Was looking at the NEIC meet results and while Waverly still runs the show it looks like the gap is closing. Good day for the Chickasaws!! Was surprised at so many half-filled brackets? Did Waukon really bring only 7 wrestlers? Are school enrollments affecting the numbers or kids just not participating? There's plenty of other message boards dealing with the new weight classes but it sure looks like the change has hurt some schools.
NEIC wrestling
- Thread starter Teenage Dirtbag
- Start date
Not saying it is weak. Just saying it isn't that strong. The best team in the conference is WSR and they are 10th in 3A. That isn't that good. The depth at the tournament was not deep at all. There are some individuals who are good but depth is lacking.
8 of 14 weights have ranked kids. 4 of those 8 have 2 ranked kids in them. I'd say that would be a tough conference. Especially when there are only 7 teams in the conference. Some conferences have 10+ teams. Some of the brackets that don't have ranked kids probably have some that are on the fence post of possibly getting ranked. All in all the NEIC is still pretty strong.
I'm an NEIC fan but having ranked kids at 8 of 14 weights is NOT a reason to claim it is a strong conference. It's the opposite. 8 of 14 isn't impressive.
The 7 team argument is a pretty good one. There is just not a lot of depth in the conference right now. Oelwein is never any good at Waukon has really slipped the last couple of years. Several brackets were at 5 guys or less and that's not a strong tournament.
Absolutely right, SPOONER. By way of comparison, I give you the 2007 MVC Conference Meet. 189 and 215 had one ranked wrestler at each weight class. EVERY OTHER weight class had two and three ranked kids, and in the case of 140, there were FOUR ranked kids to contend with. If my math is right, that makes 34 kids at 14 weights. (The 2012 meet also had 34 ranked kids, BTW.) Those are the only two conference meets I looked at. I didn't check the CIML or MAC results, sorry. And yes, I realize that the MVC does have more schools, so there will be more wrestlers to draw from. Someone smarter than me can figure out the "per capita" percentage, or whatever, if you like.)
Either way, my guess is by now, you might be rethinking the claim that ranked kids at "8 of 14 weights" makes the NEIC a tough conference. Oooops.
(Just looking up those numbers, and seeing all those ranked kids, reminded me of the traditional squabble about this time of year, where some folks whine about "how easy it is for 3A kids to get to state, with only a district meet." Well, that and attending a 2A sectional on Saturday where, in some brackets, some kids had ONE tough match to get to their district--and in some cases, will face another ONE tough match to get to DM. That's not everyone, of course. But there ARE some, and that you can't get around. By the same token, some 3A kids will come to districts and face two or three ranked kids in their bracket, depending on the weight class.
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Either way, my guess is by now, you might be rethinking the claim that ranked kids at "8 of 14 weights" makes the NEIC a tough conference. Oooops.
(Just looking up those numbers, and seeing all those ranked kids, reminded me of the traditional squabble about this time of year, where some folks whine about "how easy it is for 3A kids to get to state, with only a district meet." Well, that and attending a 2A sectional on Saturday where, in some brackets, some kids had ONE tough match to get to their district--and in some cases, will face another ONE tough match to get to DM. That's not everyone, of course. But there ARE some, and that you can't get around. By the same token, some 3A kids will come to districts and face two or three ranked kids in their bracket, depending on the weight class.
I think most agree the conference is definitely not what it used to be but no one is answering why. Has Waverly's dominance over the last few years hurt it? Cresco might have the best tradition in the conference and while Waukon has never had real strong teams they seemed to always have some very strong individuals every year. Just seems like a lot of kids aren't participating and maybe that is because every sport requires too much time. Getting hard to be a multi-sport athlete. And maybe the kids are just lazy and don't want to put in the work that wrestling requires.
Cresco's tradition dates back before the current wrestlers--and many of their parents--were even born. Until WSR was on the scene it was CC/NH/Decorah ruling the conference.
Other than WSR, the rest of the NEIC keeps getting smaller and smaller in terms of kids in the district. That's hurting the wrestling programs more than anything.
I did some calculations......for what its worth
NEIC 24 state qualifiers
MVC 47 state qualifiers
Calculate per team
NEIC 24 qualifiers divided by 7 teams = 3.43 qualifiers per team
MVC 47 qualifiers divided by 14 teams = 3.35 qualifiers per team
Take away the 2 teams in each conference that didn't send anyone
NEIC 4.8 qualifiers per team
MVC 3.92 qualifiers per team
Do these stats mean anything?? Not really......I'd still rather wrestler in NEIC conference tourney.
These stats were done in a quick time so if the calculations are off don't freak!
NEIC 24 state qualifiers
MVC 47 state qualifiers
Calculate per team
NEIC 24 qualifiers divided by 7 teams = 3.43 qualifiers per team
MVC 47 qualifiers divided by 14 teams = 3.35 qualifiers per team
Take away the 2 teams in each conference that didn't send anyone
NEIC 4.8 qualifiers per team
MVC 3.92 qualifiers per team
Do these stats mean anything?? Not really......I'd still rather wrestler in NEIC conference tourney.
These stats were done in a quick time so if the calculations are off don't freak!
