It is time to start getting registered for winter wrestling teams.  I am excited to announce two programs that we will be offering, a beginners team and a competitive team.  The beginners team is for younger wrestlers and those that haven't or don't have plans for competing.  It will be a fun atmosphere with little to no pressure on the athletes.  Those of you that want to compete are welcome to join our competitive youth team that will be competing in USA wrestling events.  If you want more info go click on the "Club" tab and then click on the respective program.  I can't wait to see you!

Dear Parents,
What a great season we had, thank you!  I would like to congratulate Isaac Wilcox on his 3rd State Championship, Emerson Conlon on his upset win for his 1st State Championship, and Jacob Degraw on his 6th place (despite some lingering injuries) for his 2nd time placing at the state tournament.  I’m proud of each of the members of our team and I feel that there was strong development among all our boys and girls.  Please use this form to give me some feedback about the season (https://goo.gl/forms/oXnRWC3B4ZFpwEjO2).  Even though our season is “over” we have a few events that I want to make sure that you are aware of and that I will need your help with.  

1. 2/18: Utah Girls State and Atlas All-Stars showdown @ Telos Academy in Orem.
   1. Wish good fortune to Mieko, Jane, and Heather in the Girls State Tournament!  What a great addition to our team they have been!
   2. Isaac and Emerson will be battling in an fun all-star dual between some of the top talent in the state.
2. 2/19: Team return gear day
   1. Please have all your gear washed and bring it back the wrestling room after school. Freshmen should get there as soon as they can just like they did for practices.
3. 3/5  Start of Spring Club Season
   1. Practices 6-7:15 @ Olympus Wrestling Room
   2. Tuesdays and Thursdays
   3. Register in person that evening or in the front office at the High School before that date.
   4. Go to https://www.olympuswrestling.com/spring-season1.html for complete details.
4. 3/8 & 3/9 GSD Junior High Division Tournament @ Olympus
   1. All wrestlers will need to plan on helping😊. NO EXCUSES! This is a fundraiser for us.
   2. Setup immediately after school on 3/8.
   3. Run tournament on 3/9 8am-4pm.
      1. I will need wrestlers to run tables and I will have sign-up sheet for this at the gear return day on 2/19.
5. Banquet on 3/13
   1. Wrestlers that help on both 3/8 & 3/9 will not need to pay for the banquet meal.
   2. Cost will be $15/person if purchased by 2/28/2019 or $20/person if purchased on or after 3/1/2019
      1. Purchase on www.shopolympushigh.com as of Wednesday 2/20/2019.

Parents,
Due to the snow day and because I'm not coming to school today practice is cancelled.  We were going to not have practice on Friday but the plan right now is to have the following practices:
1- Tomorrow (2/7)
2- Friday (2/8)
3- Monday (2/11)
4- Tuesday (2/12)


Utah JV State info: This Saturday 2/9 is the Utah JV State tournament.  Wrestlers not attending the 5A State tournament need to register for this tournament through this link to trackwrestling by 2/7 @ 6 PM or by searching on trackwrestling for "Utah JV State".  They are capping registration at 550 wrestlers so please register sooner than later to ensure you get a spot.  Wrestlers do not need to have a USA wrestling card for this tournament and we will not be taking a bus to this event.  Parents will be responsible for helping their wrestlers get to and from the event.  Let me know if your wrestler cannot get a ride and I will help them get a ride. The weigh-ins will be tomorrow (2/7) at the high school after practice.  Wrestlers should arrive on Saturday by 1:45 PM to get properly warmed up, wrestling will start at 2:45 PM and will continue until all matches have been completed.  The tournament is a double elimination tournament.  Please let me know if you have any questions  or concerns.

Dear parents,
Here we go down the home stretch!  We only have 4 weeks from today until our Divisional (state qualifying) Tournament on 2/1 and 2/2, the season is coming up to close and will do so very quickly.  Just a few things I wanted to make sure you all know about. 

• First, I wanted to congratulate Riley Noble(he will miss the event unfortunately due to an injury), Isaac Wilcox, and Emerson Conlon for being selected to the Utah All-Star Dual team!  Those matches will occur on Tuesday 1/8 at the UCCU Center on UVU’s Campus, please join us for some great wrestling. See this link for more details.  We will be going as a team on a bus at 3:30 P.M. on Tuesday 1/8.
• Second, next week is the end of the term and an important region dual against West High School.  Most wrestlers are doing well on their grades, please encourage them to make the most of the time they have during school, before practice, and after practice to complete work.  Grades always come first but the goal is to maintain their grades without missing practice, so all the encouragement you can give them to manage their time wisely will reinforce what they are hearing from me.  Those that need to miss practice for grades should come talk to me first.  The minimum grade is a 2.0 with no more than 1 “F” for them to continue wrestling beyond next week.  We will have a home region dual on Thursday(1/10) next week, against West High School.  Hopefully grades are no longer a concern for that evening.  Please come support us as we try to continue to work towards winning our first region title since 2012.  West beat us last year and I am looking forward to getting some major revenge! 
• Third, today we will be at Box Elder High School for the Varsity and JV tournaments  follow the links to follow the action.  
• Lastly, I know my previous fails at calendaring were horrible and awful and did not get you the information you needed.  I have been working with Ben Thorn(thank you Ben!) to resolve this issue and I think that this new calendaring option will work well.  Please try out our new calendar one of several ways: 1. View it here; 2. Subscribe to the calendar here (iPhones click here to add it to you iCal).  Please test out this calendar and give me some feedback so that I can make sure this works for you and is a feasible option in the future.  Thanks for your support, patience, and suggestions. 

 
As always if you have concerns please let me know.
 
Coach Ashcroft
djashcroft@graniteschools.org