The 2009 KC Wrestling Classic has an opening for one more team. The tournament is an individual high school tournament. It will be held on December 18 & 19, 2009 at the KCI Expo Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
The tournament is a 32 team combination of pool and bracket format. We place each wrestler in one of 8 four man pools. On Friday evening you wrestle the other 3 wrestlers in your pool. Based on pool finish the wrestlers advance into one of two 16 man brackets Saturday. The brackets are then wrestled out to 16 places giving every wrestler in a full weight either 7 or 8 matches total.
The 31 teams currently in the tournament are Blue Springs, MO – Randall, TX - Centralia, MO - Creston, IA - Excelsior Springs, MO – Farmington, MO – Ft. Zumwalt West, MO – Granite City, IL – Holt, MO – Neosho, MO – Oak Park, MO – Park Hill, MO – Ponca City, OK – Seckman, MO – Tuttle, OK – Platte County, MO - Skutt Catholic, NE – Klein Oak, TX – Perry, OK – Hayfield, VA – Collins Hill, GA – Oak Grove, MO – Del City, OK – Kearney, MO – Norman North, OK – Park Hill South, MO – Houston Westside, TX – Waynesville, MO – Christian Brothers, TN – Jesuit High, LA – Sand Springs, OK
8 of the schools finished 1st in their home state and class this past season. 15 of the teams finished in the top 3. We have teams from 10 states represented. Last year’s field included 28 state champions that had won 46 titles, six in one weight class and five three time champions. Several matches pitted nationally ranked wrestlers against each other. Most weight classes featured some nationally ranked individuals. Five of the teams finished 2008 ranked in the AWN top 40.
If you are interested in the final slot or if I can provide any additional information, please contact me at 816-582-5417.

Shame on Kansas! Not a single Kansas school in this line up! The BEST tournament that within the KSHSAA confines and no one wants any??? Before you jump on me, the brain trust behind the Johnson County Classic goes head to head with this tournament. Unfortunately the Johnson County High Schools have a pact to attend the County Classic so we can't go, not even to watch... They should move the County Classic to the first weekend after the Christmas break so that local high schools could go to the KC Wrestling Classic.

Will,

I understand why you would like to see more Kansas teams attend this tournament. No doubt many wrestlers would benefit from facing such tough competition.

However, I would not like to see the Johnson County Classic organizers change the date of their tournament. During my son's high school career I considered this tournament to be the highlight tournament of the year next to the State tournament. I enjoyed this Jo. Co. Classic tournament the most. I think it is at a great time for Jo County wrestlers, coaches and fans. The wrestlers get two tournaments under their belt leading up to it and it is the last tournament prior to their holiday break. Many of their former teammates now in college are on their holiday break and they attend this tournament. It was very nice addition to the tournament this year that the organizers recognized the former champions in attendance during the tournament. I would not like to see it changed to the first tournament after the holiday break because this is too big of a tournament for the Johnson County kids and coaches. That first week back is sort of a work the holidays kinks out tournament time. This is just my personal perference but I hope they do not change it.

2 points. Don't the JoCo schools wrestle each other like 8 times a year anyway. It kinda lessens the impact of the JoCo classic. I would like to see many schools in and out of JoCo vary their schedules some so they don't wrestle the same kids week in and week out.

2nd point is I have had more than a couple coaches tell me that they would never go to a tournament like the airport tournament because while their top kids might get some good exposure, their moderate to lessor kids could go 0-8. And they don't want 6-8 losses in a kids record from one tournament.

Just my two cents.

Well within the 500 mile radius. I do not think there is a hard rule who goes where for tournaments (it is up to the coach and the AD to schedule events)There is no rule what school district a family lives in or what state somebody should live in. One tournament was started before the other. Why doesn't the KC Classic change dates? Kids do not need a national caliber tournament every weekend. Why do some premier college teams schedule certain tournaments and duals? I always thought the JC Classic was a nice tournament for a county with over 3/4 of a million people. Heck I thought it was neat to be a city champ in a city of 50,000 back in the day. Who knows why people have different schedules and ideas.

