The Grade School entry form contains a drop down box with leagues and team listings. A wrestler can select the league and team that they have wrestled for during the year. The wrestler’s team points earned at the state tournament will be calculated and scored for that team. The teams that will be competing with each other are members of the following leagues:

Club teams will be competing for a Club State Championship and Runner-Up Award with all 4 divisions combined. I need All Club Coaches to contact me (juderoth@ohioathletics.com) so that I may include your club on the entry form page for drop down box selection.

The Jr. High entry form contains a drop down box with leagues and team listings. A wrestler can select the Conference/League of his Jr. High/High School. If he is unsure which one that he belongs to he can click on the league and it has a listings of all the schools within each league. We will be keeping team scores by Conference/League to determine which one is the toughest in the state.

The OAC is looking into a new system for seeding the Jr. High and Grade School Districts for 2008-2009. Over the years we have had many complaints/concerns about the current system of using the record that is submitted as the seeding criteria. We are working with existing tournaments and possibly implementing other tournaments that would be considered as seeding tournaments. A wrester would receive seeding points based on the place they take at these events.

1^{st place = 14 points}

2nd place = 10 points

3rd place = 7 points

4th place = 4 point

Participation = 1 point

Seeding Criteria for 2009 would be as follows:

1.   Returning State Placer Same Division

2.   Returning State Placer Different Division

3.   Returning State Qualifier same division

4.   Highest total Seed Points

5.   Returning State Qualifier Different Division

A wrestler can compete in as many of these tournaments as they wish. They could compete at any weight with their seed points accumulated. Their seed points would follow them to whatever weight class they enter for the District tournament. We are paying close attention to the league schedules around the state and will not host a seeding event on the same date as a league commitment in a particular area. There would be no more than 5 tournaments in each district area and the tournaments would take place from April – January, which will spread out the events over the entire year. A wrestler could participate in any of these seed tournaments not just those designated to their district. The OAC web page would track, post and update after each tournament the wrestlers name and seed point total for him and anyone to view. It will be a seed/ranking list.

There are many other events under development and will be discussed at a later date.

The Ohio Athletic Committee is conducting a poll to explore the interest in participation for a one day, NO entry fee and No admission fee tournament for physically and or mentally challenged youth.  This event would be a competition and instructional tournament that would allow the officials to work with both wrestles during the matches if needed.  We would group wrestlers not only by weight and age but also by the degree of physical/mental ability.  All wrestlers would receive an award for their participation not their placement. We would be looking at possibly doing this either the day before or the day after the Grade School State in 2009. If you know of someone that would like to participate in an event like this please go to the OAC web site to participate in the poll.  We will not know if this will be initiated next year until we receive and evaluate your feedback.