Tribune Photos From Team State

Found these just after I posted...just verifies what I was blogging about earlier and Trenton's raw emotion. I love it!

Team State Sorrows

We are home early tonight and that can only mean one thing...one bad thing...Mishawaka lost at Team State today. Round one against Cathedral. We knew things were gonna be tough when we were down by 20 points after the first 4 or so matches. What hurt even more was the fact that our boys started getting on a roll way too late. Ben said it perfectly...our boys wrestled to "not lose" while Cathedral wrestled "to win." In our opinion, though, some of the calls the refs made were terrible. A pin should have been called while one shouldn't have been called. Stalling calls were not made when we thought they should have been. Of course, this is only opinion, and one sided at that, but Trenton's match was a perfect example of how the refs were making calls. To begin the match against you enter the circle, shake hands with your opponent and begin the match at the whistle. Apparently, once you enter the circle, you cannot leave it. Trenton did just this...to give his Coach Fabian a hand slap. The refs did not make anything of it, in fact, they did see it. The Cathedral Coach proceeded to go up to the refs to complain, thus giving Corsaro (of Cathedral) 1 point off the bat (penalty). Ridiculous. Trenton showed what he had, even though he sometimes has trouble with lanky kids like Corsaro, and he pulled out the win 6-5 (with a winning takedown in the last 15 seconds). Wow. This reminded us of our boy last year...we called him the "cardiac kid" with the many matches he would win at the last second. After Harper's win, Trenton's win and Steven's win, we thought the meet would turn. Unfortunately, it didn't. In fact, once Cathedral figured out that there was no way we could catch them (last 2 matches), they sent out JV kids and basically, they layed down on their backs. Didn't even give our kids a match. Horrible. It was devastating. A real heart breaker for our kids. Lots of tears were shed, especially by the seniors who put their whole hearts into this meet today. Trenton came home and hugged both Ben and me and said, "Mom, Dad, I just want you to know that I don't say it enough, but thank you. Thank you for bringing me food, thank you for coming to watch, thank you for pushing me to be better, thank you for supporting my wrestling career all this time." It brought me to tears, yet again. I can't believe his high school wrestling is over. I told Trenton that I really want him to go to school close to home so we can continue to watch his matches as much as we can. I will miss his high school days...his matches. Trenton is such an emotional wrestler and isn't afraid to show it. I love that about him. He knows how to get a crowd fired up. Anyways, heart breaker loss for the team...30-31, but still VERY proud to be CAVEMEN!

Good Luck, Cavemen!

Preparations for Team State have begun today...then off to Indy later today! Best of luck to the Cavemen!!!! Bring home the title again!!!

American Idol - Group 2

My favs from last night were the redheaded Allison, the good looking Kris and I also liked the last contestant...Adam. Check them out here. zAlexis and Danny both made it through from Group 1. We will see how my predictions go tonight!

Gabi's Artwork :)

7th Place Individual at STATE - 135 lbs.

Trenton came in 7th place in the state! I walked into Conseco Friday night just awestruck that we were actually going to watch TRENTON wrestle. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable. His first match was against Zach DeHaven from Evansville Memorial. Friday night's match was basically the tell all for placement. If he won, he would be wrestling on Saturday for a place in the top 8. We were on pins and needles. The tear jerker was the Parade of Champions at the beginning. Top wrestlers and coaches filled the bottom of Conseco for the National Anthem as they were honored as "best of the best." It did my heart such wonders to watch. I was just speechless. The sight of all those wrestlers, the sound of the thousands of people in attendance, the feel of anticipation all around me. Wow.
Trenton defeated DeHaven 8-2 and advanced to Saturday. His first match would be none other than Taylor March. A friend of ours that we met through ISWA. In fact, because he has a birthday on May 6th (same as Ben) I always make cupcakes for them both during Freestyle State. Great kid. Smart and athletic. We knew it would be a tough one. In fact, Trenton did end up losing to Taylor 1-7. Trenton looked a little sluggish and with him having bronchitis, we knew it would only make things worse. I think what got him was the fact that Taylor pretty much let Trenton do the shooting and scored off of that. Regardless, Trenton just didn't wrestle up to par.
His next match was against Castle kid, Doug Welch, and we knew it would also be tough. We were anxious to see how he would do because Castle is going to be at Team State also next week. Trenton did better this match and I fully believe Trenton could beat this kid handedly if he was 100%. They ended up going into triple overtime! The first overtime, it would have been the first to score a takedown. The second and third was who could get out from bottom and score and the third...all Trenton would have had to do was hold on to the kid on bottom and he would have won. Unfortunately, Trenton tried to score and hold on at the same time and it worked against him causing his loss 3-5. He was devastated. He knew he would be wrestling for 7th place and Trenton knew he was better than that.
We were proud regardless, just having the opportunity for him to wrestle. I mean we witnessed Johnny Dillon, another phenomenal wrestler in Trenton's weight class get beat on Friday night...not even placing at state! Trenton had to realize how far he has come, and with only beginning his season at Sectionals this year. We couldn't have been happier.
Trenton's last match was against Matt Gerber of Bluffton and he beat him 9-4 for 7th place in the state. VERY VERY PROUD of our son! His accomplishments will not go unnoticed. Great job, Trenton! We love you!! More pictures here.
In Newspaper today:

