Manage seeds for a weight-class tournament

Seeding works best when the tournament’s policy is decided before anyone starts ranking wrestlers. Snapdown gives directors a shared policy for the event, a way to collect the supporting facts, and a separate review workspace for each weight class. It calculates a proposed order, but the director still approves the result before any final seeds are written.

This workflow is intended for fixed weight-class tournaments where records, placements, returning-champion status, seed points, or similar facts arrive from coaches or another system. Snapdown does not reconstruct head-to-head or common-opponent results from match history in this workflow. If your seeding meeting considers those factors, record the meeting’s decision as a manual exception during review.

Decide whether you need criteria or final seeds

There are two useful ways to bring seeding into Snapdown:

If another system or your seeding meeting has already produced the final order, import a Seed column containing 1, 2, 3, and so on. Those numbers are the result; Snapdown does not need the facts behind them. An imported seed is also marked Keep seed so a later calculation does not move it unexpectedly.
If Snapdown should turn records, placements, points, or qualifications into an order, configure seed criteria and import those values. You will calculate, review, and apply the final order inside each weight class.

Do not use both approaches for the same decision without a clear plan. A final seed answers “where is this wrestler seeded?” A criterion such as Season Record answers “why should this wrestler be ahead of another wrestler?”

Agree on the tournament policy first

Seed criteria belong to the event, not to one weight class. Every weight class uses the same criteria in the same priority order, while each wrestler’s values belong to that wrestler’s specific division assignment. A wrestler entered in two divisions can therefore have different values in each assignment.

The order of the criteria is consequential. Snapdown compares the first criterion for two wrestlers. If that criterion separates them, later criteria do not change the result. If it is equal or missing for both wrestlers, Snapdown moves to the next criterion. This is a prioritized comparison, not a point total.

For example, this policy:

Priority	Criterion	Configuration	Meaning
1	Returning state placer	Yes / No	A returning placer ranks ahead of a non-placer
2	State place	Number, lowest first	First place ranks ahead of second place
3	Season record	Win-loss record, minimum 5 matches	Compare winning percentage, then wins
4	Seed points	Number, highest first	Use points only when earlier facts do not separate the wrestlers

does not add state place, winning percentage, and seed points together. A “Yes” in the first criterion outranks a “No” before the other columns are considered. That ordering fits tournaments that treat returning state placement as the strongest qualification. If the tournament committee gives another factor more weight, move that criterion higher before coach data collection begins.

Choose the right criterion type

Number is appropriate for placements, points, pins, or another value that can be compared numerically. Choose whether the highest or lowest value is best. State Place normally uses lowest first; Seed Points normally uses highest first. Zero and negative numbers are valid, so use blanks—not zero—to mean “no information.”

Yes / No is appropriate for a qualification such as Returning champion or Returning state qualifier. Yes ranks ahead of No, and both rank ahead of a blank.

Win-loss record stores wins and losses together. Snapdown calculates match count and winning percentage, compares qualifying wrestlers by winning percentage, and uses wins to break an equal percentage. A minimum-match rule prevents a small sample from taking priority. With a five-match minimum, 1-0 is treated as missing while 10-2 and 5-1 both qualify; because those two records have the same winning percentage, 10-2 ranks first on wins.

For every type, a present value ranks ahead of a missing value. Missing data is visible during review; it is not silently converted to zero or No.

Configure criteria before collecting the roster

Open the gear menu on Roster and choose Seed Criteria. The option is available whenever at least one division uses Fixed weight classes, even before wrestlers are imported. No division or weight-class filter is required because this is the event-wide policy. Give each criterion the same plain-language label coaches will see in the workbook, set its type, choose the direction for numbers or minimum match count for records, and arrange the comparison order.

The dialog offers common criteria as quick-add choices, including season record, previous state or district/region placement, returning state qualifier, and seed points. Each choice adds a configured, editable row; it does not become part of the policy until the director saves. Use Add custom when the tournament recognizes a different measurable factor.

Renaming a criterion keeps its collected values. Changing its type is a different decision: existing values for that criterion are cleared because a number, yes/no value, and record are not safely interchangeable. Deleting a criterion also removes its imported values. Treat type changes and deletions as policy changes, not cosmetic cleanup.

Only staff with event-admin access can change the shared policy. Staff with weigh-in access can enter values, calculate, and apply seeds within a weight class.

Let coaches supply the facts with their roster

When an authorized coach opens the event’s Event Roster, Snapdown shows the director’s criteria as part of the wrestler data for every fixed weight-class division. Coaches can supply those facts while adding a wrestler or change them later with Edit wrestler. They do not need access to the director’s Manage Seeds workspace just to enter a record, placement, or qualification.

