Although I agree with Doug's assessment, I am hesitant to attack the volunteers. I know Steve and his heart is absolutely in the right place. I blame KSHSAA for not making this event as important as it should be. We should have a professional announcer and there should be an attempt to make this event totally special for these kids who have sacrificed many, many hours of freedom to hard work. I have said it before and I will say it again. The medals are a joke, the awards assembly is a joke, the setup is a joke. The bleachers should be pulled out and fans should be allowed a closer view. The lighting makes it impossible to take a good video or take good pictures. Ideas for improvements:

1) Raised platform for the finals.
2) Pull out the bleachers and sell premium floor tickets.
3) Real Announcer.
4) Better lighting.
5) Awards given on the raised platform and then move them to the podium for picks.
6) Let the head coach or fathers award the medals.
7) Play some better music for the awards.
8) How about a medal with some wrestlers on them? Does KSHSAA not know that it is GOLD for 1st, Silver for 2nd, and Bronze for the other placings?

Lastly, the biggest announcment snafu, to me, was when the guy tied to jinx Ryne by announcing him the State Champ when they still needed to wrestle the 3rd period!! He is lucky Ryne held up or we would definitely be looking for at least one new one next year.