Preseason Comes To An End With 5 Mile Run

HLG wrestling finished preseason today with a five mile run! Boy did the wrestlers finish well! Collectively we saw every wrestler improve their times and some experienced dramatic improvement in their finish times. The fifth T of the Trojan T’s (something I will say more about in the future) is Transformation and as a whole we have seen much of that happen over the course of the last 4 weeks take place in the conditioning of our wrestlers. Dethroning Sophomore Kasey Cates reign in 1st place and finishing in 1st place today was Freshman Nathan Downs with a time of 32:28. Finishing in 2nd place with a time of 33:05 was Kasey Cates. Finishing in 3rd was Daniel Yuraitis with 34:10. Finishing in 4th place was Ryan Stark with 34:43, and in 5th place Josh Smith with a finish time of 35:38. The wrestler with preseason most improved time goes to Kyle Blankenship who ran a 44:36 in his first 5 mile run and finished today with a 38:57 which equals a 5:21 improvement. Jeff Kirwan had the second best improved time with a 51:14 first 5 mile down to a 46:07 run today which equals a 5:07 improvement. Great Job Trojan Wrestlers!!!

Last Week of Preseason

This week has been a busy week wrapping up pre-season conditioning with weight certification. Each year every wrestler has to weigh in hydrated to help determine what their lowest allowable weight is for the season. The first part of the certification process is the hydration test. If wrestlers don’t pass the hydration test, they don’t pass at all. Not every wrestler chooses to wrestle at his lowest allowable weight, but instead he may choose his optimal performance weight instead. Contrary to popular opinion the lowest allowable weight doesn’t always end up being the weight class where wrestlers choose to wrestle. The NWCA does a great job providing tools for wrestlers in healthy ways to lose fat (and saunas are not part of the NWCA’s weight loss strategy!) Wednesday started our process of certifying our wrestlers for this season. Every wrestler must be certified before they can start practicing with the team in season. Therefore, these last days of preseason are very important for the team being able to start the season together. Unfortunately, we had several wrestlers who did not pass the hydration test on the first try. However, today most of the wrestlers passed with only a few who missed hydration by a few thousandths of a point. I’m fairly confident that tomorrow we should see the rest of our wrestlers pass the hydration test and be able to complete their certification for this season.
On another note we had our first recruit visit HLG for this recruiting season, and we are looking forward to having many others. I will not list names of wrestlers we are recruiting or those who make campus visits, but we are very glad to have them visit our campus. If you know of any wrestlers who would be a good fit for HLG wrestling, feel free to contact me at Shawes@hlg.edu . I would be happy to pursue any wrestler you think would be a good fit for our program.

HLG Wrestling's First Car Wash

After Saturday morning’s conditioning practice HLG wresting ran its first Car Wash! We were blessed with a beautiful and sunny afternoon. HLG wrestlers were faced with some challenges in getting vehicles into our carwash as there were at least 3 other carwashes in Hannibal at the same time as ours. One car wash was actually holding signs up at the same intersection as us. I guess we had nicer signs and our wrestlers had a better power of persuasion than the other group, because we stayed busy pretty much the entire time of the car wash. Also it probably didn’t hurt that we were at a Farm and Home which was conveniently located right across the street from a real car wash. Along with the normal cars and trucks that you would expect at a car wash we also had a motorcycle and a tractor with a wagon attached to it. The day couldn’t have been as much fun with-out the help of Mrs. Stanger!;-) She wasn’t afraid to spray the boys occasionally with the hose or throw a soapy sponge at them either. Mrs. Stanger brought cold water and Gatorade for the wrestlers and as well she helped make sure the cars were actually getting clean. Mrs. Gauch dropped off some awesome hot-dogs and chips to make sure the wrestlers weren’t going hungry. As a result of the car wash we were able to raise $372 dollars in donations. The money raised at the car wash will help towards the purchase of a Schwinn aerodyne stationary bike that we will use at the Secker Field-house.

Tommy Pickens

Future HLG Wrestlers!

