H.S. Wrestling Coverage

The rest of crimson's post is good, but I think I need to point out here that rankings = DEATH, particularly if you're a newcomer. I've been at places where they do individual rankings, and the rancor they cause isn't pretty. If you rank that 8-2 152-pounder from the good conference over a 10-0 that feasted on private and small schools, get ready for the death threats. Wrestling fans take their rankings a lot more seriously than the other high school cabals, at least in my experience. If this is your first time regularly covering wrestling, I wouldn't make those kind of judgement calls with the lack of experience you'd have -- it's not worth it.

 

Say no more! Take it to PMs for the love of Pete.

 

Important note -- make sure your paper's policy on reporting triple-duals and six-way meets is set in stone. Before the first day of competition.

Nothing's going to make an agate editor scream quicker than coming across a Saturday where it seems every call-in yields SIX summaries.

Reluctantly (because this is a huge HS wrestling area), we had to say that for anything more than a dual meet, we would run scores only. If they had a "championship" match at the end, we would run the summary on that.

But if you start out running A vs. B, C, D ... B vs. C, D ... and C vs. D, and then suddenly stop in January, oh, the screaming will be heard throughout your readership area.

 

Yeah, I really like the rankings idea, but I think that may cause too much of a problem. Once I get another year under my belt covering wrestling and better knowledge of the wrestlers and teams I may do that.

 

Possible, too, that one of your state's major papers has statewide rankings ... if your paper doesn't frown on using that sort of thing and giving them credit ...

 

We will run team rankings.

But now that I think more about the individual rankings, are y'all suggesting I rank wrestlers in each weight class or just the top 5-10 wrestlers regardless of weight class?

 

You can't rank them regardless of class because there's no true way to compare them. At my first paper, we ranked the top three wrestlers in each weight class, and in the metro in town here, they go five-deep. But if you have less than, say, 15 schools, I don't know if you have the depth to do much in the way of rankings (particularly at heavyweight, where many smaller teams don't field a wrestler).

 

We run district-wide rankings, four deep at each weight for two classes. There are 92 wrestling programs in the district.

 

Excellent stuff here.

I would only add one thing: wrestling meets can be disgusting. Don't hang out near a trash can. If you're any kind of germophobe, take some Purell gel.

 

If your state has both an indvidual and a dual meet state tournament, especially if the championship format was recently changed, it might be worth a look.
In my state, a dual meet state tournament was instituted last winter, with the official team champion crowned at the end of it. No teams scores were kept at the indvidual tournaments. The preliminary rounds were held during the week, with every team with a .500 record or better qualifying. The indivdual tournaments were held during the weekend (sectional, divisional and all-state, then New England). The state dual meet finals were the weekend after the New England tournament.
Some coaches liked the new format, some didn't. Others liked the idea of a dual meet championship, but wanted some changes made in the format (mostly scheduling and keeping team scores in the regular tournaments).
If there isn't a state dual meet tournament in your state. maybe ask the various coaches if they would want one and why or why not.

 

Germaphobes and Purell gel. That's why we have killer staph infections, thank you very much.

 

who did you piss off?