Wisconsin Rapids Regional

foxyfarmchick · March 10, 2014, 08:16:35 PM

I understand that the Merrill regionals were moved to Wisconsin Rapids. Rumor has it that they will only have 6 mats at the very most and only 1 set of bleachers pulled out for seating. I've been in this school and gym, and they don't have the room like Merrill who ran 9 mats. I hope they are not planning on running half mats because that is just unacceptable for a Regional State Qualifying Tournament. I also don't believe Rapids has a folkstyle youth wrestling tournament, so I'm thinking things will not be ran smoothly. Can anyone from Rapids confirm how many mats they will have? Will Rapids be doing half mats to speed things up? Should be packing a lunch and supper for myself and kids? Should bring my own chairs?

Rapids · March 11, 2014, 08:53:40 AM

Foxy...your rumor source is wrong and so are your facts regarding the Merrill regional last year. Merrill has a great facility and has done a great job with this event in the past. However....

Merrill ran 7 mats last year and Rapids will be running 7 mats this year. (no half mats) The State Freestyle ran in Rapids for 20+ years (State Greco for many of those years as well) along with numerous other open events. The setup will be very similar to when these events ran with 750+ wrestlers for FS in one day. Rapids does not currently run a youth folkstyle event but I would say that running state level events should provide confidence to those considering coming that this event will run well.

catzfan · March 11, 2014, 09:21:47 AM

Is this a tactic to scare people to other regionals? Lol. Merrill was top notch. Always. Rapids will do a great job as well.

HMsDad · March 11, 2014, 09:42:04 AM

Quote from: catzfan on March 11, 2014, 09:21:47 AM
Is this a tactic to scare people to other regionals? Lol. Merrill was top notch. Always. Rapids will do a great job as well.

That was my first thought.LOL

MatCat · March 11, 2014, 11:07:30 AM

Catzfan, here I thought it was you always scaring people away!!

kmoc33 · March 11, 2014, 11:42:51 AM

This is like saying I hate everything about Fords, but I'm gonna buy one anyways. DONT GO THEN! There are 7 other ones to choose from. According to Rapids, everything you said was false so appologize immediately. Please

wrestlinglife1 · March 11, 2014, 01:16:27 PM

Ken, I was about to buy a Ford too......

Being at the Rapids Freestyle/Greco State tournament for many years can varify that the tournament has always ran smooth. It was a little snug, but chances are there won't be that number of kids at the regional that were at State. (Remember that includes the High Schoolers as well)

The Rapids family that is in place has been doing this forever.....That Regional will be just fine.

juso07 · March 11, 2014, 05:31:18 PM

I am quite sure Rapids will do just fine. Even with the lack of space I never had an issue with how they ran fs/greco state.

ChargerDad · March 11, 2014, 08:15:15 PM

My biggest concern with the regionals in rapids is the geographic location.. It's about as far south in that region as you can get, and leaves the kids in the northern edges of that region a LONG ways to travel (google map Ashland or Bad River to Wisconsin Rapids).. I do feel though after attending the FS/Greco tourney there last April that if they get the same numbers as Merrill did for regionals last year that it's going to be pretty cramped. For the kids that go there (it IS all about the kids), I hope I'm delusional:-)

ChargerDad · March 12, 2014, 01:21:38 PM

Wisconsin Rapids is located 9 miles north of the southern most boundry of the section it's supposed to serve, and it's 185 miles to Ashland which is on the far end of the same section.. I would think there are fewer wrestlers up that direction, but still..

Here are the distances from Wisconsin Rapids to every other Regional Qualifying Tournament.. Wisconsin Rapids is closer by at least 20 miles to EVERY other Regional Qualifying tournament than it is to the other end of it's own section.

Bay Port - 101 miles
Middleton - 107 miles
Fon du Lac - 103 miles
Lake Geneva - 173 miles
River Falls - 165 miles
Westby - 94.7 miles
Mineral Point - 120 miles

Those kids in the northern part of the state had a long enough drive to get to Merrill, and now it's an extra hour for reasons that are beyond my understanding. There is no way you can convince me that what's in the best interest of the kids drove the decision to move this years Regional Qualifying tournament to Wisconsin Rapids.

HMsDad · March 12, 2014, 02:32:26 PM

If you go look at the regional sites on track you can see teams that have kids registered. Ashland has at least one kid pre registered in Westby and that is it. That's 250 miles as opposed to Rapids 228 miles. Why not go to River Falls 175 miles?

Merrill is 142 miles from Ashland. Did Merrill just not want to host anymore? I'm asking because I don't know how this works as to who the host is.

Maybe regions need to be looked at being redrawn. How were they selected in the first place?

ChargerDad · March 12, 2014, 02:45:26 PM

I'm not sure exactly how the hosts get chosen, but I'm pretty sure that Merrill did not choose to pass on hosting.. No matter where you go from Ashland it's going to be a haul because the population density up there means there aren't as many wrestlers, but to put the qualifier 9 miles from the district boundry just seems to give off the stink of a decision based on politics, not on what's best for the youth wrestlers of Wisconsin.

It's pretty obvious that there aren't a ton of wrestlers as far north as Ashland, but it should also be pretty obvious that the Wisconsin Rapids location is nowhere near centrally located in it's District. If you looked at the District Map at http://www.wiwrestlingfederation.com/page/show/984344-state-districts and realized that Wisconsin Rapids would be barely off the black south border of the county line on the southern most county in the district, it looks pretty crazy.

HMsDad · March 12, 2014, 02:52:58 PM

Again I ask because I don't know how it works. Why does the WWF have regional boundaries? Wrestlers are not restricted by them in the youth. You can go to any qualifying site so why have a boundary?

Ino · March 12, 2014, 03:50:40 PM

Bay Port and River Falls are also at the southern end of their district.

http://www.wiwrestlingfederation.com/page/show/984344-state-districts

HMsDad · March 12, 2014, 04:02:15 PM

Quote from: Ino on March 12, 2014, 03:50:40 PM
Bay Port and River Falls are also at the southern end of their district.

http://www.wiwrestlingfederation.com/page/show/984344-state-districts

Superior to River falls is around 160 miles.