Personal Narrative-The Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament

Dreams

16,000 people, 3 mats, 2 wrestlers, do you know what this great venue is? The Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament Finals. I have been dreaming of this opportunity since I was a little kid. But as you may know, you do not just get handed these opportunities. You have to work for them.

Once the season started I knew what I had to do to get my chance to win a state title. I started the season off, being ranked first at my weight class which was 106 lbs. That was a huge confidence booster and that 's when I knew it was my chance to win a state title. I went through the first half of the season being undefeated and then the second match back from Christmas break I bumped up to wrestle the third ranked wrestler at 113 lbs. and lost.

I started to do my pre-match warm up and that’s when I heard the ref tell us let’s go. We came to the center circle and shook hands and the match was off. I got an early takedown, to take the lead 2-0 but right after that he got a reversal so the score was 2-2. The next period Birt took down and escaped right away so he was winning 3-2. After that we wrestled on our feet for about a minute and then I took him down to take the lead again, 4-3. The period ended and it was now the third period. I took the down position and escaped right when the ref blew the whistle to add on to the score 5-3. After that Birt took me down with 1:30 left in the third period so it was now tied. When I was on bottom I kept thinking, I need to get out, if I get out I win this match. The last :30 seconds I was trying to get out and I was so close but it didn’t happen. This sent us into overtime. A takedown wins this match. The whistle blew and I took a shot and failed, but then I took another shot right after that and got into his legs. All I had to do was finish the takedown. But as I was going to finish the takedown we ended up into a funky position and then that’s when everything went wrong. I got into a J.O. tilt, and this is a very weird move. This is how I lost the match. If you asked any wrestling knowledgeable person it wasn’t two and they would say that I got screwed out of a takedown. The next day it was like talk of the finals so to say. But I learned to move on and not worry about what others think. I got onto the stand still and I was the 2nd best wrestler in the state that