This topic was brought up in the Manhattan Mercury Article - Manhattan High's Top Wrestlers Earn Varsity Spots! post wondering what everyone else thought.

What about having a JV regional tournament the week before Varisty regionals? Have the top 2 then pigtail against the 7th and 8th seeds at the varsity regional. This would allow some JV people who would be on varsity on another team still be able to have the chance to go to state. It would also eliminate bye's at a regional which would ensure that people had to win two matches to go to state instead of one or in some cases only have 4 people in a bracket and lose two matches, but take 4th and go to state. What are peoples thoughts? Is this ever a possiblity?

I think it is a good thought but it would present a conflict. the week before regionals is the week that most teams have their league tournament. now i know that you might be thinking "well jv doesn't really wrestle a league" and your right, but not all teams have 5 or 6 coaches some only have 2 or 3 and to have only one coach at a tournament makes it difficult when you have multiple mats going a once.

So have it two weeks before.

I wouldn't have a problem with that. If two kids are good enough to make the tournament then why not. And in cases of big teams then it would help out the team. I have seen some seniors on JV and they might like that chance to make it and give them more reason for staying out- specially if they are beaten like 2-0 each week for varsity

Awesome idea.
We actually have a JV league at the same time as league but I would much rather go to a JV regional than JV league. Also we have never had more than two coaches other than maybe a volunteer teacher. Almost every tournament that we go to, we only have one coach because the other is at a JV tournament. We always have matches at a tournament V and JV were a coach is on another mat. He will try to coach both at the same time or the captains will coach them. We try to do what we have been coached throughout the weeks of preparartion to do.

It might work in 5A and 6A to fill up a tournament but I do believe that in 4A and 321A the regionals are 16 man brackets and most of those 16 man brackets are full.

I suggested the idea in the Manhattan topic. I think it can have the effect of possibly keeping a few more kids involved in the sport at schools that have a lot of talent. It might also have the effect of giving a little incentive for some athletes not to go to weight loss extremes. If some more in-season tournaments would offer the same type of opportunity to have more than one wrestler from a school in the same weight class that would help too. A high school team's second wrestler at the weight class would be experiencing a better level of competition during the year. In the Manhattan topic, I compared it to track in the shot put event where one school could have a 61 foot thrower and a 60 foot thrower. Both of those athletes could compete at the State high school meet from the same school. It would be good if high school wrestling could allow that too.

so if two kids or three from the same school make state in a weight class, do the coaches select a point scorer for state (according to your plan)

lets say lucky high school has two kids get 1st and second at jv regionals and then place 2nd and 3rd at varsity regionals with the varsity kid also placing. that would give lucky high 3 kids at state in one weight class. WOW how lucky

Vikes, Isn't that what happens in track and cross country. Isn't part of the State competition in individual sports to find out who is the top individual State performers in the event whether they are from the same school or not? Don't we want to know who are say the top six 275 6A wrestlers at the State tournament? Say at SM West you have two Senior 270 pounders who would come in 1st and 3rd at State. Do you want the wrestler who could be third decide not to wrestle his Senior year because he is not going to beat out the NO. 1 wrestler? I know this is an extreme example but I have seen schools with more than one 60 foot shot putter in the same year.

i'm not against the idea, but was wondering team wise how would you score the points at the state tourn. It would be cool to see two kids who wrestle everyday in the practice room duke it out for a state title.

as for team points, the balance would be thrown off. you would have to select a point scorer.

by the way, i wish we had 2 senior 275 pound state champion types....well at least one wrestler on the team that weighed 275.

humm norton would have like 25 kids in the state tourny WOW

Vikes, someone with more wrestling knowledge than me would have to figure out the team scoring. From my simple perspective, why would you have to change it? I don't know how the team scoring goes at State but if the 1st place wrestler scores 10 team points and the second place wrestler scores 8 team points, couldn't you just keep it the same? So if the same team had the lst and 2nd place finisher under that scoring system they would get 18 points. Could it work that way? I think that is how it works in track and field scoring.

Here is an interesting article about a strong California team and how they are dealing with this situation. I think they have found a great way to accomodate their B team wrestlers but I still think it is too bad that the State doesn't allow these B wrestlers from this team to compete at State where they could probably place.
The Manhattan article mentions a wrestler who has qualified in the past for State and this year hasn't been able to crack the starting lineup so he is not wrestling varsity. I think high school quality wrestlers like that should be wrestling varsity. It would be good for wrestling if we could make that happen in the future.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/preps/20050111-9999-1s11p-preptu.html

The wrestler will be wrestling varsity if he wins the challenge match!

Richard, I know that is true but I also know that no matter how hard the second wrestler might try there is a pretty good chance that there might be no way that they could defeat the top wrestler. From our area it is unlikely anyone could have ever defeated wrestlers like Justin Dyer and Zach Roberson in a challenge match. I know my example is pretty extreme of the two 270 lbs. wrestlers at the same school, but it is possible. I mean I really have known of a couple of schools that have had two 60 foot plus shot putters.

What do you think of that type of situation, Richard? Don't you think both of those 270 pounds kids should ideally be able to earn medals at the State competition like the two 60 foot shot putters can? Do you think this JV Regional tournament might be a possible way to make that happen? I know it adds to the season and maybe would be logistically difficult but it is only one extra tournament. You know I am not that experienced overall in wrestling so I am probably ignoring some obvious obstacles. I am just trying to think of something to help a few more kids stay involved in the sport and give them a little incentive to not try to lose so much weight.

I say just like track if they are good enough to make the state tourny then they should be allowed to score points for their team. I don't think Cross Country applies because the top 7 runners are the Varsity team and the JV runners don't run in the same race.

I think that wrestling is a TEAM sport which involves INDIVIDUAL competition. That being said, the 14 wrestlers who are best at their weight class for their school should be the ones representing their schools' at post season competition. It is a shame that some deserving wrestlers may get left behind, but I don't think the answer is to allow multiple wrestlers from each school to compete in the same regional tournament is the answer. I have experienced this both as a wrestler and a coach, and know that those individuals who were 2nd or 3rd team (and possibly state qualifier material) still gained something from their participation, which is really what matters in the long run.

I Don't know about the idea of a JV regional but I would go for letting Seniors that are unable to make the team Wrestle as an unattached wrestler. Team points would not be award for this Wrestler but they would still have a shot at going to state.

Well then I think if we believe what you say then really state should be a team dual tournament and not a Individual tournament as we have now. Wrestling is a team sport in a way but lets face it- State is all about individuals and not so much team. To extend it a bit more- small teams that cant field a full rooster (in your opinion) should not wrestle at all since they really have no team.

To me Wrestling is an individual sport that keeps team points. When it comes down to it- it is all individual. Of course I wrestled for a team of 5 and we never won a dual because of it but had 3 make state. Not bad at 60 %.