Second Year NAIA Wrestling Program will Start Season with Added Protection from Bacteria & Fungi

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—September 18, 2009
Contact: Mike Brinich, Director of Communications, CSG
Office: 248-997-3270, Mobile: 586-703-6966
Second Year NAIA Wrestling Program will Start Season with Added Protection from Bacteria & Fungi
…Hannibal-LaGrange College treats mats environmentally friendly bacteria-fighting technology…

Rochester Hills, MI….Missouri’s Hannibal-LaGrange College Wrestling Program will enter the 2009-10 season as one of only two NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) athletic programs with added protection from the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi. Hannibal-LaGrange Wrestling and CSG, the sports world’s leading-provider of antimicrobial products and services, today announced the team’s wrestling mats and wall mats have been treated with CSG’s long-lasting SurfaceAide® XL antimicrobial treatment. The unique bacteria-fighting product creates an environmentally-friendly and non-toxic antimicrobial coating that works non-stop for the entire season to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria, fungi, and mold.

Scott Hawes, Hannibal-LaGrange Head Coach, discovered CSG’s antimicrobial products while attending the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) convention this summer and decided using the technology to minimize spread bacteria and fungi could play an important role in his team’s success.

“Obviously we can’t control what bacteria and fungi our team comes into contact outside of our facility,” said Hawes. “However, it important that our wrestlers are confident that we are taking extra steps to keep them healthy.”

Hannibal-LaGrange joins Nebraska’s York College as the only other NAIA wrestling program to use SurfaceAide XL. Applied by spray, just one treatment of SurfaceAide XL will inhibit the growth of bacteria, mold, and fungi on surfaces for three months. It is the world’s most environmentally-friendly antimicrobial product, as it creates an antimicrobial coating on surfaces that is non-toxic, non-sensitizing to human skin and hypoallergenic. SurfaceAide XL is vastly superior to any other technology for several key reasons. The water-based antimicrobial fights a wide array of microbial growth 24/7, but more importantly SurfaceAide XL will not create adaptive organisms or “super bugs” like MRSA.

The unique antimicrobial technology powering SurfaceAide® XL has also been applied to over 35 million square feet of surfaces in schools, professional sports franchises, universities, hospitals, and United States Military installations. Prominent users include the New York Yankees, U.S. Olympic Basketball, Washington Redskins, Miami Heat, and the University of Missouri.

About CSG
CSG is the worldwide leader in environmentally-beneficial surface treatments. Its PURETi™ and Surface Antimicrobial System™ (SAS) products and services are used to minimize the spread of disease and improve the environment by some of the world’s most prominent organizations. To date, CSG’s unique and innovative technologies have been applied to over 50 million square feet of surface area and millions of pounds of laundry. All of its unique treatments and services can be applied to virtually any surface or textile. For more information on CSG, visit www.csggrp.com or call 888.510.2847.

Streaming Video Planned for HLG Wrestling Home Meets

I found out today that my proposal to have our home duals broadcast live on the internet was approved! I'm very excited about this opportunity, but now I have my work cut out in lining up the technology and workers to help carry out the broadcast. However, this challenge is one that I'm happy to take on. We need to have our alumni and fans who live too far away have the opportunity to watch HLG wrestling. As a result of this proposal other sports on campus will also have the opportunity to have their home competitions broadcast live as well. Women's Volley ball will probably be the first athletic program to utilize this new technology. Web broadcasting will be a new and welcomed addition to HLG Athletics!;-)

