Can Libby Wrestle Again? YES! And got her 100 WINS!

 We were so worried that Libby might not be able to wrestle again this season.  But she's doing it! 

She won two matches at the scramble on the 23rd and then decided she'd also wrestle at the tournament on the 25th.  Great decisions.  She handily took 1st (at this granted small tournament).  But it was what she needed to feel confident about competing in the post season.

Sarah also had a great week.  She made it to her first tournament final--taking 2nd to a girl who will for sure be a state champ.

I didn't have anything ready to celebrate Libby's 100 wins.  (She was not  happy.)  But I didn't know until Friday that she was going to wrestle for sure on Saturday and get the chance.  I DID NOT want to jinx it.

The tournament was over early enough that I went to school to catch up on work.  I used the diecut machines to make her 100 "w"s to represent her 100 wins.  Sarah and Ben helped me surprise her. Then we surprised her with the poster (that she actually designed) on Monday at practice (many thanks to Grammy for picking it up and framing it.) 

Sarah has over 20 wins this season--super impressive!  She's on her way to 100 wins! 

Sarah with the new pin chain! 

Happy Birthday To ME!

 I spend so much time prepping emails and articles about wrestling on Sundays now that I don't always take the time to post.  But I did have such a great birthday!  I'm 48.  That seems like 50 is getting awfully close.

But I'm here for it.  I'm rocking my grays and making more grunting noises when I get out of chairs.  It's all good.  I have so much to be thankful for.  Derek took me out to dinner on Friday.  I went to the temple and to the spa on Saturday--with the girls!  I was so happy they said they wanted to go to the spa.  They were a little nervous about the naked part, but it really is so normal once everyone puts on the shower cap and we all look a little alien.  The best part of it was hanging out with no phones to distract!  I really enjoy just hanging out and chatting with my girls.  They are so fun. 

Then on Sunday I made amazing carnitas in the instant pot (and you broil it a little to crisp it up!)  So good!  We had the Murdock family over and watched Unstoppable (a wrestling movie about Anthony Robles--a one legged NCAA champ!)  I made a yummy fruit tray for my birthday dessert.  

Having a weekend with no wrestling was so restorative.  I'm ready to go again!  

Kelso 2025 & Scramble 3

 Well, Kelso was less stressful for me since Libby wasn't wrestling.  We didn't have a great tournament overall as a team, in some ways.  But we had some girls back on the mat who haven't been, and Sarah had a great tournament! 

Our Kelso crew!  (including the injured) 

Our Day 2 group--YES!  Sarah made it to day 2!

Dad & Libby & Ben (Sarah was off getting ready to wrestle)

Super proud of Sarah for her wins.  She's really getting it! Both of her losses were close, and she could have pulled it out with a little more experience and match savvy.  

This week she wrestled 3 times in a scramble at MTHS (my old stomping grounds as a teacher) and WON ALL 3! (As a reminder, this was the week last year that she won her first match...this year she has over 20 wins already!)  Smiling when she saw me pulling out my camera to take a pic of her pin.  

Another dad took these ones, love seeing mom and dad in her corner.  (Twinning)

Libby got a nasty cold this week that had her down.  But she'll be back wrestling this week--with a brace.  Starting out light--we'll see how it goes. 

A Week of Matches! Boys v. Edway, Senior Night, and A Scramble

Okay.  I can't get pics in order these days.  And I'm not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good because yeah.  I'm maxed.  Last weekend was Gut Check and Libby's injury.  This week was a match on Tuesday, a match on Wednesday, and a scramble on Thursday.  And oh yeah, we hosted all 3 of them.  

The Ed-Way boys handed it to us on Tuesday.  But we wanted to give everyone a match, so we basically wrestled 3 back to back duals.  So we were there LATE.  

Wednesday was Senior Night for our girls, and the only official dual we were wrestling.  It didn't look good for us.  They have some talented wrestlers, and we had no Libby or Finley in our lineup.  Also, without our freshman heavyweight (broken collarbone) and another senior who's out for injury, our lineup is not full.  Not even close.  But we managed a big win (they kept out two of their best wretlers thinking they wouldn't need them to beat us.)  But we did it! It was so exciting.  Two of our new wrestlers pulled out pins and that started us off right.  It was awesome.  Perfect Senior Night--well it would have been even more perfect if Libby could have wrestled, but it was actually more miraculous without Libby wrestling.  Sarah took a forfeit, so no Nortons wrestled and still it was amazing.  (Libby sang the National Anthem and it was beautiful.  Not perfect.  But awesome.) 