Wow. Three of my favorite board contributors chime in. Vince. Give me a break! The past few years have seen the quality of competition of the Johnson County Classic dwindle. It might be your favorite but I painfully watched some of the poorest quality of wrestling at the high school level last year. Mike Pursel is right. The JoCo schools wrestle each other every weekend. For whatever reasons, money, time, good ole boyism, whatever the AD's and coaches stick to the same schedule year in and year out. Heck, Parker Madl and Linwood Peoples wrestled each other six times last year! I wouldn't want to watch Sammy Henson and Eric Akin wrestle each other six times in one season. Sort of loses its attractiveness. Friday at the Joke County Classic is a fish fry. I love the organization, the facility, the parents but the announcer butchered everyone's names and the wrestling resembled that which you would find at a Sunday novice event. AD's and coaches are scared to death to upset the little network so no one is bailing out and going to the KC Wrestling Classic. Smokey, why should the best tournament change their date? They have a good thing going while the Classic could use a little shaking up. Change is a good thing! As far as the rest of the state...If what Pursel says is true, then it is no wonder that Kansas doesn't have a SINGLE wrestler in the 2009/10 TOP 100 Seniors. BV should do the right thing and showcase Parker Madl there and let a JV kid get some good mat time at the Classic. You DO NOT get any better wrestling the same wrestlers six times in one high school season. That is terrible scheduling.

As a current assistant and former head coach in Johnson County, I would speak up with a resounding YES...please take the Johnson County Classic off of the last weekend of December. There are too many outstanding opportunities that weekend outside of the JOCO lines. Not just the KC Classic... if it's too steep for an up and coming or building teams. The Lees Summitt tournament is outstanding(several non JOCO Kansas teams there); the Winter Classic of course; and on and on. But the point is, that weekend is one of the best for finding competition against schools from outside of ones' area.

If a group of the head coaches involved would choose to band together and try to drop out at the same time...as a group...by convincing their A.D.s that there would be no big cost increase(as that is most likely the reason that many of the A.D.'s want to stay in) or travel cost, then it is possible that it would colapse. But no single school could do it themselves, a good chunk would have to move all at once. And there will be some who just don't want to do it. Or maybe if some schools chose to send JV's instead and the varsity somewhere else...

In any case, it's a fun tournament in a ton of ways, but that weekend is too valuable an opportunity to be used on another go around with the same guys. Choose a different time if it absolutely has to be done.
Mike McLaughlin

The one point that has validity is the frequency of common opponents between Johnson County teams. You do have to admit, Will, that every time Madl and Peoples met it was a match you didn't want to miss. Certainly the KC Classic is a fantastic opportunity and Kansas should have at least a few teams competing. I would think Lansing for one, would have a competitive team and is in close proximity. I disagree that the JOCO should move it's date. It is an early season test that has admittedly been down in depth lately but still offers some great competition at the top. It did seem that wrestlers scattered from 130 last year, but there were at least 8 current or past State Champions there along with almost 30 State placers. There have been streaks in the past that the JOCO has showcased many future Division I wrestlers.

As to your point about showcasing Parker Madl at the KC Classic. How much growth would the rest of that BV team gain from that experience? I understand that Moeder, Tanenbaum, Cokeley, Madl and others would gain valuable experience from going to the KC Classic but that tournament is looking for teams with full strength throughout the roster.

I for one am a fan of the Johnson County Classic!

Will,

I am not against some of the Johnson County teams making some changes in their schedules so that they could get a little more variety in competition. I think this is probably a problem in more areas than Johnson County. I would bet it is a situation that the Wichita and Topeka schools experience too. Some of that may have to do with travel budget issues. I do think though that the Johnson County schools might be able to schedule some more tournaments in the Kansas City area to get some variety in competition and even tournaments in Wichita, Topeka and other cities in Kansas outside of Johnson County. I think there are other tournaments that each team could eliminate from their schedule to meet the goal of seeking new competition outside of Johnson County. I would not want to see the Johnson County Classic as the tournament that the team was going to drop.

I am not as much of a wrestling judge of talent as you, Will. I enjoy watching wrestling competition at all levels anyway so I really enjoy watching the competition at it.

