wvmat.com

OK, I see the point you're making now.

It would be nice to have three divisions with one team champion and 14 individual champions in each division, but I guess the WVSSAC will never agree to that.

I never thought I'd see it in track either, but they finally went to three divisions there.

A certain percentage of the schools with wrestling needs to be reached in order to create a separate class for A. I went through this when I coached track several years ago and more recently coaching soccer. We were told that if there are enough teams then the classes would be split into two groups. Swimming is still in one class because very few schools have it. Track and volleyball have three because many schools have it. Sports like wrestling and soccer are still in the middle with two classes. I'm not sure how many AA-A teams it would take to split up the two divisions and I'm pretty sure it will be a different number next year because the number of AA schools went up so much. The only way I know to count them up is to look at the regional alignment for each sport.

After the region tournaments, we will see across the "AAA board" that they do not win due to high numbers.

The top AAA schools have incredible tradition.

The most populated schools will not necessarily bring the most wrestlers into their region nor will they qualify the most wrestlers for the state tournament.

For example, Capital high school. They have over 1,000 students and scored zero points at the MSAC. I do applaud Capital's wrestlers for participating.

In 1993, the AA/A state tournament was a nail-biter featuring two mighty teams from a couple of the state's smallest "A" schools - Cameron and Wirt County.

I am not sure why the one class idea does not have more traction. Perhaps it is the "everyone needs a trophy" ideology that most people have today. I understand it would be more difficult for smaller A and AA schools to compete. However, as it has been pointed out, some large schools have historically performed poorly and smaller schools quite well. Ex: Oak Glen vs Capital. California has one division. All the small schools in California have to compete against schools with 5-7,000 student enrollment. Life is tough and unfair. Wrestling is tough and teaches you very valuable life lessons. Split the team title into A/AA/AAA for most points scored by each and have every wrestle compete against each other. Each small school can be rewarded and each wrestler can be a "true" state champion. I don't mean to knock small problems, they obviously do an amazing job at some schools and have been for years, I am just saying we could raise our competitiveness on the national level and also help kids potentially get more looks for college scholarships with a more competitive state tournament.

With the decreasing population and smaller numbers coming out for wrestling each year, I just don't see it as feasible to have 3 separate divisions.

1)Sectionals, Regionals, Very competitive 16 man bracket

2)Regionals, still competitive 32 man bracket (maybe institute first round loss is a knockout as they do in other states)

I honestly am for and against this idea. If you combine the classes it would make for a more prestigious state tournament for the winners and place winners. And that might get them a few more college looks. And I believe it would be few not many. On the other hand it might put the goal of a state title or placing in the state tournament completely out of reach for some. In all three classes. Which could lead to decline in Hs wrestling in wv. I'm not a guy that believes everyone deverse to win but I do realize the problems that wv Hs wrestling have.

There tear me up

WVU197. I'm sorry to inform you that as great of an idea as that is. It will unfortunately fall on deaf ears on this forum. I have said this before earlier on the thread and it quickly returns to making this sport a 4 class tournament or keep it the way it is and let more kids in the state tournament.

I was thinking why not combine AAA and AA. Leave A by itself. I wonder if the absents of the AA schools would spark an interest and grow more single A programs.

Frank wrote:I was thinking why not combine AAA and AA. Leave A by itself. I wonder if the absents of the AA schools would spark an interest and grow more single A programs.

Frank. That might b a start n the right direction.

Here is what I would like to see our State Tournament look like is a 32 man bracket and a one class champion. We could have 8 regions broke up into 10-13 team regions and still be able to do either an 8 man bracket or a 16 man bracket and send out the top 4 from each weight class from those regions. I would also like to see a State dual tournament as well, and you could always crown the best tournament team in all three classes. There have been some really good tournament teams in the past that haven't been the best dual team. We could still have a 3 day tournament and we could cap Saturday off with a good dual tournament, or if that is to much in one weekend have our state tournament one weekend and then the following weekend have the state dual tournament that weekend.

Working on the new region maps for next year and I went to the WVSSAC site to double check the new alignments.

http://www.wvssac.org/classificiations/

The alignments now listed at the WVSSAC site, which were posted some time after this thread started, are different than those which were widely discussed here: Namely, the latest info shows Ripley in Region 4.

