Red Devil Ready: Weekly Message

Week 26: Wrestlemania 2024

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Wrestlemania

Decatur County Community High School

605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749

February, 18 2024 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)

Follow us on Twitter at @DCHSREDDEVILS or

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Decatur community,

The Chiefs are champs again.

Mahomes won the MVP.

Taylor Swift got a lot of TV time.

If only her boyfriend would have caught one of those touchdowns, I would have went 4 for 4 last week.

Oh well. World stage championship football is replaced this week with State level Wrestling.

I return to the memories in my mind of youthful wrestling as I knew it. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant , Jimmy the Superfly Snuka, King Kong Bundy, The Nature Boy Rick Flair, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jesse the Body Ventura, Randy the Macho Man Savage, the Von Erich brothers, and, my personal favorite, Bulldog Bob Brown, were a bit more than a few of the many wrestlers, most of whom were in the WWF. The pinnacle of it all was "Wrestlemania," in 1985. The best wrestlers from throughout the whole WWF would square off in a "Pay Per View" event to determine who was the best. That was back in the day when some thought wrestling was real, and I remember the rabid fans on TV rooting on their favorites. It was a site to behold.

As time went on, I grew out of wrestling, and would later discover "wrestling," The real kind. Gone was the makeup and fancy nicknames. No more chairs, pile drivers, and jumping off the ropes onto the opponent. No more intense interviews with grandiose challenges laid down. The square and ropes replaced with a circle. This past weekend, I once again went to a weekend wrestling tournament, this time Regionals in Norton. Our boys did a great job. In a weekend filled with a lot of emotion and a lot of highs and lows, we saw some of our boys punch their tickets to State. Senior Lukas Zodrow walked out Regional champ, and he heads to Salina with high hopes in his last hurrah. Reid Fort will be making the trip as a qualifier, and Garrett Emigh finished 2nd.

Though there are a lot of differences, there are still some similarities. There is nothing quite like wrestling. It is a one-on-one contact sport. There are tons of fans. Parents, grandparents, siblings, family friends, aunts and uncles, and a whole lot of others show up to watch their young wrestlers perform. Once a match begins, you will hear their supporters from somewhere in the stands. Normally passive people are now sprung into action to cheer on their wrestler.

There is a special place for moms at these events. When you scan the audience, you can definitely tell when a mom is watching her wrestler. The intensity, the stress, the fear, the excitement right out of the gate, and, ultimately, the relief when it is over. And though plenty of dads that can get loud, the loudest voices in wrestling tournaments are reserved for Mom!

Whereas football, basketball, volleyball, and even individual sports like tennis and golf are spread out, wrestling is full out intensity, everything squashed into a manic match that can last a few seconds to 6 minutes. A mania if you will. Wrestling is a mania.

Now we are on to State. Much like 1985, the best from all over are coming together.

Best of luck to of our State qualifiers

SHOUTOUTS

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Shoutout to Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Tally, and the DCHS singers for the singing Valentine's this past week. Whether in school, at businesses, or at homes, the singers serenaded a wide variety of people and groups this past week. It's another tradition done well here in Oberlin.

Shoutout to math teacher Tessa Anderson. This past week, she not only ran a very smooth JH Scholars Bowl Tournament (on a non-school day I may add), but she also had a very cool lesson that she was doing with her students on Tuesday. They were learning about shapes and terms like vertices, edges, and faces to give a few examples. However, they also had to construct the shapes as well. It was fun to watch the students working hard to put together their shapes and apply their learning.

Shoutout to science teacher Mark Bricker. It's honestly rare to see 100% involvement in any class, but it is the norm in Mr. Bricker's class. I was in his class this past week and watched the students do two different labs. Each of the labs was fairly challenging for the students, but they were so engaged. Mr. Bricker did a great job at the beginning of laying out expectations and procedures for the assignment, and it paid off. A true veteran in action.

Shoutout to our JH wrestlers on their League performance. There is nothing quite like saving the best for last, and that's what our boys did. Here are our wrestlers that were champions and runner ups this past Thursday:

Grant Anderson - Champion

Gus Bryan - Champion

Brody Fortin - 2nd Place

Brady Gehring - 2nd Place

CJaye Harris - 2nd Place

Kaden Sowers - Champion

Bentley Sutherland - Champion

Trenton Wahlmeier - 2nd Place

Mitchell Wasson - Champion

Shoutout to all of those that helped with the JH meet on Thursday. We were only asked the day before to host a fairly significant event, but we easily got it handled with the help of a lot of quick responding workers.

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It looks like Michaela Wasson Serenaded Her Sister!

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Even Head of Maintenance Jess Allen Was Serenaded by the Singers

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Addie Mathews Followed Up on the Sister Serenade

Things You Should Know

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Hale Caps Her Senior Career with Another 1 at State Piano

Congratulations to senior Cheyanna Hale. Cheyanna followed up her Regional Piano performance with another 1 Rating at State Piano in Wichita. I would venture to say that there is no student at DCHS that has experienced State level competition more than Cheyanna. I recently wrote her a recommendation letter for acceptance into a specific college program, and it makes me genuinely proud of a student that is so organized and so accomplished. Cheyanna went to State last year as well in Piano and has competed in multiple music competitions, Scholars Bowl, and Forensics at the State level as well. That doesn't cover the musicals, DCHS Singers, or the plays. Cheyanna can now get ready for Sub-State with her fellow cheerleaders this week.

Congratulations again, Cheyanna!

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Parent Teacher Conferences This Week

Spring Conferences are this week. This year, we have no school on Thursday or Friday, and Thursday we will have morning conferences until 1:00. Please look through this information.

1. The timeframe is listed below:

Wednesday, February 21: 4:00-8:00 PM

Thursday, February 22: 8:00-1:00

2. Teachers will be in the cafeteria. Parents should first sign in and receive a progress report before then seeing your student's Homeroom teacher if they are there. Those teachers will have your student's pre-enrollment information. After that, feel free to wander around to the teachers you need to see in the cafeteria.

3. Grades will be up to date. You should be able to look online through PowerSchool to check your students progress before conferences.

4. Please reach out to your teachers if you have concerns about your child, and feel free to reach out to myself if you need any clarification about conferences.