I think the majority of the wrestlers on Johnson County teams find plenty of competition at the Classic. I think the majority of the wrestlers take a great deal of pride in competing to become the County Champion in their weight class. It is a special event to most of us in Johnson County. I think it must be with the majority of the coaches too otherwise they would change it.

I would like to see all the Johnson County wrestlers increase their wrestling skills too. That is why I have been advocating that the KSHSAA change the policy to allow high school wrestling coaches to be able to coach freestyle/greco during the school year after the folkstyle season ends. I believe if they could do that we would see more of the wrestlers participating in freestyle and then more would be seeing better competition at cadet and junior duals, Southern Plains and Fargo. They would then be also more apt to go the good preseason regional and national tournaments that are available. There are a lot of regional and national opportunities available to our local wrestlers outside of the season if they choose to take advantage of them. I do believe though that you are going to increase the level of overall wrestling in Jo County more by getting kids involved in more post season wrestling than by wrestling one weekend in the season at the KC Classic tournament. I would concentrate more on that.

Chief,

Two or three Madl vs Peoples matches would have been WAY more than enough! If not for Parker being one of "my boys" I wouldn't have wanted to see it more than a couple of times. Of course I loved it that it was a state finals matchup but before that a couple of times would have been more than sufficient.

Vince, I challenge you to find any Topeka or Wichita area wrestlers that met up more than three or four times. I understand that regionals and state are out of the scope of control, however, knowing that you are a 5A or 6A school you can anticipate such matchups. Wichita area schools do a much better job of traveling. They go to Oklahoma to find the best competition. Heck, very few of the JoCo schools even go to Missouri. Even STA now has the watered down, lets stay close to home, schedule. Cost CANNOT be a factor when considering Missouri options.

A Coach has spoken and he is correct about the best "open" tournaments being before the winter break. Ironman, Beast of the East, and RTOC are all before the break. Move the Classic to the second half. Shake up the schedules and quit wrestling each other so much. Travel to Wichita, Beloit, Garden City, Diamond MO, anywhere MO, anywhere OK, and let the wrestlers experience a road trip and some out of the area competition.

Change is good, status quo is not. I don't want to see the Classic dropped, just moved. If anything drop those STUPID league tournaments. For goodness sakes you have all already seen each other and will be seeing each other at regionals and state. Drop the league meets, dual each other during the season, move the Classic to the first weekend after the break and TRAVEL a little.

Chief, like it or not, wrestling is all about the individual, not the team. MANY, MANY wrestlers go to the Big 3 without a team. The Big 3 are the PREMIER showcase events for national recognition for INDIVIDUALS. Lets adjust and let that happen for some of our kids and maybe we will start building some nationally rankable teams.

Scheduling has it's challenges for all schools, not just JoCo.

To some people it is, not to all, and certainly not most of the coaches I know.

Sport0,

How many team members are on the mat during a match? How many get their hand raised at the end of a match? If you ask a wrestler how it went last night and it was a dual, the first answer you are going to get is whether the wrestler won or not. You will most likely have to prod the team winner out of them and most of the time they won't know the score. The best coaches develop individuals to their full potential in wrestling. This argument will go on and on but scholarships are given out to the individual not the team. Medals are given out to the individual, not the team. WAY more attention is paid to the individual rankings not the team rankings. Would you like more evidence and supporting data? Watch Vision Quest and listen to Louden Swain.

I would love to see the reasoning behind Lansing's absence from this event. It is close, they have one of the best line ups in the state, it is early in the season. Actually, I don't want to see why they won't go. It won't make sense and I will just get frustrated and have to rip on them.

Our teams' understood rule in high school was that if you took care of your individual stuff, the team stuff would take care of itself. and it worked pretty well.

All somebody has to do is get a head coaching job and then you can make any schedule you want as long as the AD, school principal/president agrees. Or become the head coach and AD at the same time. Why does the Big 10 play teams in the Big 10 mostly, or the Big 12 always play the Big 12.

I would like to get rid of the league tournament.

Next year Gardner will be in the East Kansas league so will be more competitive as a whole. but they all wrestle each other a lot.

