Nebraska USA Wrestling

Heartland USA Boys Elementary, Middle School & Girls National duals 

Heartland USA Elementary, Middle School & Girls National Folk Style Duals 2023

March 24th, 25th and 26th
Mid America Center, Council Bluffs, Iowa

This is a USA event and you must have a USA wrestling card.

We are expecting about 90 plus teams this year.  We have added a High School boys and girls division invite only.  There will be 6 HS boys and girls teams that will compete in a round robin folkstyle on Saturday and Freestyle on Sunday.  There will be 10 total matches for this new division.

Elementary Team entry fee is $875 for the first team and $800 for each additional team.

Middle School Team entry fee is $875 for the first team and $800 for each additional team.

Womens division team entry fee is $775 per team

A link will be sent to the team leaders to pay for your teams.

Click link below to send in Team Leaders contact info:  https://forms.gle/zsCi8FCmRN2jGaXQ6

Click link below to send in your Officials contact info: https://forms.gle/bt2MxAFLv5kcjcKu6

Elementary weight classes for the event are as follows: 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 112, 120, 130, 140 and 160. Each team is limited to 20 wrestlers per team and must be listed on your roster. All wrestlers on a team must be from the same state. Grade verification (report card or official letter from an elementary school authority) will be required for all wrestlers. This event is for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. A wrestler cannot be in this event if he or she is 14 years old or older. Please be prepared to show proof of age if challenged. Each team will be allowed 4 coaches. From your coaching staff, you must provide table help for each dual. There will be an official score keeper that will use TrackCast, a camera operator, and a bopper. These duties should be divided between the 2 dual teams competing. NE USA will provide the notebook computers for each table.  All mats will be live streamed by Rokfin.

Middle School weight classes for the event are as follows: 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 102, 110, 117, 125, 132, 140, 150, 160, 175, 195, 220, 275. Each team is limited to 20 wrestlers per team and must be listed on your roster. All wrestlers on a team must be from the same state. Grade verification (report card or official letter from a Middle School authority) will be required for all wrestlers. This event is for 6th, 7th and 8th graders. A wrestler cannot be in this event if he or she is 16 years old. Please be prepared to show proof of age if challenged. Each team will be allowed 4 coaches. From your coaching staff, you must provide table help for each dual. There will be an official score keeper that will use TrackCast, a camera operator and a bopper. These duties should be divided between the 2 dual teams competing. NE USA will provide the notebook computers for each table.  All mats will be lived streamed by Rokfin.  See link below:
https://rokfin.com/NEUSAW

Women's division - Grade 1st through 8th grade.  A wrestler can not be 16 and wrestle in this event.  All other criteria is same as other divisions mentioned above.  Weight classes are as follow:   58, 65, 73, 82, 89, 97, 102, 109, 117, 126, 138, 150 & 165. (The women's teams will not have to provide an official for this event.)

States or clubs to provide Certified Officials (Must be USA Wrestling Leader or volunteer)  based on number of total teams. (Example 1 elementary team and 1 middle school team = 1 official)  Must show credentials
  
Elementary & Middle School - All States or clubs with 2 to 3 teams = 1 Official, then 4 to 6 teams = 1 additional Official, 7 to 9 teams = 1 additional Official, 10 to 12 teams = 1 additional official, 13 to 15 teams = 1 additional Official

Women's division - The women's teams will not have to provide an official for this event this year.

NEUSAW will pay each official $250 on Friday and $200 on Saturday, provide lunch on event days and social meal on Saturday evening.  Each State or club is responsible for travel, lodging and any meals not mentioned (breakfast and Friday evening meal after weighins) of their officials. 
States or clubs may not contract Nebraska officials to meet this criteria. 

Address of Venue

1 Arena Way, Council Bluffs, IA 51501

Event Dates and times

March 24th Friday- Weigh-ins from 4:00pm to 8:30 pm at a designated building. (main arena, Expo Hall or Ball room).  More info will be sent to team leaders prior to the event with a map and instructions.
Teams do not have to weigh in together.

March 25th Saturday - Doors open at 6:30am and wrestling begins at 8:00am - 5:30pm approximate.
(We will wrestle in pools to determine the bracketing for Sunday)

March 26th Sunday- Doors open at 6:30am and wrestling begins at 8:00am - 2:30pm approximate.
(Championship brackets will be wrestled to completion) We are usually done with awards and all brackets by 3:00pm. The airport is 15 mins from venue.  Plan accordingly.