The coach edits facts, not tournament policy. A coach cannot rename, reorder, add, or delete criteria, and cannot apply the tournament’s final seed numbers. Those decisions remain with event staff. Criteria are hidden when the selected division uses automatic grouping because that division does not use the fixed-weight-class seeding workflow.

Seed columns are hidden in the coach’s roster table by default so ordinary roster work stays readable. Show seed criteria adds all configured criteria to the table for a quick completeness review; Hide seed criteria returns to the compact roster. Hiding the columns does not clear any values.

For a larger update, the coach can use Export roster or download the event roster template. Both workbooks include the event’s current criteria. Number and Yes / No criteria use one column, while each win-loss record uses separate Wins and Losses columns. When a completed workbook is imported, the mapping and preview include those criteria alongside the wrestler’s division and weight class. Valid values are saved to that team’s assignment only.

This makes the normal handoff simple: the director establishes one policy, coaches maintain their own wrestlers and supporting facts, and the director reviews the combined field before calculating and applying seeds.

Prepare coach data that can be reviewed

A roster workbook is usually the easiest collection method for a standalone tournament. Use one row per wrestler assignment and include the ordinary identity and placement fields—name, team, division, and weight class—alongside the seeding facts.

Use column headings that match the criterion labels where practical. Snapdown can propose obvious matches, but the import review is still the director’s opportunity to confirm that “Points” means Seed Points rather than Team Points.

Recommended values are:

Criterion type	Workbook value	Examples
Number	A number, with a blank for unknown	`42`, `3`, `87.5`
Yes / No	Yes/No, Y/N, True/False, or 1/0	`Yes`, `N`
Record in one column	Wins and losses separated by a dash, slash, or space	`18-2`, `18/2`, `18 2`
Record in two columns	Non-negative whole numbers in both Wins and Losses	`18` and `2`

A record can arrive as one column or as separate Wins and Losses columns. If both versions are mapped, they must agree. A row containing 18-2 in Record and 17 / 2 in Wins and Losses is rejected rather than resolved silently.

Keep values factual. Do not pre-normalize a missing record to 0-0 unless the wrestler truly has zero matches; a blank and a zero-match record can have different meaning to the tournament committee.

Map and import the seeding facts

The roster import’s Map Columns review includes the configured event criteria after the standard wrestler fields. Number and Yes / No criteria use one file column. A record offers a combined W-L target and separate Wins and Losses targets.

Pay attention to the sample values shown beside each mapping. Similar column names are useful suggestions, not proof that two fields mean the same thing. Leave a coach-only note or unrelated column as Not imported.

If the workbook contains a useful seeding column that was not configured in advance, Use for seeding creates a deliberate event criterion from that column. Confirm its label, type, and—for a number—whether higher or lower values rank first. Snapdown never promotes an unknown column into the tournament’s policy on its own. A criterion created here is added after the existing criteria, so review the final comparison order before calculating seeds.

The import preview blocks malformed values and conflicting duplicate rows. It also protects re-imports with these rules:

a mapped nonblank cell replaces that criterion’s stored value;
a mapped blank clears that criterion’s stored value; and
a criterion left unmapped is unchanged.

A nonblank Seed value is treated differently from a criterion value: it is an intentional final position and is imported with Keep seed on. Leave the Seed cell blank when Snapdown should calculate that wrestler’s position from the configured criteria instead.

Criterion data can only attach after the row resolves to a division and weight class. Resolve missing or misspelled weight classes instead of assuming the facts were stored somewhere else.

Curate one weight class at a time

On Roster, narrow the roster to exactly one weight class and open Manage Seeds. Weight-class selection is required here because values, proposals, kept positions, and final seeds belong to one class. The workspace combines the current seed, wrestler and team identity, the event’s criteria, the proposed order, kept positions, and review warnings.

This is the place to correct a coach’s typo, enter a late record, or paste a reviewed range from Excel or Google Sheets. A pasted rectangle begins at the selected criterion cell and fills only criterion cells in the visible wrestler rows. It cannot overwrite wrestler names, teams, Keep seed choices, or seed numbers.

In the workspace, enter a record as one value such as 18-2. Snapdown shows the derived match count and winning percentage beneath it. Invalid values are marked before they can be saved. Save criterion values preserves factual corrections without changing final seeds, which is useful when seeding review will happen later.

