Junior Bronco Wrestling

Tristan has been working hard too, but at wrestling.  

He has been wrestling for the Junior Bronco Wrestling Club, 

in the Cadet division, 126 pound weight class.

His first tournament was three Saturdays ago, March 9, in Sulphur.  Tristan did really well.

He was pinned in the third round of his first match, which sent him to the loser bracket.

Then he wrestled and won two more matches, both with a pin in the second round, putting him father along in the bracket toward third place.

He then had to wrestle the same boy he wrestled first, again. 

The winner of this match would wrestle for third place in their weight class.  

This match was almost immediately after Tristan's last match, so he did not have much time to rest.

Tristan lost to him in the first round, placing him fifth or sixth overall in the tournament.

Last week, March 16, Tristan and I went to Lafayette High School for another tournament.

He wrestled well, but lost both his matches and was out.

 Here he is wrestling with Matthew Aucion while waiting for his division to start.

This past Saturday, March 23, Tristan wrestled in the State Tournament 

at Comeaux High School in Lafayette.  He did really well.

His first match was against the boy who was ranked first in the state.

We figured he would not win this match, but Tristan stood up well against him.

He lost the match with a tech, meaning the other boy scored 15 points up on Tristan, so the match was called in the second round.  The score was 15-0.  The boy actually was a very polite wrestler, getting his points and not forcing Tristan into any rough wrestling positions, not trying to prove what a stud he was.  Especially knowing that Tristan was a beginner wrestler.  He even let Tristan up instead of holding out for the pin because he knew he could win by points without having to pin Tristan.

Tristan with his friend, Corey, who also wrestled for Sam Houston.

During that season, they were in the same weight class, 120 pounds, but Tristan has moved up after putting on some muscle during the high school season.  Tristan actually wrestled him last week because Corey's weight had fluctuated and he was also wrestling in the 126 weight class that week, but had moved back down to the 120 weight class for the state tournament.

After losing the first match, Tristan moved to the loser bracket and got ready for his second match.

He was excited about it, because the guy he was supposed to wrestle had just lost to a guy that Tristan had pinned the week before.  He won the match in the second round, when he pinned the guy.  Tristan said the boy never really fought too hard to get out of the pin.

This win moved Tristan up in the ranks, toward the third place match.

His next match was to be against the loser of a match, so we tried to find it so that we could watch and see how the boys wrestled.  We got to the mat and found out that one of the boys had broken his arm during the match and was being taken out on a stretcher.  It was very scary!

This forced the boy with the broken arm to forfeit this match, moving him to the loser bracket and the next wrestler for Tristan to wrestle.  But, because he was unable to wrestle, it forced him to forfeit the match against Tristan too, giving Tristan a bye and moving him ahead in the bracket, 

and one match closer to third place.

Tristan waiting for his next match and watching his next opponent pin a guy in less than thirty seconds.

He wrestled the next match and did really well.

He almost pinned the boy, but was not able to get both the shoulders down completely for the pin.

He thought he had the boy pinned and was really frustrated that the referee would not call it.

The boy was able to get out the pin and turned it around on Tristan for the pin.

Tristan was really upset to lose the match, both because he thought he should have been given credit for the pin and also because he thought his shoulder was off the floor and not really in a pin position when the ref called the pin against him.  He also was upset because the ref called the pin with only two seconds left in the round and Tristan thought he had held out long enough to be able to recollect himself and wrestle for a third round.  At the time of the pin, Tristan was ahead by two points, and he felt that he could have won, 

but he put all his energy into pinning the boy and was distracted, physically and mentally, 

when he did not get the pin.

This is the video of Tristan wrestling that match.  http://youtu.be/xb0aQZHca9U

It is the second round, where Tristan almost won, but then lost.  Watch the coaches at the end.

Their reaction to Tristan's loss made me laugh.  It was a pretty exciting match!

He did really great and I was so proud of him.  When the match was over, Tristan's friend, Andrew, who's been wrestling forever told me that he was really impressed with Tristan's performance.  He said that the boy had been wrestling a very long time and for Tristan to do so well against him was very impressive.  You can hear Andrew's voice on the video coaching Tristan.  He was sitting on the floor next to me.

The boy that Tristan lost to ended up losing his next match to a very good wrestler.
I don't think Tristan would have been much of a threat to him either.

Tristan's loss placed him either sixth or seventh.  We are not really sure which one.

I was so happy for Tristan.  He was happy too, but it took him a few minutes to come around after being so upset over his last match.  There were fifteen boys in his division at this tournament, so I think he did extremely well, especially for being so new to the sport.

Tristan absolutely LOVES wrestling and can't wait to get back out there on the mat and learn more.  He has come so far in just a few short months, even weeks.  His first wrestling match was actually just several weeks ago.  Even though I had HUGE reservations at the beginning of the season and still feel like a wrestling match is basically an all-out brawl, I have come around and actually am enjoying being a wrestling mom.