WCAAE Wrestling Awards By: Kevin Fick

Friday, April 19^th

The area grapplers officially ended their season last week with the banquet and awards night.  The entire wrestling team from varsity to youth was present along with parents, grand-parents family and friends.  The format was a potluck and the boys took full advantage of it.  After a season of eating barely enough to keep a small mouse alive the wrestler’s descended upon the food tables like a dog on a steak!  Listening to the conversation most of it was about I weigh this much now,….oh yeah?  I gained this much in two weeks.  When the wrestler’s had finished the dessert table was a boneyard of empty glassware with spoons spinning in the bottom of containers. 

Concluding dinner the group moved into the Barrett auditorium and alumni wrestler Shane Wevely was the guest speaker.  Mr. Wevely presented a most interesting video clip from the movie Lion King.  The clip showed Rafiki (the baboon) swatting Simba (the lion) repeatedly over the head with a stick.  The part of this that relates to wrestling is that Simba had begun to doubt himself and the task at hand.  He was unsure of his ability and unable to focus.  Following the video Mr. Wevely delivered an outstanding talk concerning learning from your past, focusing on the task at hand and remembering who you are. 

Youth Coaches Troy Lohse and Brandon Gruchow presented the entire ‘Little Knights’ wrestling team and recognized the following standouts:

Most Wins                       Anthony Sykora    82 wins

Most Pins                        Colbe Tape             50 pins

Dominant Wrestler         Jaden Norby          53-3 record

Varsity Coaches Brandon Gruchow, Nels Onstad, and Chad Lorenson presented Varsity and JV awards:

JV Team Awards:

Most Improved             Aiden Winter and Chris Onstad

Hardest Worker            Levi Larkin

Most Valuable               Drake Swanson

Varsity Stat Awards:

Takedowns                        Jake Nohre           55

Reversals                          Jake Larkin          12

Escapes                             Hunter Fick           40

Near Fall Points                Kyle Mickelsen    48

Pins                                    Kyle Mickelsen    12

Wins                                   Royal Crow           29

Varsity Team Awards:

Best Rookie Wrestler        Hunter Fick

Most Exciting Wrestler     Hunter Fick & Jake Nohre

Team Spirit Award              Anthony “Buzz” Miller

Hardest Worker                 Hunter Fick & Royal Crow

Most Improved                  Hunter Fick & KyleMickelsen

Most Valuable                    Royal Crow

Sr. Scholarship                    Katie Larkin (statistician & manager)

Wrestling is a strange sport.  Having been involved with other high school activities I have yet to run across one such as this.  There is a close bonding experience that develops between wrestlers, families and coaches.  This is not to say that great effort is not put out by any other sport but perhaps the difficulty of an individual taking the mat alone is what stimulates the thought.  There is no team to rely on or help out.  We watch our sons and daughters on the mat week after week and understand exactly what Rafiki meant by helping young Simba.  There were plenty of ups and downs with this young team over the season.  It may be an individual effort on the mat but there is most certainly a team effort to get out there.  Emotions run high and injuries happen.  Wrestlers, coaches and parents sometimes lose sight but come Saturday mornings pull each other back to task.  It was an incredible experience and the parents and wrestlers would like to thank the coaches involved with our athletes.  Congratulations to all wrestlers this season.