Teamwork important in an individual sport

In Washington High School's wrestling history since 1965, there have been 114 state qualifiers, 45 medalists and 12 finalists and eight state championships, the most recent of which was Tristin Westphal-Edwards title at 182 pounds Saturday, Feb. 16.

Westphal-Edwards was one of the leaders on the team, but it takes the whole team to hone the talents of its individuals.

'We don't pick captains,” Washington High School wrestling coach Brent Van Weelden said. 'We've had a lot of leaders this year. One thing that sticks out about Tristin is something that happened in practice.”

Leading by example is as important, if not more, than being a vocal leader. Van Weelden hands out a silver chain after each practice, which signifies who had the best day.

'Maybe they came through after a bad week, maybe they had a better day than they normally have, but we hand out the silver chain every day,” Van Weelden said. 'Tristan got it more than once, but one day I gave the silver chain to Tristan and instead of accepting it for himself, he laid it in the middle of the mat where we all walk and said, ‘I think the entire team had a great practice.' I thought that was a huge step, not only for him but for the program. For him to recognize that, that it does take everyone in the room to be successful. If he didn't have his training partners he wouldn't have been able to be a state champion.”

Although wrestling is individual to an extent, the team and a wrestler's training partners are crucial.

'Tristan is a definite leader although he wasn't the only one,” Van Weelden said. 'Our younger classmmen definitely looked up to him. He was a great example of how to do it.”

When the silver chain episode happened, it was midway through January, which was a crucial point in the season.

'Especially toward the end of the season, he was really focused on getting better and honed in on working on the different positions that he needed to,” Van Weelden said.

This season did not see Westphal-Edwards lose a single match.

'To go the entire season undefeated, there's obviously more highs than lows,” Van Weelden said.

There was a point in the district tournament where a little doubt may have crept in.

'There was a point when Tristan was wrestling the Keokuk (opponent) in the district final where the Keokuk kid got him in, rolled him onto his back,” Van Weelden said. 'He had to refocus and work on his fundamentals. He was worried that he had went to his back. He is very passionate. You have to understand where your weaknesses may be and where you can improve the most.”

Westphal-Edwards won four matches at the state tournament to clinch the title. The first took just 29 seconds as he defeated Beau Barcastle of Creston.

'It was funny because before the match I was talking to coach Justin Chambers and told him that my goal was to end it quick,” Westphal-Edwards said. 'That's actually my goal in every match. I wanted to get to the finals match as quick as I could. I told Chambers I was going to snap this kid down and throw him to his back in an over/under and that was exactly what happened. I took a shot and we went off the edge of the mat. We restarted and I snapped him down. He had his elbow real high, so I caught him and threw into his back.”

It was one down and three to go for a title.

'The second match was the one I was most nervous about,” Westphal-Edwards said of the next day's first bout.

Read tomorrow's Evening Journal for his comments about that match. Each of the next three days will feature one of Westphal-Edwards' wins at the state tournament in the order they occurred.