State/Wrestling Ending and Reflection

We'll my wrestling season has come to a close, and I couldn't have asked it to end in any better fashion. I, along with 7 of my team mates qualified for the UIL Texas State Wrestling Tournament. That's the most we've ever sent and more than almost any other team there.

Our qualifiers were, Chase Betzer (130), Me (135), Jim Gianakopolous (140), Sawyer Morris (145), Peyton Burns (152), Alex Hershey (160), Grant Perry (171), and David Durham (215). For you that aren't familiar with the weight classes, that's 7 in a row that were all state qualifiers. We had a murderers row of middle weights.

The team preformed so well. Me, Hershey and Jim were eliminated on the first day, but we were all just happy to be there. David and Sawyer got 6th, (Sawyer was suffering from injuries, he's going to have to have surgery on both shoulders. I am supremely confident if he was healthy he would've been a state champion). Chase Betzer got 3rd, only loosing to the 65-0, 3X state Champ Erik Spjut. GP placed 2nd, an accomplishment all the more impressive given that he was injured with torn ligaments in his knee for over half the season. An excellent year to cap off his senior season. And Peyton Burns in the most exciting finals match of the tournament scored a last second reversal to put him up by one point to beat the heavy favorite for the State Title.

(Also my friend and fellow 135 pounder Bryan Osorio ended his season undefeated and State Champion. Crongrats Bryan!)

As a whole, the team placed third in the tournament, the highest we have ever placed, beating cross town rivals Bowie and Vista Ridge. I am so proud of my team. They are among the best friends I have, and I have grown so much with them over the last four years. I only see great things in their futures. Of those eight state qualifiers, five are coming back. Watch out next year!

But now, as my wrestling career comes to a close, I am filled with mixed emotion. I am glad that I don't have to practice for so long, hurting all the time, watching what I eat, and having more free time.

But I am really going to miss so much of the sport. Its been such a huge part of my life, I've learned to love so much of it. I'm going to miss the taste of blood in my mouth after I just got hit. I'll miss being drenched heat to toe in sweat after busting my butt for the last 2.5 hours, and walking out into the cold December weather. I'll miss coming home from tournaments covered in cuts and bruises, completely exhausted, and knowing that I kicked butt and took names that day.

But most of all I'm going to miss my teammates. Those guys were the best, I loved every minute I spent with them. We worked hard and pushed each other to be the best we could, and that's why we ended the year as one of the best teams in the state, a team of champions. We hurt, we sweat and bleed together. I feel like Shakespeare's King Henry V, in his speech when thinking of my team.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me,
Shall be my brother"

I'll love those guys. Best of luck to them all.