Whether the ladies at the head table became confused because of the sound a like Erick / Derek names and the closeness of their age/weight brackets I do not know. But, one wrestler, Erick, was always going to go on to state if he qualified, the other, Derek, was not going to go on because of a prom commitment. No one changed their minds later and bumped a wrestler out of going to state. My head coach would not even have let that happen. He would have told him that he could not change his mind after the fact. I agree there probably should be a different way of handling the qualifier's right to accept or deny going on to avoid this situation in the future, it is hard for the other wrestler who, unfortunately because of a mistake, was understandably excited about competing at state, and that is always hard to see their disappointment. I also agree 5 man brackets should be wrestled as round robins and I do not see a reason now that they are not. Derek was hoping his 5 man bracket at District would be a round robin. It a no brainer, more mat time and matches for the kids and a truer seeding method for the next tournament. I only hope there is some discussion and clarification of this rule at the state meeting so that 5 man round robins can and do happen at next year's qualifying tournaments. Thanks for listening and I am sorry that this happened this year I wish it hadn't.
