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As we all know, the AAA race is a wide open shoot out. Regardless, the bracketed state tournament will sort everything out and as they say in Wood County, "the cream will rise to the top".

However, we have an interesting situation for the State Duals Tournament qualification to determine who goes to the Greenbrier.

Region 1: University and Wheeling Park are the creams that have risen to the top of this region. They have already battled TWICE and split one apiece. Was the first match the deciding match? If so, University is headed to Lewisburg???

Region 2: The word on the street is that a quad is scheduled on January 18th to sort everything out.

Region 3: Unless an inch of snow shuts everything down or Covid - Raleigh Variant hits some wrestlers, another super quad is scheduled on January 5th to figure everything out.

Region 4: Region 4 doesn't have any quads to determine who goes. There are a series of duels and tris that should sort things out. Huntington and South are not scheduled to wrestle until AFTER the state duals tournament. St. Albans claimed a win over South. Huntington defeated St. Albans. Huntington's schedule doesn't reflect going to the state duals tournament. Furthermore, Cabell Midland doesn't have the state duals tournament marked off on their schedule either.

Summary:

Regions 2 and 3 will figure everything out in their regional quads.

Region 4 appears that only South scheduled the event, so I guess they will be representing Region 4.

Region 1 is an easy one. Invite Wheeling Park down to the South vs Cabell Midland vs University Tri on January 19th. Wheeling Park and University can have a rubber match.

This is the season where AAA is the tightest its been in years. Many schools are not participating in the state duals tournament. Is it dying off already??

Why would the first match be the decider in Park vs University?

Park was missing several wrestlers and lost I think by 3. The rematch was a butt whooping.

It’s dying off because the first year it was held at the greenbrier it was a great time and a super good venue, then it was pushed to the state fairgrounds which was super crowded. After one year the quality went downhill big time. Not a good start.

It also doesnt help that every year there is such uncertainty about who will be attending. Its hard to leave space in your schedule, allocate resources for travel, hotels, etc. if you are so uncertain. There needs to be a defined criteria for who is qualified and going that can be established early on. Does a specific set of duals need to occur by a certain time? Do results from the previous year come into consideration? I feel like no one really knows if the criteria exists at all.

I agree though, if it is going to mean anything, then there needs to be some pomp and circumstance around it. Solid venue, build up to it. If the state is going to treat it as an afterthought then that is what it will be.

It also doesn't help that it's in a remote area of the state. Not a bad trip for region 4 but regions 2 and 3 for AAA are typically coming from the furthest away part of the state does not help. I am glad they decided not to use previous year's regional champions, however, I do agree that there needs to be a better qualification system. Might not be a bad idea to hold a regional bracket that is scheduled over a 2 week period. The problem is everyone is trying to predict who will be the best in the region ahead of time. Injuries and illness hit teams through out the season and teams need to deal with that, We really want the best team at that time to meet in the finals. Maybe copying PA's way of doing it is not such a bad idea. There is no reason teams can't wrestle multiple times a week, just don't count them toward their weigh ins.

The Waco Center at Glenville State College is centrally located in the state and may be a good place to host this event in the future. Maybe not this year, but maybe in the future?

In fairness to the organizers.....I'm almost positive the pandemic is what forced them moved out of the Greenbrier Resort. Coach Miluk and company do a great job, even at the Fairgrounds.

Gorillagrapplr wrote:Why would the first match be the decider in Park vs University?

Park was missing several wrestlers and lost I think by 3. The rematch was a butt whooping.

The first match between Park and University was the only duel that was actually scheduled. The fact that both teams did well enough to meet in the WP Duals finals is neither here nor there because it was never a scheduled dual. Didn't Park lose to University under the light at their own gym??? Surely that is significant considering that was the scheduled dual of the year for the two programs.

In looking at both rosters for both duals... Park had one personnel change on the roster for the 2nd dual @126 and swapped a couple wrestlers @160+170 but it does appear that the only missing wrestler was at 126. University was missing 2 VERY significant wrestlers in their lineup at the WP Duals rematch. Kids get sick and injured, it is part of the sport to compete with what you got at that time.

I agree that there needs to be a distinct qualifier for all teams in every region for the State Duals and to the best of my knowledge that Region 1 qualifier was held when UHS beat Park at their own house. However, I have been wrong before...just ask my wife

It's my understanding that University was missing some starters for the second matchup at WP Duals and had to shuffle some people around. If a 3rd match isn't an option for a "deciding factor" then what would the criteria be?