71st ANNUAL IHSAA INDIVIDUALSTATE WRESTLING FINALS
At Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
103: Cody Phillips (Union County) pinned Dusty Kief (Franklin Community), 2:54.
112: Anthony Hawkins (Crown Pt) dec. Josh Kieffer (Indianapolis Roncalli), 3-2 in 2OT.
119: Camden Eppert (Anderson Highland) dec. Brandon Wright (Indianapolis Cathedral), 3-2 in 2OT.
125: Jason Tsirtsis (Crown Pt) maj. dec. John Grey (Indianapolis Cathedral), 16-3.
130: Francisco Porras (Hobart) dec. D'Marcus Spencer (Indianapolis Pike), 4-1.
135: Taylor March (East Noble) dec. Mitchell Richey (Brown County), 4-3.
140: Steven Sandefer (Mishawaka) dec. Ryan Stahl (Elkhart Memorial), 6-5.
145: Daniel Young (Culver Military) pinned Gavin McGinley (Indianapolis Cathedral), 5:32.
152: Sean McMurray (Portage) dec. Anthony Quiroz (Chesterton), 8-5.
160: Briar Runyan (Martinsville) dec. Matt Todd (Pendleton Hts), 8-3.
171: Michael Duckworth (Union County) dec. Bryce Grimes (Lawrence No), 2-0.
189: Marcus Shrewsbury (Crown Pt) dec. Drew Graber (Northridge), 6-3.
215: Billy Baker (Bellmont) dec. Christian Lentz (Mishawaka), 4-1.
285: Adam Chalfant (Winchester) dec. Alexander White (Mount Vernon), 7-2.
MENTAL ATTITUDE AWARD: Taylor March (East Noble)
CONSOLATION ROUND (For 3rd place)
103: Kyle Ayersman (Lake Central) dec. Zach Stevens (Merrillville), 5-0.
112: Brandon Nelson (Lawrence No) dec. Alex Gregory (Penn), 4-3.
119: Alex Johns (Evansville Reitz) dec. Casey Kenney (Jay County), 7-5.
125: Cashe_ Quiroga (Lawrence No) maj. dec. Mason Berryman (Anderson Highland), 16-8.
130: Brock Norton (Carroll-FW) won by inj. default over Joshua Harper (Mishawaka).
135: Will Mascaro (Carmel) dec. Eric Roach (Crown Pt), 3-1.
140: Chad Bennett (Eastern-Greentown) pinned John Sims (Evansville Mater Dei), 2:11.
145: Sam Bennett (Anderson Highland) dec. Keon Jones (Merrillville), 2-1.
152: Kyle Mosier (Yorktown) pinned Aaron Estrada (Munster), 0:34.
160: Mark Myers (Crown Pt.) dec. Ross Powell (Northridge), 1-0.
171: Shelby Mappes (Center Grove) maj. dec. Huey Hudson (SB Riley), 10-1.
189: Aaron Stevenson (Indian Creek) pinned Andrew Dalton (East Central), 2:13.
215: Nathan Cleveland (Lowell) dec. Gabriel Berry (Warren Central), 1-0.
285: John Clark (Jeffersonville) dec. Jowan Gill (Columbus North), 3-2.
CONSOLATION ROUND(For 5th place)Tribune-area wrestlers
119: Justin Brooks (Warsaw) dec. Derek Bevans (Yorktown), 5-0.
140: Trace Hill (Riley) dec. Alex Surma (Munster), 4-3.
145: Zach Corpe (Elkhart Memorial) maj. dec. Dalton Sparks (Peru), 10-2.
285: James Travis (Merrillville) dec. Craig Fitzgerald (John Glenn), 3-1 in OT.
