October 24, I wrestled in the Sunkist International Open. This whole weekend was a be trip and ordeal with many different obstacles. Moza Fay, Alicia Hubbard and I left Thursday morning for the long 12 hour drive from Colorado Springs to Tempe, AZ. Luckily my weight was fine Moza and Alicia were not quite as luck so they had to watch what they ate and drank the whole trip down. The three of us had great fortune as we found generous friends that allowed us to share their room to cut back on our costs. Thursday was reserved for travel but when we arrived in Tempe we did get a workout in at the Arizona State wrestling facility. Friday was a pretty simple day as we again got another workout in but Alicia had to weigh in along with the other women wrestlers and the Greco-Roman wrestlers that were competing that weekend. Saturday would be their tournament as the freestyle tournament was scheduled for Sunday. I watched very little of the Saturday action as I had to weigh in and eat. Moza, Chase Pami, JP O'Connor and myself filled ourselves with Olive Garden immediately following weigh in. We were ready to go the next day. The tournament started early but I had a bye for the first round, which placed me in the quarterfinals. I wrestled a young wrestler from Arizona State's college team and beat him 4-0, 7-0 in just two periods. My semifinal match would prove much tougher. I wrestled Brandon Halsey. Halsey has beaten in the past at last year's Dave Schultz Memorial. He would better me again in three periods by a score of 2-5, 2-1, 1-1. This would send me into the losers bracket and I would wrestle back hard. My next match was against Israel Silva from Mexico. I would beat him in three periods after I lost the first period in a clinch 0-1. I rebounded to win the next to periods 3-0, 3-0 and put myself in the 3rd place match. There I would meet defending NCAA Hwt champion David Zabriskie. This may have been the best match I wrestled all day. I showed good movement and solid defense in a two period win 2-0, 2-0. The third place finish was obviously lower that I would have liked but I think it is a good start since I hadn't wrestled in a tournament since February because of injuries. That night I would celebrate God's blessing me and my family with many good fortunes that weekend, but prepare myself as well for the 12 hour drive the next day. Monday we picked up a hitchhiker, Kelsey Campbell decided to ride back with us as her plane wasn't scheduled to leave until wednesday. The ride back was much harder that the drive there. We made it back safely and with determination to improve on our wrestling that weekend. Many of my friends and teammates wrestled at the tournament. The brackets and results can be found at this website
2010 Sunkist International Open results. Please take a look at them. I will have a couple more blogs up soon as I am trying to catch up from last month. Thanks for hanging in there as I am quite new to the social media scene. I hope everyone had a great Halloween! God Bless
