I have a good friend of mine that is a security guard at the coliseum, and he told me that a rumor has been going around there that this is the last year of the state tourny being there. I was just wondering if any body has heard anything else on this subject, or if any body knows for sure that this is the last year for it. I know there have been several topics on having it moved in the past as well. If it is moving, any body know where to?

Well from what Rick Bowden told us at the rules meeting, they are definatly not having the tournament there next year becuase they are going to be redoing the building so expect 4A 5A & 6A to be moved possibly even a split championship where 4A goes to Salina and 5 & 6A go to Topeka. Not for certain yet.

And just to add to what Nigel said, once the move to Salina and Topeka is made, expect it to stay that way.

For one thing, by next year, all four classes will be going to four instead of three mats each. 3-2-1A will be trying it for the first time this year in Hays.

For another, after the problems that have come up over the years in Wichita, expect that more than just the arena is going to have be fixed before we'll be back there.

Rick informed me yesterday that the Topeka Expocenter will not work out b/c of the Shriner's Circus (I think that was the event he said) did not want to change their date. According to Rick, the KSHSAA is still interested in the possibility of the Salina Bicentenniel Center, but not sure about the split of the tournament, another facility, etc. The issue is still being looked into by the KSHSAA at this point.

It appears my dreams of a 4A getting to split off into their own site may really come true. Somebody pinch me because this can't be real! I pray that we get our own site and Salina appears to be the logical choice. Again, no disrespect to the people who work and organize the tourney as it is now, but 4A in Salina would be heaven for the 4A wrestlers, coaches, and fans. AMEN!!!

Rick Williams
Colby High School

I hope to hell it isn't real. The way it is now, with all three classes puts fans in a position to watch the top in the state instead of just one sellfish class that wants to do their own thing. Spliting it would deprive the wrestlers of the opportunity of wrestling befoe a house full of fans, and fans the opportunity to watch the best in any class. Criminal in my opinion, and not in the best interests of moving wrestling in a forward motion in Kansas.
If anything, put all classes in the same venue, and let 3-2-1A fans also watch the 4-5-6 schools and the other way around. A split of classes would be the most harmful thing you could do for the promotion of wrestling as a sport.
Besides, this was all hashed out last year after the state meet. Now where is that darn spell check so they don't jump on me for spelling errors?

i know neither school has a wrestling program but why not hold it at KU or K-State respective arena's?

At the rules meeting I went to Rick Bowden said something about rewarding the one four year school with wrestling with a state tournament. I was thinking why not reward the junior colleges that have wrestling also. that would give four sites, rotate the site of each tournament.

One of the thoughts I didnt know about on this is the hotel space where the JCs are.

Hovpen,

I can't speak for everyone else but from my own point of view I don't agree with you. Every time I have been to the state tournament 95% of the time I have spent watching the 4A matches. This is of course because I’m from a 4A school. I generally don't care to watch the other classes because they didn't concern me. Even as a competitor I was always watching the 4A mats. Granted there were a few matches I watched out of curiosity like Bo Maynes and Zach Roberson but outside of those I really didn’t care. To me having 4A by itself is not a problem. I wouldn’t feel deprived at all if this were to happen. As a competitor I don’t think it should be that big of a deal either unless you just like all the attention.

As a person who loves watching great wrestling and is a fan of competition, I have to say I'm not crazy about a split, but think about this also, you don't play all the classifications on the same football field during the same day either starting at the butt crack of dawn. But unlike what Nigel said, I watched some of the Junction City and Manhattan guys closely as they were larger teams in the area...Salina South was another one because of the respect issue with the coaches they have had and currently have. I overall like wrestling, but Salina for just a 4a classification would be phenomenal.

Aaron brings up a great point about why 4A at a separate site is the way it should be. The split means four mats, a later start on Saturday, an earlier end on Friday night, and smoother weigh-ins and check-ins. Sounds great to me!!

If the state tournament would have been split in the last few years, at least one class would have missed the following matches:

Erisman/Luedke
Knox/Garcia
Carrol/Hemmerling

And people from 6A would never have seen these wrestlers:

Earl Jones
Eric Luedke
Danny Grater
Ross Taplin
Jake Kriegbaum
Tad Greer
Jordan Bedore
______ Devoe
Neil Erisman
Etc.

People from 4A never would have seen these wrestlers:

Sequoya Hill
Lukas Zouzas
Doug Hoover
Charles Knox
Cody Garcia
Josh Baldridge
Dustin May
Tristen Deshazer
Kyle Potter
Justin Dyer
Josh Carrol
Zach Hemmerling
Tyler Perry
Thomas Rhodes
Michael Bradley
Shawn Bunch
Gabe Conaghan
Bishop Carroll 2002
Stewart Bogart
Brett Stewart
Ben Coleman

As you can see, my knowledge of 6A wrestlers is much greater than my knowledge of 4A wrestlers and finals matches. I'm sure Les Brown could help me out with both of those. For those of you who agree with me, feel free to add wrestlers or matches that I have forgotten. For those of you who want a separate site for 4A, feel free to explain why you wouldn't miss seeing them.