CONSOLATION ROUND (For 7th place)Tribune-area wrestlers
119: Justin Kieffer (Roncalli) maj. dec. Danny Bradley (Knox), 19-8.
135: Trent Reinoehl (Mishawaka) dec. Matt Gerber (Bluffton), 9-4.
171: Joey Smith (Mishawaka) dec. Trey Schultz (Adams Central), 7-3.
SEMIFINALS(Tribune-area wrestlers)
112: Josh Kieffer (Indianapolis Roncalli) dec. Alex Gregory (Penn), 3-2.
130: D_Marcus Spencer (Indianapolis Pike) dec. Josh Harper (Mishawaka), 3-0.
140: Ryan Stahl (Elkhart Memorial) dec. John Sims (Evansville Mater Dei), 1-0; Steven Sandefer (Mishawaka) dec. Chad Barrett (Eastern-Greentown), 7-3.
145: Daniel Young (Culver Military) dec. Sam Bennett (Anderson Highland), 3-1.
160: Matt Todd (Pendleton Hts.) dec. Ross Powell (Northridge), 1-0.
171: Bryce Grimes (Lawrence North) pinned Huey Hudson (SB Riley), 5:39.
189: Drew Graber (Northridge) dec. Andrew Dalton (East Central), 5-2.
215: Christian Lentz (Mishawaka) dec. Gabriel Berry (Warren Central), 3-2.
QUARTERFINALS(Tribune-area wrestlers)
112: Alex Gregory (Penn) tech fall Josh Julian (Lebanon), 15-0 in 3:33.
119: Camden Eppert (Anderson Highland) dec. Justin Brooks (Warsaw), 3-0; Brandon Wright (Indianapolis Cathedral) maj. dec. Daniel Bradley (Knox), 18-8.
130: Josh Harper (Mishawaka) dec. Quincy Richey (Brown County), 3-1.
135: Taylor March (East Noble) dec. Trent Reinoehl (Mishawaka), 7-1.
140: Ryan Stahl (Elkhart Memorial) dec. Alex Surma (Munster), 7-0; Steven Sandefer (Mishawaka) dec. Jacob Milenbaugh (Columbus North), 7-4; Chad Barrett (Eastern-Greentown) pinned Trace Hall (SB Riley), 3:25.
145: Daniel Young (Culver Military) maj. dec. Cameron Friend (Leo), 11-1; Sam Bennett (Anderson Highland) dec. Zach Corpe (Elkhart Memorial), 5-4.
160: Ross Powell (Northridge) dec. Dalton Jones (Avon), 5-3.
171: Huey Hudson (SB Riley) dec. Tanner Wedding (Evansville Memorial), 4-1; Bryce Grimes (Lawrence No) dec. Joey Smith (Mishawaka), 5-0.
189: Drew Graber (Northridge) dec. Randy Kaufman (Rensselaer), 4-0.
215: Christian Lentz (Mishawaka) dec. Dylan Green (Kokomo), 3-0.
285: Jowan Gill (Columbus No) dec. Craig Fitzgerald (John Glenn), 3-1.
WRESTLEBACKS
119: Justin Brooks (Warsaw) dec. Justin Kieffer (Indianapolis Roncalli), 3-2; Derek Bevans (Yorktown) pinned Daniel Bradley (Knox), 2:36.
135: Doug Welch (Castle) dec. Trent Reinoehl (Mishawaka), 5-3 in OT.
140: Trace Hall (SB Riley) dec. Jacob Milenbaugh (Columbus No), 8-5.
145: Zach Corpe (Elkhart Memorial) pinned Cameron Friend (Leo), 0:57.
171: Tanner Wedding (Evansville Memorial) dec. Joey Smith (Mishawaka), 6-2.
285: Craig Fitzgerald (John Glenn) dec. Nate Richey (Brownsburg), 4-1.

