In most cases it is perceived that the lower class athletes are inferior. When looking at other sports you assume that the 2A champ can't beat the 6A champ and so on. With wrestling though we have the potential to see the champs meet up during the regular season or during off-season events. On top of that national accolades play into who would be perceived the better wrestler. At the end of the day however, the small school winner will still have a blue ring and medal. You can't take that away from him, nor will you take away the effects of his school and community celebrating the accomplishment.
An Eli Stock and Silas Allred match would have been great to see, it would have been a barnburner and it would have been a quality finals match.
At the DI level it would have VERY little if any affect. DI coaches recruit based on national accolades more than winning state tournaments. Andrew Howe, Alex Tsirtsis, Jason Tsirtsis, etc were not big time recruits because of their in-state success, but their national success.
The small school colleges would be helped with more kids earning state level accolades earlier, thus the kids being on their radar earlier. The earlier you're on the radar, the better chance you have of having things like grades and test scores in order. On top of that some kids that earn state level accolades later in their career may have already packed it in on wrestling in college due to lack of interest.
