Solution. If you default your medal match at regionals then you automatically default first match at state. Problem solved

I have no problem with the strategy. Sometimes the best 2 kids are on the same side at regionals. Especially with how ridiculous the regions are separated. For example, Saunders of Wichita West had to wrestle Lindsey of Derby in the regional semis and lost 5-1. Then Lindsey techs his finals opponent. If Saunders forfeited for 4th place he could wrestle the kid he beat in the state finals in the semis instead of Lindsey. I think everyone agrees Saunders vs Lindsey should have been the finals. And team titles could be decided by getting a kid into the finals thanks to being on the opposite side of the bracket.

STATE SEEDING! Base it on criteria of course. Win/loss record would have to have a strength of opponent factor to it. No seeding meeting required. 90 mile radius of Wichita was strong in 5A and 6A, this area provided a lot of the top finishing wrestlers. I would think the seeding would give you a better spread across the bracket. Just a thought, there is never a perfect plan to make everyone happy and keep everything totally even.

THIS!!!!

That would be the absolute best solution. Seed every bracket plus have 1 wrestler in each quarter by random draw be tested for PED as we all know that there are people using hgh/steroids. Do it this way and our sport would be in much better shape as a whole. LOL I said A whole.

Am I missing another simple solution? 1st and 2nd at both regionals are on opposite sides of the bracket, but do "blind" draws into the rest of the bracket like the old 4 regional set up? Now, if you pull a default at any point, you're relying on luck of the draw to get placed on the easier side of the bracket. I understand that it doesn't solve that Saunders somehow ended up wrestling Lyndsey in the regionals semis, but that just sounds like some tough (or completely wrong) regionals seeding. It certainly beats going back to having four regional tournaments, with one having 4-6 of the best kids, per weight, in a lot of the same regional weights. And how in the world do you plan to seed a state tournament, when it took over four hours to seed a regional????? Maybe you look at the Pennsylvania model. Will still make it tough on freshman, but if the best wrestling state does it we can try it.

By the way, Jerry, Ren and Stimpy are still up there with the Monster Truck avatar. Classic....

Great idea Ryan. And thank you about Ren and Stempy.

There's been some interesting post on this and a few really good ideas on solving the problem. BUT, the original question still isn't answered. What happens if both wrestlers forfeit the same match at regionals? Is it a race to the table, or coun toss?

I would think since we don't wrestle a true 2nd place at regionals that maybe put the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from the same regional on the same side of the bracket instead of 1st and 3rd. This would also eliminate the possibility of bracket positioning in the 3rd or 4th place match but you could run into the possibility of bracket positioning for the 5th and 6th place match.

1 A vs 8 B
4 B vs 5 A
3 B vs 6 A
2 B vs 7 A

1 B vs 8 A
4 A vs 5 B
3 A vs 6 B
2 A vs 7 B