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November 7, 2008

Dear Wrestling Coach/Athletic Director,

 

Congratulations on being selected for the field of 32 for The Clash 7 - National High School Duals wrestling tournament to be held in Rochester, Minnesota on January 2-3, 2009.   The wrestling season is just around the corner so I thought I’d share some additional information with you regarding the tournament. 

Coaches’ Dinner – The coaches’ dinner will be on Thursday night, January 1st at 8pm in the Marriot Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel in downtown Rochester.  We are proud to announce that the speaker for the evening will be Olympic and 2X World Champion Mark Schultz who will talk, not only about wrestling, but the value of making good choices. Along with dinner and Mark's talk, we'll also be handing out the coaches' bags, rebate checks, and coaches' gifts. We will also be drawing for the starting weight class and sharing any last minute tournament information.

Each team is welcome to bring all 6 coaches to this free social event. It's expected that every team send at least one representative to this dinner.  The hotel’s address is 101 First Avenue SW and is easily accessible by skyway from any downtown hotel.  If your team is flying into Minnesota and staying at one of the host hotels that is not downtown (Best Western Soldiers Field and Ramada Inn) transportation to and from the dinner will be provided for you by your hotel.  During the online registration process described later, you will be asked to confirm the names of the coaches planning on attending the dinner.

Follow Me t-shirts - In honor of the tremendous field assembled for this year’s Clash tournament, we will be sending out three “Follow me to the Clash” t-shirts to each team.  These can be given to team captains, fans, or used for fund-raising.  If your state does not allow t-shirts as gifts to wrestlers, please consider them a loan and return them at the conclusion of the Clash tournament or pay the $5 cost to keep them.  If you need different sizes, please let me know and we’ll see what we can do.  The shirts should be in the mail in the next couple weeks.

Competition Format – As in past years, teams will be seeded into four 8-team brackets for three “qualifying” matches on Friday.  The three matches will place the 8 teams in positions 1st through 8th.  On Saturday, the four teams that finished first in their brackets will be placed in a 4-team round robin bracket (called group 1) for three more matches. Likewise, the four 2nd place teams will be grouped together into “Group 2” and so on.

Seeding – Your first round seeds will be based on national rankings, tournament results, team records, and head-to-head competitions.  As with past years, input from nationally respected columnists including John Hennessey, Bob Preusse, Dan Fickle, Jason Bryant, Tom Owens, and Rob Sherrill, along with ranking experts from The Guillotine (MN), The Predicament (IA), and the Crossface (WI) magazines, will be used for this process.  Additionally, we will try to separate teams that could possibly meet during the regular season.  The seeding will be finalized and announced on Monday evening, December 22nd.  

Awards - There will be team trophies for the 1st and 2nd place teams in each pool.  In addition, there will be individual trophies for the wrestlers on the winning team in each pool and individual medals for the wrestlers on the team that finishes second in each pool (please let us know if individual awards are not allowed by your state high school athletic association).  

Competition Venue - The Clash will again be held at University Center-Rochester (UCR) field house.  The street address is: 851 30th Ave SE, Rochester MN.  The UCR campus is home to Rochester Community and Technical College, Winona State University Rochester Center, and the University of Minnesota-Rochester.  

Practice Sessions - Teams that arrive early and would like practice sessions, must request practice times through Chuck Siefert.  If you hope to just drop-in and practice, there may not be mat space available.  Please contact Chuck directly at 507-421-4146 or e-mail him at Chuck.Siefert@roch.edu to schedule your Wednesday or Thursday practice session(s).  Additionally, the three Rochester high schools have been available in the past for joint practices.  If you are interested, please let me know or contact the high school coaches directly.

All Tournament Team - We will be selecting an all-tournament team at the conclusion of the tournament.  This team will be selected based on the wrestler’s accomplishment at the tournament without regard to his or her team’s placement.  The wrestlers selected to the all-tournament team will receive a commemorative plaque.   Last year’s team can be viewed at: http://clashmn.com/Awards-Clash6.htm    

Schedule – Wrestling will be divided into two sessions each day. The morning session will have matches at 9am, 11am, and 1am and the afternoon session will have matches at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm.  16 teams will wrestle in the morning sessions and 16 teams will wrestle in the afternoon sessions.   Whether you wrestle in the morning or afternoon on the first day is determined by your seeding in the tournament.  Your positioning on the second day will be determined solely on your results from the first day.  Teams that win their first match on Friday will finish in the top 16 and will wrestle Saturday afternoon.  Conversely, the other 16 teams will be in the Saturday morning session.

Tickets – Each team will receive up to 28 passes for the event.  These passes are for: 20 wrestlers, 6 coaches (including trainers and assistants) and 2 cheerleader chaperones. Six cheerleaders (in uniform) will be allowed in for free.  Additional tickets can be purchased at the door. Ticket prices are Adults: $10 per session, or $25 for a two-day pass.   Advance order tickets will be available online in the next two weeks.  Last year the final session was sold-out so purchasing tickets ahead of time is always encouraged.

Roster size – Teams may weigh in 20 wrestlers each day. These are the only wrestlers who may compete during a given day.  The 20 wrestlers do not have to be the same 20 wrestlers both days.  That is, if you want to bring along a couple extra wrestlers in case someone gets injured, that is permissible.  However, you will have to buy tickets for their entrance.   

Cheerleaders – As mentioned above, each team may bring 6 cheerleaders and up to two cheerleader chaperones.  Cheerleaders, in uniform, will be allowed matside on the main floor.

Weigh Ins - Weigh-ins and skin checks will be from 7-8:30am for teams wrestling in the morning and from 2-3:30 for teams wrestling in the afternoon session.  These are the only opportunities each day to make weight.  We will assign weigh-in times for teams, four at a time, during these slots based on the order in which we received your contract.  

