Jchas,
Great point. Sam has only wrestled two tournaments off season since 6th grade due to other sports (although his IS committing himself to put in more effort for his senior year) in part due to other sports.
However I think there is an even bigger difference, also tied to competition, and that is wrestling partners.
I love Sam's teammates. They work hard and have a ton of heart (most of the time) and I would be hard pressed to find a better group of guys for him to be with, but when it comes to wrestling partners in practice it is really tough to find someone to push him.
I think, at least for Sam, that his best competition SHOULD BE from one weight up, one weight down, then two weights up for a good combination of speed and strength.
For Example, Jack had great partners over all. Based on the finals of sectionals your 120, 132, and 138 had a combined record of 48-16. Based on the kids that actually wrestled 126, 138, and 145 Sam's equivalents had a combined record of 15-68 (there were also some forfeits in there both wins and losses.)
We had one reserve that bounced between weights to take matches when their were forfeits or kids who did not make weight. His only wins were those forfeits. So Sam wrestled with coaches (old guys ) or the 152 pounder. None of them matched the speed that he saw in matches.
But honestly that is what we (Sam and Tony before him) love about a single class individual tournament. You can overcome many things if you have the right kid and the right coaches (in the past even if you did not have the right coaches) and you can still make a name for yourself at Banker's Life.