March 1st, 2008
Yesterday I wrestled in and won the Pan Am Championships that were held in Colorado Springs. I won four matches en route to winning the tournament and in doing so I was able to qualify the weight class for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. I am really excited about this win. To be honest with you I feel like there is a huge amount of pressure that has been  let off with this tournament. Now that the weight is qualified I can focus on winning the Olympic Trials later this June. I wrestled four matches. I wrestled a guy from el salvador, canada, brazil, and cuba. My toughest match was with the cuban. He is a pretty talented kid, and he won the first period by virtue of the coin toss. In the second period there was some confusion because I turned him in a front headlock, but they scored the move 2-2. With this he would have won the period and the match because they said that he scored last, however, I had scored a point earlier that they had forgotten to put up on the scoreboard so I was really ahead 3-2. Then in the third period I took him down and turned him and won the match. The tournament was actually really fun. There were a lot of friends and family that showed up to support me at the tournament. It would have been nice to catch up with some of them a little bit more, but during tournament time I usually separate myself from everyone so that I can focus better. I think that it is sometimes harder watching a wrestling tournament than actually wrestling in one. The reason for that is because when you are competing you at least have control of what you are doing in a match. When you are up in the stands watching all that you can do is hope and pray for the best.
I felt like I was well prepared for the tournament and that I wrestled well. There are still situations that I want to improve upon, but that is the name of the game. I have to get ready to compete with and beat the best at the Olympic Games. I have been involved with the sport of wrestling for quite some time now, and it is interesting to see how the intensity picks up during an olympic year. All of the years in between are tough and grueling as well, but there is just something about the Olympics that has everyone elevating their game. Now is the time that you have to make that extra push to outwork and stay ahead of the people that are coming after you. It is a challenge, but it is fun. There is nothing like overcoming obstacles. The pressure and the resulting nervousness that comes with pressure is uncomfortable, but when you are victorious there is nothing else like it in the world. It doesn’t just relate to wrestling either. Everyone faces challenges all of the time, and I love it when people stare at an obstacle and are determined to overcome it. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but as long as you keep attacking the obstacle and improving there is success.