Tim,

Perhaps I can be of assistance in this matter--if Mr. Slayer has further information he can share it as well.

It is true, according to my sources, that Elkhart is not wrestling this year. However, the KSHSAA makes its tournament assignments (in all sports) on the basis of the participation cards submitted by the schools themselves. No doubt Elkhart submitted a card stating that they were going to wrestle this year and desired a regional assignments. I have also heard that Elkhart was somewhat slow in notifiying the schools with which they were to have competed that they were not going to be able to honor their commitment. Perhaps they did not notify the KSHSAA? The KSHSAA's knowledge of Elkhart's participation (or any other school) is based only on what they are told by their member schools.

This matter brings up two other issues for thought and discussion: (1) are you (we) for sure that Elkhart does not have a coop agreement with another school down there? I know they would have missed the deadline for filing for such an agreement, but the KSHSAA has granted waivers in these situations before. If so, they would be assigned to the same regional as that of their host school (if both schools are in the same classfication grouping -- same situation as with Deerfield and Lakin). (2) While the number of schools may be equal it is a sure bet that the number of wrestlers in each tournament will not be.

Looking at the teams assigned, I am willing to bet that the Norton Regional will have AT LEAST 33% more actual wrestlers than will the Hoisington regional. Again, this is information that the KSHSAA does not have, and I am not sure that they should. Trying to balance tournaments based on the number of individual participants could/would be a nightmare!

Good luck in the upcoming Norton Invite.