IHSAA Board of Control votes to move State Duals to Des Moines; traditional state back to three days

The Iowa High School Athletic Association Board of Control met Wednesday and approved to move the State Duals tournament to the Wednesday following district competition with the traditional state meet, beginning the following day and concluding Saturday.

The change is permanent, according to IHSAA Assistant Executive Director Alan Beste, who oversees wrestling. He also said that the decision wasn't based on renovations being done to the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, which had hosted the event since 1994. Renovations were forcing the IHSAA to find a replacement site for the 2012 tournament.

The release states, "The Board of Control of the Athletic Association wants to thank the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids where the State Dual Team Wrestling Tournament was since 1994. They were excellent hosts for 17 years and their hospitality was second-to-none.

"While the Cellular Center is not available for the 2012 dual team tournament due to renovations, that is not the primary reason for the change. Changing the individual state tournament to a three-day format allows the state duals to be wrestled on eight mats in Wells Fargo Arena."

According to the news release, the State Duals tournament averaged 5,200 fans in attendance in the 25 years of its existence.

The traditional state tournament, held at Wells Fargo Arena since 2006, was a three-day event before changing to a four-day format in 2003 while Veterans Auditorium, the old host venue across the street from Wells Fargo Arena, underwent renovations.

Below is a release from the IHSAA about today's meeting:

IHSAA Board of Control Release April 27, 2011(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();