Nicholas's Wrestling Season

Nicholas wrestled from December to March.  I don't think I made it to as many as I sometimes do, there are limited pictures. 🤷‍♀️  He had a good season and got lots of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place medals.  He wrestled well at districts and made it back to State.  There were a lot of qualifiers from our Cavalry team but only 3 in junior high.

He also loved being a student manager for the high school team.  The managers practice with the high schoolers and they learn a lot!  The three boys were recognized at the banquet (Philip couldn't make it and I've forgotten why.)

He won one match at State and was happy about that.  He lost the next two so he was out but enjoyed the experience. 

Great season Nicholas!

State Wrestling

Philip and five made it to State!  We stayed downtown for the first time and we were glad we did because it snowed and the roads were a little iffy.

Joe, Jackson, Sebastian (in the back), Philip and Landon.

Plus Coaches Welsh, Thompson and Chvatal

On the board!

Philip didn't win either of his matches but he wrestled hard and didn't let the other guys get easy wins. He had a great experience and hopefully will use it to be ready again next year!

Fan club- there were more...Steve and Raleen came too, plus some Codrs.

Landon was the only one who ended up medaling.  He made it to the finals and got second so it was fun to watch!

Great season boys!

Sidenote:  Philip may or may not have gotten the unofficial award for most weight gained over the weekend after getting knocked out...somehow he managed to edge out Joe by just a little bit.

Philip's Wresting Season

For various reasons I've gone with a few collages of the whole season for Philip.  They started late in November (after the football championship) and wrestle through February.  Philip had a good year and earned some medals towards the end of the season.  He went 37-20 (we think).  Before Christmas he mostly wrestled at 132 but got down to 126 for the new year.

Below is Philip's favorite way to pin.  The rest of us hate it because both kids are on their back and if something goes wrong the other kid can reverse and get a pin more easily than with other pinning moves.  One of my favorite quotes of the season was when Jack Dart tried this move and on one side of me Philip yelled "Go for it Jack!!" While on the other side Jack's dad (who was a wrestler and groans every time Philip does the move) yelled "Don't do it Jack!!"

Thomas helped coach this year, which he enjoyed.  He worked mostly with the heavy weights and encouraging the kids who have to work really hard to improve their skills.  Because he knows exactly what that's like and they tend to think being a good wrestler was easy for him.

Here's the boys all lined up for parents night at our home dual.

Landon got his 150th win in January.  That's really impressive.  Most really good wrestlers get to 100 wins towards the end of their senior year.

Here's Philip medaling at our home meet.  Looks like he got 2nd.

The weekend after I got home from Mexico was districts.  Every year I dread districts because my strongest district memories come from Sam's senior year when the team had a really rough day.  But now I remember that was just a weird year and usually districts are intense but not so bad. Philip wrestled well and earned third place in his weight bracket which sent him to State!  

Great wrestling Philip, we're proud of your hard work!

From Her Point of View

The state football championship was exciting for Julia becasue they got to perform at half time again.

They had a great time and sounded good.

It was cold and windy but not as cold and windy as last year!

We had a fun time watching them both!

 

State Champions!

Bishop Neumann was back in the championship this year and they won!

Philip didn't play, except maybe a play at the end but he enjoyed the experience!
They played Grand Island Central Catholic.  Sam has a friend at Newman from there so they bet each other wearing the other team's gear for a day.  I didn't hear if Sam made him do it.  :)

So good at standing on the sideline!

It's okay.  He'll get his chance.  I'm not upset, it was just a lot of standing around at the practices leading up to the game and the game itself.

This is Coach Pav 2.0.  His brother coached Sam's senior/Thomas's junior year.  Pav 1.0 wasn't my favorite so I was skeptical of the choice but this Pavlik seems okay.  Less of a fanatic, better football-life balance.  He's coach 6 in in 8 years and I've had a boy in football 7 of those years.  For now I'm hoping this one will stick around.

A friend took a picture of him on her tv so we can see his face!

With the trophy...somewhere in Memorial stadium I think.

 Congrats on an amazing season!

Oh My Heart

Walked past the wrestling room right into 2023.

Baby face Philip, Small shaggy hair Thomas, and Terrible beard Father Lee.

 

Junior High Football Season

Nick enjoyed his football season too.  He's #32 and a running back and on the D line.  

 

Here's the whole team after their last game.

 They had a great season!

Football Season

Philip is number 26.  He played reserve, JV and a tiny bit of varsity when we were winning big.

This game we played in Hastings so we stopped by Fr. Lee's new parish to visit before the game and then I texted our old friend Jeremy Wesely to see if he was would be there to cheer on the team.  He said he didn't want to pay to see St. Cecelia's beat 60 to nothing but they don't charge admission after half time so he came over to hang out with Gokies and us in the rain.  I decided a night with two janitor brothers and a big enough win that Philip got in made sitting in the drizzle worth it.

Guess the quote- Fr. Lee or Jeremy Wesely

"Lisa, we haven't won a game since 2023!!"

"It might be a one sided game..."

I would have guessed FJ on the 1st and Jeremy on the 2nd but nope.  Father was being diplomatic I guess.

The team started singing the fight song together after wins, which is fun.  Everyone at Neumann learns the fight song in band or choir 7th grade and they sing it at games pretty often.

And the season just kept going...all the way to Memorial stadium and the Championship game!

Philip did an amazing jo of cheering from the sideline.

Congrats on a great season!

Parents Night

To kick off football season.

Change up this year:  Philip is a running back and on the D line.

Julia's happy place at football games.

 

Cornhusker State Games

Nicholas's friend Jacob is pretty serious about his wrestling...and so his parents sign him up for all sorts of stuff.  Not my style, in season is enough. But Jacob was hoping for a friend to wrestle at the Cornhusker State Games with him and it's at Pius, which I'm obviously familiar with, so we signed Nick up.  To be honest, I tried to talk Nick out of it.  Last season he wrestled a meet after just two practices and it didn't go well. This summer he went to exactly one practice, two days before the meet.  I figured he'd be three and out.

Well, turns out as far as wrestling meets go, the Cornhusker State Games is pretty small and everyone is out of practice because it's pretty much the exact opposite time of year as wrestling season plus it's just round robin.  He won all three of his matches and can now claim to be a CSG gold medalist!  None of us thought he'd win the last match, the kid had a good record and Nick was way behind.  But then he got back points, got within two and reversed the kid to win!  Jacob got second in his bracket so it was a good day!