The Minnesota State High School League's decision to reduce the wrestling tournament's format from four days to three has been met with mixed reviews from coaches. MSHSL Associate Director Craig Perry acknowledged the new format -- changing to a single-day team tournament followed by a two-day individual tournament -- brought out skeptics, but added that there was solid reasoning behind the decision.
"The [MSHSL] board of directors came to us and told us to find a way to hold a three-day tournament keeping two criteria in mind: loss of school time and expense," Perry said. "We came up with a big, long list of pros for having a one-day team tournament. For example, we felt that attendance for the team tournament would be better on Thursday."
The Xcel Energy Center indeed was packed Thursday, but a crowd of 7,740 fans that showed up for the early session wasn't necessarily a good thing right away. The scheduled 9 a.m. starts of the Class 1A and 2A team quarterfinals were pushed back 15 minutes because long lines to get into the arena bowl flooded the main lobby.
Participating teams also found parts of the day to be hectic, especially with the individual tournament on the doorstep.
"I think the State High School League put us in a little bit of a difficult position with having the team before the individual," said St. Michael-Albertville coach Dan Lefebvre, who has seven individuals wrestling this weekend. "It makes it tough for some of those guys."
Said Jackson County Central coach Randy Baker: "A one-day meet like this is a real meat-grinder."
Perry added that tournament officials intend to review every aspect of the tournament after the meet.
"There are 255 high school wrestling programs in Minnesota, and every coach has an idea of how the tournament should be run," he said. "And all of them are right. We felt that this format would be best for this year, but when we're done, we'll look at what worked and what didn't and make the necessary changes for next year."
