The National Wrestling Coaches Association and the Delaware Wrestling Alliance are pleased to announce that two-time Olympic Gold Medallist and Oklahoma State Head Coach, John Smith will be the keynote speaker at the 2002 NWCA/DWA US Senior High School Open and Scholastic Duals, which is sponsored by Brute.     In addition, USA Wrestling will provide funded access status to all finalists of the US Senior High School Open.    This inaugural event, which is sanctioned by USA Wrestling, will bring together the nation's premier underclassmen team tournaments with a new senior high school open. The event is scheduled for April 5-7, 2002 at the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware.    The US Senior High School Open was created to give a greater number of high school senior wrestlers the opportunity to showcase their talents at a national level tournament. The NWCA has received commitments from over 60 colleges and universities to having a representative at the event. The tournament is open to any high school senior that has placed at any time in his high school state tournament or in one of Wrestling USA Magazine's top 10 high school tournaments. A 32-person bracket will be filled on first come first serve basis. The top eight wrestlers in each weight class will be designated National High School All-Americans and receive medals.    The two top place winners at each weight class at the US Senior High School Open will receive funded access status, which allows for specialized training at the US Olympic Training Center, working with USA Wrestling's National Coaching Staff.  The Champions at each weight class will be invited to USA Wrestling's 2008 Junior Olympic Camp, which features the nation's best stars by invitation only.    "The NWCA Board of Directors is very grateful for the generous support of USA Wrestling to this signature event.  This is another great example of the wrestling community working together to strengthen amateur wrestling at all levels," said NWCA Executive Director, Mike Moyer.    The scholastic duals, which was previously known as the Kellogg's Scholastic Duals has been one of the NWCA's signature events for the past seven years. The Scholastic Duals is a showcase for upcoming talent as no seniors are allowed to compete in this state versus state, folkstyle dual meet competition. The talent level of this signature scholastic event continues to strengthen each year as evidenced by last year's competition field of 49 high school state champions representing 78 high school state titles. Additionally, there were 87 state finalists entered into the event.    A highlight of the weekend of wrestling will be the coaches banquet held on Friday evening that will honor all NWCA Scholastic Award recipients. Headlining the banquet will be John Smith.    Smith is in his 10th year as Head Coach of Oklahoma State.  He has led the Cowboys to four Big Twelve Championships and the 1994 NCAA Team Championship. He was also the 2000 US Olympic Coach that competed in Sydney, Australia. As a competitor, he is widely regarded as one of the nation's top wrestlers ever.  His career included two Olympic gold medals, the coveted James E. Sullivan Award and six straight World-level Championships.  In addition, he was a two-time NCAA Champion for Oklahoma State.    For more information about the Brute NWCA/DWA US Senior Open and Scholastic Duals please visit us at our website at www.nwcaonline.com or call Pat Tocci at 717-653-8009.  We hope that you can join us for this unprecedented event in April.