Jaren's Going to "State"

Jaren's famous grin!

Another week of excitement for the Novakovich family. Jaren travelled with the East Valley Wrestling Team to Yakima to participate in the Regional Wrestling Tournament. Mom, Dad and Zoe followed to support and cheer on the Knights!

The Tournament was held at the new West Valley High School in Yakima, a beautiful open facility. There were only four mats set up from one end of the gym to the other so it was easy to watch any match. Jaren's first match was against a kid from Lynnwood High School that we had never see before. He was nervous but felt prepared. I only wish I could say the same for myself, I was pretty much a wreck. Jaren pinned the kid in the 3rd round!

Now he would have a little break and then wrestle another kid from Lynnwood High School who was ranked in the state. This kid was a little tougher than the last and Jaren lost to him by points. This would take Jaren out of the championship round but he still would have a chance to place in the top four to move on to the State Tournament. Here lies the problem, Jaren would have to wrestle his team mate Casey again and would have to win the match to give him the chance to wrestle another kid for 3rd or 4th place in the tournament. Somehow this just isn't fair, you shouldn't have to wrestle your team mates. However this is the way it goes down and Jaren took to the mat with Casey and beat him by points. Jaren would now meet the Sunnyside kid that he has wrestled twice before and won, but you never know what is going to happen. Jaren talked with his coaches and got the mental strength that he needed to beat the Sunnyside kid by points.

Casey on the left (floor), Jaren in Green

Jaren ended up placing 3rd in the Tournament securing himself a spot at State! He was so happy and so were his coaches. It was a long day and four matches really takes it out of you! Jaren fought hard and only ended up with a broken nose, Velcro burns on his legs and minor scrapes and bruises.

One tired kid with a broken nose!

This is a dream come true for Jaren and he is thrilled to be able to wrestle in the the Tacoma Dome next weekend.

Jaren with Coach Hanson

Even after a loss in the second round Jaren is still ranked 7th in the State at this point! Way to Go Jaren!

So one more week of starvation and then it's all you can eat for a kid that has had to keep his weight in check for the past month. He's so excited about that! After all it's food that makes a 17 year olds world go round!