Big thanks to James Cook!

I was in Salina watching the future of Kansas wrestling. over 375 six and under wrestlers turned out to battle for the belt and to call themselves the best in their class. It was a fun day and there was no drama. James put in a ton of hours and recruited some great help. Big thanks to the Salina Kids club (Bobby and Rich) as well as to the Brawlers for (Dal, Doug, and crew) for assisting with setup and tear down.

The elementary kids were on the other half of the floor fighting for a spot on one of four TEAM KANSAS dual teams headed for Omaha later this season. This was the first year for this event. In the future they will be split to leave the 6U's as a stand alone event. We are looking for a venue and date to combine MS and Elementary.

Thanks to all who participated, helped, and attended.

I thought it went great, between Will and I if we can't whine about something it couldn't be all bad....

The Elementary State tournament went really well in my opinion. You sign up, you come, you wrestle, you earn the opportunity to represent your state.

I hope the Elementary qualifying tournament continues for years to come. I think the State of Kansas will be fielding four highly competitive teams for the Heartland National Elementary Duals in April. This year's teams should be dynamite and fun to watch! I am so excited for the kids that made it...it's a really cool event!

Thanks to all of the volunteers that spend their time putting this thing together. I am quite sure it's a big undertaking. From the qualifying tournament on Sunday, to singlet design, to travel plans, etc...it's obvious that it takes a lot of time and energy to pull this off.

One more thing...special thanks to the Trailhands coaches (Josh P., Ron and Josh G.) for coaching my son this weekend! He came up short, but it wasn't because of your efforts. You guys were terrific. Thanks again!

Well run tournament with great wrestlers for the little wreslters! Thanks to the volunteers that put in a lot of time to pull this event off.

Only disclaimer is we need to make absolutely sure we get these kids their 5th and 6th place medals. They were plenty of coaches, parents, and more kids that were not happy to battle through 30 some kid brackets and not receive their medal. If it is about the kids (which it is) then we got to get the art of operational planning down. Lesson learned for all I am sure after speaking with some of the staff as these events take years to plan. But the body language of the kids on the stand spoke thousands of words.

Let's get this right as we owe it to these kids. Will Cokeley and James Cook please make sure to contact each of these clubs and make sure we get the addresses to get them their medals when they get in. I am sure Mike and Kathy would be more than willing to help us get contacts if needed.

They will get their medals. Every entry had to have an email address and that address will be sent an email. I have ordered medals for years and two times I have had some issues. I was out of town this week and it was HS state weekend so the first time I saw the boxes of medals was at 1:30 Sunday afternoon. We all volunteer our time and we are all busy with real jobs and our own families. I gave EVERY medalist my word that they would get their medal and they will. Remember we run three state tournaments that require nearly 300 awards. We changed the weight classes in 6U this year so that added another complexity to this year. I personally apologize for this again.

I would like to give a big thanks to all those that were involved with running the Elementary State Tournament. I thought you did a great job and with this being the first one I think it will only get better as time goes.

Thanks to everyone who helped put this on. Great tournament tons of good wrestling. I believe these should be some of the best teams Kansas has sent to the duals. Good luck to the wrestlers who made it. Enjoy your time in Iowa it is a great experience. Hopefully Nolan can rejoin the team for next year.

Scott you are welcome. Glad to help out Bradley.

Josh Parker