Story originally printed in the Tomah Journal or online at www.tomahjournal.com
Published - Monday, July 14, 2008
No more post-season wrestling tournament for MVC
The Mississippi Valley Conference wrestling tournament is history.
The MVC combined with the Coulee Conference to determine its individual champion for the last 12 years, but a breakup of that relationship led coaches to decide against even having a conference tournament.
Tomah won the last three MVC/Coulee meets.
“We’re all just going to go on our own and find another tournament,” La Crosse Central coach Jarod Benrud said. “I always liked it and thought it was good preparation for the regionals, but on the other hand, it allows us to see someone else.”
The format for the tournament, which had combined the conferences since 1996, was changed from a full bracket to a partial bracket in 2008.
In that tournament, each conference was bracketed with champions qualifying to wrestle in an MVC vs. Coulee dual meet.
A battle over the future format ended the meet, and MVC coaches weren’t convinced that wrestling familiar faces one more time was a good idea.
MVC teams wrestle each other once each season in a dual, and most of the same wrestlers meet each other again at the Bi-State Classic in December and at the WIAA Division 1 regional and sectional meets in February.
“It would be the same six teams the following week,” Tomah coach Jeff Von Haden said. “You see the same wrestlers too much.”
Von Haden, like the other MVC coaches, wanted the MVC/Coulee meet to continue. He said the Timberwolves are tentatively scheduled to wrestle at a meet in Mankato, Minn., on the date the MVC/Coulee would have been held.
Benrud said he would give his team the Saturday typically reserved for this meet off.
“We’ll take that time off and heal,” Benrud said.
Tomah Jounral Sports Editor Steve Rundio contributed to this report.
All stories copyright 2006 Tomah Journal and other attributed sources.