BY ROB SANDERS

Here is the numbers that prove it:

How tough was the 2016 B1 district? Twenty wrestlers with 25+ wins didn’t advance to Omaha. Here’s the list:
120-Brayden Dowding of Waverly, 31-17 record
126-Kaleb Canoyer of Waverly, 31-11 record
126-Nick Bosco of Ralston, 25-14 record
145-Humberto Villareal of Wahoo/CB, 25-9 record
145-Matthew Harvey of Norris, 31-12 record
145-Gage Jeffers of Platteview, 33-12 record
145-Dominic Swertzic of Gross, 27-13 record
152-Brett Minner of Nebraska City, 28-20 record
152-Ryan Walker of Wahoo/CB, 25-14 record
160-Justin Lawrence of Waverly, 34-14 record
160-Tucker Hancock of Wahoo/CB, 26-18 record
160-Davy Jones of Platteview, 28-20 record
170-Cannon Ahrens of Gretna, 30-8 record
182-Jared Gasper of Ralston, 32-14 record
182-Gavin Eason of Norris, 33-11 record
195-Chris Eads of Platteview, 30-17 record
195-Jerret Zierenberg of Waverly, 27-20 record
285-Gabe Colgrove of Gretna, 36-14 record
285-Dalton Williams of Nebraska City, 31-18 record
285-Kainan Bowyer of Ralston, 27-19 record

To analyze the class B state qualifiers, every state medal winner was categorized according to the district they qualified through. This gives us 4 mega district teams, and here how the numbers look:

B1
Most champs
Most 3rd place finishers
Tied for most 2nd place finishers
Tied for most 4th place finishers
Placed all 4 qualifiers at 120 and 285
Placed 3 qualifiers at 170, 182
Placed 2 qualifiers at 106, 113, 132, 145, 152, 160, 195 and 220
Placed 1 qualifier at every single weight
State Finals matchups between B1 opponents occurred at 120, 170 and 285
57% of qualifiers placed in top 6

B4
Most 5th place finishers
Most 6th place finishers
Tied for most 2nd placers
Second in 3rd place finishers
Placed 4 qualifiers at 126
Placed 3 qualifiers at 113 and 220
Placed 2 qualifiers at 106, 132, 138,145,152, 170, 195
Placed 1 qualifier at 12 of 14 weight classes
46.4 % of qualifiers placed in top 6

B3
Tied for most 4th place finishers
Placed 2 qualifiers at 138, 152, 160, 195 and 285
Placed 1 qualifier at 13 of 14 weight classes
33.3% of qualifiers placed in top 6

B2
Tied for most 2nd place finishers
Placed 1 qualifier in 8 of 14 weight classes
All placers finished no lower than 4th
14.8% of qualifiers placed in top 6

Taking the top two districts and their respective team district scores, B1 team scores directly translated to the team state scores while B4 put three teams into the top ten.

Teams in B1
3 teams finished in the top 3
5 teams finished in the top 9

Teams in B4
3 teams finished in the top 10
4 teams finished in the top 15

Teams in B3
1 team finished in the top 5
4 teams finished in the top 15

Teams in B2
1 team finished in the top 6
2 teams finished in the top 15

The serpentine of districts B1, B2 and B3 should do its job of preventing a super district. But freshmen and transfers are two big factors that aren’t included in returning team points.

Hastings is sure to cause disruptions with their handful of hungry freshmen. How will their returning points from the 2016 class A state tournament translate in class B?

Big name transfers in class B have been prevalent in all forms. Jeff Heinz formerly of Skutt, and Marc Zeckser formerly of Adams Central are now in class C schools Fort Calhoun and Doniphan-Trumbull respectively. Tyler Cunningham, formerly of class C school St. Paul followed his father Sean to Gretna. Van Schmidt vacated Skutt but stays in class B and will also compete for Gretna. All of these transfers have been in the state finals during their careers, while Heinz and Cunningham both have a state title in the resumes

The class B team race will have its share of vicissitudes this season. Fans can only hope that it comes down to a combustible state finals match between opponents from state title contending teams. Will Korbin Meink get the opportunity to win his 4th individual title and lock up a 4th team title in his last high school match? Or will juniors Tyler Cunningham or Trevor Fauver prove that their sophomore state titles weren’t flukes?