Seedy seeds

There is no excuse for the problems the WPIAL wrestling committee had in seeding the Section 1-AA Tournament. The WPIAL made John Prezzia, a defending state champion from South Side Beaver, the No. 2 seed at 112 pounds. The WPIAL made Kory Bissett of West Greene, a regional champion who was a third-place finisher at 135-pounds in the state last season, the No. 2 seed at 140 pounds.

The reason this happened was the section record of the No. 1 seeds were better than those of Prezzia and Bissett. That happened because the two missed part of the season with injuries.
This was really embarassing. Prezzia and Bissett are the class of their respective weight class and they each proved it by winning their weights.

The more troubling aspect of going strictly by the numbers is that they can easily be manipulated. What would have happened if, say, Troy Dolan, a two-time state champion from Derry, had gotten the flu and missed a couple of section dual meets this season. Would he have been seeded second, or maybe third, if there were two wrestlers with better section records than his?

Wrestling is unique in that past achievements by wrestlers do mean something. Many Class AA coaches believe their tournaments are treated as second class by the WPIAL. When seeding blunders such as these happen, it only heightens those suspicions.