I personally like aligning the age groups by the school class. I feel the national committee is behind the times on this one…maybe there should be a petition to change their age classifications. Right now in Kansas the age division, in a sense, is separated by the wrestlers “grade” in school:

2nd & 3rd
4th & 5th
6th & 7th
8th & 9th
10th & 11th

At a National tournament, a 4th grader with a late September birthday, can be lumped in with 5th as well as 6th grade kids. In Kansas a 17 year old junior, with a late September birthday, can participate in the 16 year old class and prepare for his senior season. If we switch to the National age divisions, this same kid would not be eligible. If a change of age classification is pushed forward, I would agree that a better division of class would be:

1st & 2nd
3rd & 4th
5th & 6th
7th & 8th
9th, 10th, and 11th

This would bring in some of our older 6U kids into the State format and group our middle school/high school kids together. Keeping our high school kids grouped together would add some additional meaning and bragging rights in crowning a “Grand State” champion (minus the senior classman).