Reggie's wrestling highlights

We had high expectations for Reggie's wrestling season this year.  In most of the tournaments he participates in, 3rd and 4th grade wrestle in brackets together.  As a 4th grader, this is generally an advantage.  In other words, it is a well-known reality that youth wrestlers experience alternating "growth" years and "pay-off" years.  This year was supposed to be Reggie's pay-off year.

Last year (growth year), in the NYWA State Tournament, there were only three 3rd graders in his 16-wrestler bracket - Owen, Seth, and Reggie.  (I'm naming them because wrestling is a pretty small world!)  Owen had won Reggie's bracket in 2nd grade when Reggie placed 3rd.  Last year, Owen placed 3rd as a 3rd grader, which was pretty impressive.  Seth lost his first two matches and didn't place.  Reggie wrestled 4 matches before he was out, but that didn't take him to the podium.

Reggie started taking a class at a wrestling school last summer.  The wrestling school attracts athletes who are more experienced and highly competitive.  While his home team tends to be new wrestlers and he doesn't really have anyone his age and skill level to practice with, the school gives Reggie a run for his money and keeps him humble!    Having a good partner is a really important part of growing in the sport.  So unlike previous seasons, when December rolled around, Reggie had already been training with almost no off-season and was ready to hit the mat!

Reggie competes in at least one and sometimes two tournaments almost every weekend for about four months.  But not all tournaments are equal.  The local ones put on by high schools as fundraisers for their wrestling programs are fun to do with his team, but not usually very competitive.  Out of 11 tournaments, he placed 1st nine times, and 2nd twice.  In the tournaments he placed 2nd, he was bracketed with older kids.

A higher level of competition is found at the Midwest National tournaments.  There are 4 in all - this year there were two in Minnesota, one in Wisconsin, and one in Iowa.  These tournaments have larger brackets based on grade and weight.  Last year, Reggie wrestled in two of the tournaments and did not place.  He only won one match.  This year, he wrestled in three of them.

The first one, Yellowjacket Nationals, was in December.  It was a bracket with seven kids.  He had wrestled one of the kids, AJ, a few times.  Another one of the kids was Seth, who he had never wrestled but as I mentioned, he was in the same bracket at the state tournament last year.   We didn't know the other four kids.  Reggie won his first match and his second match was against Seth.  Seth beat him (7-1), putting Reggie on the consolation side of the bracket.  Reggie won the next two matches, putting him at 3rd place.  He didn't wrestle the kid who got 1st, Blake.  Owen, who had been in Reggie's weight bracket in previous years, had a growth spurt and was in a heavier bracket - and won.

At the second tournament, Badgerland in Wisconsin, there were 6 wrestlers in Reggie's bracket.  Seth had bumped up to the next weight. There were some familiar kids including Blake, and a few new kids. Six wrestlers or less means you wrestle every kid in the bracket.  Reggie would have to wrestle Blake first.  It was an intense match and I think Blake underestimated Reggie.  Reggie won in a sudden victory, 4-2.  Reggie won his next two matches.  We knew the 4th kid, Karrsen, would be his most difficult match.  Karrsen pinned Reggie in the third period, the only time Reggie was pinned in a tournament this year.  Reggie went on to win his last match, placing 2nd in the bracket.

We decided against going to the Hawkeye Nationals tournament - too far to go in one day and we had other stuff going on that weekend. There ended up being a major snowstorm that weekend, and we would have had to drive on really bad roads to get there - or back out.

Gopher State was the last tournament of the series.  It is generally a bigger tournament because of it's proximity to the metro. There were twelve wrestlers in Reggie's bracket, about half were familiar faces.  Reggie earned a first round bye, then won his first match.  With 4 left on the championship side of the bracket, Reggie met up with Blake again.  It was another close match, but Reggie won 4-3.  The championship match was against Karrsen again.  Reggie came up short, but this time with a score of 4-2.

Reggie placed 2nd.  With the Midwest tournaments, if wrestlers place 1st-4th in at least 3 of the 4 tournaments, they are given a belt, which looks a bit too WWE for my taste.  But it's a pretty big deal for kids.

In hindsight, I'm glad Reggie had that moment, tho, because the coronavirus disrupted his season at it's pinnacle.  Reggie's last tournament, though we didn't know it at the time, turned out to be our home district qualifier tournament.  The regional and state tournaments were canceled.  Assuming life returns to normal, next year will likely be a growth year.  Maybe 6th grade will be the pay-off year that Reggie gets his shot at the state championship...

2019-2020 Stats:

• 37 out of 42 matches won
• 13 pins
• 2 tech falls (match is won before time is up due to having 15 more points than opponent)
• 11 major decisions (winning by 8+ points)
• 1 sudden victory (match is tied and goes to overtime)