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DEL.ICIO.USState duals future in limbo
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With the state duals heading to the Macon Coliseum this weekend, questions have been raised on whether the meet will stay in Macon or if each classification will hold the duals at area high schools. State duals director, Pete Fritts Jr., said the reports of the state duals leaving Macon are just rumors and that a decision on the future of the state duals won’t be made until May. We sat down with Henry County coach Marty Hutsell to get his thoughts on the matter.
Q: So you think this might be the last year for the state duals in Macon?
A: That’s the rumor. I think this is the last year in Macon. It’s too expensive to rent the arena. What they’re doing is great, I think you have to put it in an arena.
Q: Why do you think the duals need to be in an arena?
A: If you had it in high schools, it would take away from it because some of the kids aren’t going to go to traditional state. That’s why I like the state duals, because some kids will not be able to qualify top-four in traditional area to wrestle in the traditional state tournament in Gwinnett Arena. Like last year, we won the state duals and finished second at traditional. We had a couple kids that did not qualify for traditional state, yet they still got to wrestle in a state championship and wrestle for a state championship team. Plus, I like to see it all under one roof because you can watch every team.
Q: Why is the Macon Coliseum such a good venue?
A: I think it’s a great venue. I’m all for staying there. What gets me is, they find the Macon Coliseum for basketball, and finally we’ve got it with wrestling, we fought for it to be in a big venue, and then it’s too expensive. I know it’s expensive but it’s for the kids. Let’s figure out a way to keep it there.
Q: So, where do you think the duals will take place?
A:It’s going to go back to the high schools, but, again, I think it takes away from it — from the excitement of having it Macon, in the big arena. I think that’s one of the reasons we did it in the first place. At least they’re going to keep the traditional (state tournament) in Gwinnett. The best thing they did was move the traditional out of the high schools into Gwinnett Arena; and to my knowledge it’s the largest high school tournament in the country. What I like best about it is that we’re one of the only states that has a dual and traditional state tournament.
Well represented:
With the state duals only a day away, we broke down the 64 duals teams by county. Here are the counties sending the most teams to Macon:
4 teams:
Fulton (Centennial, Westminster, Blessed Trinity, Lovett)
Gwinnett (Collins Hill, Brookwood, Parkview, Wesleyan)
Henry (Union Grove, Stockbridge, Henry County, Eagle’s Landing Christian)
3 teams:
Cobb (McEachern, Walton, Harrison)
DeKalb (Redan, Southwest DeKalb, Tucker)
Jackson (Jackson County, Jefferson, Commerce)
2 teams:
Bartow (Woodland, Cass)
Chatham (Groves, Benedictine)
Carroll (Carrollton, Bowdon)
Effingham (Effingham County, South Effingham)
Fayette (Starr’s Mill, Whitewater)
Laurens (West Laurens, Dublin)
Lowndes (Lowndes, Valdosta)
Muscogee (Columbus, Hardaway)
Paulding (Hiram, Paulding County)
Walker (Lafayette, Gordon Lee)
Best of the rest:
1 - Camden (Camden County); Forsyth (Forsyth Central); Lee (Lee County); Jones (Jones County); Catoosa (Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe); Glynn (Glynn Academy); Whitfield (Northwest Whitfield); Newton (Eastside); Cherokee (Cherokee); Houston (Northside Warner Robins); Grady (Cairo); Gilmer (Gilmer); Oconee (Oconee County); Dougherty (Westover); Pickens (Pickens); Elbert (Elbert County); Cook (Cook); Gordon (Sonoraville); Ben Hill (Gordon Lee); Toombs (Toombs County); Chattooga (Trion); Haralson (Bremen); Walton (Social Circle).
Time for you to tackle this subject. Speak your mind. Got a wrestling-related issue for Kurt to take down? Send an e-mail.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Takedown
Comments
By Jon
January 18, 2007 02:47 PM | Link to this
Other states do both a dual champion and traditional champion
By drew
January 18, 2007 04:22 PM | Link to this
Georgia also does both.
For the past few years the state duals have been held at the Macon Centreplex, with all 5 state classifications wrestling over two days. My take on this article is that there simply is not enough support (i.e., people attending) to cover the cost of the tournament in a large arena. Looks like next year each classification will have their state duals in various high schools—not all together in one place.
It’s a shame the people of Georgia don’t support high school wrestling enough to make the current set-up work.
The individual state tournament will be held at the Gwinnett Arena February 14-16, with all 5 classes wrestling under one roof. I guess we should be happy that this tournament received enough support last year to justify the expense of securing the Arena again this year. I believe this tournament is the largest high school tournament (in terms of # of wrestlers) in the nation.
By laura maher
January 18, 2007 05:09 PM | Link to this
Excellent article, wonderful sport writer!
By chuck
January 18, 2007 07:58 PM | Link to this
look out for lakeview fort ogl., could surprise this weekend. and i like eastside in 4A
By Henry
January 22, 2007 08:59 PM | Link to this
Tucker should of could of would got #1 if they realy wanted it