I also just want to wish the WIAC schools the best of luck in your conference tourney this coming up weekend. Wrestle hard!

Brad Becker (157lb-Parkside Senior

One week from today, the wrestlers of the WIAC will be battling for their right to compete at the NCAA Div. III National Championships. The WIAC has proven to be one of the toughest conferences in the country and every match is a battle. Next Sunday will be no different. We here at La Crosse are getting ready for a knock ‘em down drag ‘em out fight to the top of the conference podium.

Most of the ten guys competing at conference have had a couple weeks off of competing and are chomping at the bit to shake hands with someone not in La Crosse workout gear. We have continued to have morning run/lifts and good, hard practices in the afternoon. We are fine tuning with individual workouts and making those small adjustments every wrestler needs. The coaching staff has been cutting down the number of minutes on the mat as we are getting in there, getting done what we need to get done, and getting out of there.

Speaking of the coaching staff… Coach Malecek is the smartest coach I’ve ever had when it comes to having his wrestlers physically and mentally ready to go at the right time of the year. We have all believed in his system and in effect have ten guys ready to compete at the conference tournament with fresh legs and minds.

With all that said, I invite everyone to the WIAC Championships hosted by UW La Crosse on Sunday February 18th. The university as a whole is excited to host this event that showcases some of the best college wrestlers in the country. Please follow the link below for tournament information. Come and support these wrestlers that work so hard all year long and do it for the love of the sport and the chance to compete.

http://www.uwlax.edu/athletics/mwrestle/wiacchampionships/index.html

Good luck to all,
Ross Needham
UW-L 157

Best of Luck to All,

Lucas Haag

The holiday season is always an interesting time for most college wrestlers. Many things are happening and changing. On the positive side, classes have come to an end. Studying is done and student athletes finally get a mental break from studying and taking tests. Also we get a chance to go home and spend time with our families, not to mention a chance to poke our faces in our old wrestling rooms. It is always nice to revisit the mat space that we once called home and lend our ex coaches a helping hand. The high school coaches seem to like having us, and we love sharing our experiences with them as well as getting a workout of our own in during their practice time. The best part of Christmas break is the presents and food!! Santa was very generous to me and so were all the people who cooked the meals I ate when I was home. This leads me to the negative side of Christmas break. Food!! It is everywhere. Chocolate, caramel, candy, cookies, pie, hams, potatoes, stuffing, and the list goes on and on.... With competition at the Midlands quickly approaching, it is important to steer clear of the junk food and eat in moderation (I am sure everyone at least sampled grandma's cookies, but moderation is key!!)

Over the break, it is important to get workouts in. Wrestling, lifting, and running are all things we need to do over the break. Although this type of thing seems like a pain in the hinder to the public, it really is not that bad. We find early morning runs in the cold to be rewarding when the people we know recognize us and wave happily as they drive to work. We really enjoy entering the local high school wrestling room in the evening and getting a workout in. It is an even better feeling when practice is over and everyone is heading to the locker room and we walk past it to the weight room. Some curious high schoolers follow to see what we are doing. As we lift it makes us feel good that these young men are interested in what we are doing. We feel like great leaders as we ask those watching to join us and put them through an extra workout. There is nothing better than doing our workouts knowing that someone is watching and learning. This type of situation is plenty of motivation for us college athletes to get good workouts in over holiday break.

For most of our wrestlers at UWL, the holiday break ends tomorrow. We continue to prepare for Midlands as we come back together as a team and practice. Hopefully we will represent Wiscsonsin wrestling well at this prestigious tournament. We look forward to sharing our results and thoughts with you in the future.

Merry Christmas -- I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

Jason Lulloff
UWL 184#

It seems like just yesterday we were going on preseason runs and meeting the new freshmen. And here we are, taking finals and getting some last workouts in before we head home for a little Christmas break. Wow, time sure does fly when you’re having fun.

Tuesday night we wrestled St. Point here in La Crosse. We had a fine fan turnout and they were rewarded with some good wrestling. There were some hard fought matches and thankfully we came out on top more times than they did. It is always great to wrestle Point. They are a well coached team that comes out and wrestles hard. We really tried to push the pace and go out fight for seven minutes. We did that to some degree, but of course we are not satisfied and will continue to work on it.

We don’t compete now until Midlands on the 29th &30th. This is a break from competition that comes at a good time for us. We are a little banged up at the moment, but nothing a little time, ice and rehab won’t fix. Of course we aren’t going to sit around and eat candy canes and watch Elf all day. We are studying hard for finals and planning our workouts around exams and study sessions. We are about to embark on the hardest part of our training and we can’t afford to slack now.

Early next week, most of the guys will be heading home. A lot of guys will be making their way to their old high school wrestling rooms and spending time with family and friends. With that said, I would like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday season. You can look forward to hearing more from the UW-L wrestling team in the New Year.

Happy Holidays,
Ross Needham
157 UWL