Fargo 2010 – Day 10

From Coach John Schmidtke:

This tournament is tough.

I have a friend whose son earned All American honors last year as a first-year Cadet.  He came to Fargo this year expecting to challenge for the Cadet title.  He went 0-2.

Around the middle of the day, I stood at the railing watching one of Chanse’s matches and overheard legendary New York coach, Joe DeMeo, talking with a group of veteran coaches.  He said, “There are so many great wrestlers who come out here and go 1-2, 3-2, and are done.  I mean GREAT wrestlers.  It’s hard for even great ones to be good here.”  The other coaches nodded.

On day one of the Cadet freestyle tournament Bryant Fukushima went 1-2.  Bobby Kim went 1-2.  Keanu Richardson went 0-2.  Bubba Grace-Reyes went 1-2.  Chanse Uyeda went 2-2.  LJ Remillard 0-2 (with a brutal draw).  They are better wrestlers because they took the challenge to compete against the nation’s best.

Small things happen to lighten up our tense days.  Bobby Kim absolutely destroyed his opponent in the first period of his last match, winning the period 9-2.  He could do no wrong and his opponent spent much of the period on his back.  In between periods Bobby stood in the corner and I toweled off his shoulders while John Robinson gave him tactical advice and encouragement.

“Keep it up!  You’re lookin’ good!”  John said.

Bobby looked at him like he was nuts, thought for a second, trying to process what John had just said, and then asked, “Did I win that period?”

“Yeah!  Keep it up!”  John said but he looked down to keep from laughing.

And then there is Cassidy Oshiro who battled through 5 straight opponents – Missouri, Utah, California, North Dakota, and Illinois – before losing to the Greco national champ from Michigan on Mat 1 (the elevated mat) in one of the last matches of the day.  Throughout the day, Cassidy found ways to win.  At critical times in different matches, needing big scores to stay alive, he hit a duck to a body lock with a 5-point suplex finish, he threw a lat-whip for 3, and he laced a surprise standing Merkle for 3.

This morning Cassidy faces the New Jersey boy he lost to in the medal match of the Greco tournament.  Cassidy has to win to reach the medal rounds in freestyle.

Imagine that.  He’s 5-1 and he still needs a win against another All American in order to medal.  His brother, Coach Brandon, woke me up last night so we could watch the video of Cassidy’s Greco medal match against New Jersey.  Cassidy’s dad had driven from his hotel to the dorms with the camera so we could have the video.  Brandon had already watched the match before he woke me up and he had already noted the New Jersey kid’s tendencies.  New Jersey is a tall, lanky kid with a left leg lead and a suffocating Russian tie on his opponent’s right arm.  His gut wrenches all go right but knowing which way they go doesn’t make them any less painful or any less hard to defend.  Cassidy threw him in the medal match (the refs said it was after the buzzer but the video seems to show otherwise) and so we know it can be done.

Cassidy and the Junior freestyle team are at the dome weighing in this morning.  Wrestling starts in a few hours.

Collateral News: 

Sitting in the Dining Hall, you can tell who has been eliminated by what they choose to load on their plate.  Out-of-control portions correlate directly with two losses.  This is especially so around the soft-serve ice cream machine.  The irresistible dessert tempts the coaches, too.  Coach Oney, the team’s diet guru and a healthy-eating fanatic, finishes every dinner with a bowl of soft-serve swirl topped with chocolate and caramel syrup and a large spoonful of peanut butter.  He says the soft-serve is low fat so it can be eaten guilt-free.  I’m a believer.