Last night was the Winchester vs. Woburn wrestling meet. Woburn is an arch-rival and last year's contest was a nail biter, with Winchester winning by a narrow margin.
This year the Woburn match was extra special because the Town of Winchester declared it "Larry Tremblay Day" to honor the coach for 500+ wins and 28 years as head coach of the Winchester Wrestling Team. Everyone signed a big banner before the meet, and afterwards there was a ceremony with speeches, plaques, and handshakes. A big crowd was on hand to watch the meet.
Julie, Nick, and I got there after the JV matches were already underway. We didn't see Michael anywhere, so Nick suggested maybe he was going to wrestle varsity. There had been no hint of that earlier in the day, and Michael was just expecting to watch an exciting varsity meet. But when the varsity team ran out to warm up, there was Michael with all the starters. In the stands, our family and the other wrestlers' parents were excited to see Michael wrestle. Last week, he cut to weigh in at 152 but didn't wrestle. Last night we looked for him at 152, but Mike Greco wrestled 152. Then James Hingston wrestled 160. So we thought Michael wouldn't be wrestling after all. But no, there he was, stepping onto the mat to wrestle at 171.
After all the anticipation and excitement, the match was a bit of a let down: Michael got cradled and pinned in the first period. He has looked real good in his JV matches this year, but he was never really competitive in this match. Sometimes you get caught in a mistake and it's over before it even begins. Oh well, baptism by fire. First varsity match jitters should be behind him if he gets another chance at this weekend's Quad Meet.
Later we learned that Brandon, the first string at 171, injured himself warming up and so Michael was asked to wrestle up a class (or two) to prevent a default.
By the way, Winchester beat Woburn by a score of 62 to 9.
Here's a video of Michael's first varsity wrestling match. Sorry about the jerkiness at the beginning; I'll use a tripod next time.
This year the Woburn match was extra special because the Town of Winchester declared it "Larry Tremblay Day" to honor the coach for 500+ wins and 28 years as head coach of the Winchester Wrestling Team. Everyone signed a big banner before the meet, and afterwards there was a ceremony with speeches, plaques, and handshakes. A big crowd was on hand to watch the meet.
Julie, Nick, and I got there after the JV matches were already underway. We didn't see Michael anywhere, so Nick suggested maybe he was going to wrestle varsity. There had been no hint of that earlier in the day, and Michael was just expecting to watch an exciting varsity meet. But when the varsity team ran out to warm up, there was Michael with all the starters. In the stands, our family and the other wrestlers' parents were excited to see Michael wrestle. Last week, he cut to weigh in at 152 but didn't wrestle. Last night we looked for him at 152, but Mike Greco wrestled 152. Then James Hingston wrestled 160. So we thought Michael wouldn't be wrestling after all. But no, there he was, stepping onto the mat to wrestle at 171.
After all the anticipation and excitement, the match was a bit of a let down: Michael got cradled and pinned in the first period. He has looked real good in his JV matches this year, but he was never really competitive in this match. Sometimes you get caught in a mistake and it's over before it even begins. Oh well, baptism by fire. First varsity match jitters should be behind him if he gets another chance at this weekend's Quad Meet.
Later we learned that Brandon, the first string at 171, injured himself warming up and so Michael was asked to wrestle up a class (or two) to prevent a default.
By the way, Winchester beat Woburn by a score of 62 to 9.
Here's a video of Michael's first varsity wrestling match. Sorry about the jerkiness at the beginning; I'll use a tripod next time.
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