First Meet

Well, it only took about 12 hours to return to the house but we have arrived. Let me tell you that wrestling life is hard. Four practices a week and then get up at 5am to get to the site in time for weigh ins. We got to Lincoln with about an hour to spare. Egan weighed in at 53.8lbs and Bowen was 67.6lbs. Unfortunately, Egan got a kid from our own club in his bracket. It isn't that bad of a thing but it is a boy that he wrestles with in practice. At least they set up the bracket to where if they met it would be in the third match and for first place of the bracket. In his first match, Egan pinned his kid in the first 15 seconds of the second period. In his second match, he pinned his kid in the first 20 seconds of the first period. 2-0 and it set up his showdown with Reese (the boy from Mt. Zion) for first place. Reese had won his first two matches also. Egan came out hot and furious. By the end of the second period Egan was up 10-0. Egan had a throw on Reese that made the crowd around the mat gasp. It was cool to hear everybody cheering then all of sudden stop and go 'Ooooo'. But Reese has been working really hard and was able to roll out of it when Egan got too high. Reese then managed to get Egan on his back long enough to get some back points. Reese fought really hard in the last period but Egan was able to hold on for a 10-7 win. I think he got overconfident with that lead. Something we will work on this week in practice. But still a great job for the first meet of a very long season.


Bowen is wrestling in the 9-10 yr. old group. Being 9, he is definitely at a disadvantage going up against 10 year olds with 4-5 years of experience. His first match was against a boy from PORTA. This boy is in his fifth year of wrestling and it showed. But Bowen fought really hard and lost in a 5-2 decision. He gave that boy the best match of the bracket. In his second match, Bowen wrestled a boy from Leroy. He was doing a great job working his half nelson, but ended up getting in a position where he could sink a cradle. He rolled the kid to his back and 10 seconds later he had pinned the kid within the first 35 seconds of the first period. The third match was a battle. He was wrestling a kid from Bloomington (he had lost to the PORTA kid 3-0). It was a tough match with Bowen missing some scoring opportunities due to time running out in the periods. He ended up losing this match 3-2. I think Bowen had one of the toughest brackets in the 9-10 group and he did really well with his Third Place finish. I know he wasn't that happy because it was the same finish as last year at Lincoln, but I explained to him that if he had wrestled those kids last year he wouldn't have made it out of the first period.

All in all, I am proud of both boys. I am proud of Egan for running the table in his group and I am proud of Bowen for never giving up against some tough kids. I guarantee when he meets that kid from PORTA again (which he might next Sunday in Springfield) it will be a different story.

So next Sunday it is on to Springfield Southeast High School for the Capital Classic. I think Kim and Gwen aren't going to make that trip. It is really tough to ask Gwen to sit in a gym with nothing to do for 7-8 hours. I know it is really tough on me! haha But I know it also makes Kim nervous watching Bowen go against the experienced wrestlers. No concern about Egan, he is such a tank and he completely manhandles the kids he wrestles. He has a hard time getting kids to practice with him because he is so strong and he beats the crap out of them .

Be watching, there might be an update during the week if something transpires during practices.