Wichita State University provided a fantastic facility to host the class 6A state wrestling tournament! The seating arrangements were great(Hardly a bad seat in the house, not to mention very comfortable). The sound system was great. The tournament ran efficiently. The competition was 1st rate.

Just about the only thing missing was the presence of class 5A & 4A competitors - and their fans!

Looking forward to next year when the Wichita,Kansas Coliseum will again house the class 5A & 6A state wrestling tournament.

From what I saw on the tv the turnout at Koch was disappointing to say the least.

The weather didn't help with the turnout. It would have been nice to have more people, but that could not be helped. I too was impressed with the facilities. Two things I noted to my friends was that it wasn't 4 degrees F the whole time in the arena beccause we have to wrestle over a hockey rink and the place never did get "stuffy" from lack of circulation in the air. If KSHAA decided to ever have it there again, I wouldn't complain.

I was only down there for Saturday, but from what I experienced, it was very nice. The facility was well maintained. I also felt like the atmosphere just wasn't the same, only have 6A there.

It is my understanding that the sport,boat, and travel show has a 2-year contract on the Kansas Coliseum. Can anyone confirm that 5A-6A will be up there next year? Okay Richard....ready,set,type......

Regardless of attendance, Koch Arena was a great venue. I think they should consider using Koch Arena again, or move State to somewhere else altogether. Koch Arena was comfortable, younger wrestlers were not awestruck by the size of the facility, it wasn't cold and you could see well wherever you sat.

I don't know why anyone would want to go back to the Coliseum after having 6A state at Koch Arena. I also liked that KAKE televised the finals, which was made possible by only having 6A at Koch Arena with one mat for the 6A finals.

What I was surprised about was no vendors except for the State
t-shirt and concessions....

I thought it was great. It was easy getting around inside, it was CLEAN and not a bad seat in the place. I did miss 5A not being there. I sure would have like to watch some of the big matches in 5A also. As far as the crowd, it could have been better, but I thought it wasn't all that bad. I did like the TV coverage. I recorded it on my DVR and watched it again later. There was some AWSOME wrestling. I had people come up to me that had never even watched a wrestling match and said how excited they got watching it on TV.
So there were a lot of positive things happening this last weekend – GREAT JOB everyone.

Congratulations to Goddard, it was the most exciting tournament I’ve been a part of.
(Can we have a recount on points, just 4.5 points – DARN!!! - haha)

Rob

Not a bad sized crowd really. Of course, the sheer size of koch arena, from a perceptual standpoint, made it appear to be somewhat smaller than it really was.

I will say that the level of excitement (as measured by the noise levels and accompanying intensity of of the attending crowd) in the air during the match between Chase Nelson (Wichita Heights) and Mitchell Means (Goddard) matched or perhaps exceeded that of any wrestling match I have ever personally witnessed. Man, that arena was rockin'!

In years past, I recall several highly anticipated match-ups taking place at the same time, making it somewhat difficult to devote my full attention to any one match, as I was pulled to catch glimpses of the action going on, on each match.

Obviously, separating the classes for state competition effectively eliminates this delimna. That comment aside, I can think of no other positive feature associated with separating the various classes (i.e. have 5A in Hutchinson, 6A in Wichita, etc...) I personally would much prefer catching glimpses of all the best match-ups, as opposed to being able to isolate my attention on just a few great match-ups during the course of the tournament.

I'd be willing to hazzard an opinion that the wrestlers themselves, if polled, would overwhelmingly prefer to showcase their hard-earned skills in a combined state setting, as this would enable them to get a close look at many of those wrestlers they may have heard so much about - but never had the opportunity to actually observe.

Till next year...

Personally, I thought Koch arena was very very nice. As a spectator you had good lines of sight from all around the arena, security was never a problem, concessions were fairly reasonable. Facilities were clean. We were sitting near Goddard, Derby and SM East, there was great enthusiasm and good natured fervor in the finals.

I liked the facilities at Koch. The parking was pretty close and we didn't have to worry about getting good seats. The concourse was bright and clean. With only 3 mats, we could watch most of the matches. I would choose it over the Colliseum everytime.

i just wish it could have been broadcast on something other than kansas22. (wichitan's seem to forget that kansas extends west of 1-35.) dish viewers in sw kansas would have enjoyed watching michael arrelano putting up a valiant effort in the finals or watching jesse barber pull one out in what i "HEAR" was a great match to see. the 321A final from hays has been broadcast on pbs for several years. congratulations to all the garden city and dodge city wrestlers that wrestled this past weekend.

Koch Arena was an excellent site for the tournament. I think that if you ask any of the wrestlers that competed or went and watched it they would agree. The video board showing pictures and the team scores through out the day was a much welcomed addition. The stadium atmosphere really brought out a feeling of big time (not WWE) wrestling. I know that the TV doing the finals live was awsome. I think that it made those young men out there in the finals step it up one more notch. All 14 weight classes had great finals matches. I can't count the number of kids who came up and said, "Hey I was flipping through the stations and I saw the guys wrestling." Then they would ask me about a certain match or tell me that this guy looked big or whatever. I think it's great promotion for the sport. Congrats to all 14 of the state champs you put on a great show Saturday. I hope that KSHSAA will take notice to how great a tournament site Koch Arena was and have it there in the years to come.

I can't speak for 6A but the venue for 5A in Hutchinson was first rate. Clean, comfortable, places for competitors to sit and see matches without fighting your way to the wall. I would go back there every year to avoid the pit that is the Coliseum.