By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

The competitors in the event aren’t exactly diaper dandies, but the idea of starting an Ohio junior high state tournament nearly ten years has proven to be a dandy of an idea for the Ohio Athletic Commission.

“The first year we had 1,200 kids who competed and we went, ‘Whoa!’ ” recalled Jude Roth, who helped come up with the idea of creating a postseason tournament for wrestlers in grades six through eight in 1999. “We figured it was definitely something people wanted.

“We thought about this for two years before we actually did it. We talked to a lot of people and knew there was an interest in having a state tournament. But we could not come up with a tournament that was economical. Last year at Cleveland State (site of the 2006 event), the rental alone was over $100,000. When we first started we had no idea what we would get so we took a loan to get started. It took us two years to figure out a way to do this.”

Nearly a decade later, the Ohio Junior High State Tournament is the place to be for the Buckeye state’s youngest wrestlers.

“It’s the real deal,” said Roth, who added the three-day event draws over 15,000 spectators alone. “People in Ohio know this tournament is up there and among the best in the nation for kids of that age level.”

One look at past Ohio junior high state champions is Who’s Who of great wrestlers who excelled on both the high school and college level, including Minnesota’s NCAA champion Dustin Schlatter, who captured a junior high title in 2001 at Westerville, Ohio, before compiling a 154-4 prep record and four state championships for Perry High School in Massillon, Ohio.

Many of these champions have competed in other youth tournaments during their careers but Roth believes the Ohio junior high event is even more special because it tries to reach all Ohio wrestlers by setting up eight qualifying district tournaments around the state two weeks before the state tournament.

“It’s the format that every part of the state has equal opportunity,” said Roth, adding that the state tournament brackets will be increased from 32 to 48 and that six qualifiers at a weight from each district tournament move on to the state tournament. “With other tournaments, you get higher participation to where it’s held. This tournament is determined by how you place in different parts of the state. We have the same number of qualifiers from the southwest part of Ohio as as we do in the central or east parts of Ohio.”

The Ohio Athletic Commission, made up solely of volunteers, has no connections with the Ohio High School Athletic Association. But Roth said the OAC asked the OHSAA if it wanted to take over this event.

“They said no because they said it was against their philosophy to go younger than high school age,” said Roth, who recently retired as a teacher and coach at St. Mary’s High School in Sandusky, Ohio. “I understand they have a blue-ribbon committee to see if they want to go to the junior high level and whether they want to create championships for that level. It might be something they want now that they see how successful it’s gotten.”

Five years ago, the OAS also created a grade school tournament, which is held at the end of March. The junior high tournament consists of one tournament for all three grades combined. Sixth graders do have the option of competing in the grade school tournament.

Roth does understand about the demands of winning putting too much pressure on his state’s young wrestlers.

“We got a lot of pressure to put together a preschool tournament for kids age six and younger and we don’t want to get in that,” Roth said.

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