Wrestling changes proposed

Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Today is the first day of the 2008 South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Spring Conference in Pierre. Committees representing all sanctioned high school sports in the state will meet over the next three days to discuss proposed changes to each sport for next year.

Some of the proposals will affect wrestling in particular. One proposal being brought up by the Wrestling Advisory Committee would do away with district competition in Class “B” wrestling, dividing schools into four regions. Chester wrestling coach Mike Reinhiller has noticed a decrease of schools competing at the Class B level and supports doing away with district competition.

Another proposal on the agenda is doing disallowing an athlete shaking hands with the opposing coach following an individual match. Madison wrestling coach Chris Waba feels that it’s a decision best left to each school; yet he would like to see the practice continue for tournament matches.

One item that will be discussed but not acted upon will be expanding the State Tournament Brackets. Currently, State tournaments have 16 wrestlers in each weight class. Supporters would like to expand that field to 32 wrestlers. Waba is against that idea, stating that it would take away from the accomplishment of qualifying for State.

Other proposals for wrestling include determining seeding for district and region tournaments, as well as requiring coaches to wear button-down shirts and dress pants during post-season competition.