Update on Team State Duals
I will start by admitting that I did not think it would be as hard as it has been to find a central Indiana location to host our larger event next season. With respect to the 5 Indianapolis area large schools (who regularly host big wrestling tournaments) who I initially contacted about hosting the event, their wrestling coaches were all very excited and each one wanted to host the event but in every case their administration put the skids on citing holiday break considerations and barriers. I have been in communication with some universities in central(ish) Indiana, and I am still communicating with one of them right now. The Convention Center is simply too much money. We are not a big enough fish yet to throw those kind of dollars around. So with that little bit of background information, I will give a brief description of recent events and where we currently stand.
Most all of the 36 teams said they could compete on either Dec. 27 or Jan. 3 (with a couple of exceptions). With that being said though, there are a handful of the 3A schools that expressed a sincere need to compete on Jan. 3 due to the Mater Dei classic being held on Dec. 29 and 30 and one other conflict for one of the other schools. Here is where it looks like we are headed at this point in time based on facility availability, tournament costs, work force availability and participating teams' schedules and requests:
Dec. 27 - 1A and 2A Championships
- The West Pavilion at the state fairgrounds is reserved at this time, but as mentioned earlier, we are awaiting communication from another venue in central Indiana as a potential site
- 12 mats down with 24 teams competing
Jan. 3 - 3A Championships
- At Franklin Community Schools
- 6 mats down with 12 teams competing
There are still details to be worked out, but I can tell you it is not easy to secure a facility(ies) during the holiday season; on a limited budget; with 36 teams' various schedules. As is the case with any growing wrestling event, there will be kinks to work out, and I thank those coaches and AD's who have been extremely patient and good to work with. The selection committee worked until 1am this morning in pouring through data and information in making the final selections. I want to thank Adrian Troyer for all of the work he has done in putting together the numbers and data over the past three years. There has been (and will continue to be) a lot of work put into developing and hosting this event, and I want to thank those people who have given of their time for the betterment of Indiana wrestling.
Although we have facilities "roughed" in right now, if someone has information on a large facility for the Dec. 27 date (anywhere in Indiana), I would be interested in hearing about it.
(12 mats, 24 teams, set up on Dec. 26, wrestle all day on Dec. 27)
Coach McCormick
tmccormick@yorktown.k12.in.us