MVC adopts new schedule format for wrestling

The Mississippi Valley Conference has altered its scheduled format for the 2010-11 prep wrestling season.The conference switched to double-dual competition on Thursday night, adding an extra dual for teams, in hope to get wrestlers more matches and to ensure all 14 conference teams.A schedule was in place, but was reconstructed for the trial run of this new format, according to MVC Commissioner Randy Krejci.“There are definitely some strengths and weaknesses to the whole thing,” said Krejci, later adding, “As a neutral party, I can certainly a lot of the good things with this.”The goal was to provide more matches, countering the increased number of forfeits from some programs, and to determine a true dual champion.“It's good for the kids in the fact they get one extra match, if a team doesn't have a full lineup. At least kids are weigh in for a reason,” Cedar Rapids Kennedy Coach Brent Paulson said. “I think it's good all the conference teams wrestle each other. All teams wrestle each other andit will be easier to seed when the conference tournament comes around. It's a little more legitimate to crown conference champions in both divisions.”The new format, agreed to by the coach at last year's MVC tournament, has teams wrestling two meets. The home team will wrestle the team that travels the furthest in the opening dual, followed by the two visiting teams meet with the home team and the closer visiting team in the nightcap. Junior varsity duals are held on an adjacent mat at the same time. If one finishes early, remaining matches are moved to the empty mat. With 14 MVC teams, two teams will wrestle a single intracity dual.“There is one dual going on every time there is this set of conference matches,” Krejci said. “That will be typical throughout the season.”Linn-Mar Coach Doug Streicher and Cedar Rapids Jefferson Coach Dick Briggs voiced concerns about returning to school after 10 p.m. last Thursday. The Lions wrestled at Cedar Rapids Xavier, while J-Hawks were only about 40 minutes away in Iowa City.“It makes for a longer night,” Streicher noted in an email. “It will be even worse when we have a double dual in Dubuque when we are the second and third dual.”Briggs echoed those sentiments and noted trips north will interfere with school.“When we go to Dubuque we'll have to pull kids out of class,” Briggs said. "I don't like doing that. I've never liked doing that.”Streicher mentioned more wrestlers causes longer weigh-ins and less time to recover for some before competition. Paulsonalso said the schedule could be a grind as the season progresses, and Briggs said running two mats at the end makes the outcome confusing in a close meet, like his 37-36 win by criteria over Iowa City High. It's a work in progress and may not be permanent.“I do see value the way they're doing the schedule for the 2010-11 season,” Krejci said. “It will be some time during the season, perhaps the postseason coaches meeting, whether they'll want to continue with this or scrap it and try another format.”