The WPIAL is in an “add on” type of mood this winter sports postseason.

And while high school athletic districts are often times criticized, the WPIAL got this one right.

The league’s basketball tournaments offer a consolation round to teams that are bounced from the championship bracket after winning a playoff game. The consolation bracket is then used to determine the order of seeding (beyond first and second) for the state tournament.

This is the first year a consolation bracket has been part of the tournament. In past years, some teams would lose in the second round, then wait and see whether they would qualify for the state tourney by the team that beat them “carrying them back in” by reaching the WPIAL Final or whatever.

That left defeated teams with a week or two of uncertainty as to whether their seasons were over or would be continued.

That left some coaches to deal with rather uninspired practices because the players didn’t know if they’d have any more games to practice for.

The consolation bracket changes all of that. Instead of days of practice, teams had more games to prepare for, games with meaning. They are playing games to determine where they will be seeded in the state tourney. They were also determining whether they would make the state tourney, based on how they do in those consolation games.

Former Butler girls basketball coach Jonna Burke, now coaching at Shady Side Academy, said she likes the consolation games “because I’d rather see teams earn their spots than be handed one.”

She is one coach who hopes this system returns next year.

The WPIAL Class AAA wrestling tournament is sending the top four wrestlers in each weight class to next weekend’s state tournament in Hershey. That number is commonplace for the WPIAL event.

This year, wrestlers will have a chance to compete for placements fifth through eighth at the WPIAL Tournament. They will not advance to the stare meet, but they will have a chance to end their seasons with a win.

Wrestling coaches in this area recognize how deep in talent the WPIAL is in the sport. Many argue that the WPIAL tourney is the toughest high school wrestling competition (short of state tournaments) in the country. There is prestige in being able to finish among the top eight in a weight class at the WPIAL event.

Before, wrestlers did not have the opportunity to find out if they could finish fifth through eighth. For a senior, it’s a positive way to go out. For an underclassmen, it’s something to use as a catapult toward next season.

The WPIAL is allowing its athletes to decide these things themselves.

For that, it should be commended.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle