Bryan Tournament

Well its been a while since I've last blogged so I will try to catch you up on whats been happening. First allow me to tell you about my last wrestling tournament.

We wrestled in Bryan on the 20th of December at the Doc Hess Tournament. This tournament is one of the larger tournaments they have in Texas and there are a ton of schools there, about 35-40. I did pretty well right up to my last match, again. I ended up placing fourth.

First guy I wrestled was from Oakridge, which I cant remember where that is. But I wrestled very well, and did a great job at finishing my shots, and was beating him by about 8 I think when I pinned him. That was my 20th varsity pin, and hope for many more as the season goes on!

The second kid I wrestled was a lot better. He was from an Episcopal school somewhere. I'll be honest going into this match, he didnt look very intimidating. It was a great match, and I ended up winning 8-5.

Then in the semi-finals of the tournament I got a rematch with the kid from SA Madison. I wrestled a much better match and was pleased with how I wrestled. I still need to work on my takedowns, and alter the way I wrestle so that I'll be able to beat this guy. I'm close, he won 6-3, so hopefully next time I'll pull it out.

Then I wrestled another guy from Katy, and won 5-2. It was a joke of a match. In the third period the kid was on bottom, and would keep running out of bounds. I swear, I've had full matches that have been shorter than that third period. But I 'll just have to work on pinning these guys faster :)

This last match was my most disappointing so far this season. I wrestled the same Episcapol kid that I had beaten earlier in the day. He won 4-3. Dont get me wrong, the kid is no slouch, but if I want to make state this year I need to be able to beat these guys no matter what the circumstances. I was tired, it was my 5th match of the day, and I had been up since 4 that morning and it was about 9:00 at night at that point. But it doesnt matter. Like my uncle said "the champions find ways to win even on days they don't have their best stuff working."

The team did really well, with only 11 guys we still maneged to get 2nd overall. Click here for complete results.

So this has always kind of been my midpoint in the season, although most of the meat of the season happens next. But so far I have been mostly please with how I've wrestled. My record isnt that impressive, but I've had some stiff competition (5/6 of my losses have been to guys who are more than likely going to state this year), and I've done well against them.But now is when I need to kick it into high gear, and peak. I need to improve on my conditioning, especially my shots, and get more pumped up about all my matches, even the small ones. So wish me luck for the next half of the season!

Record: 9-6; 5 pins. NEXT: BOWIE (Biggest Duel of the Year!)

Vista Ridge and Russ Pederson Invitational

Well, I had a lot of wrestling this last week. It was great to get back on the mat after having to take some time off with my knee. And what a better way to start it off than to wrestle Brian Osorio, the number 1 kid in the state.

We had a lunch time duel so we had a lot of the school come and watch which was really cool, thanks to all those who came and supported us! Unfortunately our team had a lot of open weights, and we didn't wrestle our best, so we lost 40-28. But I wrestled Osorio, and I didn't do all that bad. I was very happy with the way that I wrestled. I lost 16-8, but he didn't get any back points on me, it was all just take downs. And I felt good. So I was really excited for this next tournament.

It was a long day, that started at 4:45, when I got up so I could get to school by 5:00 to leave to get to Johnson High on time for the tournament. But we got there and our team did very well. We ended up getting second over all. Again, our open weights hurt us, and we probably couldve gotten first if we fielded a whole team. But 10 of the 11 guys we brought placed in the top 4.

I was pumped for my first match, so I went after him! I wrestled a kid from Corpus Christi Carrol, and was up 13-0 in the second period when I pinned him.

I was still on a role when I wrestled the next guy from Corpus Christi Ray. I pinned him in the first period.

Then I wrestled a kid from New Braunfels, that I had met a few years ago at a camp. He's a really cool guy, good sport and I like him a lot. One of the better conditioned wrestlers I had ever gone up against. But I still won 14-4. He's only a sophomore, but he'll make some noise in the next two years. He ended up getting third.

In the finals I wrestled a kid from San Antonio Madison. This guy was one place away from going to the state tournament last year, so he was no slouch and I wanted a piece of him. Unfortunately, I didn't wrestle my best match. Every single time I would get in on a shot, he would counter it, and my conditioning is off from the days I had to take off with my knee. So I was gassed, and just couldn't finish my shots. If I did I feel I would've won by eight in stead of loosing by eight. The final was 15-7, and I ended the tournament in second place. I have never been so disappointed with second in my life. I should've beaten this kid. But hey, it keeps me humble, and now I have some fuel to go work harder in practice.

NEXT: DOC HESS INVITATIONAL,BRYAN, DEC 20th

RECORD: 6-4; 4 pins

Anderson/Connaly/Pflugerville

Tonight was the first duel of the season, at Anderson High school. There was a total of 4 teams there, but because of starting late, and the duels lasting a long while, we only got to wrestle two teams. I was a little nervous coming into this match because my knee has been giving me some trouble. I ate my butt off over the thanksgiving break, and needed to burn all of those extra calories. So I ran 10.5 miles that Saturday, which was probably a bad idea. My knee has been sore since, and I think I need to take it easy. So I probably wont wrestle the rest of the week, and give it some recovery time.

First we wrestled Anderson. I had already wrestled the Anderson 135 before, but he wasn't there this time, Austin Moore (good friend, captain of Anderson wrestling, 140) said that he quit. Which is a shame, I hate to see anyone quit the sport. Hopefully he's doing well at whatever he decides to do. But West lake looked dominant. We had a lot of pins, and wrestled incredibly well. I had a forfeit, so I didn't get to wrestle.

Next we wrestled Connaly. They had a pretty small team, and are not a huge program yet. So we wrestled them, and I don't think we lost a match. My match was interesting. My coach told me to go easy on him. I was going up against a first year wrestler, and I guess coach didn't want me to go all out on him. So I half wrestled him for about the first period and a half, then coach said "alright, lets wrap this up." So I did, and pinned the kid. And that was the end of the duels. But our team looks really solid, I'm excited for the rest of the year!

And the updated Region IV rankings (scroll to bottom of page) came out. They finally moved Moore up to 140, but Bryan Osorio moved up from 130, and took the number one spot. But I talked to his dad tonight, and he told me he'll be back down at 130 by January. Then it was Ruggles at 2, and me at 3. So I'm still in the top 4, hopefully top 2 soon. And I cant wait to wrestle Ruggles. That should be an awesome match!

NEXT: WOODLANDS INVITATIONAL, HOUSTON, (probably wont wrestle to let my knee recover)

RECORD: 3-2; 2 pins