Weight Allowances – Minnesota provides for a 2 pound growth allowance on January 1st each year.  As such, there will be a 2 pound allowance on all weight classes.  A 103 pounder will need to weigh 105 pounds or less on the first day of the tournament.  All teams will have an additional 1-pound weight allowance on Saturday

Skin Checks:  As a national tournament we will again be paying extra close attention to skin conditions. If a wrestler has an observable skin condition, we ask that a physician complete a Minnesota State High School Skin Condition Report describing the type and length of treatment. The form is available at: http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/publications/code/forms/WRskinreport.pdf.  Lesions will not be covered to allow participation.  We will have dermatologists (MDs) from the Mayo Clinic on site to do the final skin checks. Ultimately, the onsite doctors will have the final say in all questions of participation.  There is no appeal process.

Press – Passes for the media and press will be available at the field house ticket office on the days of the tournament.  Members of the press are encouraged to contact Kent Harfmann prior to the event to identify any unique on-site electrical or telecommunication requirements.   His contact information is listed on the Clash website.

Weather – Although Minnesota has had mild winters the last few years, the average temperature in Rochester for the first week of January is 12 degrees.  Please Note:  This event will NOT be cancelled, regardless of the weather conditions.

Hotels – Most teams have their hotel reservations, but please encourage your parents and fans to utilize the special rates offered by our host hotels.  These rates are often 50% off the regular price and include transportation to and from the field house for teams flying into Rochester.

Host Families – Teams traveling in from out-of-state to this tournament will be assigned a “host family”.   The purpose of this assignment is to provide you, your team, and your fans a point of contact in the Rochester community.  These contact points will be able to answer questions regarding the local weather, transportation, churches, dining, directions, entertainment, medical facilities, and the wrestling venue.

Sanctioning Activities - As in past years, the Clash has been sanctioned by the National Federation of State High School Associations (http://www.nfhs.org/custom/sanctioning/details.aspx?Event=4778) and all participating states.  As of today, the sanctioning paperwork is complete for all but Iowa, Missouri, and New Jersey.

Participating Teams – The following teams are scheduled to participate in this year’s tournament.  The teams are listed alphabetically.  

Albert Lea

MN

High Point Regional

NJ

Plainview Elgin Millville

MN

Apple Valley

MN

Iowa City-West

IA

Roseburg

OR

Archbiship Moeller

OH

Kasson-Mantorville

MN

Simley

MN

Ballard (Huxley)

IA

Kaukauna

WI

Skutt Catholic

NE

Blue Springs

MO

Kenyon-Wanamingo

MN

St Edward

OH

Brown (Sturgis)

SD

Luxemburg-Casco

WI

St. Michael-Albertville

MN

Christiansburg

VA

Montini Catholic

IL

Vacaville

CA

Collins Hill

GA

Mt Carmel

IL

Wausau West

WI

Don Bosco

IA

Nequa Valley

IL

Waverly-Shellrock

IA

Glenbard North

IL

Perham

MN

Wisconsin Rapids

WI

Hastings

MN

Ponderosa

CO

 

 

Travel: Teams are expected to fly or drive into Rochester.  If you are flying into any other area airport, please work with your hotel or Steve Elwood (507-289-5080) to arrange transportation to and from the airport.  Steve is also available via e-mail at: steveel@dticentral.com.

Late Arrival Policy: If you are late arriving to the facility, for any reason, including weather problems and airline delays, then you will forfeit all matches missed up to that point and will have up to 2 hours prior to the next round to weigh-in.

Tournament Team pictures: Pictures will be taken following weigh-ins. Once a team makes weight (and eats a bit) they will be asked to sit, in uniform, for a team photograph to be used for the award trophies and tournament publicity.  The pictures will be taken in the same area as the weigh-ins and should take no more than 10 minutes per team.

In order to receive your $100 refund, you need to do three things:

  • Register online by 12/7: Please sign on to the team registration website and enter all of your team information online.  Your userid and password are listed below.  No other team will have access to your team information and you can change and update it at any time.

Registration website: http://www.semwrec.org/  (there is a link to this at the bottom of the main Clash page)

Your team's Userid: <sent via e-mail>
Your team's Password: <sent via e-mail>

If the input screen is hard to read, try setting your font size to medium (view/text size/medium).

  • Submit a team picture by 12/7: Please plan early for your team photo for the event program.  It should be a good close-up picture of the team only.  For consistency, we ask that this picture not include cheerleaders and mascots. A 3 to 5 megapixal digital photo in .jpg (jpeg) format is required.  It can be uploaded at the site above.  

If you are not comfortable with the internet, please find a parent or wrestler to do the data entry for you.  It should only take a few minutes and will ensure that we have correctly spelled names and accurate information.   Along with being included in the event program, the information entered will be sent to the wrestling columnists doing the seeding.

  • Submit Scholar/Athlete Award Candidates by 12/15: In order to recognize those wrestlers who have excelled beyond the wrestling mat, we will be announcing 10 Scholar Athletes.  Anyone (coaches, parents, teachers, Athletic Directors, School Counselors, and the athletes themselves) may submit candidates (grades 9-12) for this award.  These applications are available on the Clash website and can be completed and sent hard copy or electronically to the address on the form.   Along with beautiful acrylic trophies for the ten winners, at least five seniors from among the award winners will be given $1000 scholarships towards the college of their choice.

Please refer to our website www.ClashMN.org for tournament information and updates.  Feel free to call or contact anyone on the Clash committee anytime that you may have a question.   

Sincerely,

Steven B. Patton, Tournament Chairman, “The Clash -- National High School Duals”
Rochester, Minnesota, TheClash@ClashMN.com , 507-261-5273 (cell phone - call anytime)