2023 Escape the Rock Field

We go through this every year. I have the list of full team applications in front of me. If you want to bring up a specific team that was turned down - I'll let you know why it made sense to us.

A few things to consider:

-Every team that applied as a full team and was turned down was offered the option to apply as a partial. Some did. Some didn't. I understand not taking this option with the PIAA competition rules that teams must adhere to. Other states have more flexibility.

-A team that is built better than another for duals or smaller and local tournaments may not be a good fit for our tournament. If you have 13 wrestlers that are all making it to regions, but are just fighting to get to states, you are not going to score many points at ETR. 

-Some teams and staffs have been with us a very long time and are traditionally strong programs in their districts. They can have their ups and downs but they're going to be a part of our tournament. TBH, if the selections process was based entirely on merit (looking at the upcoming year), you would probably be looking at only South and one other D1 team in the tournament each year.

Sometimes the selections are very difficult, other times less so. When it came down to the final D1 team we invited this year, it was a conversation, but it was pretty clear cut. That team may not be the better team in duals, districts or even regionals. But they are the better team for ETR in our opinion. The kids that are going to be in the conversation for our podium are the ones that make an impact on the selection. Unfortunately, that excludes a lot of tough wrestlers who may be shooting for Hershey this year, but may have a tough time winning a 2nd match in their bracket at ETR.

We're not like the Beast (or even Powerade now) because we want to stay with our 32-man bracket size and not wrestle until 11pm at night - and our coaches appreciate that. So we have to make some tough decisions each year.