I believe Gardner will be going to North KC tournament this year in Jan

Why does U of Missouri have the schedule below and not all top ten or top twenty teams? Why does Goodard and Bishop Carrol dual who they dual? When was the last time any of us talking about this actually made a wrestling schedule for a club, high school or college?


2008-2009 SCHEDULE
( Click on an event for complete event information )

Date Opponent / Event Location Time

11/08/08 Black and Gold Meet # Columbia, Mo. Gold, 25-24
11/15/08 at Lock Haven Lock Haven. Pa. Win, 32-9
11/16/08 at Bucknell Lewisburg, Pa. Win, 25-16
Wrestling Supporting Wrestling
11/22/08 vs. Hofstra Columbia, Mo. Win, 22-12

11/23/08 Missouri Open Columbia, Mo. 9:00 a.m. CT
Northeast Duals
11/29/08 vs. Old Dominion Troy. N.Y. Win, 29-9
vs. Maryland Troy, N.Y. Win 28-6
vs. Harvard Troy, N.Y. Win, 38-7
vs. Brown Troy, N.Y. Win, 41-3

Central Coast Duals
12/13/08 vs. Cal State Fullerton San Luis Obispo, Calif. Win, 34-5
vs. Cal State Bakersfield San Luis Obispo, Calif. Win, 26-14
vs. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Calif. Win, 36-6

12/14/08 at Oregon State Corvallis, Ore. Win, 26-10
12/29/08 Midlands Tournament Evanston, Ill. Third, 73.5
12/30/08 Midlands Tournament Evanston, Ill. Third, 121.5
National Duals
01/10/09 vs. Penn State Cedar Falls, Iowa Loss, 20-19
vs. Northwestern Cedar Falls, Iowa Win, 25-12
vs. Ohio State Cedar Falls, Iowa Loss, 23-19

01/18/09 vs. Missouri Valley College Columbia, Mo. Win, 33-12
vs. Chattanooga Columbia, Mo. Win, 32-7
01/25/09 at Cornell Ithaca, N.Y. Win, 18-14
01/31/09 vs. Nebraska * Columbia, Mo. Loss, 16-15
02/06/09 at Oklahoma * Norman, Okla. Win, 18-12
02/07/09 at Oklahoma State * Stillwater, Okla. Win, 27-9
Third Annual Beauty and the Beast
02/13/09 vs. Central Michigan Columbia, Mo. Loss, 22-14

02/15/09 vs. Iowa State Columbia, Mo. Win, 18-15
03/07/09 Big 12 Championships Lincoln, Neb. Third, 55 points
79th Annual NCAA Championships
03/19/09 NCAA Championships St. Louis, Mo. All Day
03/20/09 NCAA Championships St. Louis, Mo. All Day
03/21/09 NCAA Championships St. Louis, Mo. 7th, 70 points

Smokey,

Your college comparison is not an apples to apples comparison. It has no value in this discussion. Most high school wrestling coaches are at the mercy of their AD. There are exceptions. Could I force change for ONE school, probably but I am trying to open the eyes for the greater good of the sport. We live in the most populous county in the state but our wrestling quality, per capita, is very poor. You don't get better by wrestling inferior competition. Surely you agree with that.

Effective scheduling at the high school level is without a doubt one of the toughest challenges a high school wrestling coach faces. This is especially true if a coach has several elite guys, several guys "on the cusp", and a number of others spread out over a variety of levels on his varsity all at the same time.

An effective scheduler will set the season up with a mix of teams and levels of competition obviously. He won't set up a schedule that is nails every competition week in and week out because physically they won't be able to maintain that level for 3 months(even high placers or elite guys). But at the same time, he can't set it up to cater just to the lowest guys on the varsity. Instead, there have to be challenges to those lower guys to learn how to step up...setting expectations high for them as well as the "top" guys.

In other words, mixing it up in level of competiton, teams and when during the season is best for your team to run into the buzz saws and when to set the schedule up to back it off some is the way to go in my opinion. All of it is with the goal of getting all 14 guys to be ready technique wise, mentally and physically to hit their peak in February after all. And that would be my suggestion of how to best put your team in position to get that done. And if that includes moving a tournament here or there to different weekends, then so be it.
Mike McLaughlin