This is a really interesting discussion. After having coached the State tournament at Hays, at Wichita and in Des Moines, I just had a couple of observations:

1 — Hays was fun. It just was. We were treated like kings by the FHSU staff, and the community as a whole. It was fun to be the only game in town. Because of that, 4As going to Salina and the splitting the 5As and 6As has merit, just from that standpoint. Kansas is unique in the fact that while the state does not have a centrally (or somewhat centrally) located arena with 12,000 or seats that would be readily available, it has a wealth of very nice smaller arenas (Hays, Salina, Hutch, Emporia) that would be great sites. I always thought that Hutch would be a great wrestling venue. So yes, there is a lot of validity to splitting the classes.

2 — Multi-classed tournaments are fun too, but you have to have the right facility, run the right way with enough mats and seating. Also, for a three-class tournament to work the right way — with the arenas available — you would need to go to three days, and I just don't see KSHSAA going for that. We did three for almost 30 years in Iowa, and recently went to four. That's just a long week.

3 — Whatever happens, as someone pointed out earlier, my experience with KSHSAA when I was down there was that they are very focused on doing what's best for the kids and what the coaches and schools want. So any changes they make will be done with those things in mind.