WI Challege Series question

[2pointTakedown]

What is the breakdown that coaches use to determine who on thier team should wrestle in that JV event.

I looked at the brackets around the state and there were some kids that recently placed high at varsity events. Some used to be full time varsity with winning records and a few who used to be ranked in state.

What does a 9th grader learn to get thumped in :20 seconds?  But then again where does a former HS state qualifier go, when the state champ on thier team beats them out.  I did see many teams backed thier kids out this year and attendence was low in some regionals.

I like the concept. There should be more JV opportunity.

[2pointTakedown]

One more question. Why did Marshfield use a different bracket format to the event?  All other 7 regionals used 8,16,32 man brackets. In some cases there was no chance to even get 3rd if you lost in quarters in the front half of the bracket. I like how Marshfield did it.

[DocWrestling]

Here were the numbers at each Qualifier

Marshfield 107
EC North 138
Homestead 245
Little Chute 208
Middleton 209
Mineral Point 111
Racine Park 263
Sauk Prairie 163

That is 1,444 JV's getting an experience they never used to have.

And now 336 more get the awesome opportunity to wrestle at JV state.

[DocWrestling]

This was the first time I attended this event it is absolutely awesome for these kids.

I did see how difficult it is to manage when you have so many kids in a bracket and cannot wrestle back.  I felt bad for one senior from another team who is a true JV who lost his first match to the champion and never had a chance to make it to state when he likely would have with a different draw.

So it got me thinking on some possible ideas.  More qualifiers does not seem like the answer other than maybe going to 12 qualifiers and top 2 make it?

Maybe go to 2 divisions based on schools? top 2 make it?  Would that reduce the brackets at qualifiers enough to wrestle back?  Not sure that the state tournament could hold the 32 wrestlers per weight class

Maybe each team only gets to enter 1 JV in each weight class with the chance to go to state.  The rest of the JV's still get to go and wrestle but are put in a "silver" bracket.

Maybe we have two divisions based on age?  (freshman/sophomore) and (junior/senior) or even (freshman) and (Soph/junior/senior)

Is it possible at all to seed the bracket?  They do have records that could be used.

In the end all the kids are excited at the beginning to have a chance and most are not even disappointed at the format because they have never wrestled in a tourney where they did get to wrestle back.  Very surprised that more teams do not take advantage of this opportunity,

[2pointTakedown]

No doubt, a fantastic opportunity for JV kids that get very few matches now that they are in HS. We have kids that have only wrestled 2-3 times this year. A far cry from what they wrestled in middle school (30 matches)

This event could use some tweaking like Doc said. Two divisions based on the kids mat resume would make it very interesting.

JV-A (older and kids with past HS varsity experance or freshmen that are solid wrestlers, coaches know) top 2 make it
JV-B (new kids just learning the sport or little experience) top 2 make it

[Handles II]

Simple fix, allow wrestle-backs to 3rd place.

[shouldvewrestled]

Simple fix, allow wrestle-backs to 3rd place.

5 match a day rule doesn't allow for it. Varsity regionals would be the same thing if team score wasn't needed. Part of the reason for this series was to get that regional/sectional feel. If want matches on backside for experience can be set up to wrestle back to 5th and then just stop if match limit rule comes into effect for larger brackets. Make for a longer day though.

[DocWrestling]

Simple fix, allow wrestle-backs to 3rd place.

with 21 guys in a bracket there is no way to do that with 5-match rule

[Ghetto]

You beat me to it. They'd have to relax the five match rule.

[Coach V]

They are separated by ability if entered right-Excellent, good, average, beginner. That's how it was entered at the Little Chute Qualifier.


Each Regional is supposed to use the same brackets system so its fair to all. Not sure what Marshfield did or if it was different. Haven't had the time to look it up.

Excellent event. Our kids really look forward to it. Its awesome seeing them congratulated for qualifying for "JV" State. Just like if it was regular state., I can't imagine why someone wouldn't want their kids to experience this. I know different schedules and some go varsity tournaments on that day but.... change your schedule to let them experience this. So good for wrestling.

[DocWrestling]

Marshfield used a scramble bracket for some weight classes.

Little Chute asked for criteria but many coaches did not fill it in and from what I can tell they did not use that information to seed the brackets?

[2pointTakedown]

I saw coach listed ability was not used.

Saw brackets where all best kids listed by the coaches as excellent, good ect in the lower half of the bracket all together, where the beginner made the finals on upper half. Former ranked kid and a former state HS place winner met in Semi's. Owen Mastek Ellsworth vs Calab Hatch Hudson at EC North Regional.

[fryguy518]

Shouldnt be a 5 match per day rule on JV.  Let them wrestle til its done.  JMO

[aarons23]

I saw coach listed ability was not used.

Saw brackets where all best kids listed by the coaches as excellent, good ect in the lower half of the bracket all together, where the beginner made the finals on upper half. Former ranked kid and a former state HS place winner met in Semi's. Owen Mastek Ellsworth vs Calab Hatch Hudson at EC North Regional.

Former high school state place winner???  They should not have been allowed to participat to begin with.

[littleguy301]

I know there was 1 former state placer winner that wrestled in the challege series. I may add he isnt on varsity and doesnt have a varsity match this year. Cannt crack the line up.

I would guess this does happen in a few cases, former place winners that got squeezed out of the line up.

The only question I have for this series is age. I noticed some seniors in this. I would question this to some degree but once again there are some pretty tough teams out there and sometimes kids just cannt crack the line up.