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Area athletes doing some great things

 By Chris Baldus, cbaldus@charlescitypress.com

Charles City’s Nick Litterer went all out for his sport. That means not only all the training he’s had to put in, but he had to go all the way to Mason City to compete in high school swimming. This past weekend, our Comet swimmer helped the Mohawk 200 medley relay team take 15th place, scoring 4 team points, at the Iowa State Swimming Championships in Marshalltown. He also placed 17th out of 24 swimmers in the 100 backstroke.

Congratulations Nick, Charles City is also proud of you.

Speaking of Mason City and sports. Comet soccer players can join the Mason City High School soccer teams, but the clock is ticking. The boys’ first game is March 31. The girls’ is April 4. If your family decides to join a team — and it is truly your entire family that will make it possible for the player to play — please contact me. Maybe we can share carpooling duties.

Congratulations to our state-bound Comet wrestlers seniors Nate Lasher, Alex Koehler and AJ Maloy as well as sophomore Dylan Koresh. A match is the most grueling 6 minutes in sports. Adding together their individual win-loss records these young men have wrestled more than 130 matches this season, so far.

Pick up Friday and Monday’s edition and log into www.CharlesCityPress.com through the weekend for full coverage of the state wrestling tournament by Sports Editor John Burbridge.

I was privileged to watch Rockford’s Will Portis and North Butler’s Dalton Nelson, both seniors now, in the state wrestling tournament a few years back. It was the year Portis had to have his head wrapped in somewhat mummy fashion after head and nose injuries. That didn’t seem to phase him as he grappled his way to 5th place.

Nelson was a beast back then, I can only imagine the power, speed and skill he’s bringing to the mat this time. He’s ranked 6th. That is an underestimation.

This is Portis and Nelson’s year.

North Butler’s Bryce and Brandon Trees — they are related but are not brothers — are headed to the state wrestling tournament  Bryce’s grandfather, Doug Trees, is in the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Rockford’s Dakota Vance has battled long and hard to get to this tournament, and I’m excited for him. He deserves it. He’s going in as an underdog, but that will only help fuel this champion’s fire. Go  get em Vance.

Time to indulge myself.

I was a high school wrestler and I was only defeated once that I can remember. Could be my concussions have erased any other losses. I just don’t know.

Anyway, yes, I had a great run as a junior varsity grappler. I never even got a sniff of the varsity spotlight, and my school really did used a spotlight. The gymnasium went black during dual matches with only the cone of bright light encompassing the mat.  It was intense.

I was behind some fantastic wrestlers who tossed me around in the wrestling room. Yes, I take credit for their greatness. They couldn’t have done it in precisely the way they did it without me. It would have been done a completely different way.

Even had I managed to win a wrestle-off, I’ve always had a suspicion my coaches didn’t want to expose the packed stands of spectators to my unique technique that emerged with my first match.

I joined wrestling my junior year in high school and my first match came a few weeks after I learned my first take-down. So stepping onto the mat for the first time against a guy from another school — he sneered at me, orange hair poked out of his headgear a bit more wild than mine, and I was a little worried — I knew the one take-down, that I should grab his wrists and I should stay off my back..

He lunged. I backed up. He lunged again and I had no room to back up, so I charged at him like the offensive lineman I am. He did something that had me in the air, but he shuddered as he did it and we tumbled to the mat.

He landed on his back.

I landed on by buttocks, on his chest with my legs on either side of his head.

I was sitting on him and his eyes were huge. I put a hand of each of his shoulders pushing them down one after another as he tried to keep at least one off the mat.

The referee stood there and watched before dropping to the mat and slapping out the pin.

Pumped, I popped up and turned to my coach. He face was in his hands. His head was shaking “no.”

Contact Baldus at cbaldus@charlescitypress.com.

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