News March 2003

The kids season is in high gear now and the board is working hard to make Huskerland 18 the best one yet. We feel that the Sports Center at UNK will provide the best venue that we have ever had for our state meet. UNK Head Coach, Marc Bauer, has shown us great support and the board is very excited about returning to Kearney with our state meet. The UNK coaching staff will conduct a clinic both days of the state meet. We will list times and clinicians at a later date on our website. This should be a great opportunity for your wrestlers to learn the technique that has made UNK into the 2003 D-II National Duals Champion. Coach Bauer is also planning to have an FAC Service following the morning session in the wrestling room. This update has Huskerland 18 individual entry forms and club cover forms attached. It is very important that you read directions and mail your entries in a timely matter. For those who still need to make room reservations in Kearney for April 11-13 please go to the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce website, www.kearneycoc.org. You can find the chambers website by clicking on their logo located on our website's home page also. I highly recommend you reserve rooms for your club as soon as possible.

Things are going well with Camp Team registration with 70 clubs signed up as of 2-28-03. You can find insurance numbers for all wrestlers and coaches who have paid for insurance numbers by going to www.campteam.com. Note clubs that are not registered with Camp Team will not be considered club scoring or TTT Plaques. Note that to enter the state meet all wrestlers will need a Camp Team insurance number and all coaches will need a Camp Team insurance number to obtain a matside passes. Please donÕt wait till the last minute to obtain cards so you can avoid entry hassles.

We have contracted several venders that we feel will help Huskerland financially and we highly encourage you to support them also. These venders offer great service and products and we I'm very comfortable recommending them for your club needs. The vender for the State Meet shirt sales is the same as last year Kicks Sportswear of Crete, Nebraska. They are planning to provide the premeet order that puts your club name on the state meet design. You can get on their website by clicking on their logo located on our websiteÕs home page. The vender for medals & awards for the third straight year is ABC Trophies & Awards of Arlington, Nebraska. Sunflower Wrestling will be selling wrestling equipment again. Pat Kelly III of Omaha has been contracted to shoot action shots and award photos.

The Huskerland Duals are at Lexington March 8-9. Grades 3-5 will be run on Saturday afternoon and Grades 6-8 will be run on Sunday morning. Note we have moved the start times from 5 pm to 3 pm for Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-8 from 10 am to 9 am. Check our website out for more information. Teams can still get in the Duals but need to call Darrell Jennings at (402) 894-0981 ASAP.

We have put the Officials Training Program on hold till 2004. Chuck Sherer of Columbus who was putting this program together has been activated by the National Guard for at least 3 weeks. With Chuck unavailable it was felt it would be best to wait till next year. Chuck had planned for a day long training sessions at 3 different sites plus establishing a mentoring program that would have our state meet officials being used as mentors to the young officials. With all the work Chuck has already put into this cause will allow him to hit the ground running with it next year.

Huskerland Wrestling is making plans to take a team made up of Nebraska's top wrestlers to the USA Middle School National Duals in Danville, IL the weekend of March 28-30. Ben Nicola of Fremont will heading up the team. For More Information call Ben at (402) 727-3981. Applications and additional info can be found on our website. We want to finalize the team by March 8th with final wrestle-offs at Lexington. Note the change from AAU to USA occurred because the AAU event moved its date to our state meet date. The AAU Middle School National Duals is an excellent event and we plan to return next year when they have it the first weekend in April. As an organization we want to see our top wrestlers attend both USA & AAU Wrestling events at regional and national level events. We feel it is very important for our top wrestlers to participate in these events for Nebraska wrestling to reach the next level.

Teams will be classed by number of state entries again. They will be placed in the 5 class system we used last year. The top 10% will be Class AA, the next 15% will be Class A, the next 20% will be Class B, the next 25% will be Class C, and the last 30% in Class D. TTT Plaques will again be given to the top club in each of the four high school classes. TTT Plaques were created to recognize those clubs who are being strong feeder programs for their high school teams. For club directors to obtain a Huskerland polo shirt this year they must send at least 4 wrestlers to the state meet and have paid Huskerland club dues. We will give out meet t-shirts the same as last year. Class C clubs will be given one meet t-shirt, Class B clubs will be given two meet t-shirts, Class A clubs will be given three meet t-shirts, and Class AA clubs will be given four meet t-shirts. Its our hope these t-shirts end up with your club coaches.

I'm still seeking nominations for the Huskerland Hall of Fame but I must get them by March 10th. We want pictures of all wrestlers shooting for their 5th or 6th Huskerland Championship plus State Championship Teams by March 15th to be put in the 2003 Program. Mail all pictures to to me. Also double check that our Mat Master listings and 2002 results are correct on our website so we will have things correct in the 2003 program.

I lost my job as wrestling dad in November when Marcus made the decision to hang his wrestling shoes up. I hated to see him give it up because he had gotten pretty good after being in the SDSU room for 3 years. At least the wrestler he was battling hard for the 149 position is having a good year with a 25-7 record. I have been in a contest with Dennis Wheeler to see who is the East High Spartans biggest fan this past season. I just missed one dual in their run to repeat as Class A State Champions and they appear to be a heavy favorite to 3-Peat in 2004. I was very happy to see Madison win the Class C title. Having a kid's wrestling club in Madison was the biggest reason their high school starting a program. Not only did they win state in just six short years but they blew the rest of Class C away! Looking at getting back in the officiating business next year. I will greatly appreciate any support that you can give me at landing some contracts. I'm planning to go to Kansas City for the D-I National Championships later this month. That will mark my 17th NCAA's that I have seen since I started attending in 1982.

Craig craigh@huskerland.org

Seeking pictures for all Huskerland Mat Masters

going for their 5th or 6th State Championship.

Please mail them to Craig Hellwege by March 15th.
www.huskerland.org  The Best Website for Nebraska Youth Wrestling!

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