Explore La Crosse's Burish on landing state wrestling and gravel nationals headed to La Crescent

Jeremiah Burish, director of sports sales at Explore La Crosse, joined WIZM's La Crosse Talk to discuss some of the area big events and the impact they have to the region. La Crescent is hosting USA Cycling’s gravel nationals on Saturday — the first of back-to-back years it will be held in the area. A big deal in the cycling world and for the Coulee Region, as it could bring more cycling events here. Burish did mention the event follows nationals last year in Nebraska, and we joked that may be the best place to follow — corn fields and flat roads versus the bluffs of La Crescent. Burish also talked about another event headed to La Crosse — the WIAA state boys team wrestling meet. The WIAA and the La Crosse Center worked out a three-year deal for the event. Burish also noted that girls team state wrestling will head to La Crosse in 2027. It’s the first time girls will have a team state championship — with the number of teams getting high enough in the sport to conduct such an event. Along with those state events, we also discussed UW-La Crosse and the WIAA working on renewing having state track & field continue on campus. That five-year deal is up after this school year. Burish also hit on how the region is just made for certain events — and you don’t need a stadium or arena to host them. So, like gravel nationals, the coulee is also prime for fishing competitions and multiple national organizations are taking advantage of the Mississippi River to bring in hundreds of anglers each year.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.