October 19, 2007
Dear Wrestling Coach/Athletic Director,
Congratulations on being selected for the field of 32 for The Clash 6 - National High School Duals wrestling tournament to be held in Rochester, Minnesota on January 4-5, 2008. 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 3rd at 8pm in the Galleria Ballroom of the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Rochester. Each team is welcome to bring all 6 coaches to this free social event. The hotel’s address is 150 South Broadway and is easily accessible by skyway from any downtown hotel. Best Western Soldier’s Field will provide transportation to the dinner for any team staying in that hotel.
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, will be used for guidance on 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 17th.
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 - The field house will be available for practice sessions for teams that arrive early. Please contact Chuck Siefert directly at 507-421-4146 or e-mail Chuck at Chuck.Siefert@roch.edu to schedule your Tuesday or Wednesday practice session(s).
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-Clash5.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 34 passes for the event. These passes are for: 20 wrestlers, 6 coaches (including trainers and assistants), and 6 cheerleaders (in uniform) and 2 cheerleader chaperones. Additional tickets can be purchased at the door. Ticket prices are Adults: $10 per session, or $25 for a two-day pass.
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.
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.
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. Please let us know if you have a match scheduled for January 3rd as this will affect the weight allowances for all teams.
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 – If you have not booked your team rooms yet, please use the Rochester Convention Center booking service link on the Clash Travel page and do so as soon as possible. Teams flying into the tournament must stay at the host hotels identified as such on the website in order to have local transportation provided for them. As of our last hotel update, the following teams did not have reservations at Clash sponsor hotels: Apple Valley, Chaparral, Glasgow, Glenbard North, Goodhue, Jackson County, Montini, Plainfield Central, Scott West, Simley, Vacaville, and Wheaton North.
Entry Fees – We still have some outstanding entry fees. Please make the check for $250 payable to “SEMWREC/Clash” and mail it to: Steven Patton, 2534 Salem Road SW, Rochester, MN 55902. As of today, the following teams have not paid their entry fee: Albert Lea, Apple Valley, Chaparral, Glasgow, Kasson-Mantorville, Kaukauna, Montini, Waverly-Shell Rock, and Wisconsin Rapids.
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/) and all participating states.
Participating Teams – The following teams are scheduled to participate in this year’s tournament. The teams are listed alphabetically. One team is still waiting on school board approval so they are listed as TBA (to be announced).
|
Albert Lea |
MN |
Goodhue |
MN |
Punahou |
HI |
||
|
Anoka |
MN |
Hastings |
MN |
Scott West |
MN |
||
|
Apple Valley |
MN |
Independence |
IA |
Simley |
MN |
||
|
Ballard (Huxley) |
IA |
Jackson County Central |
MN |
Vacaville |
CA |
||
|
Blue Springs |
MO |
Kasson-Mantorville |
MN |
Wagner |
SD |
||
|
Canton |
SD |
Kaukauna |
WI |
Waverly-Shell Rock |
IA |
||
|
Carl Harrison |
GA |
Montini Catholic |
IL |
Wheaton North |
IL |
||
|
Chaparral |
CO |
Omaha - Creighton Prep |
NE |
Wisconsin Rapids |
WI |
||
|
Don Bosco |
IA |
Plainfield Central |
IL |
Wrightstown |
WI |
||
|
Glasgow |
MT |
Plainview Elgin Millville |
MN |
||||
|
Glenbard North |
IL |
Ponderosa |
CO |
TBA |
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 you $100 refund, you need to do two things:
Register online by 12/7: This year we are asking all teams to enter all of their team information online. You will be sent a userid and password to use to enter team data, team pictures, and roster information. No other team will have access to your team information and you can change and update it at any time.
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)