Plenty of changes await high school wrestlers and coaches around Wisconsin when the new boys season begins in November, but the fact that they passed through the voting procedure so quickly reflects their statewide support.
Equality was important, and that and more were addressed when the WIAA recently made official sweeping changes for its tournament series.
“The aim was to make all divisions equal, which is something we haven’t had,” Aquinas coach Deke Stanek said. “Division 1 has always been 128 schools, and whatever is left over — maybe 200 — was split between Division 2 and Division 3.
“People felt like if we could get to equal divisions, we could address some of the other issues.”
Sectionals were revamped and will have 112 Division 1 teams, 112 Division 2 teams and 121 Division 3 teams next season. Each sectional will advance the top two wrestlers at each weight for 14-person brackets at the state individual tournament.
WHAT TO KNOW
Individual tournament: Teams reorganized to create three equal divisions; regional tournament eliminated
Team tournament: Top six teams (in points) from individual sectionals qualify for one of seven team sectionals; Tuesday team sectionals eliminated for one Saturday team sectional with six seeded teams; one wild card from each division with join seven sectional champs in the team state bracket
Previous tournaments have used a bracket of 16 in Division 1 and 12 with the first four seeds receiving first-round byes in Division 2 and 3. That will give the top two seed a bye to the second round.
The other aspect to impact the individual tournament series is the elimination of the regional round. Individuals will now go straight into sectionals and focus their state qualification on one day instead of two weekends.
“It’s something that’s probably been in the works for eight years,” Holmen coach Justin Lancaster said of the process. “It started when I was (coach) at Freedom. District 4, which I was part of, started it, then it went away for a little while before coming back and going through this year.
“I think with everyone under the same system, we have more power and unity to make the change.”
Ridding themselves of regionals that sometimes have brackets with just a few entrants — especially on the Division 3 level — was a step that coaches embraced.
Another big change takes place in the postseason team competition. Instead of the top two regional lineups (since there are no regionals), the sectional takes place on one Saturday and is exclusively dual meets that include the top six teams (in points) from individual sectionals.
With individual and team sectionals and individual and team state tournaments on four consecutive weekends, coaches and athletes also rid themselves of the Tuesday night team sectional that included unwanted travel and another late weeknight and another weigh-in.
“This was the driving force for me,” said West Salem/Bangor coach Josh Brewer, whose team will drop from Division 1 to Division 2 this season after the sectional reorganization. “Our team has made it to team, sectionals three of the past four years, and our closest trip was Eau Claire (85 miles away). We also went to Somerset (147 miles away) one year and Hudson (111 miles away) last year.
“We lost in the first round and still weren’t getting home until after midnight, and those kids had to be in their seats the next morning.
“That’s not what’s best for kids.”
Like the individual sectionals, there will be seven team sectionals. Each team is assigned a seed from 1 to 42 and placed in respective brackets. The champion of each one qualifies for state, and the losing team with the highest seed after finals in each division qualifies to complete the eight-team state bracket.
“It gets more teams to state, and now it’s a true dual-meet format,” Stanek said. “To me, that was the biggest change I wanted to see go through.”
