Iowa’s State Wrestling Tournament just wrapped up. I grew up in a small town of about 900 people called Graettinger. This year we had 9 wrestlers qualify for districts, and 5 guys qualify for state. That is no small feat in Iowa wrestling. Wrestling in Iowa is like football is in Florida or Texas…a big deal. I wasn’t able to go down and watch because I’m in some very strict training right now (2 weeks before a big national meet), but, I was getting updates every second on them.
It had some extra meaning for me because it was really the first batch of kids that I had really worked with extensively. Every time I went back home I lifted with them and gave them lifting programs to be on. I also helped them out with some nutrition stuff as well.
It was really pretty awesome to see them perform at a much higher level this year after some serious off-season workouts. For most of them I also gave them some workouts to be doing in-season. I know those were extremely crucial in my success in high school, so I had to pass it on. I was on the phone during every match they had getting live updates- which was pretty cool. Although I found myself pacing like crazy and kicking things when they lost haha! Stubbed a toe pretty bad, but it’ll heal.
Tyler Dalen - 8th Place Finisher as a Jr. at 103lbs
Trent Lundgren - 135lb. State Qualifier as a jr. 1 match away from placing!
Austin Thompson - 112lb. State Qualifier as a Sophomore!
Ryan Schany -145lb. State Qualifier as a Sr.
Ryan Schany again...I didn't get a good pic of his face so I had to include this one. Plus- look at the shirt he has on 🙂
Nate Howard -215lb. Iowa Wrestling State Champion!! Capped off an undefeated season by pinning his way through the state tournament.
Cody Alesch, Jeff Naig, and the rest of the coaches/volunteers have done a great job with the program. I know that there are some others who are doing an awesome job with the little kids program as well. I always hear great feedback about that, which is where it all starts! So congrats to all the coaches, parents, and fans on another great season. We’ve had some extremely high state finishers in the last 5 years. We had 4 place my sr. year, and had multiple kids place every year since then (with Michael Jensen getting 2nd as well). I know Jake Hoffman (4x Qualifier, 3x Placewinner), Kass Schany (All American as a sophomore at THE National Tournament), James Tatman, and Michael Jensen (Runner-Up at state) all had some very good careers right after I left as well. I believe we had a few other qualifiers during that time as well. Now this year we had 5 qualify and 2 place (8th, and 1st!).
Ok- now I am just blabbing on. But congrats!!!!
