By Dana Hess
For the S.D. Newspaper Association
South Dakota’s high school wrestling tournament has grown so large that the duals tournament portion will be moved to a separate date. That decision was made June 15 by the board of directors of the South Dakota High School Activities Association.
“Something had to give,” said SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos, explaining that with the addition of girls’ wrestling, the tournament has gotten unwieldy. Athletic directors, Swartos said, were hesitant to move girls’ wrestling to its own tournament.
The duals tournament was added to the state wrestling tournament during the 2019-2020 school year.
While they approved moving the duals tournament to Feb. 10 on a 7-1 vote, some board members were skeptical of whether the tournament needs to happen at all. Board members questioned the commitment of schools to the duals format and the ability of the tournament to draw a crowd.
“Are we moving around something that doesn’t need to happen?” asked board member Jeff Danielsen of Watertown. “I don’t think it’s serving the purpose it’s supposed to have.”
Board member Tom Culver of Avon said he recalled a wrestling dual tournament with a small crowd.
“Wrestling coaches need to figure out if they want this or not,” Culver said.
Board members agreed that they would track the participation in the duals tournament.
“They’ll have one last shot to see how it goes,” said board member Kelly Messmer of Harding County.
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