Dear Jeff:

Talk to individuals in your area who have attended the event regarding their views on seeding of the Kansas kids.

Jack and his crew are notorious for seeding Oklahoma wrestlers in a far more advantageous position to make the finals, and seeding Kansas kids on the heavy side of the bracket with the participants from New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc.

In an effort to combat this perceived injustice several Kansas coaches now attend the seeding meeting. If you know a coach attending the seeding meeting, ask the coach to attend the seeding of your wrestlers bracket with the pertinent seeding information.

At the weigh in, my wife was totally unprepared for the appearance of many of the youth. She was familiar with cutting a few pounds to make the next lowest weight bracket, but was shocked by the, as my wife described it, "Holocaust" type appearance of so many of the youth. A salesman from Tanita, a weight scale company, offered my wife some encouragement when their scale, which determined body fat composition, advised my kids were ten to fifteen pounds over their optimum weight.

For three consecutive years, two of my sons were blessed with the opportunity to wrestle the out of state defending champion from the previous year in a first round bout.

On another occasion, in the finals, my middle son had the pleasure of denying Lance Palmer from Ohio the opportunity to win another Outstanding Wrestler award by virtue on not getting pinned. Lance cried after the match and his father and Lance's high paid personal coach (Jeff Jordan) pithced a fit after the match. My son Robert felt like he won.

Over the years my children competed we always came home with a winning record from the tournament and always left with a sour taste from the officiating.

Have fun!