AAA 138 by Region

[Bearhugger]

Christmas is behind us but here is what Santa has left for the AAA 138 pounders to unwrap in 2017:

Region 1: Zero forfeits. Seven wrestlers. There is one returning fourth placer. Zero qualifiers. The door is open for three New State Tournament Qualifiers(NSTQ).

Region 2: One forfeit. Six wrestlers. There are zero place winners. Two returning qualifiers. Santa has left two gifts for two NSTQs.

Region 3: THREE whopping forfeits. Five wrestlers. One returning 6th placer. Two qualifiers. ZERO gifts. The Grinch delivered St. Albans freshman Caleb Haynes who will win this region and be bringing strong contention for the state title.

Region 4: One forfeit. Six wrestlers. One returning champion. One returning runner up. One returning 6th placer. Two returning qualifiers. 4 - 5 = -1.

This weight class will be battling it out with 160 for being the baddest of the bad in AAA. However, unlike 160, 138 has a crummy situation in region 4 where there are more quality wrestlers than there are available slots.

[vortexfan]

One of the 138s will not be at state and are very good wrestlers and is deserving placing in states! Sad the best wrestlers will not be at states!

[mscoach4]

Region 4 analysis by weight
106 - 4 of the top 10 in the state
113 - 5 of the top 10 in the state
120 - 5 of the top 10 in the state including #1 #2 & #3
126 - 3 of the top 10 in the state
132 - 4 of the top 10 in the state
138 - 4 of the top 10 in the state including 4 out of the top 5
145 - 4 of the top 10 in the state
152 - 5 of the top 10 in the state
160 - 2 of the top 10 in the state
170 - 4 of the top 10 in the state
182 - 5 of the top 10 in the state
195 - 4 of the top 10 in the state
220 - 3 of the top 10 in the state
285 - 4 of the top 10 in the state
At least 4 ranked wrestlers in the region will not be in the state tourney.

[aaacoach89]

Yet there are regions that cannot fill their weight classes for the state tournament with 4 wrestlers. I have seen threads that say there is nothing that can be done this year, but I do not understand why. It seems like an easy fix, some regions have a surplus and some don't have enough. Taking the 5th place finishers out of the regions that have a surplus to fill the empty slots seems simple. If there is a question of which 5th placer to use, refer to their strength of schedule, common opponents, previous state tournament appearances, or something. The system will not be perfect, but it is better than just sticking our head in the sand and not doing anything. Before anyone says.....we can address that for next year.....how does that help the wrestlers that get left out this year? Some of those kids are seniors, to not put an interim system in place now is just wrong. That is an experience they can never get back, and the powers that be have the ability to do something about it. The sad thing is, when the regions were realigned people could see this coming, and failed to address it then.

[mike.carman]

Yet there are regions that cannot fill their weight classes for the state tournament with 4 wrestlers. I have seen threads that say there is nothing that can be done this year, but I do not understand why. It seems like an easy fix, some regions have a surplus and some don't have enough. Taking the 5th place finishers out of the regions that have a surplus to fill the empty slots seems simple. If there is a question of which 5th placer to use, refer to their strength of schedule, common opponents, previous state tournament appearances, or something. The system will not be perfect, but it is better than just sticking our head in the sand and not doing anything. Before anyone says.....we can address that for next year.....how does that help the wrestlers that get left out this year? Some of those kids are seniors, to not put an interim system in place now is just wrong. That is an experience they can never get back, and the powers that be have the ability to do something about it. The sad thing is, when the regions were realigned people could see this coming, and failed to address it then.

I agree. There should be an at large bid, just like NCAA. I can tell you this. Nothing will change until next year when the rules committee for the WVSSAC meets. They only do rule changes once a year(pathetic) and the proposed changes need to be submitted almost a year in advance of the meeting not to mention the bureaucratic nonsense you have to go through to get one submitted. Very poor setup considering the state of technology these days. It's not like they can't communicate throughout the year. That and they try to lump all sports together which is next to impossible.

[wvnorth]

When I was a young Navy man we could change 2 F-14 Tomcat engines, test and return to service in a 12 hr day. Changing a rule requires discussion, agreement and signatures. That's basically move your mouth, nod your head then wiggle your hand. Maybe a bad analogy but it boils down to people willing to work or not.

[dunbar76]

Totally agree with aaacoach89 and wv north. Do something now!!!! Fine tune it next year.

[mscoach4]

While I agree that the new AAA regional alignment is totally unfair and some very good #5 regional placers will not wrestle at the state tourney I do not see an easy solution. Heres why, lets say team A has a strong #5 regional placer in lets say the 138 pound class & there is an opening because of no #4 wrestler in another region while team B has a very strong #5 in the 285 pound class but there are no empty slots in the other regions. Would this be fair to team B ? Some will say let them wrestle without scoring but they will still affect team scoring for other teams if they win any matches. I could see coaches trying to position wrestlers to take advantage of this when they observe which weight classes have a lack of wrestlers around the state. Some of you will remember 1977 when the top 4 teams in AAA were seperated by 3 1/2 points. Don't get me wrong though, I am all for the best 16 wrestlers in each class wrestling in Huntington but like I said before I don't see an easy fix. I say the regions need realligned with less regard to geography, after all we travel all over the state to wrestle anyway.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Just my 2 cents

[vortexfan]

Just sad that the best wrestlers may not be in States bottom line, I think for the sport this should be the objective for the decision makers to do, not penalize a good wrestler just because if the region they are in.