The Zebra Wrestling Team have been competing since the end of November, and is heading toward the post season. So far this year the team as had many accomplishments and have a few opportunities for more. This season the Zebras are 16-4 and have finished 3rd at Bentonville, 1st at Donnie Morgan invite, and with half a team they finished 9th at the Carl Albert tournament. Its been a great first half of the year.
Another thing this team accomplished was qualifying for dual state for the first time since 2012. For you all that do not follow wrestling or are not sure what that means , here is an explanation. In the sport of high school wrestling, there are two state tournaments. There is dual state and team state. Dual state is more team driven in which you have to win your district as an entire team to qualify. The Zebras did that by beating East Central, Will Rogers, Collinsville, and Del City last week. Team state is the individual state tourney in which each individual can qualify by placing in the top 5 in their weight class at the regional tourney in February. That is the difference between the two, and it is way harder to qualify as a team than an individual. So that is why it is such a big deal that this team was able to achieve that goal and now they are considered a top 8 team in the state.
Now that we are all on the same page, I want to explain why this group is special. It is not as easy as winning more individual matches than your opponent, if that were the case I would not be writing about how we became district champs. It is putting the team first and wrestling hurt. It's going to massage therapist 3 times, and a physical therapist twice in 4 days, just so you can stand up and put your foot on the line. It is wrestling with a fractured hand and not complaining about it so your team has the best chance. It's weighing 127 pounds and bumping up to 138 pounds to make the lineup as strong as possible. It is being in so much pain from chronic back issues that you say to your coach, "I can't wrestle all 4 matches, but I can give you two when you need me, so we can win." It is being a great wrestler but being second string and being beside your brothers and saying, "I don't care if I wrestle as long as the team wins." It is weighing 189 and getting a pin at 215 pounds when the team needed it most. Its losing 5 pounds the night before so you can fill a spot that we need. It is losing a match by 8 instead of getting pinned when you are asked to lose correctly. It is getting poked in the eye so badly that you can't see but never asking for injury time, and winning the match instead of quitting. These are all things that happened, that individual wrestlers did so they could be district champs. That is what makes these young men special.
You see wrestlers are different, and this is part of the reason wrestling is the toughest sport, and it is not close. The things that wrestlers do are not asked of them, they are expected. You are expected to wrestle hurt, because it is impossible to go an entire season without being banged up. You are expected to diet and stay disciplined so you can compete at the highest level. Wrestling is the only sport that has blood time, because you are expected to bleed. The last thing that is expected is the everyday training. You are expected to train harder than any other sport. Some people ask, "why do you have to be in such great shape if the match only last 6 minutes." The answer is simple, there are no breaks, there are no timeouts. I always say wrestling is like that crazy uncle on the 4th of July, that holds you under the water in the pool for a little to long. That feeling of panic you get when you are not sure if you will resurface in time. Now imagine that happening for six minutes straight. You are fighting for your life for six minutes. That is why we do hour long matches. That is why we do bear crawls until we puke. That is why we do buddy carries when we run. That is why we push cars, run bleachers, go on 5 mile runs, lift weights, do squat jumps until we cant feel our legs, and push our bodies to the point that most find crazy. The other reason we do it is because we are not alone, everyone else is doing it as well. That is why our moto in the room is, "get that look off your face, nobody cares." Nobody cares if your tired, hurt, or bleeding; so is everyone else. Again I say, wrestlers are different.
One last thing, if you have not got out to see this group compete, you are missing out. You have one more opportunity and it's a big one. On January 30th the Zebras host the Pryor Tigers. We have not beat them in 4 years and we want to pack the house. Please get out an watch at 7pm in the Mobra, you will not be disappointed.