The status in the workspace footer tells you which layer has changed. It distinguishes unsaved criterion edits, saved values that need a fresh calculation, a proposed order that has not been applied, and an official seed order that is already saved. This matters because saving a wrestler’s record does not silently change the seed used for bracket generation.

Be deliberate about row order before pasting. A spreadsheet range is applied to the rows currently displayed in the workspace; it is not matched again by wrestler name.

Read the calculated proposal

Calculate seeds saves valid criterion edits and produces a proposal. It does not write final seeds. The workspace then shows the current seed beside the proposed seed and identifies missing criteria, ties, and kept positions.

Treat the review states differently:

An invalid value is a data problem and must be corrected before calculation or apply.
Missing means Snapdown had no usable value for that criterion. Present values sort ahead of it, and later criteria can still separate two wrestlers who are both missing the same earlier value.
Tie means every configured criterion was equal for those wrestlers. Snapdown keeps the preview repeatable, but the stable display order is not an additional tournament rule. The director may accept it or resolve it.

Check more than the top few seeds. Look for a strong wrestler pushed down by a blank first-priority value, records that fail the minimum-match rule, duplicated coach submissions, and a criterion order that produces a result the policy did not intend. Correct facts when the data is wrong; change the event criteria only when the policy itself is wrong.

Preserve committee decisions with Keep seed

Keep seed preserves a director-approved position while Snapdown fills the remaining positions around it. Use it for decisions made outside the configured data, such as a head-to-head result, a documented committee exception, or a tie the committee resolved.

Dragging a wrestler to another proposed position or entering a seed number turns on Keep seed automatically. You can also select Keep seed for an existing proposed position. On the next calculation, kept seeds reserve their numbers and the other wrestlers fill the open numbers in criteria order.

For example, if a committee keeps one wrestler at seed 2, Snapdown can place the highest remaining calculated wrestler at 1 and continue with 3, 4, and so on. Kept seeds must be unique and must fall between 1 and the number of wrestlers in the weight class. A duplicate, blank, or out-of-range kept seed blocks apply.

Composite and Glicko are not additional seeding actions in this workspace. They help Snapdown order wrestlers automatically when brackets are built and no explicit tournament seed has been applied. Fixed weight-class brackets use Composite from highest to lowest. Madison brackets use conservative Glicko from highest to lowest, with Composite as the fallback when rating data is not available. Any explicit seed set here takes priority over those automatic orders.

Apply seeds before building brackets

Applying is the handoff from a reviewed proposal to the seed numbers bracket generation uses. Apply seeds writes the entire displayed order together. It is available only when the criterion data is saved, a current calculation exists, and the seed numbers are complete and valid.

If another staff member changes the roster, criteria, values, seeds, or Keep seed choices after your preview, Snapdown rejects the stale apply. Calculate again and review the new proposal instead of forcing the old order onto changed data.

Finish seeding before brackets are built whenever possible. Applying seeds does not rearrange an existing bracket. If the division already has a bracket, Snapdown warns you before applying; afterward, review the bracket and use the appropriate bracket repair or rebuild workflow if the entrants must move.

Once seeds are applied, build the weight-class brackets and confirm the seeded wrestlers landed as intended before publishing matches. See Build individual weight-class brackets for that handoff.

Update seed data without starting over

For a few director corrections, edit the values directly in the seed workspace. Coaches can make the same factual correction with Edit wrestler in their Event Roster. For a larger update, export the appropriate roster, edit the criterion columns, and re-import it.

The export includes one column for each Number or Yes / No criterion and separate Wins and Losses columns for each record. A director export includes wrestler_id; preserve it because it lets Snapdown update the intended wrestler instead of relying on a name match. Do not invent, move, or replace IDs. A coach’s Event Roster workbook matches an existing team wrestler by name and date of birth, so keep the date of birth populated and unchanged. In both workbooks, keep the division and weight-class columns with each assignment.

On re-import, map only the criteria you intend to update. Remember that a blank in a mapped column clears that value, while an unmapped criterion stays as it was. Calculate again after the import—the stored facts have changed, but final seed numbers do not change until you review and apply a new proposal.

A practical readiness review

The seeding work is ready to hand to bracket staff when all of these statements are true:

The criteria and their priority match the tournament’s published policy.
Every wrestler is in the correct division and weight class.
Invalid values are resolved, and important missing values were either filled or consciously accepted.
Ties and committee exceptions were reviewed, with Keep seed used where needed.
The current proposal was calculated after the latest roster or data change.
Seeds were applied before the affected brackets were built.
Bracket preview confirms that the applied order produced the intended placement.