A fond memory I have from my wrestling at Ricks was that I struggled that freshman year. I had a record of about 10-10 going into the middle of January. This was hard on my confidence because I had only lost 7 matches during my high school career. I remember going two and out that year at the Beehive wrestling tournament. That didn’t seem all that bad because we were the only junior college wrestling team in the tournament with the other teams being division 1 teams. Then in the middle of January we had gone to a tournament at Montana. I went two and out again. At this tournament I ended up being the only one on the team that did go two and out. I came to a turning point after this tournament. I either needed to get serious about wrestling or I needed to quit. I think that made me come to a day of decision. I think up until that time I was just happy to be on the varsity team. I determined that I was going to step up to the plate. My whole attitude changed from that time. I went on and finished the year and felt good about what I accomplished. I won the conference tournament, placed 3rd at the regional which qualified me for JC nationals. We qualified all 10 of our wrestlers for nationals. I remembering heading off with the team on a charter bus from the college. I didn’t know what to expect. Kent Sweat, Jay Jenks, and some of the others had had a much better season than I had. If was funny that before we left I don’t think too many people gave me much of a chance of placing at nationals. Mom and dad even thought that I wouldn’t do that well either. They said to give them a call when I finished. Well the tournament progressed and I made it to the semis without suffering a loss. They announced it on the evening news back home that Jim McCready and I were still alive and both would place. Mom and dad were just floored to think that I was going to place and they weren’t there. Well, I lost in the semis and I had to wrestle in the wrestle backs. I wanted to make sure that I won that match so that I could wrestle for third or fourth. It was funny as the tournament progressed that some of the others on the team with better records lost out quickly and I kept winning matches by 1 point or in overtime. As I got into the medal round some of their thoughts or comments were (that the reason I was winning was because my weight was weak). I just laughed at them and wanted to keep winning and show them. I ended up wrestling for 3rd and 4th and lost to Donny Owen from Northern Idaho. It was great accomplishing something that I knew I could do but surprising the others on the team. Just because I had lost so many matches during the earlier part of the season no one thought that I could win but I knew that I could. Jim McCready went on to win 1st place. I think that our team finished 8th that year.
A fond memory I have from my wrestling at Ricks was that I struggled that freshman year. I had a record of about 10-10 going into the middle of January. This was hard on my confidence because I had only lost 7 matches during my high school career. I remember going two and out that year at the Beehive wrestling tournament. That didn’t seem all that bad because we were the only junior college wrestling team in the tournament with the other teams being division 1 teams. Then in the middle of January we had gone to a tournament at Montana. I went two and out again. At this tournament I ended up being the only one on the team that did go two and out. I came to a turning point after this tournament. I either needed to get serious about wrestling or I needed to quit. I think that made me come to a day of decision. I think up until that time I was just happy to be on the varsity team. I determined that I was going to step up to the plate. My whole attitude changed from that time. I went on and finished the year and felt good about what I accomplished. I won the conference tournament, placed 3rd at the regional which qualified me for JC nationals. We qualified all 10 of our wrestlers for nationals. I remembering heading off with the team on a charter bus from the college. I didn’t know what to expect. Kent Sweat, Jay Jenks, and some of the others had had a much better season than I had. If was funny that before we left I don’t think too many people gave me much of a chance of placing at nationals. Mom and dad even thought that I wouldn’t do that well either. They said to give them a call when I finished. Well the tournament progressed and I made it to the semis without suffering a loss. They announced it on the evening news back home that Jim McCready and I were still alive and both would place. Mom and dad were just floored to think that I was going to place and they weren’t there. Well, I lost in the semis and I had to wrestle in the wrestle backs. I wanted to make sure that I won that match so that I could wrestle for third or fourth. It was funny as the tournament progressed that some of the others on the team with better records lost out quickly and I kept winning matches by 1 point or in overtime. As I got into the medal round some of their thoughts or comments were (that the reason I was winning was because my weight was weak). I just laughed at them and wanted to keep winning and show them. I ended up wrestling for 3rd and 4th and lost to Donny Owen from Northern Idaho. It was great accomplishing something that I knew I could do but surprising the others on the team. Just because I had lost so many matches during the earlier part of the season no one thought that I could win but I knew that I could. Jim McCready went on to win 1st place. I think that our team finished 8th that year.
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