With the new year beginning, the start of high school postseason action is only less than a month away. This year, the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union have moved up the wrestling and boys and girls state basketball tournaments.

IHSAA information director Bud Legg talks says one of the things that both unions wanted to do was to cooperate with Wells Fargo arena to get the NCAA women’s basketball tournament into Des Moines. Legg says that usually, the week being gone isn’t a problem, but this year, many more postponements than usual have heightened awareness of the change.

He says there have been 292 boys games postponed through December, while last year there were only 184 total games postponed. Along with the moving of the tournament series, wrestling has had an addition as well, an expansion of the regional duals. The champion and runnerup now advance in the duals, allowing for more teams to be involved in the early rounds.