think my math is correct. All even across the board.

Growing up in Iowa, and seeing their state tournament, I am a big fan of 3 classes or less. I really feel like increased competition pulls bigger crowds and the excitement at the state tournament increases.

There is no doubt this is true!

50 % of the football teams in the state of Kansas make the play offs. I believe that 100% of the football schools in MO make the playoffs. I am not saying I agree with these proceedures, what I am saying is that coming from an area that it is sometimes tough to get kids gets out for the great sport of wretling, kids are different. I have a handfull of "wrestlers" in my program and the rest are there to be a part of hopefully what I believe to be a good thing. I think the sport is bigger than producing DI athletes.

This is really about football and the other sports. Don't know the numbers but state championships in football have been won an overwhelming amount of times by the upper schools in 4A. Compared to wrestling I think they said a high percentage of state championships have been won by the smaller schools in 4A. I told my A.D. that I would prefer one state championship for wrestling. Make it a three day tournament and let's see who is the best. Let the other sports do what they want. The fact is 5A and 6A are not going to change. I have always believed that the difference between 700 kids and 1200 kids is not nearly as great as the difference between 300 kids and 700 kids. It is very hard to compete in the other sports when the school you are playing has twice as many kids to choose from. I don't think this is true in wrestling. Why we don't just make 3 classes who knows. I think that would work out fine.

so... 5A 6A one tournament 4A another and 3-1 another to make it so you have to wrestle a 16 man regional to make state??

Never happen. KSHSAA and school/district wheels Not going to combine 5A and 6A. And it is the wrestling community that claims 32 32 64 is unfair--not so in the other sports. This is Kansas Todo, not Iowa.

It's Toto not Todo, geez you would think that a guy that claims to have lived in Kansas for 30 years would know this.

Hate this idea because 3a has a ton of schools also, so i think they should just combine 5a and 6a, and everyone would be even.

Darn, I have been calling it Todo for 60++ years. But, I grew up in Missouri, southern, hillbilly Missouri. Different dialect than Kansas. First time I was ever called on it, even by a Kansan.

not going to happen

I don't agree with how the classes are split, but combining 5/6A isn't the answer. Looking at the number of schools isn't important. It's the number of students. 321A may have have a ton of schools but the smallest 6A is approx. 5 times the size of the biggest 3A school. Feel free to do the math yourself but it wouldn't surprise me if the total 6A enrollment was comparable or even higher than all of 4A. Now, having coached in 4A, Regionals are really tough. I like the 48 or so school per class split personally. Similar to MO post-season. Wrestling is unique in this state as the small schools compete very well with the big ones. Not the case in many other states.

Matt I did the math. Where do you get the notion that there are more kids competing in 6A than in either 4A or 3-2-1A. You surely are not counting kids sitting in study hall are you? Every year at state they mention how many kids competed in wrestling at the first day of practice in KS and they do not use school enrollment, they use the actual number of kids wrestling. Since I really doubt that any of the 6A schools actually have tryouts and cuts to get their squad numbers down, your point is not a good one!

Matt,
I agree that 6A schools are more than likely 5x bigger than a 321a school, but remember it technically only takes 14 wrestlers to make a full team. So the size of the school makes no difference. It is how many wrestlers are out for the sport. So therefore number of schools does make a difference when it comes to breaking down the numbers.

First off my argument has nothing to do with the numbers of kids out for wrestling, only enrollment. The KSHSAA looks at school enrollment. It would not be feasible to classify the schools based on the kids out for wrestling. With your argument we should see how many kids are out for each sport and then classify them. I did the math also and 6A has more kids enrolled than all 64 4A schools. You can argue about numbers out for the sport all you want but the enrollment numbers are what the state uses. I'm not saying that some 4A schools don't have larger teams at all. I'm sure several do. My point is that the possibility exists for 6A schools to have MUCH larger teams than the other classes. That is the info the KSHSAA uses.

yes it is possible but it is not reality so therefore not a good rationale for your original statement.