TO: All wrestling coaches and officials participating in the Merrill ?BLUEJAY CHALLENGE? FROM: Scott Arneson ? Tournament Director & Brian Suchocki - Head Wrestling Coach DATE: December 20 , 2018 If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any of this information, please do not hesitate to contact Ben Natzke or myself. Ben is in charge of the Trackwrestling parts of the tournament. Here is our contact information: Track Wrestling Merrill High School Scott Arneson Ben Natzke 1201 North Sales Street School: 715-536-4594 ext. 18202 715-351-0086 Merrill, WI 54452 Cell: 715-493-0305 benjamin.natzke@maps.k12.wi.us School Fax: 715-536-5504 scott.arneson@maps.k12.wi.us MERRILL BLUEJAY CHALLENGE WRESTLING TOURNAMENT Tournament Date: Saturday, January 5, 2019 Teams Participating: Adams Friendship, Amherst, Barron, Chippewa Falls, Crandon, Edgar, Marathon, Merrill, Pacelli/Almond Bancroft, Prairie du Chien, St. Croix Central, Sun Prairie, Tomahawk, & Wausau West. Entry Fee: $250.00 per team - payment should have been made - if not get-r-done! Please make checks payable to: Merrill Area Public Schools &85; Activities Director Merrill High School Attn. John Miller - (Bluejay Challenge Wrestling) 1201 North Sales Street Merrill, WI 54452 Training Staff: An athletic trainer will be provided. Mats: Initial Plan: 6 mats for the Challenge and 2 mats for the JV tournament. Track Wrestling: Coaches we will be using Track Wrestling for the Varsity portion of the tournament. You will receive your Track Wrestling instructions from Ben Natzke ? please follow the steps and timelines, also make sure to enter all requested information. Seeding Criteria ? State Place Finisher, State Qualifier, 2016 Bluejay Challenge placed in top 3, Current season records ? minimum of 10 matches ? varsity records only and special consideration. Weigh-Ins: Will begin at 8:00 AM and we will have team weigh-ins instead of by weight classes. The teams will weigh-in, in the locker room they are assigned to. We will have a separate weigh-in area for the JV wrestlers. Coaches - it will be imperative to have your varsity line-ups set by Thursday at noon ? this will ensure that the JV tournament is tentatively set as well. JV wrestlers will fill out a weigh-in card, upon arrival, much like with youth tournaments. Locker Room and Weigh In Assignments: Boys? Phy Ed Locker Room: Adams Friendship, Amherst, Barron, Boyceville, Chippewa Falls, & Crandon Boys? Team Locker Room: Will be used for the JV weigh-ins Girls? Phy Ed Locker Room: Edgar, Lakeland, Marathon, Merrill, & Pacelli/Almond Bancroft Girls? Team Locker Room: Prairie du Chien, St. Croix Central, Sun Prairie, Three Lakes, Tomahawk, & Wittenberg-Birnamwood *The locker rooms attached to the field house will remain open the entire day, all other locker rooms will be locked and unusable. *Female wrestlers will have their own locker room, which will also remain open. Coaches Meeting: 8:30 am in the upstairs cafeteria ? to verify your wrestlers are in the correct bracket. Wrestling Begins: ASAP after the coaches meeting, we hope to start at 9:30 am. ?THE BLUEJAY CHALLENGE? Tentative Schedule - Tentative Schedule - Tentative Schedule 7:30 AM???????????????.. Gym Opens 8:00 AM???????????????? Weigh-Ins ? specific locker rooms 8:30 AM???????????????? Coaches Meeting ? verify brackets 9:30 AM???????????????? Wrestling starts ? 3 rounds of round robin matches (6 mats, JV on 2 mats) 12:30 PM??????????????? Lunch Break 1:00 PM???????????????.. Semi Final matches for all 4 person brackets 4:00 PM???????????????.. 9th ? ? placement matches (9th - ? Place) 5:00 PM???????????????.. Championship Finals on 4 mats (1st ? 8th Place) Tournament Procedure: We will complete the 4 person round robin, then take a break for lunch. Individuals will be placed into 4 person brackets according to their records from the round robin pools. Then the 4 person brackets will be wrestled all the way out, 2 more matches. JV wrestlers will be placed in 8 person brackets or a 4 person round robin ? hoping to get all wrestlers 3 matches. JV will wrestle on 2 mats - if a varsity mat becomes open we may shift some of the JV brackets over to the varsity mats to fill the down time. Please make your JV wrestlers, coaches and parents are aware of this possible change in mats. Team Scoring: Standard scoring will take place on/in trackwrestling.com Awards: Medals will be given to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, (White Pool Champ) place finishers. Podium awards will be handed out as soon as possible after the Championship matches are