Hook and Half did some research for me last year and from 2011 to 2016 I believe there were only three wrestlers who placed at state that got 4th at regionals.
John Sims-2nd
Paul Konrath-3rd
Bailey Shrober-8th
John and Paul both injury defaulted to 4th place their respective years.
The first round of semi state is brutal to watch as a spectator.
Theoretically the first round of semi state has 672 minutes of regulation wrestling.
If we remove the 4th pace finisher, that changes to 336 minutes of wrestling.
We could add wrestle backs from the ticket round on and that would add an extra 280 minutes of regulation wrestling to the tournament.
We could add wrestle backs to third place and actually save 56 minutes of match time. I think it would be much more spectator friendly and it would do a lot to ensure the best 4 wrestlers made it to the state tournament.
I did this on my cell phone so sorry if it is difficult to read or my math is incorrect. Thanks