Team Awards
There will be awards for the top 8 teams in the Gold championship pool. Then 8 awards for the top 8 teams in the Silver pool, Bronze and/or additional pools. 

Individual Awards
All wrestlers will receive an event medal based on their team place in the tournament. Each team that has a wrestler that is undefeated will be acknowledged as All Americans (must have a minimum of 6 matches.) The Head coach of each team will be responsible for keeping track of their wrestler’s record and then getting that info to the tournament director. Awards will be given to each All-American. There will be 2 MVP awards given to each that placed in the top 8 of the gold pool and 1 MVP award given to the rest of the teams in the tournament. Your coaching staff must decide which wrestlers on your team get the MVP awards. We will not have extra MVP awards available. There will be a team sportsmanship award given by the referees. There will also be an outstanding referee award given and chosen by the coaches in the tournament. The team sportsmanship award and Referee awards will be given prior to the start of the last day of tournament.

Rules of Engagement
All wrestlers must be from the same State.  This means the wrestler must reside in the State in order to compete for that State.

Alternates that are brought from States will be put on an Alternate team to the duals and compete within the tournament just like all the other teams.  Alternates must be listed on their respective State team for potential use during the event.  An Alternate from a State can be used for a different State to fill holes but that Alternate cannot score points in the dual.  That Alternate will be counted as a forfeit.

National Federation High School Rules--- Head gear not required.
45 minute rest between matches not in effect
Must make weight in singlet/ skin ailment must have doctors release
Time periods are: 1 ½ minute (all 3 periods)

Exceptions---Mouth pieces are not required for wrestlers with braces.  Shoe laces do not have to be secured but strongly encouraged. Hair nets are not required but encouraged.  Competition singlet can not be low cut singlets. Must meet High School singlet criteria.  

Example of criteria for championship bracket in each division: For elementary and middle school there will be a bracket of 8 that will make the top championship bracket.  It's the Diamond bracket.  Top pool winners on Saturday get automatic birth.  If there aren't 8 pools on Saturday for MS and Elem, the next teams needed to make the championship bracket of 8 will be the teams that scored the most points in their pool that did not win their pool.  

Online payment only this year.  See link below

Payable to Nebraska USA Wrestling.  This link is for payment only.  You will get another link sent to your email about entering in your teams roster through TrackWrestling. We will issue you a user name and password. You will be able to update or edit your team up till the time of weigh-ins.

New Link Coming soon to register your team

Adult pass and student pass
Adult pass is $20.00 plus taxes and fees and student pass is $14.00 plus taxes and fees. This is a per day fee. If child is not in school yet they are free.

Coaching/Table worker passes for teams - Each team will be given 5 coaching passes.  Each team is responsible for working their dual tables.  Last year it was 4 coaching passes and one table worker pass.  Now we just have 5 coaching passes.  Use one of your coaching passes for someone to run your scoring table.  This can be transferable to parents if needed but please no one else on the floor unless they have a coaching pass and please make sure everyone is a USA Wrestling Leader.  

Hotel Accommodations

All hotel accommodations will be handled through the Council Bluffs Convention and Visitors Bureau.  The Visitors Bureau has been a great partner through this process and ready to make reserving rooms easy.  No more calling every hotel getting prices.  They have special rates for this event.  Please use the hotels in Council Bluffs; they financially support our event.

For Team Reservations, please contact:  Scott Hoffman at the Council Bluffs Convention and Visitors Bureau, 712 256-2577, ext. 1, or shoffman@unleashcb.com. Scott is handling the reservations for teams. All teams should go through him.

For Individual Reservations for spectators, including friends and family members, please click on the following link to find a list of hotels:   https://www.unleashcb.com/sites/heartlandUSA/             

The list includes rates and booking links making reservations very simple.

If you call a listed hotel directly, ask for the 2023 Heartland USA National Duals rate, March 24th–26th, 2023.

Future tournament dates will be as follows: 

• March 28th, 29th and 30th of 2024
• March 28th, 29th and 30th of 2025

Contact info
Tournament Director- Fred Franklin
Mobile number- 402-380-1939
Email- statechair@neusaw.com

Saturday Bracket Placement Criteria:

1)  Pool Placement
2)  Record
3)  Head-to-Head
4)  Most Team Points
5)  Least Team Penalty Points
6)  Most Individual wins
7)  Coin Flip