State Update

The results are here.

Unfortunately, Dietrich lost both of his matches today. But he still took sixth in state and got to participate in the 'parade of champions.' They announced before the morning sessions that 4,200 wrestlers had begun the qualifying process at districts and only 300 remained in all the weight classes and grades. So it was a great tournament and a great year of folkstyle.

That loss yesterday in the last seconds turned out to be really critical as far as placing, because a couple of tough competitors (including the kid Dietrich was fortunate to pin in the second period) had been knocked off yesterday and won through to the third and fifth place bracket. So the two wrestlers Dietrich faced today were actually tougher than two of his three oponents yesterday -- even though it was in the consolation bracket.

The first match was really close. Dietrich had several opportunities for back points off of tilts that would have won him the match that he just couldn't quite hold long enough.

The second match was not quite as lopsided as the score, but the other wrestler (who Dietrich pinned in a surprise yesterday) was clearly the better wrestler.

There was another interesting surprise from the day, but I'm going to save that for a later reflection on wrestling and the Kingdom of God.