The Rocket Star

Senior wrestlers go to All-Stars

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 By Carrie Whitmore

For senior wrestlers this is their last shot, their last chance, and their last battle on the mats and under the spotlight. Spring Grove seniors have been an essential component of this season’s 2008-2009 wrestling team. Without seniors Randy Abel, Tanner Bidelspach, Jeff Borys, David Guinn, and Adam Venhuizen, the Rocket wrestling team could have still managed but would have had a harder time making it as far as they did. With the overall season finished and the individual season coming to an end, the senior wrestlers knew it was their last chance at victory. Carrying the wins for seniors at the All-Stars were Randy Abel, Tanner Bidelspach, David Guinn, and Adam Venhuizen. Tanner Bidelspach had a technical fall and David Guinn scored a pin with four seconds left in the last period. “I am happy that I won my last match, but it was also sad,” Guinn said, “because I’m going to college for baseball not wrestling.” The coaches are happy with all their wrestlers this year, but they are going to miss the seniors. “I’m going to miss their personalities the most,” teacher and coach Tony Miller said. All of the Rocket wrestlers sacrificed a lot and worked very hard during their high school wrestling careers. Some were at their weight, some had to lose weight, and some even had to gain weight. Having to lose weight is the most common factor in wrestling, though. Senior Randy Abel had to sacrifice a lot during his final year of wrestling for the Rockets. “It was very hard not being able to eat a lot and having to constantly worry about my weight,” senior Randy Abel said. “The hardest thing about wrestling is weight management.” Sometimes wrestlers might have to lose weight quickly, like before a match. Other times they might be given a longer period of time to lose weight, like at the beginning of the season. “My strategy for losing weight quickly is running miles in sweatpants and sweatshirts,” Randy said. “If I have a longer period of time I will still run a lot and eat, but I will eat healthy foods.” Even though Randy had to do a lot of exercises and running this season, he still did very well over all. “I think I did well,” Randy said. “Other than my shoulder injury which held me back, but I pushed myself.” Randy also thinks the Rocket team did well overall. “I am very proud of course,” Randy said. “I am always proud of how our seasons end. We wrestled to our potential.” The wrestlers and coaches alone are not the only people on the team. The parents are included, too. They came to all the matches and cheered their sons on, but they were always proud of their sons’ wrestling careers. Mrs. Deb Abel is very proud of her son, Randy. “I am most definitely proud of Randy. He worked very hard and never wanted to sit out,” Mrs. Abel said. Mrs. Abel also knows that it was very hard for her son to lose weight, when he needed to. “He knew what he had to do and he did it,” Mrs. Abel said. “He was also very tempted, but he overcame it.” Some moms cheer like crazy and most get nervous before their son goes out on the mats. “I get extremely nervous before Tanner goes out and wrestles,” Mrs. Marcee Bidelspach said. “About five minutes before he goes out I get nervous, and my heart starts to race.” Some moms are tempted to jump out of their seats while their sons are wrestling, but most hold in their temptation. “I do feel like jumping out of my seat when Tanner is wrestling,” Mrs. Bidelspach said. “But I can’t help it.” Wrestlers and moms are both going to miss wrestling after they graduate. “I am going to miss everything,” Mrs. Abel said. “But I am still most definitely coming to the matches.” More than moms, wrestlers have more to lose and miss. “I am going to miss all of the memories I have from wrestling the most,” senior Adam Venhuizen said. Overall the wrestling team had an excellent season ending with an 8-1 team record for the 2008-2009 season. “I am very happy with the way the overall team season and individual season went,” Miller said. “I would change nothing about how the season went. I believe they did the best they could.”