New American Idol Season Group 1

I guess American Idol has broken the contestants up into three groups and will decide on the final 9 through each group...??? Should be interesting. My absolute favorite performer from last night was Danny. The girls...not so good...but I thought Alexis probably did the best last night. Looking forward to watching the results tonight.

Happy Birthday, Amber!

Wishing my sister in law, Amber, a very HAPPY birthday today!!! Enjoy your day!!! We all love you very much.

Reflecting...

We watched a great movie on Sunday ... Friday Night Lights, and at the end there is a song called Your Hand In Mine by Explosions in the Sky. A guitar solo. A slower song. Trenton shared with me that he listened to this song right before his finals match at Semi State. He said he just wanted a song that would relax him...to help him step back, look at the mats with the lights shining down on them, and take a moment to reflect on his journey to where he was at during that moment.

State Bound!

Trenton is heading to state next weekend for Individual State Finals...this is what he has been wanting and he finally has it! Semi state in Merrillville was a loooooooooong day. So thankful that Lina offered to keep Gabi overnight on Friday and all day on Saturday and I am so glad that we were able to spare her from the nightmare of crowdedness and just emotional stress for 12 hours (Thank you sooo much Lina!). Yesterday was hard. It was Trenton's ticket to state and we were all on pins and needles until he achieved is goal to go to state. Trenton's first match was against Aaron Jeske of New Prairie and Trenton handled him very well winning 13-4. The next match was the "ticket round" - Trenton had to win in order to go to state. I was a wreck but he got it done and well, at that winning against Forrest Son (Harrison) 9-4. In fact, earlier in the season Tyler beat this kid. Tears of joy after that match. What touched me even more was when my mom leaned over to me just sobbing and said, "Trenton wanted me to get a rose for him to give you after he won this match and I didn't do it...I didn't do it because I didn't want to jinx anything." Just the thought that Trenton was thinking that. Wow. Words just can't describe my feelings at that moment.
I think our happiness and excitement outdid any nervousness for his next match against Eric Roach - the sophomore who is undefeated and is one in the running who could actually win state this year (he placed 2nd in state last year and Trenton had him in ticket round last year). We were just excited to see how Trenton would do and he did well. In fact, we really disagreed with one takedown Roach had at the beginning and one takedown Trenton could have had and the ref stopped it. But for his first real tough match and not being able to really feel Roach out all season Trenton did a heck of a job. Score...1-5
His semifinal round for 3rd place was against Owen Dorris of Pioneer and Trenton took it to this kid. You could really feel the emotion from Trenton and him knowing he should have been wrestling for 1st/2nd but he did great. Trenton beat Dorris 14-4.
Needless to say, we are soo very excited to watch Trenton take that "Walk of Champions" on Friday night at Conseco. How very very very exciting for us. A dream come true. CONSECO - HERE WE COME!

Valentine's Party

I was able to attend Gabi's Valentine's Party today at school. She won the "hot potato game!" and was soooo happy!

Melt My Heart

Gabi and I love Scott Macintyre on American Idol...I mean who won't pull for him when it's all said and done??? Just an all around nice guy who can sing, and nevermind the fact that he is blind!

While watching American Idol last night on the couch as we cuddled and discussed the singers -

Gabi - "Mommy, can you put your arm on my back like this?"

Me - "Sure"

Gabi - "I love it when you hold me!"

Me - "I love to cuddle with you too! I hope you always love me to hold you!"

Gabi - "I will, mommy...I promise I will"

Blue Rhinos

Entertained ourselves a bit last night by attending a volleyball tournament for the high school that the student council put on. Each team could make their own name and own theme. Our boys chose "Blue Rhinos" and actually won the entire tournament! It came down to a teachers' team and the Blue Rhinos. The team consisted of Trenton, Tyler, Matt, Nick, and Al. What a sight! A bunch of wrestlers playing in their singlets.















