4A rankings are completed with the exception of 189 & 215 where there are only five kids per weight that have been ranked. These are generally updated on the weekends after I sift through tournament results and check e-mails from coaches. With the holiday break, there has been virtually no movement and I probably won't give it another thought until after the tournaments that take place this weekend.

Someone asked whether or not personal opinion goes into these rankings? Well of course they do. This is not like the AP where coaches submit a ballot sheet each week and then we just compile the points. Usually a kid winds up getting ranked because a coach from another school saw this kid wrestle and then says, "Coach, so-and-so at 130 lbs. looked tough last week and beat so-and-so, I would rank him two or three behind so-and so." Team scores are the same way. Scott City wasn't in the preseason top ten, but after how they started the season some coaches e-mailed me to recommend them as solid top five team, so I agreed and moved them up. It was not a case of Coach Lippelman calling me and saying, "Rank my team, or I will throw one of my patened Beaver cradles on you."

My experience is that most coaches and most wrestlers could care less about where they are ranked. They know that what is important is to improve each week so that they can determine their own ranking at the end of the season. Rankings don't help you in seeding meetings. They won't get you a scholarship. They certainly won't get you a state medal. What they are is a nice recognition of a school's accomplishment. What gets you good seeds and what gets you scholarship money and what gets you that state medal is mopping the map with your opponent every time you step out there, wrestling with pride, showing good sportmanship, those type of things.

The rankers do take a good deal of personal time to compile the rankings, but if you think I spend hours a day searching the web for the rosters of all the 4A schools in the state - - sorry. I realize that there are some kids at the wrong weights, which is fine. After certification, they will be adjusted to reflect what weight the top wrestlers in the state are certified at.

Personally, I like to do the rankings, because I had a higher percentage of accuracy last year, which I am sure hurt both Coach Lane and Coach LaMar's feelings especially since it was my first year. You can be assured that all rankers will use as much information as possible to get the rankings accurate (which, of course, they never will be.)

Unitl that time, just keep mopping the mat and as a great wrestler and coach from Iowa once said, "Make your own luck."