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Singular State Format Proposal


wosbodog
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It seems like the regions get changed up every year or two, and the latest results of the duals will undoubtedly continue the debate about how to fairly divide them up; with evidence such as Bradley Central failing to make the state tourney for the first time in 15 years (or so I've heard), I think an equilibrium regarding the balance of giving the most deserving wrestlers/teams their shots and keeping the regions geographically suitable may yet be a long way off. I just wanted to throw in my two cents for how I envision the most fair region-to-state qualification format for the individual tournament that I can think of:

 

I want to begin with the premise that Division I and Division II are combined as a singular championship ... just go with it for the hypothesis's sake...

 

8 regions I agree seems to be the ideal number for our state. Ideally they should be evenly dispersed, but obviously demographics prevent that from being so, so you have to go with the best estimate, centering each region around the primary cities or areas. In my view, it's something like..

1. Northeast Tennessee, Johnson City area (includes Science Hill as the traditionally strongest team)

2. Knoxville area (Karns, Farragut, etc; Webb and Catholic to be added from D-II)

3. Chattanooga area (all of the "423" zone; Soddy, Ooltewah, Bradley and Cleveland, Baylor and McCallie, etc)

4. Intermediate TN (the far-stretching but less-populated "931" area including Cookeville and Tullahoma)

5. Middle TN East (Murfreesboro, and northward stretch to Wilson/Mt. Juliet, plus Hendersonville)

6. Nashville area (Father Ryan/MBA/BA and others in addition to Williamson and Davidson County schools)

7. Middle TN West (Clarksville, Dickson County, intermediate west TN)

8. West TN (All of Memphis including Christian Brothers; Jackson TN, and surrounding areas)

 

Now, the tricky part, formatting the qualification for State in a way that gives the most justified wrestlers entry while balancing the lopsided imbalance of power among the regions. Fear not, for behold my solution!

 

All regions send their top 3 finishers to State. That makes 24 total entries. Now tally up the total points scored in the previous individual state tournament; grant the regions with the two highest scores entry for top 6 finishers, so most likely the Chattanooga and Nashville regions get 6 qualifiers instead of 3, making the total number of State qualifiers 30. Then take the next two highest-scoring regions or just take turns each year and give them top-4 entry, making the final number of State qualifiers 32.

 

Yeah it's probably the last thing everyone wants on their mind right now, but that's an idea of the model that could be used in time to come.

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The previous proposal rewards historical performance, not performance in the current year. So if Region X dominates state in 2012 they are rewarded in 2012 with additional wrestlers, even if it happens to be a down year in said region the following year. Meanwhile Region Y is outstanding in 2013, following a down year in 2012, but has to watch as Region X sends additional representatives to the state tourney. By doing this you would make it nearly impossible for those regions not so rewarded to field a state championship team, this system appears has more to do with rewarding the Chattanooga teams and perpetuating their dominance than it does with rewarding the competitors. Leave the format alone, each and every team and wrestler in the state knows what they have to do to reach the tournament(s), don't mess it up by introducing some complicated format and more politics than normal into the process.

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Instead of worrying about changing the tournament, and whether all the Chattanooga area schools made the duals competition, we should be promoting High School wrestling throughout the state in every High school and Middle school. (Many schools have teams in name only with only a handful of wrestlers, four years ago one team in our region put a wrestler on the mat in every weight class, today they don't have a team).

 

We need to get coverage in the local media for our teams to promote interest from athletes (it shouldn't be the primary motivation to wrestle, but everyone likes to see their name in print) and improve attendance at events to make the teams more viable economically. Our local paper doesn't believe they should cover wrestling until Region and State, meanwhile football PREseason coverage was two complete pages for each and every team in our area (9 teams), our wrestling teams get none, unless your'e the best team in the region.

 

If kids were more aware wrestling and the opportunity it provides for competition both on the individual and team level, many more would participate which would increase the interest level among families and in the communities involved.

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Agreed-best forumla; best wrestling ever

While this is a great idea let's tell the truth, it's not going to happen. The D1 schools ask for the financial aid schools to be placed in another division and they were granted their wish. Even though traditional wrestling states like NY, NJ, PA, OH, MN, MI, OK, CA, etc... have the financial aid schools wrestling against the non financial aid giving schools Tennessee went another direction. For things to ever change back to the way they once were it will take very progressive thinking people on the D1 side to request the change. IMO, all individual sports should only have one champion!

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