It is finally here. State tournament time. This is the weekend that all of these kids have been working toward for the last 360 days.
Dutch and I have already spent somewhere in the neighborhood of a combined 24 hours working on rankings updates and Ranger report (coming later tonight or early tomorrow).
This is the last update of the rankings for the 2017-18 season. While there was no change at the top of any weight class, there was a lot of shuffling around the podium spots. This may be one of the worst seasons I have seen for kids getting injured, sick, or missing the post season for some other reason.
Some items of note in this edition:
- While Grandstaff looks to be the heavy favorite at 106, the rest of the weight looks to be wild and wide open; should be very exciting to see it unfold. Thomas beats Peace in Region 6 creating sort of an A beat B, B beat C, C beat A situation with spots 2-4. In the end, the order doesn't change in the rankings because Peace has wins over both Thomas and Kinley, while Kinley has the win over Thomas.
- 120 might be the deepest weight in the state for the second straight year; at least 15-16 kids are capable of making the podium
- 126 Jake Insko is flying under the radar coming back from injury; interested to see where he lands this weekend
- 138 guessing this will be the weight with the most "surprising" medalists; we can't figure this weight out
- middle weights (145-182) appear to be fairly solid and stable
- looking forward to a Travis-Pratt match at 220
- Team race is pretty stable as well, Union a solid #1 with Walton and X neck and neck for that #2 spot, Woodford/Oldham/Madison all close for the 4-6 spots
Ranger report should be finished up tonight and hope to get it posted early tomorrow. Yes, that will interfere with Valentine's Day plans, but so does wrestling practice.
