All about the wrestlers
by Tazman on 3/18/24La Crosse Center - La CrosseIt was very well done. They made it all about the wrestlers as it should be. I also liked that they included the fans.
Wrestling
It was very well done. They made it all about the wrestlers as it should be. I also liked that they included the fans.
The 2024 NCAA DIII Wrestling Tournament was held in La Crosse, WI (at the La Crosse Center). As an out-of-town visitor from Minnesota, this event was spectacular! It was really a lot of fun! The La Crosse Center is a great venue for this event (and La Crosse, WI a great location). The La Crosse Center is owned by the City of La Crosse. However, I assume that Kim Blum's athletic staff at the Univ. of Wisconsin - La Crosse, ultimately, played the major role in the detailed planning and execution of the actual tournament. If so, then a major "hat's off"to UW-La Crosse athletic director, Kim Blum, and her staff for a job well done. The event was well planned and well organized. It was clear this was not UW La Crosse's "first rodeo". Major national wrestling tournaments, like this one, have lots of unique challenges. There were no significant issues noticed during this two-day, weekend tournament. As a former collegiate wrestler myself, I had the experience to be able to "peek"behind the scenes to observe smaller details that only wrestling participants would typically notice. My summary: A major success, both from a visitor's perspective and from a participant's perspective. My final grade for the tournament: A very strong “A+”. Nicely done, Kim and staff!
Very nice venue! Clean, and the staff was very friendly!
The event center is a great place to hold this event. The two big screens that displayed the matches were blurry and very hard to read. That was disappointing.
Very upset that we did not get in the lower section. I tried several times online to get lower seats and could not. I asked at the box office and she said they were sold out. Several seats in he lower section were not sat in all weekend. My son became an All American and most of his matches we had to leave our seats to stand to be able to watch him wrestle. To many people walking in front of us. View of mats was not good.
The host school, Cornell College, with the aid of NCAA ran a great, if not flawless, tournament. The venue in Cedar Rapids was terrific. The wrestling was superb. It is so refreshing in contrast to Division 1 football and basketball to see student/athletes compete at this high level and to know they are in school for an education not for fame or fortune.
The 2013 NCAA Division III wrestling championships were well organized and efficiently executed. The venue (the Cedar Rapids [IA] Ice Arena) probably isn't an ideal choice for the venue, however, it proved to be adequate in the stead of next year's site in Cedar Rapids, which is still being renovated. As for the event, the wrestling was excellent!
I could not even get close to my seat in O as others already filled that area. I sat across from my seats in section H. That seat was ok except I could not see mat # 2 because of a Discover sign on the floor which blocked my view. I could also not see the score board on mat #1. Then I had people continuously standing up in front of me to view other mats. There were no seating monitors or people to control fan movement. As soon as one match was over groups of people would just get up in front of you and move to other sections. I probably missed one third of the matches because people kept standing up or moving.
LOVED THE D3 wrestling championships!! loved going to such a large venue to watch my son at nationals. Never been to nationals before and it was quite the experience. The negative side was the seating that I was given: I had plexiglass in front of me and when I took pictures of my son I got a flash reflection so the pictures did NOT turn out. I was very disappointed because I asked will call about the plexiglass and WILL CALL ASSURED me that the plexiglass would not be an issue for photos. To travel as far as I did and pay the amount of $ I paid for the seats to see this event and have plexiglass make for horrible pictures, I was DISAPPOINTED. I was able to see when my son wrestled on the mats, thought when he wrestled on mats 2 and 6, I had to move (again because of the plexiglass) to get good videos of him. I would NOT CONSIDER buying these seats again for a wrestling event only because, none of my pics turned out that were taken through the plexiglass.