 February
was a month of highs and lows for Decorah High School
wrestler Anthony Hable. Hable had worked hard during
the wrestling season and entered the February 2nd Sectional
Wrestling Tournament feeling he had a chance to qualify for
Districts. But Hable finished third at Sectionals.
"I was devastated," he said, noting that a wrestlers can
have a good season but when tournament time comes around
"nothing else matters."Although
none of the Viking wrestlers qualified to advance to
Districts, Decorah High
School Head Wrestling Coach Jeff Friedhof continued to run
practices for his team. The Viking wrestlers were
young and inexperienced this season, so Friedhof wanted to
use the week between Sectionals and Districts to keep
coaching his team. "Our thinking was. we're going to
take this week and work on technical matters," he said.
Besides, one other Decorah
wrestler had finished third at Sectionals--Tyler
Ellingson in the 160 pound weight classification.
Decorah's coaches had heard that one of the District
qualifiers in that weight classification was having health
issues and might have to drop out of District competition.
Friedhof says he and the other Decorah wrestling coaches
knew of situations in the past in which a third place
finisher was called up to take the place of a qualifier who
could not compete.
At 1:00 p.m. on Friday, February 8th,
Friedhof got a call. But the call was for
Hable, not Ellingson. MFL/Mar-Mac's Trevor Hejhal, who
had won first place at Sectionals, had gotten sick.
His coaches pulled him out of Districts, allowing Hable, who
had finished third at Sectionals, a chance to wrestle at
Districts.
"I was just blown away," says Hable.
He had also expected it would be Ellingson, not himself, who
got the phone call. "I didn't even think of getting a
call," he remembers.
While Hagen had qualified for
Districts, he was still one step away from the State
Wrestling Tournament. The road got a little rockier
when he lost his first match to Tucker Weber of Clear Lake.
That loss left him with no margin for error. Hable
rebounded to beat Joey Milstead of Forest City. That
left him in a match for "true second" with Cresco
Crestwood's Nick Hagen. Hable had faced Hagen five
times during the season--and had lost all five matches.
However, each successive match was closer than the previous
one. Hable said he tried to have a mistake-free match
against Hagen. "I knew I had nothing to lose," he
said.
Hable beat Hagen and earned second
place at the districts--and a place at the State Wrestling
Tournament. "To accomplish that dream is incredible,"
says Hable, who had been participating in wrestling
tournaments since he was in 4th grade.
 |
|
Decorah wrestler Anthony
Hable and coach Jeff Friedhof |
At the State Wrestling Tournament,
Hable lost his opening
round match in an 11-2 major decision to junior Nathan Vaske
from Manchester West Delaware, who was rated #1 in the state
at the time. He rebounded to win a 13-3 major decision
against freshman Jacob England from Winterset, but then
lost his second round consolation
match. At 5:43 into their match, Blake Sorensen of
Denver-Tripoli recorded a Technical Fall against Hable,
winning the match 18-2.
Hable says the State
Tournament opened his eyes about the competition. He
calls the Iowa State Wrestling Tournament "the toughest
tournament in the United States." But despite losing
twice, he came away feeling "I'm as good as those kids are."
He also came away realizing the level
of sacrifice necessary to win at the state tournament.
That's a message he says he's taking back to the other
wrestlers on the Decorah High School team. There will
be five or six wrestlers on next year's squad who will be
seniors and Hable says he'll remind them it's their last
chance to qualify for State. He will also push the
other wrestlers--because having good competition making all
the wrestlers better.
Friedhof expects Hable's state
tournament experience to pay off, too. "When wrestlers
go to the state tournament they get a real sense of what
they have to work for," he says. "You can go down and
watch, but it's not the same as competing." Hable
agrees with that statement and says his experience at the
state tournament has him hungry to go back again. |
