Spartan Update Feb. 8, 2017

Remaining schedule this week:
Wednesday: Minis 5:30-6:50 pm AND
                     Extra Practice for Advanced Room Wrestlers 7-9 pm
Thursday:    Junior Spartans practice 6-8 pm
                    Deadline for 2/19 Fox Invitational (by end of practice)
Sunday:       Jr. Lions Tournament at Northwest HS (deadline has passed)

Fox Invitational Tournament at Fox HS, Feb. 19 - EARLY DEADLINE! THURSDAY 8 PM! Cost: $18
This is our last AAU tournament as a club before the AAU State Tournaments (Blue and Gold) at the end of the month. Everyone earns a medal at this tournament, so that may be an enticement to some of our younger, beginner wrestlers.

AAU State Tournament at St. Charles West HS, Feb. 25 & 26 - DEADLINE THURSDAY, FEB. 16, 8 PM. Cost: $28

Although there are alternative registration instructions on the flier, those are intended for wrestlers who do not belong to a club. We will register our participants together so that we may compete for a team placement.

When you register, please write your son's seeding information on the form if he will be competing in the BLUE division. This would include his finishes in this year's Ozark and Missouri Challenge tournaments, as well as any head-to-head wins over top rivals in his weight class, last year's finish at AAU or USA state, or any other major accomplishments. You may also attach his record on a separate sheet if you have been keeping it this season.

The Blue division seeding meeting will be held 7-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22 at St. Charles West HS, 3601 Droste Road, St. Charles, MO 63301. The Gold division will be randomly drawn into brackets and not seeded. If you are willing to attend this meeting and represent all of our club's wrestlers in the Bantam, Midget, Novice, Schoolboy or Cadet divisions, please send me a text or e-mail and let me know. Thanks for your help.

Refer to the flier for the weigh-in schedule. All wrestlers will be required to weigh in.

When does the wrestling season end?
The season will conclude with the AAU State Tournament for all Mini-Spartans and Jr. Spartans who will not be continuing on with the USA State series. If there are Mini-Spartans 7 years of age or older who would like to participate in the USA series (the youngest age division is 8U), it would require you to purchase a USA Wrestling card and sign a USA Wrestling waiver. Let me know if any are interested.
We are planning an end-of-season banquet for the Mini-Spartans for early March and will get details out soon. The banquet for the Junior Spartans will not be held until after the USA State championships.

What is the USA Wrestling State Series?
The USA State series is a competitive tournament series comprising three levels of competition: Districts (March 4), Regionals (March 11) and the State tournament (March 25-26). Anyone may enter (age groups are 8U, 10U, 12U and 14U based on age on Dec. 31, 2016), but the top six finishers at each of eight districts advance to regionals, and the top four from each of four regions advance to the state tournament, where the top six finishers will medal.

Districts: Rockwood Summit HS, March 4
Regionals: Mexico, MO, March 11
State Tournament: Scottrade Center in St. Louis, March 25-26

Wrestlers must stick with the same weight class for the entire tournament series, and they will weigh in for each tournament per the schedule that will be on the fliers for each tournament (not available yet). A seeding meeting will be held before the district tournament; the next two tournaments will be seeded automatically by finish in the previous tournament. Wrestlers should not enter unless they are committed to competing for the duration of the series.

That's all for now. Have a great week!

LeAnn Cross
Spartan Wrestling Club