Chief,

Two or three Madl vs Peoples matches would have been WAY more than enough! If not for Parker being one of "my boys" I wouldn't have wanted to see it more than a couple of times. Of course I loved it that it was a state finals matchup but before that a couple of times would have been more than sufficient.

Vince, I challenge you to find any Topeka or Wichita area wrestlers that met up more than three or four times. I understand that regionals and state are out of the scope of control, however, knowing that you are a 5A or 6A school you can anticipate such matchups. Wichita area schools do a much better job of traveling. They go to Oklahoma to find the best competition. Heck, very few of the JoCo schools even go to Missouri. Even STA now has the watered down, lets stay close to home, schedule. Cost CANNOT be a factor when considering Missouri options.

A Coach has spoken and he is correct about the best "open" tournaments being before the winter break. Ironman, Beast of the East, and RTOC are all before the break. Move the Classic to the second half. Shake up the schedules and quit wrestling each other so much. Travel to Wichita, Beloit, Garden City, Diamond MO, anywhere MO, anywhere OK, and let the wrestlers experience a road trip and some out of the area competition.

Change is good, status quo is not. I don't want to see the Classic dropped, just moved. If anything drop those STUPID league tournaments. For goodness sakes you have all already seen each other and will be seeing each other at regionals and state. Drop the league meets, dual each other during the season, move the Classic to the first weekend after the break and TRAVEL a little.

Chief, like it or not, wrestling is all about the individual, not the team. MANY, MANY wrestlers go to the Big 3 without a team. The Big 3 are the PREMIER showcase events for national recognition for INDIVIDUALS. Lets adjust and let that happen for some of our kids and maybe we will start building some nationally rankable teams.