State Duals to remain the same, only minor changes to postseason (updated)

As odd as it might sounds, no news is news when it comes to the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Duals tournament.

IHSAA Executive Director Alan Beste, who oversees wrestling, confirmed Tuesday that that the State Duals format will not change for 2013, and will remain the Wednesday before a three-day individual state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Last season, the IHSAA moved the team competition from the weekend following the traditional state tournament to the day before the storied wrestling event.

The Board of Control met in April and determined some changes will take effect next year, but the State Duals format does not appear to be one of them. The changes include scoring all Class 1A and 2A sectionals and district tournaments in 3A as an eight-wrestler bracket, 1A and 2A regional dual sites will be determined after the second set of rankings from the second set of Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association dual team rankings, attempting to have eight of the top 16 ranked schools host and that www.trackwrestling,com be used for all sectional, district and regional dual meets.

"We had the wrestling coaches advisory committee come in and talk a lot about all aspects of postseason," Beste said in a phone interview to The Gazette Tuesday afternoon. "It was our determination, and they supported it, that if state dual team wrestlign was going to be a marquee event that it needed to be part of the total tournament series that occurred at Wells Fargo Arena."

The results from last year were mostly lackluster, except for a few highlights including the 2A Championship dual where Davenport Assumption edged West Delaware in a dual that was decided in the final minute of the final match, and West Branch's strong run in its State Duals debut that saw the No. 8 seed in 1A dropped No. 1 Clarion-Goldfield in the opening round and place third.

Many teams refused to wrestle their state qualifiers, sacrificing team accomplishments for the protection of the individual. After all, the sport is first and foremost and individual sport with a team dynamic. Linn-Mar Coach Doug Streicher decided not to wrestle a state qualifier, filling the majority of his lineup with reserves. Southeast Polk, the top-seed in 3A and a favorite to win its first state title in any boys' varsity sport, didn't weigh-in a single state qualifier.

Streicher's opinion and approach to the tournament, if Linn-Mar qualifies, will remain constant. The individuals' goals outweigh the team competition.

"Nothing changes in my mind," Streicher said to The Gazette. "It wasn't a good scenario last year and it's not going to get any better the longer they do it.

"Obviously, they came up with some positives of how it worked last year, but I didn't see many positives out of it."

Bettendorf routed West Des Moines Valley in the finals. The Tigers sat their state qualifiers in the championship dual. The finals were late at night with 3A kicking off the traditional tournament at 9 a.m. the next day. Beste has not had issue with a lineup of reserves is beneficial to the sport, providing more kids an opportunity to experience a state tournament event. Beste said the subject was mentioned during the committee meeting.

"Some people disagreed with the decision that some of the coaches made by not wrestling any of their individual qualifiers," Beste said. "We hope as we move forward and this stays the format that those schools will make a different decision.

"But, to put yourself in their shoes, as a coach it's tough to make a decision."

Cedar Rapids Prairie Coach Blake Williams said everyone had hard decisions to make, and the traditional tournament won in most cases.

"It puts coaches in a tough situation and it puts wrestlers in a similar situation," Wiliams said. "I think everybody had their plan and went about it differently. I think overall everybody was trying to what was best for their kids come the individual tournament."

The event set an attendance record, drawing 7,432 spectators, which is 1,630 more than 2011 in Cedar Rapids, the host for the previous 25 years.

"It was a bigger crowd than we ever had before," Beste said. "We anticipated that but it came at the expense of the individual tournament when we went to a 10-session to an eight-session tournament. Of course we lost attendance there."

The IHSAA meets with the wrestling coaches advisory committee each year, supposedly working together to make changes beneficial to the sport. The change was met with mixed emotions, including some support, much criticism and others who wanted a wait-and-see approach.

Streicher isn't surprised by the decision.

"There's somewhat of a history there where you can voice your approval, disapproval or opinion and there's certain people who have to make the decisions," Streicher said. "Whether they listen to some of these groups that are supporting or not supporting them, the people in charge are the people in charge."

Williams said he thought things needed to be changed in an interview during the 2012 State Duals. He said he expected changes from the reaction to the tournament in February.

"I thought there were other solutions," Williams said. "I guess that's not my decision to make."

The first year isn't a good gauge. I've always said it would be in place for at least two years. People were going to attend last year to check it out. Even if we think something might be a train wreck, we are compelled to watch the devastation. The real measure is how many people will return to watch hollow lineups and championships that aren't even thoroughly celebrated by teams, knowing the victory came at the expense of a junior varsity squad.

We will see how things turn out this season. My guess, if the attendance drops significantly for the second year, so will the format.

I do commend coaches who did field a full lineup as long as something was at stake. There were programs who kept their qualifiers in competition mode as long as they were in the winners' side of the bracket. Many of them weren't hindered in the individual tournament, including Bettendorf, Assumption, West Delaware and Alburnett, whose Tyler Shulista refused to sit out a dual despite being a fluke mishap away from missing out on a third state title.

The tournament format puts coaches in an unfavorable position where they have to decide between the goals of the individual and that of the team. The dilemma could be avoided, but won't for at least one more year.

I still contend the best place for the State Duals is in mid-January, removed from the postseason. The season either needs to gain the week back that was cut a couple seasons ago or the holiday break week between Christmas and New Year's Day needs to be open for competition (which wouldn't interfere with schools).

Below are actions that will be taken for the 2012-13 prep wrestling season:

1) Score all brackets at 1A and 2A sectionals and 3A districts as 8-person brackets to reward teams with a greater number of wrestlers, regardless of the number of wrestlers in the bracket.

2) In class 1A and 2A, the sectional champion and runner-up continue to be the regional dual team qualifiers. Assign regional dual team sites following the 2nd coach's rankings in mid-January with eight of the top 16 ranked teams hosting, if possible. The regional dual pairings will be posted Saturday night after the conclusion of the sectional meets and will be determined by the 2nd Coaches' Dual Team Rankings. Reasonable efforts will be made to keep the top eight ranked teams from competing at the same regional dual. The champion and runner-up from the same sectional do not need to be assigned to the same regional dual. The regional semifinal pairings will place the highest ranked team at a site against the lowest ranked team and the second highest ranked team against the second lowest ranked team.

3) Use Track Wrestling for all sectionals, districts, and regional duals.