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Wrestling coaches think this year’s revised format could be an opportunity for expansion

This year will feature 32-wrestler brackets

By Andy Buhler, Columbian Staff Writer
Published: February 14, 2019, 11:27pm

When the WIAA announced last Friday the cancellation of regional wrestling tournaments due to inclement weather and an expanded state field, some saw an opportunity.

For years, coaches around the state have lobbied for an increase field of Mat Classic qualifiers as a permanent replacement for the regional tournament, citing statewide talent equity among wrestlers. The WIAA anticipated the change might spark a push among coaches to lobby for a permanent 32-entry field, but it views this year’s tournament as a one-time exception.

“We’ve been very clear from the beginning that, again, these circumstances are dictating that circumstance and that we will make sure we get through this week and that everybody gets a fair opportunity to get to the dome and compete,” WIAA executive director Mike Colbrese said.

Still, the WIAA’s announcement, a 32-entry state tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Tacoma Dome, caused some coaches’ ears to perk up — namely, Bob Freund, the president of the state wrestling coaches association and Kelso wrestling coach.

If this weekend’s Mat Classic is seen by the WIAA as a good experience, and is able to look past any potential wrinkles that could not be addressed in the short planning window, Freund hoped that would open the discussion back up in the future.

“It’s probably the biggest (conflict) we have in our state with wrestling,” Freund said. “Not argument, but just conflict as far as like things being equitable is regionals. And I do know on the WIAA side, it’s very, very hard to balance regions every year.”

Colbrese cited consistency in state tournaments from sport-to-sport – it’s “part of the underpinning of the association,” he said — as the driving reason behind the WIAA’s resistance to a 32-entry Mat Classic going forward.

“And that means 16 entries with a regional format, and that’s, again, the rationale that’s been used as well as the cost of the Tacoma Dome and the cost of the schools to send their kids all the way over to Tacoma, up or down or wherever,” Colbrese said.

Six years ago, the proposal went in front of the WIAA executive board for approval, but was rejected, citing cost as the main concern.

Friday and Saturday’s Mat Classic includes an extra round for each classification and weight class, which doubles the size of field.

In order to fit double the wrestlers into two days, matches will start an 90 minutes earlier and there will be no two-hour midday break from previous years.

Each year, the top four wrestlers advance out of each of the four regions. This year, with no regional tournament, the top eight advanced.

Local coaches argue in a system with a regional round, a 16-entry state tournament is inherently unfair, as some regions, regardless of how they are constructed, will lack a balance of talent.

Sending the top eight wrestlers out of each district, some say, would assuage that issue — and, above all, provide more wrestlers an opportunity to compete at state. Colbrese said if the event is running behind schedule, they may implement one-to-two minute timed matches.

Coaches in the 4A Greater St. Helens League say that applies to them. This year, the 4A GSHL is in Region 4 with two other leagues, the Mid-Columbia Conference (Tri-Cities) and 4A Greater Spokane League. Those three leagues have 16 schools combined.

“It gives the most kids an opportunity, and to have a regional like ours as tough as nails, you’ve got a lot of kids who wouldn’t be going to state who are going to state, haven’t the last couple years,” Heritage wrestling coach Erik Gonzalez said. “(A 32-entry field) evens the playing field as far as that goes, evens out the regions and gives more kids an opportunity to let the cream rise to the top.”

The other three regions are comprised of two conferences each, though each region has a comparable number of schools. But some 4A GSHL coaches contest that since Region 4 pulls from three different geographical parts of the state, it’s inherently more competitive.

In his 26 years at director, Cobrese, who is in his last year in the post, had never experienced a postseason cancellation like this year. But as weather forecasts continued to predict snow around the state well into this week, the WIAA began weighing its options.

“We started looking at a lot of different options: delaying, rescheduling, and then of course the one we landed on, the 32-team tournament,” Colbrese said. “As we played each one out, played up all the pluses and minuses, pros and cons, and all the different scenarios, we felt the 32-team state tournament was the best case scenario.”

Freund described the relationship between the coaches association and the WIAA as fluid, in constant communication. When the coaches hold meetings each year at Mat Classic and preseason, a representative from the WIAA is present. The support for a 32-entry bracket is discussed every year.

After the upcoming classification reallocation process happens next year, Freund anticipates a change in landscape, and perhaps, he said, that can open to the door to the 32-entry conversations once more.

“I do think this is going to give us a great opportunity to see if this works, and hopefully coaches are gracious and understand that they can’t iron everything out in one week,” he said.

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Columbian Staff Writer