Its been like that for years, why does the western half of state always win the state championship? Who knows, how about a list of teams in all clases from eastern regionals who have won state the last 50 years. I saw Olathe North was ranked 2nd, are they an outlier who can win?

What do you consider Western Kansas? Everything west of KC?

Lets say west of Topeka? I just looked at history? Heres' a list of teams winning state in the history of Kansas wrestling. Im sure my geography might be rusty and missing a team. I can only count 9 teams. 4 classes a year, come on KC area. Time to step up. Im just saying, somebody needs to open an academy in KC.

2014- St James Academy (5a)
2007- St Thomas Aquinas (6a)
2005- St Thomas Aquinas (6a)
2004- Turner (5a)
2001 Paola (5a)
1997 -Blue Valley (6A)
1983- Effingham(4a)
1974- Shawnee Mission West(6a)
1972- Leavenworth (6a) or Pioneers of western wrestling as they were the first.

I am not sure Wichita would be considered Western Kansas. That being said it would be good to see more state titles coming out of the Northeast Kansas area.

I agree!! Lets say Salina/ Wichita plus 25 miles both ways is Central KS. Outside these parameters would be Eastern and Western KS, so looks like Central KS is really the "Hot Spot".

Certainly a lot of titles in that Central Kansas area that you have defined, Beeson. There definitely has been great wrestling in your area of the state. Great wrestling in Western Kansas too.

2000 and 2001 was won by Effingham (3a). 1982 and 1983 Effingham (4a). Several programs in East Kansas did not exist until the 60’s or later. Unfortunately, basketball is far too popular in Northeast Kansas along with other areas. By the way, all of this information can be found on a website. I expected more from a scholar!

http://mcbeims.wixsite.com/kansasstateplacers

Definitely great wrestling in Western Kansas: Garden City, Dodge City, Colby, and others.

I cannot speak for the entire East Kansas region, but I can give you my thoughts from my years as an assistant coach at Leavenworth.

I believe that wrestling is a part of the culture of the communities in the Central and Western parts of the state that you and others on this post have referenced as perennial wrestling powers. Young kids grow up wanting to wear the singlet of their high school team. Wrestling is a part of their family. You hear names from those communities that are synonymous with several generations of wrestling dominance (Lambotte, DeShazer, Gentzler, Ball, Beeson, Waters, etc...). I remember watching the 5A State Finals a few years ago from the stands sitting next to the Arc City contingent. There were dozens of elementary aged kids in the stands on a Friday cheering on the Arc city team instead of being in school that day. I thought it was awesome! I remember telling one of my guys that those little kids we were seeing in the stands were the same kids that would be winning state medals in the next few years (one of them was little Beeson). Those kids grow up in a community that fully embraces the wrestling culture and that breeds success at the high school level.

In our community, and I can guess many others around my area, kids grow up wanting to be basketball players. The basketball culture has grown immensely popular though what is seen on TV. Our kids grow up with dreams and aspirations of being basketball players and not wrestlers. I would be willing to wager that I recruit the hallways as hard as any coach in the state. I teach freshman and I hand them all a flier about why they should wrestle. The response I get most..."I'm not a wrestler, I'm a basketball player." According to them they are all going to be the next NBA star. Basketball culture is glorified and glamorized where as our wrestling culture here at Leavenworth is know for being anything but easy. Heck, we have an assistant coach who has been in a cornerstone of our team for many years and even his son wanted to be a basketball player (until recently) because that is what all his friends do. Our community embraces basketball and our teams have experienced very good success over the past years. Basketball culture has very deep roots around here.

The perennial power house wrestling schools have a community that embraces wrestling and kids that grow up wanting to be wrestlers. I know at Leavenworth, and other schools in my area, we are doing what we can to get kids on board early. We are making progress, but we certainly have a long way to go to catch the central and western "Hot Spots" of wrestling. We will continue to encourage and promote wrestling in our area for sure.

Western Kansas kids are just tougher!

If they had a "like" button on the site, I would have given it one. Good answer, Its just a culture you're fighting against. And looking at the results, its just amazing how things don't change in wrestling. Leavenworth has been able to put a few big hitters out over the years although.

One trend ive seen is the success of high level academies and clubs. Something like Purler in Missouri whose gone national is what I mean. Im just saying, if some big name former college wrestler put an academy in KC, could you get any of your kids (elementary to High school) to go? Im just seeing more of this around the country? I know the biggest obstacle would be $$$ and parents time and commitment to drive to it. Maybe there is something like that now. But, if they did go to a good academy which takes time to build, then this would be a gap closer with the schools west of KC metro area.

The Scholar,

We live in the Kansas City metro area and sent our son for a couple of years as a youth to the Purler academy and it was definitely a good experience for my son and I believe elevated his game at that time. So Purler was and I bet still is available in the Kansas City area for our local youth wrestlers. Freestyle and Greco is also available here.

I also know though that being part of the Aquinas kid wrestling club from the fourth grade and then on to the Aquinas high school team at that time was also a big factor for him as he as a sophomore was part of that 2007 State Championship team. The seniors from that team also won in 2005 their sophomore year. That STA kids club was a big part of the success of that group of wrestlers at Aquinas from about 2004 thru 2007. I think the development of a strong kids clubs could definitely help the local metro high schools. But they definitely are competing against some other strong interests in our area. Along with previously mentioned basketball, I would include soccer, football and baseball which are all pretty big in our area. I know those sports are in different seasons but with the trend to one sport year round participation and training for a lot of kids I think these sports are also a competition factor for wrestling in our area.

Very confused why the Garker family name was omitted from this post. Typo?

Columbus?

Definitely a typo on my part.

The balance of power may be shifting. Granted 1 year is a small sample size, but the top 3 finishers in 6A came from the Eastern half of the state.

Well, considering there are only 2 6A schools west of I-35. . .

Definitely a culture thing as there are many opportunities in and around the Eastern part of the state for kids to gain experience from camps and clubs. Just in our area alone there is Ottawa and Baker Universities that have wrestling programs that either have kids come in for Greco/Freestyle wrestling or camps as well as some of the Community Colleges. Quite a few high schools close by that provide ample time for kids to get mat time but money, at least in our district can be a major obstacle for them to attend many.

There could be a little more leveling with the new classifications coming next year, but only time will tell.

Hmmm Hutchinson, Garden City, Dodge City are WEST of 135. West of I35 you have a bunch of Topeka schools and all of the Wichita 6A's too.

No one considers Hutch or Wichita to be Western Kansas. But, ok, I said I-35 and will give you Hutch and the 5 6A wichita high schools. So, 8 of the 32 6A schools are "Western" Kansas. The point is still made.