4A Upper v. 4A Lower

[scbuckeye99]

Team Points Scored
Upper - 383.5
Lower - 459.5

State Champs
Upper - 5
Lower - 9

State Placers
Upper - 27
Lower - 29

Upper v. Lower head to head match ups
Upper 52 wins, Lower 60 wins

 

[darth vomitus]

Doesn't surprise me. During my involvement with the sport I spent time at schools that switched between Upper and Lower every few years. The Lower State tournament was always the tougher qualifier. By-and-large my opinion is that the Lower State - and I am talking 4A only - has a larger number of pure athletes. Combine that with a number of coaches who wrestled in the old Summerville system and you have some very competitive kids.

That said, I think the Upper State has an advantage in team competitions. More balanced teams top-to-bottom.

 

[masontilt]

How do those numbers look when you disregard the flip flop region (with L-E, Westwood, etc.)?

 

[scbuckeye99]

Good question. I wondered that myself but I guess I convinced myself that it didn't matter since you have 4 Upper and 4 Lower in each bracket regardless. Probably a more interesting break down would be by region.

 

[scbuckeye99]

Doesn't surprise me. During my involvement with the sport I spent time at schools that switched between Upper and Lower every few years. The Lower State tournament was always the tougher qualifier. By-and-large my opinion is that the Lower State - and I am talking 4A only - has a larger number of pure athletes. Combine that with a number of coaches who wrestled in the old Summerville system and you have some very competitive kids.

That said, I think the Upper State has an advantage in team competitions. More balanced teams top-to-bottom.

I've noticed this as well. Lower state has some amazing athletes wrestling. Upper state seems to be able to pull out duals titles though each year (not every certainly).

 

[K.Simpson]

Good question. I wondered that myself but I guess I convinced myself that it didn't matter since you have 4 Upper and 4 Lower in each bracket regardless. Probably a more interesting break down would be by region.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Placers Total Points

Region 1

Woodmont 0 1 0 0 1 17

Easley 0 0 1 0 1 11

Greenwood 0 0 0 1 1 9

TL Hanna 0 0 0 1 1 8

Combined 0 1 1 2 4 45



Region 2

Dorman 1 2 2 1 6 81

Boil Springs 2 1 1 0 4 76.5

Byrnes 0 2 0 1 3 39

Riverside 0 0 0 1 1 17

Spartanburg 0 0 1 0 1 14

Mauldin 0 0 0 1 1 5

Combined 3 5 4 4 16 232.5



Region 3

Ft. Mill 1 0 1 1 3 43.5

Nation Ford 0 1 1 0 2 30.5

Rock Hill 1 0 0 1 20

York 0 0 0 1 1 8

Gaffney 0 0 0 0 0 4

Clover 0 0 0 0 0 1

Combined 2 1 2 2 7 107



Region 4

Lugoff-Elgin 2 0 1 1 4 59.5

Westwood 1 0 0 1 2 33

Spring Valley 0 1 0 0 1 18

Dutch Fork 0 1 0 1 15

Combined 3 2 1 2 8 125.5



Region 5

Lexington 0 1 2 0 3 46.5

White Knoll 1 0 0 0 1 25

River Bluff 0 0 0 0 0 3

Irmo 0 0 0 0 1

Combined 1 1 2 0 4 75.5



Region 6

Sumter 1 0 0 1 2 25

Carol Forest 0 0 0 0 0 4

Combined 1 0 0 1 2 29



Region 7

Goose Creek 2 0 0 1 3 57

Wando 0 0 0 1 1 17

Stratford 0 0 0 1 1 9

Combined 2 0 0 3 5 83



Region 8

Ft. Dorchester 2 2 0 1 5 77.5

Ashley Ridge 0 2 1 0 3 45

Summerville 0 0 1 0 1 14

Colleton Co 0 0 1 0 1 10

Combined 2 4 3 1 10 146.5

 

[Win 2]

Looking at all this data, I feel like i'm meeting my AP for my mid year SLO conference...

 

[Bowet]

Huge factor in the region 2 numbers is the Spartanburg schools. Not a coincidence that they have MS wrestling!

TBowe

 

[wrestler 125]

So do most of the schools in the lower state

 

[lowcountrydad]

So do most of the schools in the lower state

I know that the feeder schools in Dorchester county have middle school wrestling but Charleston and Berkeley counties do not which is a definite disadvantage

 

[wrestler 125]

If a high school is going to have a program, they need to have a program at the middle school level regardless of the sport. It takes a wrestler 2-3 seasons to fully understand the fundamentals of wrestling, with the exception of a few superior athletes. With this being said, the wrestler should be wrestling in a youth program and then moving through middle school and high school to be able to compete at the highest level.

 

[countykid]

Huge factor in the region 2 numbers is the Spartanburg schools. Not a coincidence that they have MS wrestling!

TBowe

What does Greenville (and State) need to do to get on board with this???? 6-8th grade - we lose SO many kids (sometimes literally) with out this age group offering

 

[lowcountrydad]

If a high school is going to have a program, they need to have a program at the middle school level regardless of the sport. It takes a wrestler 2-3 seasons to fully understand the fundamentals of wrestling, with the exception of a few superior athletes. With this being said, the wrestler should be wrestling in a youth program and then moving through middle school and high school to be able to compete at the highest level.

I totally agree. Our counties besides Dorchester which feeds the Summerville are schools will not provide any middle school sports. Several of us parents developed and ran private clubs to develop our wrestlers and we definitely see it paying off. Crowfield, LWA, Gladiators, Mat Time have all produced wrestlers that are now shining at the HS level. Unfortunately the club bs have died off for one reason or another and I am afraid that we will feel the results soon. But we also need more clubs around here for the serious wrestlers to hone their skills in the offseason. The sport is so technical and needs dedicated coaching to develop those skills from a young age but also for offseason tournaments

 

[darth vomitus]

Feeder systems COACHED correctly are imperative for a sport that is more of a martial art than a traditional sport and that has very few opportunities in rec leagues for young athletes unlike traditional sports. Back in the 1980's, there were only three teams legitimately competing for state titles: Rock Hill, Summerville, and Irmo. Rock Hill and Summerville had tremendous middle school programs. When Irmo lost their experienced MS coach around 1984, the gap widened. It was only the talent of Irmo's then coach BD LaPrad that kept them in the conversation; although, as a distant third.

In the 90's, LaPrad started the program at Dutch Fork without a real MS program - just a few of his son's friends - and made it to the state finals several times losing to the more balanced teams listed above. I don't think DF started an actual MS team til about 1999, and then it was not as organized or funded as well as the schools feeding RH and the 'Ville,

Looking at this century, several schools that had not won it before can really attribute their success to their feeder system. In one case here in the Midlands a team made a couple finals winning one with a team whose core had been wrestling together since elementary school.