Freestyle & Greco State tournament history?

[Greco]

I have heard that back in the 90's we had regionals to qualify for Freestyle state and that Folk Style state was not even in existence. Was Greco Roman right along with Freestyle or was Freestyle the only thing? When did it start? When did it end? How many regionals did they have in the state for it? Are there records of placings somewhere?

[gablesgrip1]

I remember(I have a chart and i use to write things down)in 1981 I qualified from Sparta and wrestled AAU freestyle state @ river falls.  The next year it was at wisconsin rapids

[DocWrestling]

In the 80's freestyle state and Greco state were held at Rapids HS.  I seem to remember some years when there were regionals and some when they were not.  State tournament used the same bracket format that Fargo uses today.  Not sure what that type of bracket is called anymore.  Seems like I remember more than 16 kids in a bracket though.

All community tournaments were folkstyle but state was freestyle and Greco.  I think it was the only time we competed in freestyle or Greco but we practiced it a lot.

The goal at state was to place in the top 4 to qualify for Northern Plains regional which seemed to always be in Iowa at that time.  I remember going to Buena Vista college in Storm Lake, IA a few times.  Qualifying for Northen Plains was a goal and big deal then.

Small little circles with all the refs wearing the white shirts with one shoulder red and one shoulder blue.

[bulldog90]

Not real sure about greco, remember going to West Bend once for state, didn't have to qualify. I graduated in 1990 and FS had six regionals when I was in youth and the # of qualifiers was based on the amount of wrestlers in the class. I remember getting through in sixth once but a huge weight class, at least 6 or 7 matches. I'm pretty sure at least 2 wrestlers for every class. I think the mid weights that were full had up to 36 per class at Rapids.

[boowrestle]

Early 80s freestyle state at Wi rapids i can remember many long days and really big brackets.Everything done by hand(no trackwrestling lol).I can remember yrs when wrestling was still going on 10/11pm,and nobody complained.(wouldnt fly nowdays lol).The good old days!!

[Wrestlingfan13]

They also had greco state in Racine .. freestyle I dont remember as much? Was at Racine Park in the field house. Mid 1990s/ 1994-5?

[hasbeen132]

i remember having to qualify for state freestyle (late 70s) state was held at Wisconsin Rapids and got done at 3 am! don't remember greco. i also remember wrestling aau at river falls high school. In fact the kid i meet in the finals (i think we were in 7th grade) we meet again as seniors in high school for sectional finals to go to wiaa state! i also remember wrestling freestyle at uw river falls at karges gym, not sure if that was regional for state. Not sure how it worked out but i qualified for nationals aau at council bluffs IA. don't remember when aau dropped wrestling but it was big for a while.

[bigoil]

We had several organizations ....

USWF, AAU etc.

In the early 80's like doc said, we transitioned from folk to free. State was at rapids. Top two went on to northern plains. One year was at Williams arena, I lost to some guy named Matt Demeray. Next year I think it was in Storm Lake, Iowa (Buena Vista).

I also recall a "regional nationals" AAU meet at the Dells. I remember winning freestyle and we stuck around the next day with the Hall brothers, I won the Greco against one other person. Freestyle meets typically had 40 plus kids in a bracket.

I think it was that tourney that then qualified you for Indianapolis, I believe 1983, Dennis would have been in 6th grade and was already a known wrestler, it was fun hanging with WI guys.

[LaValle]

Back in the mid to late 70's AAU and USWF sponsored.  Greco state was for the oldest group only.  The youth only had freestyle.  Many a time wrestled 4th or 5th match around midnight in River Falls.  Attended regionals also in Mineral Point and Lodi.

Everything was scored as black points.  Accumulate too many and done for the day.  Just the opposite of today's.

[bigoil]

Correct, sometime around '82-'84 we went to good points.

[Harris]

We had several organizations ....

USWF, AAU etc.

In the early 80's like doc said, we transitioned from folk to free. State was at rapids. Top two went on to northern plains. One year was at Williams arena, I lost to some guy named Matt Demeray. Next year I think it was in Storm Lake, Iowa (Buena Vista).

I also recall a "regional nationals" AAU meet at the Dells. I remember winning freestyle and we stuck around the next day with the Hall brothers, I won the Greco against one other person. Freestyle meets typically had 40 plus kids in a bracket.

I think it was that tourney that then qualified you for Indianapolis, I believe 1983, Dennis would have been in 6th grade and was already a known wrestler, it was fun hanging with WI guys.

Wow - that brought back some memories 

[Houndhead]

I wrestled Northern Plains freestyle one year at Wisconsin Rapids, probably 1979 or 1980. I think there fieldhouse was brand new at the time. For some reason, I think the state freestyle was in Lax one of those years. And we always went to G-E-T for freestyle regionals. The high school freestyle and greco was held in Wisconsin Dells.

[dman]

Late 80's early 90's you had to qualify for freestyle state and state was held in rapids.  The quilifying tournament had cross bracketing so there were a lot of kids and the state tournament was held over two days....friday you wrestled two matches and then saturday you wrestled a heck of a lot more and got done pretty late.  You had to place top 3 to qualify for Norther Plains.  Wish someone had the results from that long a go!?!? 

[DV]

There was also the Northern Plains Juniors in La Crosse.  You saw some of the best wrestlers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and a smattering of other states sprinkled across the field.  First day was Greco and the second day was freestyle.  That was an open tournament, and some of the weight classes had 75+ kids (two brackets: A and B).

As for Rapids (freestyle) in the late 80's and early 90's, I remember Ellsworth was one of the regionals to qualify.  I don't remember how many from each regional went to Rapids, but the top four at Rapids earned a trip to the Northern Plains Championships (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota were participating states).  They rotated states to host each year.  Freestyle state in Rapids was my favorite tournament of the year.

Greco in the same time frame was an open tournament, and I remember Fort Atkinson hosted it a few years and also Middleton.

[Swampy]

Houndhead....79 Northern Plains was at Rapids.  I remember, I not old enough to wrestle in it "but" somehow got to wrestle, my birth certificate must have gotten switched with one of my older brothers ..