Another great deal we found before the tourney...Logans on Mondays/Tuesdays! Two meals for $12.99 and Gabi's meal (kids meal) - only $2.00! I had the chicken terriyaki with a baked potato and salad, Ben had the chicken fingers with salad and french fries while Gabi had steak tips and a salad. A great find for under $20.00!!!!

2x Regional Champion

Trenton is a 2x Regional Champion! He faced Bouters from Tippecanoe Valley off the bat and won by fall (right at the first period buzzer) and then beat Manbu from Warsaw 7-3. The Championship round was against Lewandowski again from Plymouth (whom he faced just on Wednesday at Team Regionals) and won again 7-4. Trenton advances to Semi State in Merrillville next Saturday. See brackets here.

We couldn't be more proud of Trenton!!! Don't you love the "Winner" shirt...courtesy of Aunt Pam for Trenton's birthday!! Thanks Pam!

"Good Eyes!"

Whenever the kids would spot any kind of wildlife out and about, Ben would always tell them they have "good eyes!" They would beam for hours about how they spotted that one animal. Well, this morning we were driving along Bittersweet, right past the bridge, near the entrance to a development along the river and Gabi spotted this!

She said, "Mommy! That was a fox. Not a dog. A fox." Of course, I went on about the where, etc. and I just had to turn around to see for myself. Gabi caught the above photo with my phone. She got a closer look of course, and said, "ew, it's eating a rabbit." She wasn't too thrilled with that part, but I can only imagine how excited she will be today as she tells all her friends and teachers this story and what "good eyes" she has! :) Happy Friday!

Team Super Regionals

Last night was the "Super Regionals" or a "combined Regional/Semi State for the team. Round one was Plymouth vs. Mishawaka. Trenton wrestled Chase Lewandowski, a kid he may possibly have this coming weekend at Individual Regionals. He was excited to wrestle Chase for a couple of reasons...1. He is the kid who beat Tyler at the Plymouth Invite and his dad had a party next to us (remember this) for doing so and 2. Trenton wanted to get a feel for this kid's wrestling style before Saturday. Although Trenton had told us he had just vomited a couple times and not feeling well, he beat Lewandowski 8-4. The team handedly beat Plymouth (56-6) and advanced on to the final round against Elkhart Memorial. A tough team that had made it to state in previous years but had met up with us this year before hand with the new format and "Super Regionals." Trenton had Alberto Rios and won 14-3. Trenton was tough and even had an injury time out to vomit in the trash during his match. I felt so bad for him. The dual meet itself was intense because the first few matches didn't go our way. The score was much closer than what we had wanted it, but we won and advanced to State at the end of February with a score of 36-22. Looking so forward to that weekend...the atmosphere at Team State is extraordinary. I am thrilled that Trenton gets to be a part of it! Go Cavemen!

More Sectional Pics

A good friend, Kathy, took some awesome photos at Sectionals! Here they are. And a few of my favorites...

Thank you so much Kathy! For capturing some moments we will never forget.

Tubing

It was a perfect day for tubing at George Wilson Park. Gabi got a free pass for a picture she colored for the Fire Station at Christmas so Ben, Tyler, Gabi and I decided to have some fun.

Tribune Photo

Last Birthday Party

We celebrate family birthdays up to the ripe old age of 18 years old in our family so tonight we had Trenton's last family party (at least with extended family). We made it home just in time (after the tournament) to frost the cakes and put the coffee on for some birthday fun. Trenton got lots of cash...an eighteen year old's favorite gift and got to socialize with all our family. We also got some exciting news from Ben's sister...she is expecting her second child!!! Bren surprised us with a shirt that read "Big Bro" :)

Congratulations Pam, Jeff and Bren! We are looking forward to another little baby in the family!

To finish off the night, Ben decided to order pay per view of this fight (St. Pierre vs. Penn). Steven, his gf, Rachel, and Elizabeth came over to watch. I am heading up to bed...I am tired. It has been one heck of an evening. We definitely need tomorrow to recover.