. . . thanks be to God (and St. Sebastian)

When I told my sister that Will would be wrestling varsity, she said, "Ooo, I hope he doesn't have to wrestle some spunky senior."

That, my friends, is exactly what happened.

We picked up the bracket sheet, and there it was: Will, a freshman, seeded #8 against a senior from Perry Meridian, seeded #1. On the back of his t-shirt, in big bold numbers, was his record from last year: 48-1. (After a little Internet research last night, we found out that his one loss was in the state finals.)

Will held his own for 36 seconds. (He did score his first varsity point when the senior let him escape, only to slam him down again for the pin.)

In the wrestleback round, Will wrestled a junior from Warren Central -- the round went a little longer, but he was pinned in the first period again.

Finally, for 7th place, he wrestled a sophomore from Bloomington North -- he lasted all three rounds, but lost on a decision. (He will probably wrestle that kid again on Tuesday night at the dual meet at BNHS.)

So, in his first varsity tournament, he was 8th out of 8. But no broken bones or separated shoulders, and he only had one nosebleed in the last seconds of his final round.

And every time I looked across the gym, he seemed to be having a good time with his teammates.

And I only cried a tiny little bit.

(Not such a great day for the team, either -- no 1sts or 2nds, 3 3rds and a lot of 8ths. 8th place for the team. But the best thing about that is that it can only get better from here.)

Now I need to track down the patron saint of achy backs and fannies-- 8 hours sitting in high school gym bleacher seats is about 7 hours too many.

peace