"The best wrestler technically". How 14+years of wrestling ended.

 One of the things I hate is when people compare wrestlers.  I HATE it, yes with an all caps HATE.  Early in the season, our local newspaper ran an article discussing one of our current girl wrestlers and comparing her to one of our graduated wrestlers.  Bad idea.  You can't compare.  And also, you can't put all the pressure on that wrestler to step up and perform like past wrestlers have.  There is so much that goes into why you can't compare.  In my family who was the best wrestler?  I don't know.  They are all good.  Riley might have been my most technical wrestler.  Ben, my most scrappy and he wrestled funk wrestling the best...he could scramble with anyone.  Jordan was my most persistent wrestler, sticking with the sport through 4 season of a difficult coaching situation and keeping his head up.  Jake was my best thrower.  Boy was it cool when at the last second he would win a match with a throw.  And he did it match after match with opponent after opponent.  I joked that Jake likes a good show.  What about state you say?  Jordan broke his elbow his senior year and wasn't able to finish it out.  Ben had a bad luck of the draw, losing his first match and then drawing the one kid who didn't like to scramble at state and having a ref that didn't call stalling like the next ref did.  We tease him a lot for both of those things and he takes it well.  Riley, of course, Riley wrestled the U23 world's bronze medalist in greco-roman wrestling in 2025 his senior year at state...yep.  And Jake, well he did lose his first match at state.  But let's go back a bit since I haven't updated you on his season.

Jake felt a lot of pressure coming into this year's season to perform.  He REALLY wanted to place at state, not just for himself but for his brother's, his fellow teammates and his coaches.  He worked hard all last year to impove his speed and his skill and he looked strong at his first tournament in Bayfield.

Wrestling is a mental game.  It has ups and downs.  Second tournament, Jake wrestled one of the best wrestlers in the state from Mullen and lost, by tech fall.  A well deserved win by the other wrestler.  He was quick and fast and good.  When you lose to a wrestler like that coming back is harder than you think because you have to reevaluate where you really are at.  Then, Jake's next match he comes up against a kid that he knows he can beat, who he has beaten before (even in that very tournament) and he performs well and was up by 4 with 30 seconds left.  He put in double boots (which is where you put in the legs) to roll and pin the kid, but instead, he ended up on his back, unable to roll through, and pinned himself.  A huge defeat for him.

And then his next tournament, a very competitive tounament in Grand Junction, and he placed third!  Then he goes to conflict at Cleveland and couldnt't pull his head out from a loss again.  And then wrestled in Pagosa and lost his final match that he should have won, but mind games, mind games, mind games, the mind really can beat you.

Next up was Rocky Mountain Nationals...the first time Durango has been there!  I was nervous as all getout for this tournament because it is the best of 3A, 4A and 5A teams.   I shouldn't have been nervous though.  He wrestled excellently and placed third.  It was the best I'd seen him wrestle all season.

I thought to myself that his head was defnitely back in it and I booked all the things I need to for state.  Then, the Canyon city tournament happened...and he lost, badly, when he shouldn't have.  He was fighting through injuries, turf toe in both feet and with the amount of pain he was in I wasn't even sure he would finish the season.  But he persisted and...lost quite a bit in the next few weeks.  And as I watched the state rankings and our region I wasn't sure he would make it to state by any means, so I was a wreck. 

Senior night though he was successful and had two wins! (ngl had to put this in here because we need the picture in but he really did win both matches)

Then it was time for regionals.  He only had 9 wrestlers in his bracket!  Yay!  But 7 of the 9 wrestlers were all ranked (him included) and so he had to beat three of the ranked kids to make it to state.  Round 1, ranked wrestler, he won by one or two, can't quite remember but it wasn't won by very many points.

Round 2, another ranked wrestler, he dominated and got his 100th varsity win!

Oh, and he punched his ticket for state and had a good seed... He would go in 1st or 2nd from our region!!!!!!

He lost his final match to a very defensive wrestler who capitalized on every one of Jake's shots.  Jake ended up placing 2nd in our region.  We were still very pleased with the result.

So we travelled home that weekend and I quickly made our state sweatshirts (you don't have to tell me how wonderful they are, I know)...

worked two days and headed to Denver for our last time!!!!!!!  Yes, with exclamations because traveling like this in the winter is difficult and I am excited to be able to not have to do that anymore.  And then, we get there...siblings, grandparents and us....and Jake lost his first match...badly.  He looked like he had never wrestled in his life and didn't deserve to be there.  None of us spoke to him after the match, not because we were mad or dissappointed or anything.  We didn't want to mess with his head and there was no way he didn't know that he wrestled poorly.  So, we went to our VRBO and worried all night for his next match the following afternoon.  Every match now was a blood match for Jake, if he lost he was out.

Second match came and he won in the second period with a pin.  Phew!  Third match, it's Jayce again.  Jayce the wrestler he lost to recently on Jayce's senior night.  Jayce the wrestler he pinned himself against in the second tournament...but Jayce the wrestler he beat three times before that and Jayce the wrestler Riley also beat...but Jayce the wrestler who was ranked second in state.  How would the match turn out?  We had no idea.  And he was losing but it was a tight match, maybe 7-5 or 9-5 I'm not sure but within reach and then, with 30 seconds left, Jake THROWS Jayce again (he's won three times against Jayce with a throw so Jayce was prepared for this) with a beautiful throw from his off side that he somehow got from a single leg Jayce had on him.  To say we were all ecstatic is an understatement.

One more blood round and Jake was placing.  So we return late that evening and Jake wrestled smart, like playing a game of chess smart (kind of boring to watch really) and won his next match!  So he would place at state now!  Woot!  Woot!

His next match was to see if he would wrestle for third place or for fifth place.  He was up against the kid that beat him in the first round at state.  That wasn't so great.  And in Jake style he was trailing going into the third period, but within reach.  I was watching closely and I see him get a strong overhook and under hook.  I speak out loud to myself, "Oh my goodness!  He has it!  He's going to throw!"  And he does it and it's perfect and he pins the kid!

His final match he was going against another Jacob, Jacob Snodgrass from Palisade.  He'd wrestled Jacob twice this season and once Jake pinned Jacob and the other time Jacob pinned Jake.  Jake went for a throw toward the end of the second period which Jacob Snodgrass was well prepared for and gave up 3 points at the attempt, but was fighting well to keep Jacob Snodgrass from getting backpoints on him when all of the sudden you see him relax quite noticeably and see Jacob Snodgrass get the pin.  We all wondered what happened because we had never seen Jake give up in a match like that.  When we met with him after the match he told us that he  heard a whistle and he thought it was his ref calling them out of bounds so he stopped wrestling.  Such a bummer!  But, if Jake was going to lose to anyone, we would rather have it be Jacob Snodgrass so we were okay with that.  It just would have been more intense to go the whole three periods.  

So, Jake ended the season placing fourth at state.  The first Belt to place at state and by doing so he claimed the title of "best wrestler in the family technically" from all of my boys' coach, Jeremy Dugan.  Just a side note, to let you know how tough our region was; 4 of those wrestlers on the podium came from our region (2-5 were us good job boys!).

And so, what does it even mean to be the best wrestler?  I'm so proud of all of my boys and their high school wrestling performances.  I'm proud how each of them contributed to the success of the others and we all know Jake couldn't have been on that podium without each of them.  Even Tim Yount, our state ranker for wrestling gave a quick shoutout to Jake (and his family) for getting to the podium.

Once more I'm grateful to all the many people and coaches that contributed to my boys' wrestling careers.  I will not forget the impact you made on all of us.  Here's to a great ending of a long journey.