Well, I was looking for a little more input than "It would!" I decided to come up with a list of pros and cons to see if I could convince myself one way or the other that this would be good or bad for the sport. I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here, as I am sure that all of this has been thrown out there in the past. I am just looking for the reason(s) behind this rule and why it would be a bad for wrestling if it was different.

Pros:

1) Sixteen kids would get to go to State instead of maybe 12, 13, 14, etc. (seems good to reward as many kids as possible for busting their tail for four plus months).

2) What a great thing for a kid to qualify for State (hate to make it that far just to get a bye somewhere during the course of the tournament). Kids get sick/injured and you may lose out on a match because of this as well.

3) As it is now, the State tournament is supposed to be for the sixteen best wrestlers (top four from each District). How many times does this rule eliminate one of these kids (the fifth and/or sixth place finisher in a District may be better than the third/fourth place finisher in another District, or worse, there is no third/fourth place finisher so "bye" gets to go to State instead). I am not suggesting having a challenge match between fifth/sixth place finishers from one District against the third/fourth place finishers of another District to determine who deserves the trip to State. In the case of the "bye", the fifth place finisher from one or more of the Districts would have the opportunity to wrestle State.

4) Better overall competition at State. Any bracket that is not filled at State would look to be a little weaker in regards to overall top to bottom competition than a bracket that is filled. This may not be true for the top placers (1-6), but it seems likely to be true for the remaining wreslters in the bracket.

5) Increase the chances for someone to get at least one win at State instead of going home two and out. (Example: Lose, Bye, Lose)

Cons:

1) The most glaring issue I can see is determining who should be awarded one of the byes from another District. This could open up one ugly can of worms with the ugly being the disagreements from parents and coaches as to who should be awarded an open spot in the bracket. (I believe that there are a lot of very intelligent and wise individuals within the Kansas wrestling community to come up with an agreeable tie-breaking criteria - i.e.: overall record, head to head record against other State qualifiers, etc.)

2) Districts would have to open up one more match per age/weight class at Districts to wrestle for fifth/sixth (Logistical nightmare? Too time consuming? Or is it?).

3) This would not be fair to other kids who did not qualify in the top four of their District because there weren't any byes left over from other Districts (all Districts full, my child had an off day but he/she is better than - beat x,y and z wrestler from this District or that District during the year).

4) ????? This is where I need help. These are the only two reasons that I can see that this rule is in effect. I am sure that there are more, but I just can't seem to come up with one at this time.

Why do I really care? Was it my kid that got robbed of his/her opportunity to wrestle on the big stage? Well, it very well could have been, but it wasn't. Fortunately, my son is the one who wrestled the best match of his season (winning 4-2 in overtime) to end another fine young wrestler's season last year at Districts. With the season this young man had, winning his District and being a previous State qualifier, I felt like he deserved to wrestle at State instead of the three byes that made it to Topeka. I am sure that there have been others, maybe not a lot, but at least as many as there are byes that are are drawn into the brackets at State every year. I know that these byes usually only occur in the lighter and heavier weight classes of each age group.

I am only looking for the reason(s) behind this ruling. It may never be an issue for any of my boys, but it will likely be an issue for a number of deserving wrestlers in the years to come.