How I Spent My Weekend
Dan Ward- Guy Yelling Things From the Corner

There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”- John F. Kennedy.

That quote and song seem appropriate this weekend. Wrestling is hard; it’s a grind. Spencer Lee, one of the best wrestlers in the last decade, won his 3rd NCAA title without his ACLs, yeah, both of them. He said, “Excuses are for wusses,” “I’m kind of upset, I told the world. I don’t make excuses, man.” What kind of person says, “I’d like to get beat up every day, have black eyes, cauliflower ear, torn UCL, torn ACL, and, oh yeah, I’d like to do that while dehydrated and in calorie deficit”? The answer is a wrestler. Wrestlers are the toughest kids in the school. I’m not trying to take away from any sport. In all sports, adversity and challenges must be faced, and obstacles must be overcome. Wrestling also gets the added challenge of maintaining weight while still allowing you to compete at your absolute best. There is the fact that wrestling is a full-contact sport, and full contact leads to illness. There are late nights and early mornings.

This leads us to this weekend. It’s the most demanding weekend in St. Johns sports. I don’t say that as hyperbole. I say it as a fact. We started this weekend on Friday at 3:00 PM. Got on a bus with 21 JVs and headed to Fowlerville, straight into the path of a blizzard. At times, 25 mph on the expressway seemed excessive, with low visibility and traffic back-ups. We arrived in time for skin checks. What other sport has skin checks? It’s just a part of life for wrestlers. They announced that we had just under 600 matches to get through. That, faithful readers, is A LOT. Wrestling got underway just after 5:30. Another fact about wrestling is that the start time is always a fantasy.

We were back on the bus to return home just shy of 11:30 PM. In that space between our JVs, we wrestled forty-eight matches. Those 48 matches resulted in us placing 5th against the state’s toughest JVs, many of whom wrestled in the varsity line-up for their team at some point this season.

Placing for the Redwings were:
At 190, Greyson Osborne went 3-0 and placed 1st.
At 157, Jaxson Densmore went 3-1 and placed 2nd.
At 132, Owen Parker went 5-1 and placed 3rd.
Other results:
At 106, Connor Skaryd went 2-2.
At 120 Gianni Tortorella went 2-2.
At 120 Colton Robbins 1-2.
At 120, Dray Findlay went 1-2.
At 132, Noah Demo went 2-2.
At 138, Garrett Bloom went 0-2.
At 138, Roman Berkhousen went 1-2.
At 138 Ayden Scheffler went 2-2.
At 144 TJ VanLake 1-2.
At 150, Ethan Schotthoefer went 2-2.
At 150, Bennett Ward went 0-2.
At 157 Austin Clark 1-2.
At 157 Fletcher Whitford 1-2.
At 165 Aedin Besonen went 1-2.
At 175, Michael Grow went 2-2.
At 175 Bridger Haviland 2-2.
At 175, Jesse Mason went 1-2.

So, after all that, we arrived home at about 12:00 AM. After an all too short 5hrs of sleep, we were back on the road to travel Holt. Thankfully, the roads were clear, and the air was crisp. Crisp is what wrestlers call any temperature below 30 degrees. Holt is the site of the CAAC Varsity Boys and Girls Championships.

The CAAC Conference Championship is one of THE toughest tournaments in the state. It’s definitely the most challenging tournament a week before Districts. The CAAC conference has D2 #3 Mason (Top 50 #12), D2 #9 Fowlerville (Top 50 #17), D3 #4 Portland (Top 50 #33), D3 # 8 Lakewood (Top 50 #49), D3 #9 Williamston (Top 50 #50), D1 Grand Ledge (Top 50 #31). If you do well in this tournament you are most likely a regional qualifier at least. With all that in mind, here are the results for the Boys Varsity:

The Top Ten teams were 1. Fowlerville, 2. Grand Ledge, 3. Mason, 4 (tie). Holt, 4 (tie). Portland 6. DeWitt, 7. St. Johns, 8. Williamston, 9. Waverly, 10. Charlotte.

Individual results (starting weight was 215):
At 215, Abram Matice (18-15) went 3-3 and placed 6th in a weight class with four wrestlers ranked in the top 10.
At 285, Jackson Armstrong (16-16) went 1-2 and did not place in his weight class. The #1 wrestler at 285 chose not to compete.
At 106, #1 ranked Donovan Quinn (23-1) went 3-1 and placed 2nd. There were four ranked wrestlers in this weight class.
At 120, Jameson Halsey (12-23) went 0-2 and did not place.
At 126, Reagan Ward (24-14) went 3-2 and placed 4th. This weight had two ranked wrestlers.
At 132, Tristan Densmore (27-9) went 3-2 and placed 5th. There were 5 ranked wrestlers in this weight class.
At 138, Tyler Riedel (26-18) went 3-3 and placed 6th. There were 3 ranked wrestlers, including the D2 #1 wrestler.
At 157, Doug Thurston (15-17) went 0-2 and did not place. There were 3 ranked wrestlers, including the D2 #1 ranked wrestler.
At 165 #16 ranked Brady Heibeck (29-10) went 4-2 and placed 4th. This weight included seven ranked wrestlers.
At 190, #14 ranked Brody Abendroth (30-7) went 4-2 and placed 5th. This weight included four ranked wrestlers.

Lastly, this weekend, we turn to the Girls Varsity. St. Johns entered 3 SOPHMORE girls into this tournament, and they placed 9th. This is impressive when every other team that placed above them had almost twice as many wrestlers (in a tournament, scoring more wrestlers generally means more opportunities to score points). Plus, all three Lady Redwings graced the podium.
At 235, Addyson Ney (4-13) went 2-1 and placed third, falling only to the #11 ranked wrestler.
At 125, #14 ranked Olvia Pettigrew (24-11) went 2-1 and placed second, falling only to the #3 ranked wrestler.
At 130, Lori Morris (20-16) went 2-2 and placed 4th, falling to the #5 ranked wrestler.

So that’s how I spent my weekend. I told a Fowlerville coach, “I’ve seen you more than I’ve seen my wife this weekend.” Roughly, the coaching staff spent 20 hours either in a gym or on a bus this weekend. Like I’ve said all year, it’s a grind. But I can speak for all the coaches and say we love doing it.

So, the JV wrapped up competition. The Boys’ Varsity will host Team Districts on Thursday. Note that it’s not Wednesday. St. Johns faces off against Haslett, and DeWitt matches up with Owosso. Wrestling should start around 5. The boys travel to Fowlerville again for Individual Districts on Saturday.

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