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November 20, 2009

Dear Wrestling Coach/Athletic Director,

 

Congratulations on being selected for the field of 32 for The Clash 8 - National High School Duals wrestling tournament to be held in Rochester, Minnesota on January 8-9, 2010.   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 7th at 8pm in the Marriot Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel in downtown Rochester.  Along with a special guest speaker, we'll also be handing out the team tickets, lanyards, 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 the Kahler Grand or Kahler Inn & Suites, the Marriot is accessible by the skyway.  If you are staying at the Best Western Soldiers Field, 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.

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 21st. 

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.

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 507-398-3400 or e-mail him at chucksiefert@hotmail.com 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-Clash7.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 $10 for students per session or $25 for a two-day pass.   Advance order tickets are available online.  Two years ago, 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.

Weigh Ins - Weigh-ins and skin checks will be from 7-8:30 am for teams wrestling in the morning and from 2-3:30 pm for teams wrestling in the afternoon session.  These are the only opportunities each day to make weight.  We will assign exact weigh-in times for teams within these 90 minute windows 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.  In addition, at least two teams have indicated that they have dual meets schedule for Thursday, January 7th.   As such, there will be a 3 pound allowance on Friday and 4 pound allowance on Saturday.  That is, a 103 pounder will need to weigh 106 pounds or less on Friday and 107 or less 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 in early 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.   Please note, if you are flying into Minnesota and need transportation while you are in Rochester, you must stay at one of the hotels listed on the website that provides shuttle service.   This is a contracted service specifically arranged just for this tournament.  If you chose to stay at a different hotel, then you will be responsible to rent vehicles to transport your team to and from the event venue (it is not within walking distance of any hotels).

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/sanctioning/ViewEvent.aspx?eventId=12793) and all participating states.  As of today, the sanctioning paperwork is complete and has been approved by California, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and South Dakota. The NFHS is waiting on approval from Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Participating Teams – The following teams are scheduled to participate in this year’s tournament.  The teams are listed alphabetically.  We still need registration fees from the teams highlighted in Yellow.

Albert Lea

MN

Kaukauna

WI

Punahou School

HI

Apple Valley

MN

La Quinta

CA

Roseburg

OR

Baylor

TN

Minneota

MN

Scott West

MN

Blue Springs

MO

Montini Catholic

IL

Simley

MN

Brown (Sturgis)

SD

Mt Carmel

IL

Skutt Catholic

NE

Carl Sandburg

IL

Neuqua Valley

IL

St. Michael-Albertville

MN

Glenbard North

IL

Oak Grove

MN

Vacaville

CA

Grand Island

NE

Owatonna

MN

Wausau West

WI

Hastings

MN

Park Hill

MO

Waverly-Shellrock

IA

Independence

IA

Plainview-Elgin-Millville

MN

Wisconsin Rapids

WI

Kasson-Mantorville

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:

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).

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.

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)