What I do know is that I enjoyed seeing every one of these wrestlers compete. I understand that the Colisseum is a crappy building, but I can not for the life of me understand why 4A wants to be completely separate from 5A and 6A. Why can't all 3 classes be in Salina or Topeka instead? What is so absolutely terrible about waking up an hour earlier?

I've said it before and it may just be because I was a crappy wrestler, but walking out for the opening ceremonies at state and seeing the huge crowd was absolutely unreal. That's something that I will not soon forget. Don't you think walking out and seeing a crowd that is 33-66% smaller be less captivating? If you want to move the tournament from Wichita, heck, go nuts. But to take away the excitement just for the sake of trying something new? I don't understand it.

Your list Grant, I didn't want to watch any of them, sorry but they didn't entertain me at all.

Why watch Knox and Garcia when you could watch Jeremy Long and Beau Tillman. Tovar and Bahe. just to name a few.

I think alot of people in 4a want to be away from 5 and 6A becuase they don't want to be reminded of how easy it is to get to state in both of those classification.

Prant,
If the tournament is moved a split is required because no other facility can offer the amount of floor space needed. This is the first I have heard of the 4 mats per class being used. Even the Coliseum wouldn't be able to accomodate that amount at one time. If the 4 mats is the plan then a split is required regardless of where held. The only alternative if you want to keep all 3 classes together is to drop the 5th and 6th place wrestle offs and keep it at the Coliseum. I'm old school and was against the 5th and 6th place matches when they were adopted. Speaking as one of the many volunteers, the tournament used to be a very pleasant experience prior to adding those matches but since has become a real grind. We used to have some breaks to enjoy the experience and be able to go out for a nice dinner prior to the start of the finals which now time does not allow. I agree that the tournament should be kept together in one place at all costs as it is the one thing that gives us any major media coverage during the season. Move some of it to Topeka and Salina and see how many stations send reporters and trucks from Wichita. Likewise see how many are sent from Topeka to Salina if part of the tournament is being held in Topeka. This is the one time of year we actually get to see coverage of wrestling on the local airwaves and in the Wichita Eagle.

I know that WSU has spent a ton of $$ renovating their basketball arena, has anyone been inside to see if that might be a possibility for a new site? Does anyone know if this site has even been considered for future state wrestling?

Pull My Finger,

It has the same problem as all of the other university venues mentioned previously. Not enough floor space. These facilities were built for one thing, bb! You could run one class maybe two at each but not three. My prediction still stands that once the tournament is broke up the KSHSAA will find that it isn't affordable to have one class in say Salina and two in Topeka and the tournament will return to individual host high schools.

This really is an interesting situation, isn't it? Kansas has traditionally been a state that splits all (well, except track) of it's state championships off to different sites. And, that's what people seem to like.Coming from a state that has a three-day all-classes-at-the-same-place tournament, when I first moved down here seven years ago, I thought you guys were nuts.

But after taking teams to Hays for four years, I don't think it's really a bad thing. Hey, it's kind of fun being the only game in town! Trouble is, we have only one facility in the state that has the seating capacity and floor space for a combined tournament, and I doubt that Bill Self is going to be willing to give up that weekend every February.

Bottom line is that State is State, no matter where it is. If you don't like the site, don't go.

I agree w/ Prant. Some of u may not have gave a **** about 6A, but i sure cared to watch as many 4A matches as a i could. My team's schedule did not have too many 4A teams in the mix and it was a real pleasure seeing the best of 4A go at it like wild dogs.

It was great seeing some of the best of 4A like Ross Devoe, Earl Jones, Luedke and Jake Kriegbaum all duke it out. And meanwhile waiting for those matches and more i could see crazy stuff like Adam Venegas lose to Garen Stacey, the fiasco of Dedrick and Kevin Gray, view an action packed match of Tanner Gardner vs. Charles Knox, see Stewart Bogart pin a guy in .50 seconds, etc.... None of this would have been possible if the classes were split up. State was one of the best experiences of my life and i know for a fact that having only one classification to watch would have defiled my state experience.

I also agree with Prant, and rocknraider as well. In addition to their reasons, I enjoy watching the wrestlers we knew all through the kids' program, many of whom are in different classes than my son. I have watched some of these kids since they were seven or eight and I really enjoy seeing them wrestle in the big show. In my opinion, it will be a sad day if they split 4-5-6A into different locations. Just because Nigel doesn't want to watch something doesn't mean it isn't worth watching.

What if I want to watch 321A matches? I can't, and nobody can unless you are 3A, 2A or 1A. So it is only selfish to say that splitting the classes will not allow you to see the 4A matches.
Let's get out of the ice-skating rink!!!