fan of the sport
I never said Aquinas had 14 state placers in 2007 our state team championship year two years ago. I said we had 14 state qualifiers. We actually had 10 state placers that year. Aquinas had some JV wrestlers that year that had qualified for state in previous years (two were seniors). Most of them had go up in weight and were behind wrestlers who ended up taking second or third at State that year. My son was a sophomore that year and he had spent his freshman season 2006 as the second team 189 wrestler. He also wrestled JV the first two meets of his sophomore year that 2007 season because he lost his first wrestle off to the senior state qualifier from the previous year. He won the second wrestle off the week of the third meet the Johnson County Classic. That week in his first varsity meet as the Aquinas first team heavyweight he won the Johnson County Classic a tournament with all twenty of the Johnson County teams which are both 5A and 6A. There have been some high state placers who have not won the Johnson County Classic. This is a personal example to you of how a JV wrestler on a top team can do very well in a varsity tournament. My son went on that year to a 33-4 record with second place finishes at the Bobcat and at the Blue Valley Northwest Husky. He also placed fifth at state. Aquinas had other JV wrestlers win varsity tournaments that year.
My simple answer to you is that our JV guy may not have done as well as RJ Nill who placed 2nd at 171 that year but he may have still placed and most certainly would have qualified.
Not that this matters to the discussion this much but I would also dispute your statement that only half of the Aquinas fourteen state qualifiers would have qualified in a combined 5A and 6A state group. Yeah I would taken that bet and I know I would have picked up some easy money. Here is why. None of our ten state placers ended up winning 5A individual state championships that year but a couple of them defeated 6A state champions that year. 5A was very strong that year and had great depth with Aquinas and Bishop Carroll being two of the top ranked teams in the country that year. I believe all ten of our state placers that year would have most certainly qualified for state in a combined 6A and 5A regional. I think at least twelve of our 14 would have qualified in a combined 5A/6A class. Actually the Johnson County Classic would be pretty close to that type of regional and in that combined 6A and 5A 20 team tournament we had six champions, three second placers, and one third so that is ten right there. Proof enough for you? Okay not enough proof how about the Bobcat classic a few weeks later. I have often heard that if you can place at that 30 plus team tournament of tough 4A, 5A and 6A schools that you have a great chance of placing at state. In the 2007 Aquinas placed 12 of our 14 wrestlers that year with two firsts and two seconds.
