Dual Wrestling returns to the State High School Wrestling Championships in South Dakota this year, and some of the ‘old school’ wrestling fans are excited about it. But for the newer or less informed wrestling fans, confusion has set in as to what exactly this means.
Duals hasn’t been a part of the state tournament in South Dakota since 2004, but after a little more than a decade and a half, it’s back.
“It's essentially just a return to kind of where wrestling began, that team concept of taking my best lineup against your best lineup and seeing what school can put the most points on the scoreboard in that head-to-head matchup,” said John Krogstrand, Assistant Executive Director for the South Dakota High School Activities Association.
As far as the Duals competition goes, eight teams from each class qualified for the state tournament. From there, each team will put their 14 best wrestlers against the 14 best wrestlers from the other team in a showdown. Whichever teams scores the most head-to-head points, they’ll advance in the Duals tournament. The bracket setup for Duals will work like it does for state volleyball or state basketball in there being a quarterfinal round, semifinal round, and then a championship round.
Not only does the Duals tournament create more of a team vs team philosophy, but it also allows more individuals to compete on the state’s biggest stage.
“It includes a lot more kids that have maybe been in that wrestling room, in that practice room, going all year, and competing and representing their school – maybe had a tough region or maybe just weren’t quite able to qualify for the individual tournament, but still able to go on and represent their community and their towns and their teams,” explained Krogstrand.
The addition of Duals has turned the high school wrestling championships in South Dakota into a now three-day event, rather than the traditional two-day event.
Dual Wrestling Schedule
Quarterfinal Round – 5 pm CT Thursday
Semifinal Round – 5 pm CT Friday
3rd Place Round – 6:30 pm CT Friday
Championship Round – 8 pm CT Friday
For Dual Wrestling Brackets, via Track Wrestling, Click Here
SDPB will stream all of the action live at the high school wrestling championships this year at sdpb.org/wrestling. The third place Duals and Championship Duals matches on Friday night will also be broadcasted live on the SDPB Sports Facebook page.
To view the full State High School Wrestling schedule, which includes the traditional individual tournaments as well, click here.
SDPB will also televise the individual tournament championship session on Saturday night at 5 pm CT on SDPB1-TV.
