6A is very, very tough at the top but the drop off is significant afterwards. 4th place in 6A might not break you into the top 10 in 4A but the point is that Kansas really isn't competitive with other states. The Shawnee schools are some of the largest in the state but they have trouble filling a solid varsity line up.
Bishop Carroll is definitely an exception to the norm. They are basically a magnet wrestling school right now. They wrestle the best schedule and they have awesome assistants. Being a private school has its advantages! God Bless them for making the most of them.
The NHSCA or any post HS season tournament is a difficult way to measure up to other states. I don't think Iowa was very well represented at that tournament and neither was Ohio. In the post season you are just measuring your elite and dedicated against the other state's elite and dedicated. A better measuring stick is the regular season. Look at the results from the tournaments hosted by Kansas schools where out of state schools were invited. You will see a solid trend where out-of-state schools win or place high in these tournaments. The middle of Kansas is far behind the middle of the surrounding states.
I talked to some Iowa coaches today. They form magnet wrestling rooms after the season where multiple schools practice. Their wrestlers are then coached by another school's coach, wink, wink. They also merge rooms under a scrimmage rule after regionals which lets them have higher quality practice rooms.
