After a 12-year absence, the PIAA will add a fourth qualifier to the Class AAA individual tournament in each weight class.
In the Class AA Southwest Region, which includes the WPIAL (PIAA District 7) and Districts 5 and 6, a sixth wrestler will qualify for the state tournament in Hershey.
The PIAA Board of Directors voted recently to restore the additional qualifiers, giving both classes brackets of 20 in each weight class, instead of 16.
The additional regional qualifier was discontinued in 2003.
“To get an additional qualifier we think is phenomenal and well-deserved,” said Fox Chapel coach Ron Frank, also president of the WPIAL Wrestling Coaches Association. “The fourth qualifier had placed many times in the PIAA tournament. We feel that WPIAL wrestling is the best in the state.”