Love the All-Class rankings, always have, always will. So thanks Chief for your time and effort.

I understand the whole whining about "forget the rankings, etc., etc., let's just wrestle thing" and in the end it will be proven on the mat. But in the mean time, the rankings are great and cool, they promote the sport and create interest. Don't see how anyone could have anything negative to say about the rankings with that in mind.

Now as for the rankings, I have some thoughts about them as you might suspect.

My son has wrestled many of the kids ranked or has had them in brackets, etc., so I believe that my opinion is valid as I have lots to compare to. Additionally, I have watched many of the kids first hand, up close and personal, at the various tournaments that my son has attended. Many I have watched more as they have competed against my son's teammates.

I do realize that many or even most or even all forum readers don't care about my opinion and may not even want to hear it. But I will certainly enjoy expressing it, so I will.

Let' start with the team rankings. Can't contradict any of that as Chief has done the work and I believe he has the greatest insight on that. What I want to point out is related to the whole class warfare thing that comes up every year. Any comments about one particular class being weak, etc. or two particular classes needing to be combined is ridiculous, especially if you are talking about 5A and 6A. It is obvious from the rankings that 5A and 6A are the toughest right now. It is further obvious that the traditionally thought of as weakest 5A class is the toughest. Of the top 10 ranked teams, 5 are 5A and 4 are 6A, 1 is 4A and 3A is shut out at this point. It is clear that the traditionally thought of as toughest 4A class is clearly not. As for 3A, well need I say anything? You might say well 4A is still the toughest because it is the deepest and clearly that is not the case and the individual rankings validate that. 4A is just not as tough as people believe and as for 3A, well need I say anything? Of the 140 ranked kids, 53 are 5A, 34 are 6A, 34 are 4A and 19 are 3A. I think the team and individual numbers speak for themselves. I certainly hope that we don't have to go through the yearly "5A and 6A should be combined because of ..." crap which is asinine. Just because you have more kids at regional does not make it tougher. It's quality that counts, not quantity. I would love to see all the classes combined so we wouldn't have to go through this but "be careful what you wish for because you might get it". There would be a lot of 3A and 4A kids, coaches and teams whining then about not having a fair advantage, especially 3A.

What about the individual weights? Well I can't say much about the heavier weights as my son was always a light weight or middle weight and I don't have as much to compare to when it comes to the bigger weights. But I will say that I do not agree that 160 is the toughest although if Becker is #6, that's pretty tough. 145 is clearly the toughest, particularly if Helms is not even ranked.

106 looks good, but even if it didn't I wouldn’t know because that is too far removed from where my son was the last few years. I do know Terrill is a stud and I would pick him as he had some great matches last year with Leach. Goldenstein is also hot I know but I would go with Terrill.

At 113 I would not necessarily select that order as Lindlar is a state champion at that weight. I do know that DeShazer had a great spring season and has paid a lot of dues to earn that spot though so can't really complain although I would if I was Lindler's family or coaches. We'll see won't we? My gripe would be with Howell. I would have put Howell #1 probably because I watched him handle DeShazer at league last year although I don't know if Deshazer was hurt or what. Plus, of the kids that are ranked that Leach wrestled last year, Howell appeared to be the toughest and he did give Leach the "toughest" match. That's a mute point now though and I was clearly wrong about that one as DeShazer beat Howell last night. Based on that match though, I would certainly have Howell #2 if DeShazer is #1, but is that not fair to Lindlar?

At 120 of course, Gentzler is #1 until someone beats him. For me now, Leach is #2. He really had a great season last year. I know Mies is a stud and he beat Leach in freestyle, but I would rank kids based on folkstyle first. Leach has not really put a lot of time into freestyle so I do not know if that is a fair comparison using freestyle. If there is nothing else to go on, then yes go with freestyle. But I don't think that is the case here. The question is would Mies beat Leach this year in a folkstyle match? Until he does, I would say no. Leach did win Virginia this spring in a somewhat convincing fashion. But we'll all know where Leach stands after tomorrow. There's going to be some crazy matches tomorrow at Valley Center. I certainly don't want to discount Cokeley and Harrison either though as they are little BA's.

My gripe at 126 is with Maki. If he is the best, I wouldn't be surprised, certainly not if he wins 5A. He is really tough. You definitely can't go against Reed at #1. Burley probably deserves #2 but his state title was in the past at a smaller weight. I can't dispute his spot there over Maki as of now but don't see how Hensley, although I know he is really good, could be ahead of Maki. The original #8 ranking for Maki was wow as someone already pointed out. #5 looks better, but I still think he could be #2. We'll see won't we?

At 132, yes what a clash we will have when Haralson wrestles Olsen, based on the fact that Haralson beat Olsen last year. But....that was earlier in the year. The Olsen that beat Watters and Dickman at state last year is unbeatable in my mind. I would not even predict that Haralson could beat Watters so I don't see how he can beat Olsen, with all due respect. Once again, we'll see. And yes, a Olsen/Dulgarian match might be the big one.

At 138, Hurtado should be the #1 6A wrestler in my opinion as he is the defending state champion. Yes, Edwards had a great freestyle season but again, when they wrestle, it will be in folkstyle. Just Edwards wrestling for the dual team should not trump Hurtado’s state title. Hurtado has put in some time as well in the off season in folkstyle. Yes, Dulgarian is a stud for sure and Shoemaker is certainly legit. I wouldn’t count Eastman out of any match. He is the last Kansas wrestler to beat B. Humphrey isn’t he? I can’t wait to see Eastman and Dulgarian, although Eastman could be at 145.

As mentioned at 145, Helms must be ranked. That guy is really good and had a great kid’s career. 4th in state last year behind 3 seniors has to get you ranked I would think. If he’s not ranked, then definitely 145 is the toughest. I am confident he could beat at least half of the listed 145 pounders. But Helms could be at 152 as he beat a ranked 152 pounder last night and Eastman was at 145 last night. To me, Ogden should be higher. That kid is tough as H and he had a great season last year. Can’t imagine how crazy a Lambotte/B. Humphrey match would be, but I would think those two would separate out eventually.

At 152 not much to say, but can’t imagine Becker would go 160 when he would definitely win state at 152. Blackwell is clearly the man to beat at 152. Villers is right on track as he barely lost to Becker at 160. All class has him at 152. It will be interesting to see where Eastman, Helms and Villers end up.

Now I have tried to be as politically correct as possible and not be derogatory. It is certainly not my intent to offend anyone but that is probably inevitable, so let it fly.