We will be there next year. In the end of the day they had pcs go down for some time. We left around 6.But for 1000 kids ,no door charge,FOOD for coaches,Good quality kids, I beleave it to be one of the best tournaments in the state.Hays people running the tournament all ways are nice and happy people.I drive 3+ hours to get there.

Thank you hays for a good day spent with kids :}

Thanks CWB! We do have a great bunch of good people in our club. Also,I like your quote " a good day spent with kids", that's what its all about!

There was nothing wrong with how this tournament was ran, they started moving matches as soon as they could and kept an even flow through out the day we will gladly drive 5 hours to your tournament again next year. Great competition, and it was nice to wrestle kids from the opposite side of the state especially the week before subs

I guess I would have to agree with the thread title. It was the worst of the Hays tournaments I have been to at Gross Memorial. This was not the latest I have ever left Hays tourney. But it was very frustrating to see so many tables and clocks not going. My best guess is they could have had the last refs, wrestlers, and parents out of there 2 hours earlier. Honestly we have left Hays later in the past, but all mats were still going at that time(there were less wrestlers entered this year). My advice release brackets early or sell them again on Friday night and keep you table workers there and all mats going. I have never heard anyone say, "That tournament got over too quick."

I guess I would have to agree with the thread title. It was the worst of the Hays tournaments I have been to at Gross Memorial. This was not the latest I have ever left Hays tourney. But it was very frustrating to see so many tables and clocks not going. My best guess is they could have had the last refs, wrestlers, and parents out of there 2 hours earlier. Honestly we have left Hays later in the past, but all mats were still going at that time(there were less wrestlers entered this year). My advice release brackets early or sell them again on Friday night and keep you table workers there and all mats going. I have never heard anyone say, "That tournament got over too quick."

I am going to address a few things that have been brought up on this thread.

1. Move more matches to other mats at the end.
If we would have started moving certain mats we would have had some wrestlers with only about 10-15 minute break between matches.

2. We got out of their late.
We had close to 1000 entries, I have not been to very many tournaments that got out between 5:00 and 6:00 with that many entries.

3. We had to wait until the end to finish wrestling.
If you are wrestling at the end, that is usually a good thing. If you go home by noon that means you went 2 and Q. I am sorry if you want to be out of a gym by 2:00 PM and go 2-0 to win the tournament I would recommend not going to big tournaments like ours, Park City, Salina, Hutchinson, etc.....

4. Release the brackets and sale brackets on Friday night.
We have sold brackets on Friday nights in the past, and then comes Saturday morning, and there are scratches for some reason, and people are mad because their bracket are not correct, and they already paid for it. As far as releasing brackets on Track Wrestling on Friday night, we as a club will discuss this for next year, and weigh the pros and cons of it.

5. The computer issue.
Believe me this frustrated us as much as it did anyone in the gym. We were assured by others that the Wi-Fi would not be a problem. We had never ran track wrestling live scoring before so we did not know if it would work or not. We now know some changes we will need to make in the future.

After reading this thread, it does appear that more people are happy with how things turned out at this tournament than there are upset. For those of you that are upset on how this tournament was ran, I apologize. But with around 1000 entries, and only a handful of upset parents, I think most tournament directors, and/or clubs will take that.

I want to say thank you to all the clubs that attended our tournament, and we hope to see everyone back next year, for hopefully a better, bigger, and tougher Western Kansas Classic.

When you take everything into consideration the Hays tournament continues to be a very good one. The problems mentioned can easily be addressed by next years tournament. It looks as though Lance is very open/receptive to feedback. This is not always the case with some of the larger more popular wrestling venues. We enjoy coming to Hays and appreciate the Hays Wrestling clubs efforts! Mark would like more chicken wraps though. Thanks!

Mark,
I would love to give you the recipe, but i think those may have came from the world famous Taco Shop. I dont think they will give me their secrets.

At the end of the day when we had 30 matches to go, they were rolling up mats, I spoke with a Hays coach, and very promptly they started another mat, and we went first available. Yes these are LONG days for both parents and wrestlers. I for one wouldn't want to be out of there by 2. That means my kid isn't in the medals. I'm there to support our wrestlers. The tournament was great, as always, lots of great matches and we had a blast as always. Well worth the 2-1/2 hour drive. We'll be back next year. Thanks Lance and Crew!!

Thanks Love My Wrestler,
I just want to put out there that many of us coaches and a few of us board members were out on the mats trying to answer questions or handle things to the best of our ability. But the main person that made this tournament work was Mike Howell our tournament director. Mike and his tournament staff dont get enough credit for what he does behind the scenes to make this thing work. Thanks Mr Howell for your hard work.

Thanks,
Lance Geyer
President
Hays Wrestling Club

Thanks to Mr Howell and crew as well then!

We always look forward to your tournament.

I have been at the Hays tournament for years and always enjoy the competition. My son was one of the last to wrestle and yes its a long day but all tournaments worth attending are going to be long. Trackwrestling has been frustrating at a lot of tournaments this year and I'm sure all the issues will be resolved by next year. Keep up the good work and don't be critical until you've had to run a tournament like this.

Rachelle Standley

Hays wrestling club good job and thanks. My son was one of the last matches of the day. We did not leave until 1800. I thought that was pretty good for a big tournament. We have wrestled smaller tournaments and been at them later than 1800. When we go to wrestle that is our business at hand. We have nothing else planned for the day. If you don't want to be at a tournament all day then find a sport that is easier for you. Tough wrestlers have tough parents who understand long days in the stands. Good practice for the wrestlers waiting for matches. What are you going to do in two weeks on Sunday and your wrestler is on the back side. It starts getting late for what ever reason. Are you going to leave the state tournament?Are you going to post you will never go to state again because the tournament is running behind?
Thanks again Hays. We will be back next year.

Josh Parker

It has been brought to my attention from our trophy maker that there were a handful of trophies that accidently were completed with the wrong dates on them. Please look over your trophy from the Western Kansas Classic and make sure the date on it says March 8, 2014. If the date is not correct, please send me a private message, and we will get you the correct plate for the trophy.

Mom 1980 since you state "you know how it's done".....please post your name and club and be tournament director to ALL divisions next year.
Why don't you just settle it, since you seem to be nameless! The 6 u's wrestling an entire mat is priceless. I can remember back in the day the Wichita Classic being in Century 2 and then the good old horsebarns.....6 pm would come & go, no one cared we'd get out at 8:30 or so! Same as Salina starts wrestling @ 7:30 gets done with pictures perhaps around 8:30 or later.
You should review the comments preceding this post ---if by chance you make it to State you're in for many, many hours of watching wrestling!
Best of luck! But please let us all in on your 1000+ perfect wrestling tournament in which plan to be tournament director because "you know how to do it!"
Appears that the MAJORITY will be returning to the Western KS Classic!

Mom1980,
I feel your pain. This brings to mind the memory of a tourney several years ago in KC. My son was in the LAST match of the tournament. It was a round robin bracket, and the match didn't mean anything for placing. The crew had rolled up all the other mats, and the only people in the stands were myself and the other wrestler's mom. My son lost the match and we drove home two hours in the snow.

That was a pretty good day. Wish I could do it again.