Let's be realistic for a minute, now that a few of us have had their Louden Swain moment (and if you don't understand that reference, you need to get off this Forum!). Once Regionals are posted each year, coaches look at their line-up, look at who's where in each weight in the Regional, and then decide from there the best way to position their team.

Wrestling is an individual sport, but we are also members of a team. The more guys from your team that go, the better your chance of winning State (sort of stands to reason, doesn't it?). If you, as a coach, have a kid at say, 160, with a 25-8 record and his losses are twice each to four other guys in the Regional, what are you going to do? Leave him there so he can spend the rest of his life saying "I am proud to say I never made it to State but I wrestled four studs!" Yeah right.

A smart coach looks at 171 and sees this same kid could bump up a weight and win the Regional. You can't win State without beating the best, but you also can't do it from the balcony. Why do you think coaches spend two hours at a seeding meeting (or four hours if Effingham is there) the night before Regionals? If the object was only to wrestle the best, there wouldn't be seeding meetings. But we sit there and argue at the meetings to help our kids find the path of least resistance to State. That's our job.

Don't get me wrong; I've had kids bump up a weight just to take on a certain kid. Of course, that was in a tournament or dual in December or January, which isn't anywhere nearly as important as Regionals. Actually, doing that then helps us as coaches when we get to the Regional meeting. If we won that match, it helps with the seeding; if we didn't, at least then we have a "quality loss" that's up a weight.

Beating the best is everyone's dream, there's no catagory in the history books for "beating the best"; only State champ, State placewinner and State qualifier.