Little to be desired about State Duals format

DES MOINES -- Some were in it to win it, while many others weren't technically even in it.

The buzz leading up to the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Duals tournament became its theme Wednesday when many teams fielded reserves and sat out state qualifiers during the team championship event.

The biggest example came from Class 3A top-seeded South Polk, which entered the tournament 23-0 and didn't even weigh-in one of its class-high 12 individual state qualifiers. Fifth-seeded Linn-Mar weighed its nine state qualifiers but none of them took the mat Wednesday. Streicher did, however, wrestler his five starters who did not advance to state.

"Our approach was to give our kids wrestling tomorrow the best chance to win a state title or as high as they can on the podium, " Streicher said. "We talked about maybe in the first round if we could get in the top four and get through the first round wrestling one or two guys if the dual is close.”

That was the common practice among coaches in all classes. The attitudes were similar but the execution was different. While Linn-Mar kept its qualifiers off the mat, Cedar Rapids Prairie settled for limiting their state qualifiers.

“We wanted to make sure to get our guys a match today,” Williams said. “That was our goal and still do the best we can as a team with that in mind.”

IHSAA Executive Director Alan Beste didn't waver on Wells Fargo Arena being a "great venue" for the new state tournament format. He was not critical of the influx of reserves in the competition.

"We saw a lot of kids who got to wrestle today that maybe wouldn't normally wrestle in a traditional State Dual (tournament) if it was held a week from now," Beste said. "Whether that's good or bad, I don't know if I can be the judge of that. Those are decisions that coaches have to make based on whether they want to go for a team championship or whether they're holding kids to go for individual championships over the next three days. I would never question a coach on those kinds of decisions."

The IHSAA will consult coaches about changes during their regular spring meeting with an advisory committee, consisting of wrestling coaches.

"We were able to do some things here that we weren't able to do in Cedar Rapids. Overall, we're extremely happy with the tournament," Beste said. "We'll have a lot of discussions with coaches on the advisory committee when its over, talk about what they liked and didn't like. Maybe the timing of it. Maybe the logistics of it. Those kinds of things.

"Will we tweak some things for the future? I'm sure we will."

Wrestling is an individual sport. Even though the team component might be helpful for the sport to grow. Most coaches weren't willing to risk the goals of one for the other.

“That's the approach I took,” Streicher said, “how do I justify it to a parent that had their kid travel all over the place, spending thousands of dollars and umpteen hours in a car to get them in a position to win a state title and get hurt on a situation like that.”

The biggest fear became a reality when Nashua-Plainfield's Cody Marks tried to help the Huskies capture a team trophy. The fifth-ranked Marks qualified for state at 138 pounds and wrestled 145 in a semifinal dual against Don Bosco. He lost 3-0 and a chance to compete Thursday, breaking his hand according to Huskies Coach Al Frost after the meet.

Large-school coaches had to keep in mind the overall schedule of the first two days in Des Moines. With the placing rounds of the dual set for 5 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, 3A wrestlers had a quick turnaround with their individual state tournament starting at 9 a.m. Thursday.

“They would do it and could do it,” Prairie Coach Blake Williams said. “Personally, I don't think it's in their best interest.

“They need to focus on (Thursday) morning at this stage.”

The stage of the tournament also influenced how coaches handled their lineups. Alburnett Coach Kane Thompson has led the Pirates to the State Duals for the second straight year - the only two appearances by the 1A school. He wrestled all of his starters in the fourth-seeded Pirates' opening dual. After they lost, he rested more as the consolations continued.

“I told our guys if we're going to show up at a state event, we're going to come to win,” Thompson said. “I really believed we could win that dual, but it didn't go our way.”

Alburnett's 54-30 win over Martensdale-St. Mary's for seventh place last 18 minutes. Five matches were forfeited.

"It shows you this isn't the right venue for it," Thompson said. "We're talking a placing match. Usually, it's teams with similar ability. It should last at least an hour."

As numerous possible matchups between ranked wrestlers didn't materialize - like three-time state champion and top-ranked 126-pounder Cory Clark and former state champion and No. 3-ranked Eric DeVos of Waverly-Shell Rock or a rubber match between Iowa City West's Phillip Laux and No. 4 Josh Wenger of Cedar Rapids Prairie - neither did the excitement of the crowd. Pockets of cheers rang at times, but it lacked intensity often experienced at Wells Fargo Arena.

“Even the first round it was dead in here,” Thompson said. “It was hard to get a crowd going and behind you.”

Those claims seem counter-productive to the reasons the IHSAA made the changes.

"The reason we made the change in the dual team format was we're really trying to inject a little more enthusiasm into dual-team wrestling," Beste said. "There are a lot of fans that don't get to see their wrestlers compete very often in dual meets at home.

"Our hope is if we can create some excitement here that maybe we haven't been able to create before that will carry over to the dual-team regular season as well."

Some top-ranked wrestlers were in favor of wrestling a full slate Wednesday. Williams had a hard time keeping defending state champion and two-time finalist Zach Witte from competing. Alburnett's Tyler Shulista lobbied for three matches.

"I don't like to lose," Shulista said. "I figured I'd wrestle all three to help the team win."

Linn-Mar senior 220-pounder A.J. Garcia said sitting around the entire day was a disadvantage to some, although the Lions managed to practice between sessions. He was fine rooting on teammates instead of producing wins.

"It's not bad I'm supporting my teammates," Garcia said. That's not a problem."

He experienced the State Duals last year and said it provided some redemption after a disappointing individual tournament. Garcia enjoyed the tournament better a year ago.

"It takes away from the state duals itself," Garcia said about the new schedule.

There were teams focused on success Wednesday, making the Duals a priority. Second-seeded West Delaware had a goal to win a dual-team title all season. They were willing to accept the consequences of earning that achievement.

“We came in here with a goal to win a state championship,” West Delaware Coach Jeff Voss said. “If that meant our state qualifiers had to wrestle three matches then they were going to do it.

“At this point of the season we're in pretty good condition. If the dual was decided, I'd pull one or two state qualifiers, but otherwise they came in knowing they could wrestle three matches.”

The accomplishments from teams at the State Duals may not include an asterisk, but doubts will linger. Many were asking if top-seeded Clarion-Goldfield fielded its varsity lineup when No. 8 West Branch beat them, 40-24, in the Bears inaugural appearance. Clarion-Goldfield wrestled seven of its first eight state qualifiers, forfeiting the final weight after West Branch locked up the dual.

William said you can't take away anything the teams earn today. Voss said how teams handled their lineups would not affect how his team reached theirs accomplishments.

“We try to put them in the best position to do that,” Voss said. “What other teams do that's up to them.”

The opinions that teams wouldn't field state qualifiers and the team competition would be a lackluster event came to fruition somewhat Wednesday. The way teams approached the state competition should be a sign things need to be altered.

“It needs to be re-evaluated,” Williams said. “There's no doubt about that.”

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