wvmat.com

I have a question regarding the Middle School Poll? I noticed that the first one of the year was released this morning, who votes in the poll? Is it a committee like the NCAA uses for college football and stuff or can any middle school wrestling coach vote? The reason I ask is because I know of some teams not even mentioned that have finished ahead of other schools currently listed. I don't know if results were unavailable to the ones voting on certain matches/tournaments or if results were even submitted. I know its early in the season and a lot can happen (teams still trying to shift lineups around and stuff). I am grateful that WVMAT does this poll, without this site and this poll, middle school wrestling really wouldn't get the attention it gets now.

I always thought that middle school coaches voted on it.

The middle school coaches do indeed vote on it. This time of the season it is usually quite inaccurate because we have very little in terms of results to go on. Some coaches/Scorers do not send in results, some put them in the forum instead of submitting in the form Doc has set up, etc. As the year rolls along and more results come in it gets better. One additional problem is some schools who wrestle mainly out of state teams like Oak Glen for example or teams in the eastern panhandle seldom wrestle other WV teams so it is hard to judge for the results we do get. In my 25+ years of coaching I found in almost all of the cases the coaches tried their best to vote honestly and to the best of their ability. I can only recall a couple of times when a coach left out a rival or voted them lower because of the animosity. Wrestling coaches are a great bunch of people. One way you can help is make sure your team results are posted. If the coach is not willing to do it then offer to help. There is a link on the front page and it is easy to do. Hope it si the best possible poll that we can make it because these young men deserve a world of recognition for what they achieve.

When does the next poll come out?

December 18
Jan 15 (mid season)
Jan 29 (after WSAZ)
Feb 20 (final)