May 1991: 2-time All-American



5/11/91
I'm in Vegas for Nationals. To cut to the chase, I placed 8th again.

I'm relieved, disappointed, exhausted. I don't really know what to feel. I placed. That was the goal. I should give myself a break. I just thought I would do better.

There were only four seeds at 114.5 (Jones, Giese, Harper, Griffin). I was hoping they'd seed to 6, and that I'd be 5 or 6. Instead, I was drawn in randomly, and I had Giese in the second round.

I lost twice--to Giese (who took 2nd), and Harper (who took 4th). I wrestled so-so in both matches.

Because of the pairings, I was fourth in my pool without getting to the round robin, where I would've had a chance to wrestle Mirabella, whom I'd beaten previously, for third in the pool. He placed 6th, losing to Griffin for 5th.

I didn't even get to wrestle the 7th place match because I was technically eliminated when I lost the second time, and I was defaulted to 8th. Burke Tyree, whom I'd also beaten previously, took 7th. So I placed lower than two guys I'd previously beaten, and didn't even get to wrestle them.

That's why I hate this stupid Olympic pairings system. I had a clear shot at placing 6th or 7th. And of course I'm mad at myself for not beating Harper or Giese. That's all I had to do, rather than moping about the stupid pairings, and I would've been in the top 4. So no excuses.

And, you know, even if I'd placed 6th or 7th...I mean, is that really much better than 8th? It seems kind of silly to even be complaining about something like that. But I hate the feeling of it coming down to luck, and I hate feeling like I could've done better, even a little bit better. This was what I've been working for for the past four years of my life.

The weight cutting was tough, as I expected. The multiple weigh-ins were the hardest part, because I could never fully replenish my fluids knowing that I had to weigh in again. I was only able to replenish about 5 pounds of fluid, so I was wrestling at about 119-120.

In any event, it's over. I placed.

5/13/91
It's Monday morning. I'm sitting on a bench across the street from the downtown Iowa City mall. I've got no more classes, no more wrestling practices, no place to be, and nothing to do.

I will say this: people kept asking me today how I did, and being able to simply say "Eighth" was so much less of a burden than having to explain the whole thing. The result was quite arbitrary, in the end, but I ended on the good side of arbitrary.

5/14/91
I'm up to 133.5 tonight. That was before 3 chocolate donuts and 2 glasses of chocolate milk.

I checked my grades at the business building while I was downtown today. I got a B in Statistics. Don't ask me how. The professor must have taken pity on me. I got an A- in Admin Sci, and a B+ in Accounting--also a pleasant surprise, since I felt like I bombed the final. I won't know about Marketing for another few days,but I'm hoping for an A, which would put me at a 3.5.

The World Team Trials are May 28. I'm going to my sister April's wedding in Durango, so I can't go. I'd like to go, though. I'm qualified for the mini-tournament, and I'd like to wrestle some of those guys again. I watched the tapes of my matches, and I saw a lot of mistakes. I didn't take control of the matches, I didn't wrestle with power and force and aggressiveness. Bad mistakes. Stupid s---.

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