The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) confirmed last week that they are changing the timing and the way the wrestling state championships will be conducted in 2021.
Because of COVID, the wrestling calendar has changed significantly. The weekend of the regionals is now Feb. 12-13, which is normally Dual State weekend. The girls’ regional will be held on Monday, Feb. 8 at Norman and Broken Arrow High schools. That event is now scheduled for March 12-13 in Enid. The state meet is now Feb. 25-27 at the state fair arena.
The regional will also have a different format with the lower seven weight classes (106-145 pounds) being contested from start to finish on Friday, and the remaining weights (152-285 pounds) being contested on Saturday.
The OSSAA has gotten a special waiver from the National High School Federation to allow an individual to wrestle up to six matches in a single day for the regional. There are plans in place if a wrestler would need more than six matches to qualify, but OSSA is waiting for the entries, which should not be an issue in Class 5A because there are only 16 teams in each regional. The Class 5A regionals this year are in Tahlequah and Duncan.
The state tournament two weeks later is also taking a different format this year. The girls will wrestle on Thursday, Feb. 25 from start to finish at the fairgrounds. The Class 4A and 5A boys will wrestle on Friday, Feb. 26 from start to finish utilizing eight mats - four for each clas- to get it done. Blackwell will be on the Saturday schedule with the 6A schools again from start to finish.
The Dual State meet will also be a one-day affair with the Class 4A and 5A teams on Friday with a morning session and an evening session. Class 3A gets the night session on Saturday with Class 6A beginning Saturday morning. The quarterfinals were always the first day and the semi-finals and finals were the second day in the past. The finalists will have to wrestle three times in one day this year.
All these changes were made as COVID-19 precautions so that if an individual or team has issues after any event, they still have time to quarantine and compete in the next event.
Attendance guidelines for the state tournament are being finalized with the fairground’s management, but it will not be the normal full house complete with raucous fans and parents that have been in attendance in the past.