In response to Mr. Palacio, part of the reason Manhattan lost to Clay Center and Hoxie at Beloit was because the team was without two state medalists as well as another ranked wrestler. Also, Manhattan beat Clay Center at Newton, as the previous post mentioned, as well as in a dual 40-30. Clay Center is a great team (there are a number of solid teams in 4A), and I hope they do well this weekend.

It is sad to see so many losing records in 6A, but the reason is not because the quality is any less in this class. It is because the regionals continue to be completely unbalanced.

There are a number of great wrestlers from the Garden City and Wichita North regionals (the top 5 teams were at these two) who will be sitting at home, while kids with records 10 matches below .500 are at state.

I know this comes up all the time, but something really needs to be done. Someone proposed a great idea a year or so ago. Take the top 8 teams coming into the year based on returning state points. Then divide them into the 4 regionals like this: 1&8, 2&7, 3&6, 4&5. Then distribute the rest of the teams geographically. This would help balance the regionals immensely. I really wish the coaches would approach the KHSHAA about this issue (it's a huge problem in 5A, too), but I guess it's easier to be apathetic and settle for poor wrestling at the state tournament.