A high-quality, centrally-located tournament for nearly all of the best Class 1 programs (for boys and girls) in the State of Missouri is just what wrestling fans want just before Christmas. This event is hosted by Lathrop High School and has become a mainstay for small schools around Missouri every season.
In addition to this being a good tournament for the high schoolers, it would also be a great opportunity for college coaches to check out some of the local talents early in the season as both boys’ and girls’ teams will be wrestling at the same time in the same arena.
Tournament Setup:
Day 1 of the Battle of Katy Trail is pool play, giving the wrestlers up to five matches (some might have byes depending upon bracket size). After round-robin play, the wrestlers will be placed into brackets based on the results from Day 1. They will then wrestle in straight double-elimination style brackets to compete for a spot on the podium. In total, this should give the wrestlers up to 9 matches in two days of wrestling.
It will be a long day for all wrestlers involved and they will have to maintain some form of discipline in between matches as they have to make weight for day 2 of the event. It will help though that all of the wrestlers will get an 1 lb. allowance from Friday to Saturday.
Girls Preview:
Fifty-two teams are scheduled to be in attendance as the fall semester of school comes to an end at the Mathewson Arena located on the State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, MO. Among the teams in attendance, three of the top 10 girls’ teams will be there (Kearney, Brookfield, and Lexington). In addition to those teams, there are currently 70 teams in Class 1 that have at least one ranked wrestler according to the latest rankings. Out of those 70, 26 of those teams are at this tournament. This means that 50 state-ranked wrestlers are coming into this tournament with potential ranked match-ups in nearly every weight class. This gives many of these teams potential opportunities to earn seeding criteria for their respective District tournaments in February.
The two upper weight classes, 190 lb. and 235 lb., will feature five of the top ten wrestlers in their respective weight classes. So, even in the preliminary rounds, the fans in attendance should see some fireworks and some very highly competitive matches on Day 2 as the medal rounds approach.
If you’re attending this tournament, be prepared for upsets and Cinderella stories as this is the first multi-day tournament for many of these wrestlers and some will begin to show signs of fatigue as they enter Day 2.
Boys Preview:
Currently, there are 48 teams listed to attend the Boys’ Division of the Battle of Katy Trail. Out of these 48 teams listed on the tournament’s list of attendees, there are 14 of the top 15 teams from last year’s Class 1 State Tournament. The lone holdout is St. Pius of Kansas City who changed their Class status after winning the state tournament and accumulating enough promotion points under the MSHSAA by-laws. St. Pius will be attending another tough two-day tournament, the KC Stampede.
Even without St. Pius, there will be plenty of action taking place In addition to these top-tier teams, almost all of the other 34 teams had at least one state qualifier last season, with many of them returning this season, albeit some are at different weights than they were last season. Regardless of where these returning wrestlers end up in the brackets, there will be plenty of opportunities for competitive matches on both days of competition for the wrestlers to have and for the fans to enjoy.
