I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Since levels don't really mean much (there's quite a really good players with low levels, and high level players who aren't nearly as good) you might also want to consider play time. Though that's a bit hard to measure, unless you go into each and every persons steam profile to fact check. Although you can kind of take them at their word if it does match up with their levels, I guess.
My overall point is, yeah, the people I know may actually hit the level cap for this tournament if they decide to grind out some levels while you are away and during the planning stages, but it doesn't necessarily mean they aren't beginners.