Not a bad sized crowd really. Of course, the sheer size of koch arena, from a perceptual standpoint, made it appear to be somewhat smaller than it really was.

I will say that the level of excitement (as measured by the noise levels and accompanying intensity of of the attending crowd) in the air during the match between Chase Nelson (Wichita Heights) and Mitchell Means (Goddard) matched or perhaps exceeded that of any wrestling match I have ever personally witnessed. Man, that arena was rockin'!

In years past, I recall several highly anticipated match-ups taking place at the same time, making it somewhat difficult to devote my full attention to any one match, as I was pulled to catch glimpses of the action going on, on each match.

Obviously, separating the classes for state competition effectively eliminates this delimna. That comment aside, I can think of no other positive feature associated with separating the various classes (i.e. have 5A in Hutchinson, 6A in Wichita, etc...) I personally would much prefer catching glimpses of all the best match-ups, as opposed to being able to isolate my attention on just a few great match-ups during the course of the tournament.

I'd be willing to hazzard an opinion that the wrestlers themselves, if polled, would overwhelmingly prefer to showcase their hard-earned skills in a combined state setting, as this would enable them to get a close look at many of those wrestlers they may have heard so much about - but never had the opportunity to actually observe.

Till next year...