The 68th annual Rocky Welton has recently wrapped up this Saturday, with the junior Welton following it on Sunday. The Welton is easily one of Garden Cities biggest sporting events, welcoming over 40 teams from Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and more. Dozens of wrestlers consider the Rocky Welton harder than State itself, because it puts several ranked wrestlers up against each other. As a Garden City wrestler, there are several reasons I love the Welton – it allows me to showcase the skills I’ve been preparing for months in the preseason and previous meets, along with it being the last meet before state. Another factor that makes Welton exciting is the environment. Being able to see the stands fill up, watching parents and coaches scream for their athletes, and just being on my “home turf” in general is an exciting way to wrap up the regular season. When I heard the Welton would be hosted at the refinery this year, I was originally disappointed. Before the Welton, I expected it to turn out much more different, and I wanted to keep the meet in its original spot: the high school. Previously, I wanted it to be at the high school for several reasons: access to the high school wrestling room, the staple of it being at the high school (and being able to show off one of the nicest gyms in the state), and just the nostalgia and tradition of the Rocky Welton being at the high school. While these reasons seem un-important to non-wrestlers, they seemed important to me, along with a couple of my teammates. However, now that the hundreds of matches have wrapped up over the long weekend, I have come to the conclusion that the refinery actually created a more organized, modern environment. I’ll start with the pros and cons of seating. The Refinery rents out suits in the upper level, which consists of general lounge areas and rooms a little smaller than the average classroom. Teams who decided to not rent out suits were given access to the huge turf next to the courts. This provided more room for team camps and athletes to move around before or after matches. Previously at the high school, all teams (except Garden’s) were given two mats in the auxiliary gym to camp. Along with that, the floor with all of the mats gave absolutely no space for athletes and coaches to move from mat to mat, and little space for athletes to sit mat side and support their team mates. Not only did the Refinery give 10 times more space than the high school did, but it also allowed us to place 10 mats, making the tournament go by so much faster (truly not an exaggeration). However, I will always love the tradition of having the Welton at the high school. Playing and messing around with my team mates in the wrestling room before I wrestled or sitting crammed mat side while I watched my team mate win a match in the last 30 seconds are things I will never forget, and ones that are native to the high school.