VARSITY ATHLETICS

February 07, 2008

A Gatorade Debating, Weight Cutting - Good Time!...

David Manoogian – Senior Wrestler – Green, OH

It’s another long bus ride, and yet again another one without food or water on the way to Chicago. No matter how many years you cut weight you never get used to the whole not drinking water or eating anything at the end of the week. Days like this make you appreciate everyday you get the chance to eat or drink something, and believe me no one has adoration for Gatorade quite like a wrestler does. Believe me we get into heated debates on what Gatorade is best, the only thing we agree on is that Fruit Punch is the worst, they should seriously discontinue that flavor. Anyways, the season is starting to reach its final stretch, and soon enough it will be regionals and then nationals. It seems like just last week it was preseason and we were getting ready for our first tournament, and now it’s February and we have a month left of the season.

Wheaton was a big tournament not only for the team as a whole, but for me at this point in the season with a number of guys who were ranked nationally in my weight class both from Division II and Division III. This was like my mid season gut check to see how I match up to some of these guys. We left Thursday afternoon and finally got there late Thursday night because of the snow storm. We still had to practice since wrestling was on Friday and Saturday. Practice is never fun the day before a meet, especially when I’m still three and a half pounds overweight. I lose the weight like I always do and finally got some rest at about four o’clock in the morning (I never sleep the night before). The next day was first weigh-ins and wrestling up to the semifinals. I was seeded second in my weight class so I had a pretty good draw. I warmed up for a little while trying to get a sweat and some of the food and Gatorade I just chugged through my body. My first match wasn’t too bad, I was beating the kid by five or six then I caught him in the third period and pinned him. My second match I felt a lot better and I ended up with a tech-fall and beat the kid 18-2 in about six minutes. My quarterfinals match was a different story, I knew I had a pretty tough kid from Manchester, and I was also starting to worry about my weight because I still had to make weight the next day luckily I get a pound so I can weigh 142, but I knew I was probably three or four pounds over before my match. I went out and in the first minute or so I got caught and taken down to my back and before I knew it I was down 4-0. Not a good way to start off a match but I knew I had to start chipping away at this if I want to win this match. By the end of the second period I had come back and was winning 6-4. I owned the third period and ended up winning the match 11-4. After the match I threw on my clothes and had to go workout to make weight for the next day.

Saturday came, and my body was killing me from all the wrestling the day before. I had the kid who was ranked seventh in the country at my weight in the semifinals which was the first match of the day. I wrestled him last year at nationals so I knew what I was up against and wasn’t too worried. I wrestled a good match and won 8-4, and advanced to the finals were I wrestled the number seventh ranked kid in Division II. I wrestled a descent match but lost 4-2 in the finals. Luckily I was able to keep my cool. I have been known to lose my temper now and again if I lose…especially when I know I could have won the match and just didn’t wrestle well which was definitely the case here! There is nothing I hate more in life than losing. Well after my match I sat down and drank a lot of water and watched Drew wrestle, then went got my dumb second place plaque and showered and got on the bus. The bus ride back still wasn’t very comfortable, but I’m not complaining I got to eat and drink and watch Braveheart!

Posted by: Creg Jantz February 7, 2008 10:15 AM | Category: Wrestling

Posted by: cnj4 (Creg Jantz) February 7, 2008 10:15 AM | Comments (1) | Trackback