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State Duals Proposal |
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It's high time for Nebraska to join the nation wide trend of state
associations adding dual championship tournaments.
These state dual events are bringing back added excitement to our sport. All 14 wrestlers are important in a dual event.
In a tight dual just one upset can change the outcome.
We need to recognize those solid teams that don't have the super stars.
Dual events have more fan appeal. A
one day dual meet will bring community people to a duals event where they can
watch all 14 local wrestlers wrestle two or three matches in a one day event
that wouldn't come to the three day long state meet.
We all know wrestling needs all the media exposure it can get.
This event would give us that much more exposure and hopefully NETV will
cover the finals.
My proposal will have 8 teams in each of the four classes.
District championship teams and runners-up would advance to the state
dual championships. The meet will
be run on the Saturday after the individual state championships on 8 mats at
UNK's Health & Sports Center. Teams
would be seated 1 to 8 on district point totals.
Will have the quarterfinals losers wrestle back to a 5th place dual and
have the semifinal losers wrestle in the 3rd place dual.
Would run the championship duals on 4 mats Saturday evening and award
dual championship and runner-up trophies. By
time the final whistle blows the 32 teams will have wrestled 44 duals, a great
deal for our wrestling fans.
This proposal is just extra frosting on the cake, it does not change
anything what so ever to what we are doing now!
No one needs to adjust schedules for qualification nor does it take away
thing from the state individual championships.
Granted it is not a true dual qualification but I feel the records will
show that the top dual teams generally bring home the district plaques for the
most part. Team scores will still
be kept at the individual state championships and trophies awarded the same as
they have been doing. We need to
convince the NSAA what is good for Iowa is good for Nebraska also. Iowa recognizes a individual team and a dual team champion in
each class. This is an important
feature that needs to be approved to get solid support from the wrestling
coaches. It just adds one week to
the season for 8 teams in each class plus does not cause wrestlers to miss
anymore school. Nebraska has an
early state meet date when comparing it to surrounding state so adding a week to
the season should not be a problem. This
will make winning a district plaque a little more important. Outside of track & field, wrestling is the only sport
where the district champions don't advance to the state meet as a team.
The district runners-up would be the wildcards.
Will need to have a tie breaker system for teams that tie for district
runner-up spots, a minor detail that can be addressed later.
The arena at UNK has large floor space that will handle 8 mats and has
the seating to handle large crowds. I
feel it would be a great venue for this event plus the location will not force
western schools to make another long trip.
Kearney also has enough motel rooms plus the city wants to bring more
events to Kearney. The state
swimming & diving championships is being held at the Devaney Sports Center
that weekend should still allow the NSAA to conduct both events as swimming
& diving is one of the smaller state meets and the duals will require little
administrative work. Dual events
for the most part run themselves.
I have modified the brackets to limit teams to three duals.
This way three-fourths of the teams will wrestle 3 times and the rest
twice. This should help schools
draw fan support knowing they will get to watch two duals and a good chance of
getting a third dual. With 24 of
the 32 teams will still wrestle after 5 pm should help to hold many of the fans
for the championship matches.
I'm not sure using district points is the best way to seat the teams.
Going with a metro type seating card, draw from 3 brackets like they do
for the individual state meet, or adding state and district points together
could also be used. I see the
seating issue as a minor detail that can be worked out later.
Could also look at giving an additional one-pound allowance, another
detail that could be worked out later. Lets get this done now as it will be
great deal for wrestling, the NSAA and the city of Kearney.
Hopefully we can get the high school wrestling coaches and Kearney
Visitors working through the NSAA channels to create what I feel will be a great
event for our sport.
Craig Hellwege -Lincoln, Nebraska
Tie
Breakers for Point Ties 1.
Most Qualifiers 2.
Most District Champs 3.
Most District Runners-up 4.
Most District Thirds 5.
Most Points at State Meet | ||||||||||||||||
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