(Boone) The Iowa High School Athletic Association’s wrestling postseason will feature additional qualifiers, a new schedule, and updated qualifying after several sport advisory recommendations were approved at Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Control.
Additional Qualifiers in Each Weight Class Added for Traditional Tournament
In a major shakeup to start in 2022-23, wrestling will drop Sectional tournaments in Class 2A and Class 1A and move the annual State Dual Team Tournament to that previously occupied date. As a result of those changes, all three classes will compete solely in District tournaments to determine individual qualifiers for the State Traditional Tournament. IHSAA executive director Tom Keating says dropping the Class 1A and 2A sectional tournaments addresses incomplete sectional tournament brackets. An additional recommendation for 24 qualifiers per weight class at the State Traditional Tournament also received approval Wednesday.
Atlantic Head Wrestling Coach Tim Duff, says the state has been looking at these changes for a while and felt it was time to make some changes.
Coach Duff applauds this change in the postseason tournament format. It also frees up a Saturday to schedule the State Dual Team Tournament, something the state’s coaches have been interested in for several years.
Keating says the increase to 24 qualifiers at the State Traditional Tournament will allow more wrestlers to experience the excitement of competing at the state level. Coach Duff says it will be interesting to see how the state breaks up the district meets now with 24 qualifiers.
The advisory committee had three other recommendations out of its March 23 meeting approved by the board on Wednesday:
- Regional Duals qualifiers (24 per class) will be determined by IWCOA Dual Team Rankings.
- Seeding criteria for State Traditional Tournament qualifiers will remove the additional point previously received for head-to-head wins over fellow qualifiers.
- IHSAA will continue to use 14 weight classes after NFHS provided states an option to adopt 12, 13, or 14 weight classes for state competition in 2023-24.
The State Dual Team Tournament was moved to Wells Fargo Arena the day before the start of the State Traditional Tournament in 2012. The tournament’s first year as an IHSAA championship was in 1987 and it was held in Cedar Falls, Marshalltown, and then Cedar Rapids until its move to Des Moines.
A new facility for the State Dual Team Tournament has not yet been determined. The State Traditional Tournament will continue to run over four days on its previously scheduled week.
2023 Wrestling Postseason
Jan. 31-Feb. 1 – Regional Duals, Host Schools
Feb. 4 – State Dual Team Tournament, TBD
Feb. 11 – District Tournaments, Host Schools
Feb. 16-18 – State Traditional Tournament, Wells Fargo Arena