AAA
Region I Brooke, Buckhannon-Upshur, John Marshall, Morgantown, Preston, University, Wheeling Park

Region II Hampshire, Hedgesville, Jefferson, Martinsburg, Musselman, Spring Mills, Washington

Region III Capital, George Washington, Greenbrier East, Princeton, Riverside, South Charleston, St. Albans, Woodrow Wilson

Region IV Cabell Midland, Huntington, Hurricane, Parkersburg, Parkersburg South, Ripley, Spring Valley

AAA
Region I Berkeley Springs, Bishop Donahue, Cameron, East Fairmont, Fairmont Senior, Frankfort, Keyser, Madonna, Magnolia, North Marion, Oak Glen, Petersburg, Ritchie County, St. Mary’s, Tyler Consolidated, Weir, Wheeling Central

Region II Braxton County, Bridgeport, Clay County, Clay-Battelle, Doddridge County, East Hardy, Elkins, Grafton, Lewis County, Liberty, Lincoln, Moorefield, Philip Barbour, Roane County, Robert C Byrd, South Harrison

Region III Bluefield, Fayetteville, Greenbrier West, Herbert Hoover, Independence, Liberty (R), Meadow Bridge, Midland Trail, Nicholas County, Oak Hill, Pike View, Richwood, River View, Shady Spring, Webster County, Wyoming East

Region IV Buffalo, Calhoun County, Lincoln County, Logan, Mingo Central, Parkersburg Catholic, Point Pleasant, Nitro, Poca, Ravenswood, Sissonville, St. Joseph, Wahama, Williamstown, Winfield, Wirt

Just wanted to clarify.

What?....this is becoming comical.....geez!

No doubt, wonder what strings St. Albans pulled to get out of Region 4 and switch with Ripley to go to Region 3. That Region 3 is also almost a joke. You have Capital and South Charleston which average 3-4 kids a year. GW will be losing A LOT after this year. Heck, there will be weight classes that Region 3 will only send 3 kids for the State Tournament. Very sad

I think that they should go ahead and move Hurricane and Spring Valley to Region 3 and bring St Albans and GW to Region 4. Region 4 needs the top 7 teams. One question. Do the people that make these decisions even go to the State Tournament? Have they ever attended any matches? This is going to be worse than it was in the 70's and 80's when Region 1 dominated. I feel sorry for Hurricane and Spring Valley. They may not qualify any wrestlers next year.

uknowme wrote:No doubt, wonder what strings St. Albans pulled to get out of Region 4 and switch with Ripley to go to Region 3. That Region 3 is also almost a joke. You have Capital and South Charleston which average 3-4 kids a year. GW will be losing A LOT after this year. Heck, there will be weight classes that Region 3 will only send 3 kids for the State Tournament. Very sad

You are spot on!!!!!!!!

Fan 1977 wrote:I think that they should go ahead and move Hurricane and Spring Valley to Region 3 and bring St Albans and GW to Region 4. Region 4 needs the top 7 teams. One question. Do the people that make these decisions even go to the State Tournament? Have they ever attended any matches? This is going to be worse than it was in the 70's and 80's when Region 1 dominated. I feel sorry for Hurricane and Spring Valley. They may not qualify any wrestlers next year.

They might average qualifying 1-2 wrestlers a year for the next 5 to 10 years. Nothing against their programs. They are simply going to be outgunned.

I feel we will go through a season of this madness and then the uproar we have in the forum will transfer to the WVSSAC.

admin wrote:Working on the new region maps for next year and I went to the WVSSAC site to double check the new alignments.

http://www.wvssac.org/classificiations/

The alignments now listed at the WVSSAC site, which were posted some time after this thread started, are different than those which were widely discussed here: Namely, the latest info shows Ripley in Region 4.