Character Champions and Olympian visits the HLG Wrestling Room

Last spring while I was the Mastor of Ceremonies for the Mark Twain Region Fellowship of Christian Athletes Banquet I had the privilege of meeting a gentleman by the name of Jim Benz. Jim is the Co-Chairman of Character Champions. Jim Benz explained to me that Character Champions is program that has been designed to promote, teach, and recognize sportsmanship in local high school athletic programs in this region of IL and MO. Every year one school is chosen to receive the Character Champions award which includes a $500 donation to the recipient school in honor of their achievement. Jim asked me if I knew of any excellent motivational speakers who may be interested in participating in the Character Champions annual student athlete and coaches meeting. Right away two people came to mind. One being my college coach and Olympic champion Ben Peterson and the other person being my fellow Maranatha wrestling alum and friend who is a two time Olympian and world team member Jim Gruenwald. Gruenwald recently left the US Olympic Education Centers assistant coaching position to become the head wrestling coach at Wheaton College. After considering both individuals Benz decided to invite Jim Gruenwald to be one of the keynote speakers for this year’s Character Champions meeting which took place yesterday. Since Jim is a friend and I have an interest in the Character Champions program I decided to attend the meeting. Gruenwald provided an excellent motivational message on setting high expectations and doing what it takes to reach those expectations.
During yesterday’s meeting Quincy High School was selected by area business leaders and sports media for their leadership in demonstrating outstanding sportsmanship and character throughout last year’s sports seasons. Unfortunately, I don’t believe any Northeast MO schools participate in this program. I’m not sure for their reason why, but after seeing and hearing firsthand what Character Champions promotes and hearing the messages that were shared I would think that MO schools would take advantage of the convenience of having their athletes challenged by world class athletes and excellent area college coaches on the topic of character and good sportsmanship. Traveling from Hannibal it only took me less than 30 minutes to find myself sitting down in the Pepsi Arena on the campus of Quincy University. I don’t know of any other program within a 30 minute drive of Quincy that has the potential to impact high school athletes like Character Champions does. I would like to challenge Northeast MO schools to utilize a program like Character Champions in conjunction with whatever programs they may already have going on in their schools. I believe if more voices are speaking to our athletes in this area of sportsmanship and sports ethics that it can have a positive impact later on in the lives and culture that our student athletes are destined to be leaders in. After the Character Champions meeting I was able to enjoy a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings with Jim Gruenwald, Jim Benz, my assistant coach Ian Northcott and one of my HLG wrestlers Jeff Kirwan. We had a nice time talking about wrestling, sportsmanship and management. If anyone knows Jim, you would have to assume that there were a few funny stories shared as well. As Hannibal was only 5 miles out of the way of Gruenwald's trip home I invited Jim to stop by Hannibal-LaGrange College to take a look at the Secker Field-house which the is home of Hannibal-LaGrange Wrestling and Jim accepted the invitation. While Jim was on campus he was able to meet the HLG wrestling team as they were arriving for open mat practice. I’m sure several of them were wondering who this little man with a goatee was, and little did they know that they were about to meet a two time Olympian in the wrestling room of Hannibal-LaGrange College. I’m thankful Jim took the time to stop by HLG to visit. His character, testimony, and work ethic have been a tremendous asset to USA wrestling and he will be an outstanding addition to Wheaton College’s athletic department. I’m looking forward to coaching against Jim this next season as we will see Wheaton at a few tournaments, and I can’t wait to get them on the schedule for next year.

Injuries Report and 5 mile run improvement

Last Wednesday afternoon I was looking forward to attending the first evening service of “Three Days in September” which is an annual event here at HLG before I realized God had other plans for me that evening. To make a long story short I ended up spending the evening in the emergency room. Thankfully, it wasn’t me that needed to see the doctors this time! I had two wrestlers injured in one practice. One had to get x-rays of his ankle and the other received probably about 50-75 stitches to reattach part of his ear to his head. It sounds gruesome and when you see the picture you will say that it looks gruesome. Thankfully this wrestler was able to return to conditioning today and will get his stitches out sometime this week. One might assume that he should have been wearing headgear while he was wrestling, but his injury did not occur as a result of a hard go. His injury was a result of playing a cat and mouse type game towards the end of the open mat time. He caught a knee to the side of his head which included part of his ear. In all my years of coaching this was the worse cut that I have seen happen during the wrestling practice.
The highlight of last week was seeing all the wrestlers, with the exception of one, improve their Five Mile time. 3 of the top five improved their placing in their top five finishes. Finishing in 1st place Kasey Cates, up from 3rd place and finishing in 2nd place Daniel Yuraitis, up from 4th place and finishing in 3rd place Ryan Stark, up from 6th place and finishing 4th Shane LeGrand, and finishing at 5th place Jobi Hambrick. On Saturday, we wrapped up the week with 1 mile hard runs 3 times with line drills and weight check after practice. We set the goal of having everyone within 10 lbs of their wrestling weight on Saturday by the end of practice. We only had one wrestler who was .1 over his target weight. The new wrestling weigh in procedures instituted by the NCAA this year require that wrestlers weigh in wearing at least underwear. So Dad’s, the memory of the old tradition of stepping on the scale and being a .1 over and dropping your drawers to make weight has come to an end. I wonder if a new tradition will start with wrestlers taking scales to the store to find out which underwear brand makes the lightest underwear.