Talent wins games; teamwork wins championships

This past Friday morning I made the 1.5-hour drive to the Xcel Energy Center for the annual Minnesota state high school wrestling tournament.

Waseca County sent 13 wrestlers, all of whom I worked to keep track of for two days.

In the end I had the privilege of photographing three medalists: two state champions from WEM/JWP and one fifth-place finisher from Waseca. NRHEG wrestlers registered one victory in their matches.

State tournament time during the winter seasons is one of my favorites of the year. Wrestling, in particular, is likely my favorite sport to cover at this high a level. The energy from individual matches is unlike other sports. It’s one-on-one, cut-throat. Matches can be won or lost in an instant. The panic as wrestlers narrowly avoid a pin or the excitement as they realize they’ve conquered their foe–it’s truly exciting.

I really enjoy capturing the moments through my camera lens. Wrestling is a very good sport for photography. The excitement comes not only from the competitors, but from the deeply engaged fans sitting nearby.

Back to Friday. After my drive to the Cities, it took me nearly 45 minutes to find a parking spot, make the walk to the arena, get through security, and finally get matside. Thankfully, I didn’t miss any wrestlers I needed to photograph. This year the Wells school yearbook reached out and asked me to take some photos of their kids. So, really, I was chasing 16 wrestlers altogether. I didn’t get a break until intermission, which came between sessions 1 and 2, at about 2:30 p.m.

Johnnie Phillips, the Steele County sports editor and myself, got lunch together on West Seventh Street at an Irish pub. We enjoyed a good conversation that lasted more than an hour. (Intermission was two hours.)

I’ve tried hard to grow relationships with others in the news world. I genuinely believe we small town newspaper people are “all in this together.” As a result, I share photos with about a dozen news outlets across southern Minnesota. I’ve shared photos or stories both because they’ve been requested or, sometimes, because I know the piece would be useful to the other publication–a friendly partnership.

Johnnie, the Steele County Times, and of course my mother’s paper, the Janesville Journal are the newspapers I work most closely with. With section wrestling happening two weeks ago, we (Johnnie and I) called each other to divide and conquer. NRHEG and JWP were wrestling in Blue Earth. Many Steele County schools and Waseca were in Rochester. So, he took photos in Rochester of his and my wrestlers, and my newspapers covered Blue Earth.

Back to Friday. Following intermission, I don’t recall getting much of a break again until I was in my hotel room later that night. And boy, was that a process.

I arrived at the hotel in Mounds View, about 14 minutes from the center, and everything seemed to be sour. It took almost 10 minutes before I could find a clerk to check me in. Once I was checked in and walked to my room on the third floor, I discovered someone else was already staying in “my” room.

Back to the front desk I went.

After a moment, the lady behind the counter said she had a room with a smaller bed available or a larger suite, “but that would cost more money,” she said.

I was reminded of something I read a while back and instead of complaining, I said, “You would be the best night clerk attendant there is if you just let me have the bigger room.”

The lady smiled and gave me the suite.

After a night’s rest, breakfast the next morning, although it looked questionable, was really good. And I was back at the Xcel bright and early at 9 a.m.

After finding the best parking spot I’ve found in the last three years of state wrestling tournaments, I headed in to discover the first round was girls’ wrestling, which I had none to cover.

So, I headed upstairs to the Petsinger suite.

My good friend Matt Petsinger, former National Champion wrestler, rents a suite each and every year for the state tournament and allows me to come up and visit with him and also spend time taking care of work during tournament downtimes. I would like to take this moment to extend my thanks not only for the invitation, but the friendship and companionship of the Petsingers. The day was full of good conversation because I had much more downtime than the day before.

After the second round of consolation wrestling, I only had three wrestlers to cover over the course of the next several hours, up until about 9:30 p.m. During that time, I photographed numerous matches, and also had good conversations with the Waseca wrestling staff. They were incredibly nice. After I talked with them, they essentially ushered me back to thank me for the photos I took. More than the thanks, they gave heartfelt, thoughtful answers to my questions. Truly, a great group of coaches and wrestlers.

I did not chat with NRHEG wrestling on this day, unfortunately, but I did send coach Larson a thank you for all he does for the program.

I arrived home Saturday evening at about 11 p.m.

After two days of other types of work, Monday night took me to Mankato for the girls’ basketball section semifinals. I witnessed two very good games and would like to wish the NRHEG girls luck Friday night as they try to earn a trip to the state tournament.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” - Michael Jordan.