Girls State Tournament - Hideous VHSL

Not to mention the brackets. A few weight classes doesn't make sense. One weight class the defending state Champ is the 15 seed. Going to get a semifinal/state final matchup in the round of 16.

Bout numbers are all messed up it seems. Hard to follow even being here

I’m going to go on a little rant here about how bad this was tonight.

1. Brackets- How can you have just released the rankings for Va Girls Wrestling to promote the Girls Open State Tournament, and then not use them at all when it comes to seeding? Also, how do you not even seed former state champions or even have a list of who won last year and just throw them in there randomly? There’s got to be a better way to do this tournament. In no way should a state champ last year, be thrown in randomly because the coach did not input seeding criteria. They should know who these girls are and seed them correctly, especially if there’s rankings and you’re promoting it! Why is #4 ranked girl in the state seeded nearly last out of 37 because no coach put in information.

2. Why are these coaches not inputting seeding criteria?! This drives me crazy! You’re ruining your chances, and others, by not doing your job.

3. The venue this year was worse than last year and that was bad. Zero seating once again, no room to warmup, no where for you to be to watch matches. I understand there was around 250 girls last year and 405 this year and they weren’t ready for the huge increase. They better do something next year to accommodate for these girls, coaches, and fans. It’s been awful the last 2 years, and this year may have even been worse. If it wasn’t for that aux gym, we would have been there all night and day tomorrow.

4. The girls 100% have it tougher than the boys do for placing. Now, that’s not a bad thing, but my gosh it’s insane! I love how hard it is, but we have to have a regional qualifier or something to eliminate 50+ girl brackets at a state tournament. I’m not sure how to do it, but something has to be done. I heard it’s already in the works for next year, so that’s good to know. Winning girls state is by far a thousand times harder than boys at this point. I wouldn’t mind seeing it split 1-3a and 4-6a.

With all this being said, the wrestling was actually really good for the most part. The increase in numbers is great for the sport and great for Virginia. The wrestling is competitive and we have some really good young ladies who are tough and scrappy. I’m excited to see the sport keep growing! Just think there is a lot we can still do to improve the experience for the girls at this State tournament.