IHSAA makes changes to postseason tournaments for 2022-2023 wrestling season
The Iowa High School Athletic Association’s (IHSAA) wrestling postseason will feature additional qualifiers, a new schedule and updated qualifying after several sport advisory recommendations were approved at the Wednesday, April 27 meeting of the IHSAA Board of Control.
In a major shake-up to start with the 2022-2023 school year, wrestling will drop Sectional tournaments in Class 2A and Class 1A and move the annual State Dual Team Tournament to that previously occupied date. As a result of those changes, all three classes will now compete solely in District tournaments to determine individual qualifiers for the State Traditional Tournament.
An additional recommendation for 24 qualifiers per weight class at the State Traditional Tournament also received approval at that April 27 meeting.
“Dropping the Class 1A and 2A Sectional tournaments addresses the extremely low numbers in some weight classes leading to incomplete Sectional brackets. It also frees up a Saturday to schedule the State Dual Team Tournament, something our coaches have been interested in for several years. The increase to 24 qualifiers at the State Traditional Tournament will allow more of our wrestlers to experience the excitement of competing at the state level,” IHSAA executive director Tom Keating said.
The advisory committee had three other recommendations out of its March 23 meeting approved by the board at its April 27 meeting:
• Regional Duals qualifiers (24 per class) will be determined by Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) Dual Team Rankings.
• Seeding criteria for State Traditional Tournament qualifiers will remove the additional point previously received for head-to-head wins over fellow qualifiers.
The IHSAA will continue to use 14 weight classes after National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) provided states an option to adopt 12, 13 or 14 weight classes for state competition in 2023-2024.
The State Dual Team Tournament was moved to Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines and to the day before the start of the State Traditional Tournament in 2012. The tournament’s first year as an IHSAA championship was 1987 and it was held in Cedar Falls, Marshalltown and Cedar Rapids until its move to Des Moines.
A new facility for the State Dual Team Tournament has not yet been determined. The State Traditional Tournament will continue to run over four days on its previously scheduled week at Wells Fargo in Des Moines.
The IHSAA has released the following postseason schedule for the upcoming school year:
January 31-February 1 - Regional Duals
February 4 - State Dual Team Tournament
February 11 - District Tournaments
February 15-18 - State Traditional Tournament.
