Sunday, January 11, 2009

Bowie & Centex


Well, I had been waiting for this Bowie duel all year. Westlake has never beaten Bowie in a duel before, but the last few years have been really close, and it looked like this was going to be or chance.

My opponent was is 2nd in the region right behind Osorio. He is an accomplished wrestler who went to state last year. I was really pumped up to go against him. Right off the bat I took him down twice. I let him know that I was here to wrestle. It was a good match, but down the stretch I got a little gassed, and he came out on top, 11-7. The team didnt fare very well, calls didnt go our way, and we just didnt wrestle very well all together. The final was 42-19. Here are the complete results, and a link to a news article about the duel.

Then this last weekend was the Centex tournament. It was a two day tournament and had huge implications for my chances at making state this year. Centex is basically the regional tournament, that I have to place in the top four to qualify to go to state. However there were also some teams from Dallas and Houston that came as well. So it's a big deal, and lots of the matches will effect my seedings for the regional tournament. But unfortunately for this one, I got a lousy seed again. Something that I have become all to familiar with this season.

So on friday, my first match was against a kid from San Antonio Johnson. We was pretty good, but I wrestled pretty well, and beat him 9-2. I rode him much better than I had before, and felt pretty good about it.

My second match was against that same Madison kid that I have already wrestled against twice. Each time I'm getting closer and closer, but I couldnt quite pull it out. This was another one of those times. He ended up winning 11-6 I beleive. So I get kicked into the consolations.

Next was a nice kid from Georgetown, which is in my district. I hadnt really wrestled alot of people in this district, so this was a good chance to see what some of the competition was like. I pinned him in the first period. He's a nice kid though, I talked to him a bit before the match, and wish him best of luck for the rest of the season.

And the fourth and final match of the first day came against a kid from Austin LBJ. I had to wait a while for him to show up because there was a misunderstanding with the LBJ coach, and he told his kids they could go home. But we waited for them to get back and I wrestled him. I was ready to go home, so I stuck him in the second.

Saturday morning came, and I started it off by wrestling a guy from Dallas Jesuit. He was a good wrestler, and I was only up by a few points in the third till I took him down and caught him in a front headlock cradle. I pinned him with 1 second left in the match.

After him, I wrestled the New Braunfels guy that I wrestled earlier at the Russ Pederson meet. I really like him, he's a nice guy and a solid wrestler. We had a tight match, but I pulled it out 5-2.

And then in the semi-finals for the consolation bracket, I got to wrestle that good old San Antonio Madison guy again. 4th times a charm right? This was by far the best I ever wrestled him. I took him down on a real shot for the first time, and didnt have to much of a problem escaping. He was only up by one point with about 40 seconds to with me on top, so I cut him to try to get the takedown for the tie. Again, I took my shot and he did the funky things that he always does, and he ended up getting the takedown. So I am right there with him, and hope to finally come out on top when it matters most. The final was 10-6.

So that put ended my day in the consolation semi's for 5-6th place. But the first Johnson kid that I beat made it all the way to the consolation semi's too. So that puts me at 5th place, one less than I need to be for state. But the kid who got second isnt in my region, so take him away and that puts me at fourth. And I am really close to being able to beat the Bowie and Madison kid who got 4th and 3rd at this tournament. So I'm right where I need to be.

The team as a whole did awesome! We got second overall with alot of holes in our line up, and having some guys wrestle up some weight classes. For more detailed results click here.

I was very pleased with the way I wrestled. My shots have improved astronomically, and my escapes are becoming more fluid and consistent. I'm really feeling like I'm wrestling the best I have and hope that I'll continue to get better as the season continues.

RECORD: 14-9; 8 pins

No comments: