UIL State Qualifiers: Where Do They Go Next?

For the 2026 State Championships, the UIL is implementing a new method for seeding those wrestlers who finished in the top 4 at Regionals. In the past the top finishers would be given the top four seeds, and there would be an algorithm used to ensure that the #1 and 4 from the same Region would be in the same side of the bracket, and the 2^nd and 3^rd placers would be in the other half of the bracket. This year, the UIL is using a wrestler’s past performance (2025) as well, and then 2024 placement, followed by 2023 placement.

STATE BRACKETS:

• BOYS (5A/6A)
• GIRLS (5A/6A)

STATE RANKINGS:

• 6A BOYS
• 5A BOYS
• 6A GIRLS
• 5A GIRLS

Here are the steps the UIL is following from the UIL Wrestling website:

State Tournament Bracket Separation Plan

The draw for the state tournament shall be made by the state office and shall be released after the completion of all regional wrestling tournaments. Wrestlers who meet the qualification shall be placed in each weight division in the state tournament. To be placed, a wrestler must be a current region champion and must have been a state place finisher during his/her high school career. Brackets will be available on the UIL website (www.uiltexas.org/wrestling/state) following regionals.

Separation placement will be in order on lines 1, 16, 9, then 8. The criteria for placing shall be as follows:

1.  Separate all state champions (including state champions from other states).

2.  The following criteria in order shall be used to separate state champions:

          (a) state champion at the same weight,
          (b) state champion at a higher weight,
          (c) state champion at a lower weight.

                    1. If there are two state champions at the same weight the state champion from Texas will receive the higher separation placement.
                    2. If there are two state champions at the same weight and both from Texas, the champion from 5A will get priority in the 5A championship and the champion from 6A will get priority in the 6A championship.

3.  Follow the same procedure as #2 above for the 2nd place from the previous year, then 3rd place from the previous year, then 4th place from the previous year, then 5th place from the previous year, then finally 6th place from the previous year.

4.  Items #2 and #3 shall be applied, in order, to wrestlers who placed in the state tournament two years prior. 

5. Items #2 and #3 shall be applied, in order, to wrestlers who placed in the state tournament three years prior.

6. Blind draw for the remaining region champions who do not meet the above criteria. 

If a region champion scratches from the tournament before the start of the first round matches he/she will be replaced by the 2nd place finisher from that region and the remaining qualifiers and alternate in that weight class from that region will move up one position. As such, there will be a new group of four region champions at that weight class. In this situation, the weight class will be re-evaluated for separation based on the updated list of regional champions. 

The following spreadsheet indicates all of the wrestlers in each weight class who finished 1-4 in their Region. I’ve included their District, W-L record, and their 2025 State Placement.

Being a numbers geek, I find the strength of District and State placement very interesting. Regions 1, 2, and 3 are only separated by a couple of placers. But Region 2 definitely has more 2025 1st and 2nd place finishers returning to this year’s championships.

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