The 40th annual Oregon Wrestling Classic brings the top high school wrestling programs, multiple women’s college wrestling teams and youth wrestlers from across the state to the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center in Redmond.

But this year’s Classic, set for Friday through Sunday, could be much smaller than normal.

With winter storm warnings issued across Oregon, by Thursday afternoon nearly 30 wrestling teams had already decided not to make the trip to Central Oregon for the annual dual-meet tournament.

But even with many teams unable to make the trip, the show will go on.

“We are having a lot of teams that were able to travel safely. For us, we aren’t able to cancel, reschedule or postpone the tournament,” said Stephanie Matthews, the chairman of the Oregon Wrestling Classic Tournament committee. “If they can get here safely, we are going to put out the mats, and see if we can put something together.”

Matthews said Thursday that of the 96 high school wrestling teams that were signed up to wrestle this weekend, 26 of them have already decided not to make the trek to the Redmond fairgrounds. That number could grow on Friday.

If a school district cancels school on Friday, the wrestling teams in that district would not be able to compete. And there still could be teams from across the state that decide to not make the drive.

“You plan for this a year in advance, then it just comes down to Mother Nature,” said Redmond High School wrestling coach Kris Davis. “It is sad. This is such a moneymaker for our community. There are a ton of wrestling people in Redmond who circle this one on their calendar. They are wrestling fans and they want to see it.”

The 40th annual Classic will be slightly different than normal due to so many teams dropping out.

Traditionally, each classification (6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A/1A and girls) would have 16 teams in the field. The first day of the tournament would consist of four teams competing against one another in “pool play.” The winners of each pool would advance to Saturday’s championship rounds to compete for the dual-meet title, while the consolation teams compete in the Classic Cup.

As of Thursday afternoon, there was no set format for the tournament because it was unclear how many teams will be competing. Matthews said it could be just a round-robin tournament with the possibility of cross-classification bracketing.

Two Central Oregon teams claimed titles in last year’s Classic. Mountain View won its first Classic title by defeating Thurston in the 5A championship round, while Culver brought home its 19th Classic title after beating Illinois Valley in the 2A/1A championship.

Redmond, last year’s Class 5A state champions for the first time since 1959, was hoping to continue to make history. The Panthers have never won it all at the Oregon Classic, and they were hoping to change that this year. But they go into the tournament with some disappointment over the smaller field without some of the top teams.

“We want to be able to do it legit,” Davis said. “We want to compete with the best and to prove to ourselves that we can go out and perform well at our tournament and do it in front of our home crowd.”

“Our kids will be ready no matter what,” Davis added. “We are making sure we are focused on the task at hand.”