Rogers Heritage & Gentry

[IAFLAR7]

Congrats to Rogers Heritage & Gentry for winning the team titles in their respective classes this weekend.

There was a lot of good wrestling this weekend and the atmosphere was electric. This was the best tournament that been put on so far. It is only going to get better each year!

[blue4hire]

This tournament is not too far away from having to have some type of qualifying system or adding a day or two to it.  Six mats for two days was barely enough time and made for a couple of LONG days.  Coach Hatcher and the AWA did a great job!

[johnharrison]

Interesting.  I thought there was ample "down" time and two mats were hardly used at all.

[blue4hire]

6 mats were in use at all times except for the semi-finals of the winners bracket when 4 were used.  Wrestling from 1 until about 9 or so on Friday and from 9 until about 8 on Saturday.  That's with a lot of byes in the bracket for no-shows.  As the sport picks up and those byes are filled with competitors, alot of extra matches will have to occur.

[IAFLAR7]

This tournament is not too far away from having to have some type of qualifying system or adding a day or two to it.  Six mats for two days was barely enough time and made for a couple of LONG days.  Coach Hatcher and the AWA did a great job!

Qualifying is certainly something that will have to be looked at as the sport continues to grow in Arkansas. I would say as the sport is in its infant stages right now they need to continue the current format to maintain the interest in the sport. Eventually there will be so much participation that they will have to qualify & making state will be a privilege. Most states qualify. Example: Iowa. Tournament starts on Wednesday in order to be finished by Saturday night. There are 3 classes & about 200 total teams with qualifiers. There are 8 districts in each class and the top two wrestlers in each weight class from each district go to state. Main stage is reduced to 3 mats for Saturday night finals as the 3rd-6th place matches are completed early Saturday. Attaining a ticket to the Saturday night finals usually has to be done well ahead of time.