A blizzard is not expected to alter the schedule state high school wrestling tournament in Des Moines. The individual tournament opened this morning in Wells Fargo Arena. “We sent an e-mail out on Tuesday to all the participating schools, said ‘watch the forecast, make sure you plan accordingly, get your kids here safely. Get them here on time. We do not plan to make any changes in the schedule unless the city of Des Moines, or DOT would tells us that we have to delay because they can’t clear the streets’,” Alan Beste of the Iowa High School Athletic Association says.
By late morning nearly all the teams competing in the tournament were already in Des Moines. He does not expect the weather to have a major impact on attendance as he says wrestling fans have dealt with the weather all season long and “I’m just confident that the ones who want to be here are going to find a way to safely get here.”
Beste says altering the schedule would likely force them to move the tournament to a different venue. He says they have contingency plans, but other events at the arena make it tough to make changes. Beste says many of the schools changed their travel plans because of the forecast.
He says many are bringing the teams in vehicles other than buses because they would be easy to get around in during winter weather situations.