MHSA: No site yet for AA boys state wrestling
The Montana High School Association had an executive board meeting Thursday in which the sites for every state wrestling tournament was set, save one: The State AA boys.
Flathead coach Jeff Thompson and Glacier coach Ross Dankers had hoped to learn that Kalispell, which wants to host, would land the tournament Thursday. Instead the MHSA held off. The site for the state-wide girls’ tournament was set (Feb. 19-20, Lockwood High School) along with the sites for the State A (March 5-6, Miles City) and State B-C (March 5-6, Shelby) tournaments for the boys.
Mark Beckman, executive director of the MHSA, said Thursday that uncertainties about the AA divisional seeding tournaments — they may or may not be held — led to delaying decision on the State AA.
“We don’t know what they’re going to ask for,” said Beckman, referring to the Class AA activities directors and principals. “We put it on hold because AA is still working through what they want to do.”
Glacier AD Mark Dennehy said Thursday he feels the matter should be decided in a week. He also noted that Kalispell had asked to host the state girls’ championships.
The seeding tournaments eliminate some wrestlers ahead of state; the lack thereof would increase the number of competitors. Both Kalispell coaches felt their city would be an excellent host, with both the Flathead and Glacier high school gyms available.
“That’d be a huge opportunity for our community,” Dankers said. “This being a really solid wrestling valley, it’d be awesome for our youth and our wrestling community to see that competition - get a view of what the future might be like; a state tournament.”
In other wrestling news, the board approved bringing the number of girls’ weight classes to 10 by adding 120, 132 and 145 (the latest AA girls’ rankings are in Scoreboard).
Turning to hoops, the executive board confirmed that State AA will employ a playoff system to determine its basketball championships.
The three lower classes are still set to have state tournaments: State A is tentatively set for Butte’s Civic Center, B is set for the Billings Metra and C is tentatively set for Breeden Field House in Bozeman.
The state swimming championships are also without hosts as of now, though the MHSA said Class AA and Class A-B would be held at different sites, pending county health department approval.
The MHSA also announced spectator limits for the postseason. For swimming, there will be two passes per competitor; for wrestling from 2-4 passes are allowed for each wrestler, depending on capacity; and for basketball there will be two or more passes per competitor.
Basketball is also allowed 25 percent capacity of the venue, up to 500 fans, allowing for more passes — with the minimum of two tickets per suited player for both home and visiting teams.