State wrestling took place at Omaha's CHI health center from February 15th through the 17th. Boys and Girls State Wrestling were both held at the same time and place this year, with 10 mats present on the floor, and had a packed house for each session. Anselmo-Merna's wrestling team took 3 state qualifiers down to Omaha for an experience of a lifetime.
Two time state qualifier, Jarrett Wells, sophomore, had said that his mindset going into state was that “no one could beat me.” He also stated that “It felt good to be back at state, but also upsetting, knowing he was going to be wrestling hard and at the end of it all, it would be the last time wrestling with the seniors.”
Tayte Thronton, a senior, has qualified for state three times in his highschool career. He says, “My mindset heading to state is to just give it my all and aim for the best place I can get. It was thrilling knowing that I could come back to state and prove to myself, family, coaches and friends that I have improved since last year.” We asked Tayte a bunch of questions in regards to his trip to Omaha including his favorite memories from the state meet this year. He said, “Tyce getting mad at me in the hotel for snoring was my favorite, that or, Jarrett weighing 150 pounds after eating a whole pizza and cheese sticks when he had finished his wrestling season off this year. It was so funny because he wrestled at 136 this year.”
Our final qualifier, Tyce Porter, another senior and three time state qualifier, has been wrestling since he was four years old. Knowing this was his last year, he came into state with the mindset of taking on one match at a time and going as hard as he could. Tyce had something to prove and he did. Finishing off his year, placing runner up in his weight class. Wrestling at 165 in round one against Gavin Wortman from Randolph, Tyce won by a pin and hit his 150th career win, and finishing his high school career with 153 wins. Tyce says, “Getting my 150th win brought me more confidence in going into my next match, and gave me more motivation to just give it my all.” Tyce’s favorite memory from state this year was The Walk of Champions. He thought it was just cool.
Wrestling to some people may mean overcoming hurdles, fears, and insecurities, but to most of these kids, wrestling has a whole different meaning. When passionate about the sport, you live for it and cannot wait for the season to arrive. Along with enjoying and being in love with the sport, a coach brings a whole new momentum to the team. When an athlete has a good relationship with their coach, they become family to you during your high school career. A coach is someone you look up to because they love the sport just as much as you do, and see the full potential in you as a person, and an athlete. No wrestler would have gotten as far as they did, without their amazing coaches throughout the years.
The future for our wrestling team is noteworthy. Some might be worried since we only qualified three to state this year. However, with a lot of hard work in the weight room, wrestling room, and team bonding time, the team will continue to show up; they now have a lot to prove. They said, “We are not finished, not yet, this is just the beginning.”
Photo courtesy of Melissa Wells