Then Thursday we hosted a scramble.  It was our first time hosting a scramble, and we wanted to use trackwrestling.  It was a bit of an adventure figuring out how to make it all work (we ended up having to get tech support on the phone) but we did it!  The ref showed up super late (and only one showed up--so we recruited Derek Norton for Mat 2.)  It was great for our girls to get in some more matches. 

Sarah won both her matches! 

I did some coaching

Derek didn't have official ref stuff, so ribbons and a mint tin for the toss.  Haha. 

The Seniors! 

So cute, right? 

The arm...it's healing.  

Our Senior!  Can't believe it. 

And then on Friday we left for Kelso!  I'm waiting to get Jeremy's pictures from Kelso before I post about it.  But spoiler--Sarah wrestled tough! 

Gut Check--2 Day Tournament #3 of 4

 For our last weekend of the break, we booked yet another 2 day tournament.  (One where they had WAY too many wrestlers for the number of mats they were running....so it took FOREVER again.) 

When you start a tournament, there are really usually 2 outcomes.  Elimination or placing.  But all wrestling parents know there is a 3rd option...a trip to the ER.  This weekend we got to experience all 3.  

Sarah wrestled strong and tough, but in the end she went 1 and 2.  

The whole team! 

Proof that she was beasting the Hermiston girl, but then they caught her in their classic head and arm.  Boo. 

Then she beat a White River girl

She was eliminated when she lost a close one on day 2 (when I didn't take out my camera.) 

Libby decided she wanted to make the tournament harder on herself and wrestled 110 instead of 105.  (She could have easily made 105, because with the growth allowance and the 1 lb. allowance it would have been 108, but she decided it wasn't worth it.) Her day 1 went really well.  A quick pin.  Day 2 started with another quick pin. Then she teched a girl that we went to camp with a couple of years ago.   Her 4th match was against the eventual champ.  She didn't get pinned.
Then a few seconds into her next match, it happened.  The girl threw her--and Libby posted her arm.  Rookie mistake. 

Yeah, gross.  She just collapsed and the girl pinned her. Libby was most concerned that we get her off the mat so she wouldn't be "that girl" who held up the tournament needing medical care.  So we got her to the trainer table.  They iced her and tried to get her to calm down.  It was scary.  We were really afraid of a season ending injury like a fracture or tear.  

After she calmed a bit the trainer wrapped her (pretty confident it wasn't broken) and sent us to go.  Libby wanted to stay and watch Izzy wrestle for 3rd/4th.  So we did.  Libby was hilarious.  Jokes, fun, silly.  And wearing her medal like a badge of honor along with her sling. So thankful for these friends of hers that make her so happy too. 

Then we headed to Children's hospital.  Thankfully we were only about 20 minutes away.  The ER folks were great.  And our ministering brother Conner and his wife Chunie (our YW pres) came and met us there.  They are both doctors, so they were also subtly checking things out along with giving Libby a blessing.  The Xray shows no fracture.  Hooray!  So a sprain that will keep her out for a bit...we'll see an ortho doctor ASAP and maybe get a PRP so we can get her back on the mat ASAP.  

This girl is at 97 wins as a Shorewood wrestler.  She's amazing (and was the last one of our strong wrestlers standing who hadn't injury defaulted out of a match this year...) But we'll make the comeback.  Right!?  Right. 

Love this girl and her determination.  (Also, sidenote, she DEEP cleaned her room all by herself on NY Day.  It took major coercion to get her started.  But then she killed it!  So clean.  Wow.) 

Coaching with Derek isn't always easy (there are plenty of logistical issues, haha.). But this opportunity to work with my kids and husband in this way is so amazing.   I don't love that I'm going back to school EXHAUSTED.  And that we have Kelso this weekend (and that Libby won't get to wrestle there for her senior season) but it's worth it.  A season of sacrifice that is 100% worth it. 

NorthWest Duals & Ben Snowboarding!

 We took a very small girls team (lost 2 girls the night before to illness) and a full but green boys team to Northwest Duals in Albany Oregon on the day after Christmas.  It was super fun.  A much better experience than Hammerhead.  Libby went undefeated (7-0) and Sarah was 3-3 I think.  With a team of only 6 girls, we weren't going to win.  But we got a lot of experience and had fun.  The boys won some good matches too.  Hotels were nice and we were in bed pretty early.  

If you look closely you can see that Libby is starting to get pink eye.  She's been super sick, and it all came to a head the day after we got back.  Sinus infection & pink eye. Thank goodness for anti-biotics and a trial pair of contacts once it started clearing up. 

I think these pics are actually from Hammerhead.  But they are cool! 

Meanwhile, back in WA, Maren took Ben snowboarding! He really liked it!  And thank goodness he had a helmet, because he had some head to pole contact!