completed ? the 106 pound awards will follow the 120 pound championship match and so on until the tournament is completed. The top 5 wrestlers in a weight class will be required to come to the podium for awards and pictures. We expect to have all individuals called to the podium to be in their full team warm-up; meaning tops and bottoms ? if a team doesn?t have bottoms we would like them to wear blue jeans ? no shorts please and no bandanas or hats. JV will receive medals for 1st and 2nd place for the 4 person round robin brackets and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place medals in the 8 person brackets. Awards for JV will be handed out at mat side, upon the completion of each individual chart. Team Awards: 1st, 2nd & 3rd Place Team Plaques will be given; we will also give a pin trophy and outstanding wrestler award plaque. Bus & Fan Parking & Entrance: The entrance to the fieldhouse (Door 17) is at the BACK OF THE SCHOOL, the northeast side of the building with the football stadium by it. Parents and buses will park in this large lot. Your internet directions will put you at the front of the school ? the wrong side! USE DOOR 17 for an entrance. Admission: All participating wrestlers will get in free. We will provide a certain number of wristbands for coaches. Number yet to be determined. Admission Prices ? ?All Day? Adults and Students????????????????????????????????$7.00 Children under ??????????????????????????????????..Free Concessions: The Merrill Wrestling Club will be selling concessions during the entire tournament. It is a great concession stand with a wide variety of food choices; we hope your fans will frequently visit the stand. We do not want coolers in the fieldhouse; we will provide a cooler area for teams and wrestlers. Like all wrestling programs the concession stand is a way to raise funds for the tournament as well as the club. WE DO NOT SUPPORT PARENTS BRINGING IN LARGE COOLERS FOR THEIR TEAMS AND PARENTS! Merrill Hotel Information: Badger Motel: 715-536-6880 American Inn: 715-536-7979 Econolodge: 715-536-9526 Tomahawk is 20 minutes to the north, and Wausau is 20 minutes to the south! THANKS AND LET THE WRESTLING BEGIN! COACHES: there will be 2 tournaments running at one time during the day (The Bluejay Challenge and the JV tournament that runs with the Challenge. They will run in unison. 1. Varsity ? Bluejay Challenge (TRACK WRESTLING ? entry) 2. JV Tournament (Each wrestler will fill out a slip to enter) We will do our best to get the JV wrestlers (that you requested) into the Bluejay Challenge - Remember to highlight them and let us know that you wanted them in the tournament. This will be a great day of wrestling for wrestlers, coaches, parents and fans. GENERAL INFORMATION SUMMARY SHEET Mat Assignments: 9:30am Round Robin 3 rounds, 2 matches each, 106-285: Match Length 2-2-2, wrestlers will know their mat assignment and order. Next available mat 1-6, watch the screen for your mat assignment JV Brackets Mats 7 and 8 - 4 person round robins or 8 person brackets ? Match Length 2-1-1. Lunch Break approximately 12:30pm - After the completion of round robin matches there will be a break and coaches can eat lunch. Lunch will be provided upstairs in our cafeteria. JV matches will also finish at the same time so all coaches can eat. 30 MINUTE Lunch Break for Officials and Coaches (We may run the ¼ final round before we eat - if time allows for this - this will be determined during the tournament. 1:00pm Quarterfinals and Semifinals, The varsity tournament will run on 6 mats ? wrestlers will be called to the Next Available Mat watch the screen for your mat assignment ? Championship side of the bracket will be 2-2-2 periods and the consolation side of each bracket will have 1-2-2 periods. 4:00pm Finals 9th ? ? place matches 106-285 Next available mat, watch the screen for your assignment 5:00pm Finals, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th place matches 106-285 1st - Mat 1 3rd - Mat 2 5th - Mat 3 7th - Mat 4 JV PORTION OF THE TOURNAMENT ? INFORMATION!!! There will still be a JV tournament assuming there is enough interest. Please send in your JV information as soon as possible ? so we can get an idea on the numbers. Please send Ben your list of JV wrestlers ? please label them as an A or B wrestler and mark if you wanted them in the varsity tournament! SAMPLE SHEET JV WRESTLERS for Bluejay Challenge Tournament & JV tournament ONLY School:_______________________ Name Rating Varsity Record Ok to be in Varsity Tournament 1. John Doe A 2-2 YES 2. Slim Good Body B NA No 3. 4. 10.