New wrestling plan put on hold
A new plan to determine qualifiers for the PIAA Wrestling Championships was put on hold, for possibly as long as two years, by the PIAA wrestling steering committee.
At its April 5 meeting, the steering committee supported a plan by Frank Vulcano, athletic director at Canon-McMillan and head of the WPIAL wrestling steering committee, that would provide each of the five Class 3A regions with three qualifiers from the regional tournament to the 20-man bracket for the PIAA Championships.
The remaining five qualifiers for each of the 20 weight classes would be determined based on the number of medalist from underclassmen in each region.
The maximum number of qualifiers from any region in any weight class would be five.
“I guess the word got out way back when and there were rumblings from the board members thinking that they were going to get all their policies in place,” Vulcano said. “This is way off the chart in doing what they normally do. The (committee) didn’t think they had enough votes to pass it.”
The recommendation from the steering committee had to be passed by the PIAA at its board of directors meeting May 18 in order for the recommendations to become law.
“So we rescinded that motion and voted upon the previous cycle’s qualifiers,” said Vulcano. “We’re going to research this and come up with ideas on how to make this better than it was.”
The PIAA will use the same number of qualifiers – District 7 gets four for each weight class in Class 3A and six for Class 2A – for the next two years. Previously, the PIAA determined the number of qualifiers on the percentage of teams in the PIAA. Because District 7 was possibly losing seven Class 3A teams to Double-A, they stood to lose one of their qualifiers, leaving three to a weight class for states.
Vulcano is optimistic his new plan could gain traction in the coming years.
“That’s a work in progress,” said Vulcano. “That still needs to be worked on. We’ll try to get it so it’s not against what they’ve been doing. And we have to think about the girls when they come in. The four-region thing will get a stronger look.”
Vulcano said the new plan and the change to four Class 3A regions are not dead yet.
“That doesn’t mean it won’t come back up,” said Vulcano. “We’re hoping (the status quo) goes through. It will get us through the next year, and possibly the next two years. When the cycle renews, then we’ll see if we can come up with something.”
The committee also rescinded a proposal that would have changed the PIAA Team Tournament from two to four classes.
All proposals will be voted on by the PIAA board of directors on May 18.