Posted 8:45 p.m. Thursday, March 2, 2017
UW-La Crosse has long history of hosting national athletic championship events from track & field to gymnastics. This month 180 of the best wrestlers from college campuses nationwide will arrive in La Crosse for the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships.
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UWL has a long history of hosting national championship athletic events. The university has hosted NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in 2011, 2012, and now in 2017. Photo by Jim Lund.[/caption]
All 180 competing wrestlers will receive medallions. Trophies will also be awarded for top athletes at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships March 10-11, at the La Crosse Center.[/caption]
To get ready, UWL Athletics has been doing the same kinds of tasks they would to get ready for any home meet with “a lot more bells and whistles,” says Thacker. Those additional details go down the list to ordering the red and green carpet runners that the wrestlers will run out on for the final championship matches. The competing wrestlers are then designated as red or green with an ankle band that matches everything on their side, from the custom red and green NCAA chairs they sit on to the color of their score on the clock. “It’s details like that — if we didn’t order the carpet runner in time, we would be scrambling to figure it out,” says Thacker.
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A note from Mark Emmert, NCAA president, is included in each trophy box[/caption]
But watching those details come together in the time with the culmination of someone’s peek in their athletic training season — that makes it all worth it, she adds.
“People will go out there and surprise themselves and win when they weren’t predicted to … others won’t make it into the final. But, to be part of that experience and give them that opportunity, that is my drive,” she says.
Economic impact of upcoming meets is estimated at $2 million
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Jeremiah Burish, ’12, earned his bachelor’s degree in Sports Management with a minor in Business Administration.[/caption]
Large events like the national wrestling championship have a measurable, positive impact on the local economy and expose the community to a vast audience, says Jeremiah Burish, ’12, director of Sports Sales at the La Crosse County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Based on direct spending calculations from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, The Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates the 2017 NCAA Division III National Wrestling Championships will generate an economic impact of approximately $1 million. About 6,500-7,000 spectators will be part of the two-day competition, according to the NCAA.
The 2018 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships at UWL will bring about 800 athletes and an estimated 3,000-4,000 spectators for the three-day competition. That contributes approximately $1 million to the economy.
La Crosse is lucky to have the incredible facilities and partners — such as UWL, the Athletics department and the La Crosse Center — to be able to host major events like these, says Burish.
Selling the city
La Crosse is an awesome place, says Burish. Equally awesome is that his full-time job is selling it.
Burish, a 2012 sports management graduate, is director of Sports Sales at the La Crosse County Convention and Visitors Bureau. His job is about attracting sports-related events, from youth baseball tournaments and elite fishing competitions to national championship athletic events. Those events ultimately bring more people in to enjoy the city while providing area businesses an economic boost.
“I love it,” say Burish. “I work with a great community of people who want to build La Crosse, our county and the area.”
Burish says he uses “100 percent” of what he learned at UWL on the job. Classes provided him a background in topics such as laws and ethics, and helped him grow confident in areas such as communication and sales. Faculty helped him zero in on skills that would separate him from his competition. On the job, he uses those skills regularly like networking and providing potential visiting groups the “wow” factor — an impressive feature or idea that sets La Crosse apart from other communities.