AAA
Region I Brooke, Buckhannon-Upshur, John Marshall, Morgantown, Preston, University, Wheeling Park

Region II Hampshire, Hedgesville, Jefferson, Martinsburg, Musselman, Spring Mills, Washington

Region III Capital, George Washington, Greenbrier East, Princeton, Riverside, South Charleston, St. Albans, Woodrow Wilson

Region IV Cabell Midland, Huntington, Hurricane, Parkersburg, Parkersburg South, Ripley, Spring Valley

AAA
Region I Berkeley Springs, Bishop Donahue, Cameron, East Fairmont, Fairmont Senior, Frankfort, Keyser, Madonna, Magnolia, North Marion, Oak Glen, Petersburg, Ritchie County, St. Mary’s, Tyler Consolidated, Weir, Wheeling Central

Region II Braxton County, Bridgeport, Clay County, Clay-Battelle, Doddridge County, East Hardy, Elkins, Grafton, Lewis County, Liberty, Lincoln, Moorefield, Philip Barbour, Roane County, Robert C Byrd, South Harrison

Region III Bluefield, Fayetteville, Greenbrier West, Herbert Hoover, Independence, Liberty (R), Meadow Bridge, Midland Trail, Nicholas County, Oak Hill, Pike View, Richwood, River View, Shady Spring, Webster County, Wyoming East

Region IV Buffalo, Calhoun County, Lincoln County, Logan, Mingo Central, Parkersburg Catholic, Point Pleasant, Nitro, Poca, Ravenswood, Sissonville, St. Joseph, Wahama, Williamstown, Winfield, Wirt

Just wanted to clarify.

At a glance, the four AA/A regions are respectable in terms of competitiveness.

Just looked at AA/A results from the state tournament and noticed that there were 10 teams scoring 0 points and 20 total teams under 10 points in the tournament. There are several more schools that either never qualified a wrestler or have no wrestling program. Interesting.........

It's really sad. The ones that get hurt are the wrestlers. You take a team/kid who puts in the off season work, wrestles, lifts weights, does the camps, and really stays dedicated. In region IV this may not be enough. You take PHS, South, Huntington, Midland, and Ripley.......for a kid from Hurricane or Spring Valley to beat one of their 4 kids in any given weight class is going to be a challenge, and that's putting it optimistically. How do you sell a kid on putting in all that work, sticking with the brutality of the season, and he knows good and well that his chances of getting to the big show at the end of February is slim at best. For teams trying to build a program that is respectable, it's a tough sell. Not all teams have the tradition that PHS, South, Huntington, Cabell Midland, and RIpley do. That tradition is built through winning and kids buying in to what you are selling. Hurricane qualified 8 wrestlers this year, had one on the podium as a placer.... Things look like they are headed in the right direction, then you look at this and it's like walking into a buzz saw. The kids coming back, who were close to placing at states or that finished 5th at Regional's are hurting. I don't think is what's best for the sport, building numbers, or inspiring competition. Just my opinion.

I looked at how another state divides the schools. I looked at Ohio (not that I want to copy Ohio). For each sport (except football) they count the number of schools that participate in the sport and divide it by the number of classifications. In Wrestling they have 3 classifications (Division 1, 2 and 3). Each sport is different (Basketball has 4, Swimming has 2). So since in Wrestling we have 2 classes (AAA and AA-A) and I counted 91 schools that participated in Wrestling this year you would take the top 7 schools in AA and add them to AAA. This means that Lincoln, Winfield, Oak Hill, Shady Spring, Elkins, Fairmont Sr and RCB would now be AAA.

aaacoach89 wrote:It's really sad. The ones that get hurt are the wrestlers. You take a team/kid who puts in the off season work, wrestles, lifts weights, does the camps, and really stays dedicated. In region IV this may not be enough. You take PHS, South, Huntington, Midland, and Ripley.......for a kid from Hurricane or Spring Valley to beat one of their 4 kids in any given weight class is going to be a challenge, and that's putting it optimistically. How do you sell a kid on putting in all that work, sticking with the brutality of the season, and he knows good and well that his chances of getting to the big show at the end of February is slim at best. For teams trying to build a program that is respectable, it's a tough sell. Not all teams have the tradition that PHS, South, Huntington, Cabell Midland, and RIpley do. That tradition is built through winning and kids buying in to what you are selling. Hurricane qualified 8 wrestlers this year, had one on the podium as a placer.... Things look like they are headed in the right direction, then you look at this and it's like walking into a buzz saw. The kids coming back, who were close to placing at states or that finished 5th at Regional's are hurting. I don't think is what's best for the sport, building numbers, or inspiring competition. Just my opinion.

Well Said! This should be forwarded to the principals who voted for this alignment.