2022 Semi-State Format

[Canter22 15]

Hope everyone is having a good summer so far! I don't get on this forum too often so I apologize if someone has already shared similar info on here.

I finally got some down time and did a quick analysis of the semi-state format. As you all know the big discussion last year was whether to do 4 or 2 semi states. I personally was in favor of the 2 semi state option as I believe it offers us the best chance of allowing the 16 best wrestlers in the state to move on to the final round.

I had previously done some analysis using @Ranger123 rankings to hypothesize the number of top 8 kids that would be mathematically eliminated if we were to do 4 semi states. Well, now that the tournament has happened we don't need to hypothesize anymore we can look back at the results and put names to the numbers. To do this we simply look through the semi state results, anywhere that a pair of regions has more than 4 kids placing is a kid that would have been mathematically eliminated in a 4 semi state system. Obviously you can make a counter argument that this means another kid in the other two regions was left out, that is true, but at least they had a chance to make it. We have to assume that if all kids are put into a tournament together that the best 8 wrestlers will emerge. 

In the attached excel file you can find this simple analysis.

The conclusion is that because we switched to a 2 semi state system 19 kids were able to make it to the final round that would have been mathematically eliminated otherwise. Of those 19 kids, 5 went on to earn medals at the final round. Like I said these aren't just numbers, these are real people that worked their butt off all year to get to that tournament, here are their names:

Brock Gross - LaRue County (Placed 7th in the state)

Trent Cano - Great Crossing (Placed 5th in the state)

Anthony Condi - Frederick Douglass (Placed 6th in the state)

Aiden Zinser - Scott (Placed 8th in the state)

Brandon Burchett - Faridale (Placed 6th in the state)

Brayden Blevins - Simon Kenton

Aiden Marquis - Conner

Andrew Tarango - Bullitt Central

Petey Graham - Ohio County

Caige Clark - Ohio County

Hunter Creech - Simon Kenton

Caleb Jarvis - Fairdale

Malachi Young - Great Crossing

Deamdrell Mattison - Central

Nicholas Horn - South Oldham

Kyle Richmond - Campbell County

Gillam Nicodemus - Ohio County

Blaize Cart - Apollo

Kolton Adkins - Johnson Central

 

These are the people we did it for. These are the reason you should be ok with driving a little further and wrestling a long semi state tournament. Because we owe it to everyone of these kids to ensure they have a fair chance to make it to the final dance.

Over the last few years we have posted a lot of negative about the decisions of the KHSAA and the changes they have made, I've been a big part of that too. I'm not saying this format is perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But we went into this season with the plan to wrestle 4 semi state tournaments again, the KHSAA heard our concerns and adjusted the plan because of them. I want to urge all of you coaches and fans to reach out to your local rep on the KHSAA board of control and thank them for making this change. I think it's important that those people here us being thankful when things are improved rather than only hearing us complain to them when we're not happy. Again, I'm not saying this is perfect. Let's keep moving forward in trying to improve our championship and our sport in general, but let's be sure to recognize and be thankful when we do see some positive motion.

 

Wrestling Post Season Analysis 2022.xlsx

[StrubN 0]

I checked out the pre-region rankings from this past season and noticed that 8 eventual state champs were #1, 13 were in the top 3, while the lowest ranked champ was #7.

How about having an invite-only event with the top 16 wrestlers per weight class. This should get all the state champs involved and most anyone else that has aspirations of participating collegiately.