Meeting Minutes - 2/17/2023
NCWCA Board Meeting – Feb. 17, 2023
Present: Tra Waters, Que Tucker, David Perry, Mike Carey, Billy Baker, Mark Harris, Heang Uy, Chase Holleman, Byron Sigmon, Tripp Rogers, Ben Watson, Butch Ross, Jamie Belk
Our annual February meeting focused mainly on girls wrestling as it transitions into a fully sanctioned sport in 2023-24. The following topics were addressed:
Tra informed us that separate track wrestling accounts will be needed next season for both boys’ and girls’ teams. This will require schools to pay for both accounts.
Coach Uy addressed the timeline of cutting off girls competing in both boys’ and girls’ events. We were told that girls will still have the option to wrestle boys in 2023-24. This option will likely end when girls’ dual championships are implemented. (TBD)
Weekly limitations for girls will be implemented next season.
Tra surveyed the girls regional hosts from this year (Heang, Chase, and Byron) for feedback about running girls’ regionals on a Thursday night. There was unanimous agreement that a Thursday regional was not ideal due to travel and the logistical challenges of hosting the week.
For girls regionals in 2024, The Board suggested exploring the weekend of the state dual finals with both 1-day and 2-day options for hosts. This would affect the fewest number of teams. If a regional host qualifies for the dual team finals, an alternate school should be designated to fill in. The Board agreed that a new format for girls’ regional tournaments should be on a trial basis and evaluated after next year.
Full sanctioning will limit teams to one girl per weight, per event. This will end Madison pairings as an option for varsity girls’ tournaments.
The 2024 State Tournament, which will include both boys’ and girls’ tournaments, will start two hours earlier to accommodate the girls’ tournament.
Other Items Discussed:
Tra asked the Board for feedback about Rank Wrestlers and dual team playoff seeding. There was discussion about Rank Wrestlers not calculating all matches in alignment with the reporting deadline. This will be addressed in 2024 and may require an adjustment to the deadline. The Board expressed that Rank wrestlers is preferred to random seeding of conference champs. It was also noted it should be a priority that all dual matches are properly counted towards dual seeding within the reporting deadline.
Regional seeding was addressed. Coach Hooker of West Forsyth has suggested a regional seeding system currently used in South Carolina allowing for head-head-adjustments when wrestlers are within 10 seeding percentage points of each other. This proposal has been shared with Tra and with the Board. Regional seeding was last updated in 2018 to include regional and state placement.
The issue of reaching the five-match limit in individual tournaments was addressed. The NFHS gives individual states the responsibility to interpret this rule. North Carolina has been requiring additional wins and losses for wrestlers in this situation. The Board asked Tra to consider having 5th-match occurrences entered as “no match” in Track wrestling. This would be fairer than a wrestler receiving wins or losses when they are not allowed to compete due the 5-match rule.