by Oran Sorenson, Assistant Coach
Right at 175 wrestlers, parents, grandparents, coaches, and family members packed into the Garretson Area Sportsman’s Club banquet room last Tuesday to say thanks to all for successful seasons both in high school and youth wrestling. After a great meal prepared in “hot dish from home” fashion, high school coach Brady Schleuter addressed the standing room only crowd to hand out awards first to those in the high school program. Coach Schleuter and assistants first handed out certificates of lettering to those young athletes who did what was expected through hard work every day in the wrestling room, but then went on to single out those who found it in their hearts to give even more to provide both outstanding performances and strong leadership to make many moments of this year special.
Teamwise, Coach Schlueter praised the almost universal positive attitude this year in the practice room. Second, Coach shared the fact that this year we won nine dual meet victories, some over long-time rivals such as B schools Howard and Sioux Valley and A opponents like Dell Rapids and Flandreau. All were also proud of our three state qualifiers who were Carsten Rozeboom, Caleb Westerbur, and Tanner Baatz. and the fact that many more of our kids were just one win away from State. As far as individual awards for boys, Carsten Rozeboom received the coaches award, most determined went to our foreign exchange student Lucas Gonzalez, freshman of the year to Tanner Baatz, and middle schooler of the year to Lucas Ludwig. On the girls’ side, Hannah Frewaldt received the coaches award, and the overall academic excellence award went to Adair Hanisch. A special highlight was when Coach Brady presented Lucas with an international singlet for him to wear in case he should enter international competition upon returning to Spain. Lucas Gonzales was a model foreign exchange student and entered the hearts of many people in his one short year here in Garretson. He will certainly be missed by all!
Next Garretson youth wrestling president Sam Johnson addressed the room. Besides being proud of the fact that we had right at 50 youth involved in practices, Sam had praise for the organization of parents that raised money to help pay for entrance fees for kids to attend most tournaments free throughout the year. Both Johnson and Schleuter before him stressed to the young kids the importance of following through in the sport to in the future help our high school program rise to new levels of success. Also from the youth side, coaches Tyler Sorenson and Nolan Johnson next addressed the crowd. One of the highlights most often mentioned was the outstanding performances of all our youth in Watertown. Twenty-three of our youth accomplished the tall task of finishing in the top three in their weight class to qualify for the State AAU in Rapid. Of those twenty-three eleven would survive the long weekend of mat work to earn state medals. Coach Sorenson said the most satisfying thing to hear both in Watertown and Rapid was, “Boy, those Garretson kids really come ready to wrestle!” Another also said how proud they were of our youth and how well they behaved and acted with grace in victory as well as in defeat. The last thank you of the night went to the coaches for all their hard work and finally to all the parents for showing such support for their kids.
