Cokely,
I don't know about the 9-12 which is probably what you were referring to, but on the 1-8, the RR winners DID have to wrestle again for their place (1 vs. 2 for 1st, 3 vs. 4 for 3rd, etc.). I do agree that they could have easily finished the 1-8 kids up on Friday since we were out of there by about 2:30. Instead, we have to have a total of 3 nights hotel, added food and entertainment, losses at the Casino, etc. instead of heading home on Friday evening. I am curious to try out Iowa and compare the two for myself. The brackets are definitely larger on the younger kids side.
I don't think there were and 9-12 round robins as most of those brackets had decent numbers. My 7th grader had a five man round robin. He wrestled all four opponents on Friday and beat them. Traditionally this bracket would be DONE. They cooked up medal matches for 1st and 3rd. NEVER seen a tournament make you beat the same guy twice for first place.
I think admission was actually $20 per day. Coaches passes were $60 and entry $45 or $65 depending on when you entered. The competition was spotty as compared to USA Folkstyle Nationals. It would be best to split the tournaments up. Hopefully USA and Virginia Beach will be on different dates next year. If you were a FR or SO you could have hit both this year but you would have had to miss four days of school. :0 NO Kansas FR, SO, or JRs wrestled in Virginia Beach this year. I don't think any 18U Kansas kids wrestled at Reno either. I just quickly glanced through the entries.
If you took four wrestlers and two coaches to USA Nationals you would save $40 on entry and $120 for coaches cards. That pays for your hotel and some of your gas. JMO
Brute is a "Feel Good" tournament for the kids (NOT even close to Liberty Nationals) and USA Nationals is a "See how good you are tournament". Not opinion, fact.