UWL’s long history of hosting national collegiate athletic events
UWL has a long history of hosting national championship athletic events. The university has hosted NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in 2011, 2012, and now in 2017. Photo by Jim Lund.[/caption]
UWL has long history of hosting national athletic championship events
Medallions and trophies have arrived in cardboard boxes. They’ll soon be unpacked and awarded to 180 of the best wrestlers from college campuses around the country during the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships, hosted by UWL and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Thirty wrestlers who won final matches in each of the country’s six regions will compete March 10-11 at the La Crosse Center. Erin Thacker, deputy director of Athletics, has been watching UWL’s wrestling team train and compete over the last several months. With sweat and stamina, they’ve been building up to compete in the biggest meets of the season. “We see what our wrestlers do every single day. They just have this drive. This is the culmination of all they’ve put in,” she says. “If we have the opportunity to make their experience the best it can be, then we’ve done our job.” After the wrestling championship, UWL will host another national championship meet — the 2018 NCAA Division III Women’s and Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The university has a long history of hosting national athletic events dating back to the NAIA Men's Swimming Championships in 1965. It has included wrestling, track & field, gymnastics, swimming and cross country meets. View the full list below. UWL Athletics is continually putting in bids to host national athletic events, including bids for upcoming events in 2020 and 2021. Thacker says the attractiveness of UWL for a national meet is twofold. People on campus have the drive to host and the city is the perfect destination. The Athletics Department, athletics director, coaching staff and campus community have been supportive of hosting national meets which involves sharing space, putting in the hours to prepare, and volunteering time at the event, says Thacker. The City of La Crosse has good restaurants, shops and attractions, yet it’s small enough downtown to walk to various destinations from the meet. UWL made the initial bid to host the national championship wrestling meet about six years ago, and a committee has been working on it ever since. But those efforts really picked up in January, says Thacker. [caption id="attachment_6207" align="aligncenter" width="864"] All 180 competing wrestlers will receive medallions. Trophies will also be awarded for top athletes at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships March 10-11, at the La Crosse Center.[/caption]
To get ready, UWL Athletics has been doing the same kinds of tasks they would to get ready for any home meet with “a lot more bells and whistles,” says Thacker. Those additional details go down the list to ordering the red and green carpet runners that the wrestlers will run out on for the final championship matches. The competing wrestlers are then designated as red or green with an ankle band that matches everything on their side, from the custom red and green NCAA chairs they sit on to the color of their score on the clock. “It’s details like that — if we didn’t order the carpet runner in time, we would be scrambling to figure it out,” says Thacker.
[caption id="attachment_6250" align="alignright" width="402"] A note from Mark Emmert, NCAA president, is included in each trophy box[/caption]
But watching those details come together in the time with the culmination of someone’s peek in their athletic training season — that makes it all worth it, she adds.
“People will go out there and surprise themselves and win when they weren’t predicted to … others won’t make it into the final. But, to be part of that experience and give them that opportunity, that is my drive,” she says.
Economic impact of upcoming meets is estimated at $2 million
[caption id="attachment_6197" align="alignleft" width="240"] Jeremiah Burish, ’12, earned his bachelor’s degree in Sports Management with a minor in Business Administration.[/caption]
Large events like the national wrestling championship have a measurable, positive impact on the local economy and expose the community to a vast audience, says Jeremiah Burish, ’12, director of Sports Sales at the La Crosse County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Based on direct spending calculations from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, The Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates the 2017 NCAA Division III National Wrestling Championships will generate an economic impact of approximately $1 million. About 6,500-7,000 spectators will be part of the two-day competition, according to the NCAA.
The 2018 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships at UWL will bring about 800 athletes and an estimated 3,000-4,000 spectators for the three-day competition. That contributes approximately $1 million to the economy.
La Crosse is lucky to have the incredible facilities and partners — such as UWL, the Athletics department and the La Crosse Center — to be able to host major events like these, says Burish.
Selling the city
La Crosse is an awesome place, says Burish. Equally awesome is that his full-time job is selling it.
Burish, a 2012 sports management graduate, is director of Sports Sales at the La Crosse County Convention and Visitors Bureau. His job is about attracting sports-related events, from youth baseball tournaments and elite fishing competitions to national championship athletic events. Those events ultimately bring more people in to enjoy the city while providing area businesses an economic boost.
“I love it,” say Burish. “I work with a great community of people who want to build La Crosse, our county and the area.”
Burish says he uses “100 percent” of what he learned at UWL on the job. Classes provided him a background in topics such as laws and ethics, and helped him grow confident in areas such as communication and sales. Faculty helped him zero in on skills that would separate him from his competition. On the job, he uses those skills regularly like networking and providing potential visiting groups the “wow” factor — an impressive feature or idea that sets La Crosse apart from other communities.
UWL’s long history of hosting national collegiate athletic events
- 4 — NCAA Division Women’s and Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships (1986, 1997, 2013, 2018)
- 4 — National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Division III Championships (1989, 1997, 2005, 2015)
- 3 — NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships (2011, 2012, 2017)
- 3 — National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Men's Gymnastics Championships (1973, 1976 and 1981)
- 2 — NAIA Men's Swimming Championships (1965 and 1970)
- 1 — NCAA III Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships (1995)