Seth and Sam Are State Wrestling Qualifiers

Seth and Sam qualified for the State Wrestling Tournament, which was held in Sioux Falls February 26-27, 2010. They each placed third at the Region tournament advancing them to the State tournament along with four of their Bennett County teammates coached by their dad, Brent, and his assistant, Scott Larsen. BCHS had not sent this many wrestlers to State since Seth and Sam's uncles, Jeff and Doug, were state placers. This season, BCHS had only eight wrestlers on their team, so they did very well to qualify six.

Seth and Sam are among the 224 wrestlers being
honored at State, with half of the group shown
in this photo on the arena floor in Sioux Falls.
Each row represents a weight class of wrestlers
from the four regions across the state
who competed as the top eight wrestlers
in their weight division.


Sam is with the 103-pound wrestlers who are shown
being introduced in the "Parade of Champions."
(Sam is in purple and gold, the second one
in line at the lower right corner of the photo.)


Wearing purple and gold, Seth is the middle wrestler
with the 119-pound wrestlers being introduced
in the "Parade of Champions" at State.


The Mat Maids (cheerleaders) were also
introduced. They came in carrying a U.S. flag
which they unfurled creating this impressive site.
(BCHS does not have Mat Maids this year,
but Seth and Sam's Aunt Marla had been one
during her years at BCHS.)


This is a view inside the Sioux Falls arena.

To qualify for State, wrestlers must be among the top four wrestlers at Districts and then in the top four at Regions. Our District tournament was held in Philip on February 10.

Sam, as a 7th grader, had a respectable season wrestling with the high school team. At Districts, Sam lost a close match to Herman from Custer in semi-finals (2-4), whom Sam had beaten twice this year; but he pinned Hyde from Hot Springs. Sam went on to place 3rd by winning his next match.

Sam's 3rd-place finish at Districts came by
defeating Schooler from Hill City 5-0.

Seth placed 3rd at Districts in the 119 division.
Although he lost to Philip Area's, Kelly 4-7 in
semi-finals, the match could have gone either way
with the score tied going into the last period.

Seth pinned Arredondo from Red Cloud (1:18),
whom he is wrestling in this photo.
He then defeated Bradford from St. Thomas More 8-2
to end up with a 3rd-place finish at Districts.

We found it interesting to see how many schools have now combined to become a team with their neighboring school(s). When our sons wrestled, Philip, Wall, and Kadoka each had a wrestling team. Today, they are combined and are called "Philip Area." Philip retained their school colors of black and orange, but we noticed at State that many of the combined schools have changed the look of their uniforms to incorporate parts of the combining schools. Some of the color combinations adopted are unusual; and one uniform, in my opinion, turned out to be a strange looking tie-died effect.

The photo shows Sam with a near pin over Schooler
whom he had also defeated at Districts.

Having advanced to Regions, Sam had a good
tournament in Ft. Pierre on February 17. He
pinned Voorhees from Newel in :39 seconds,
was pinned by Blasius from Philip Area (1:28),
pinned Wieczorek from Stanley County (2:16),
and defeated Schooler from Hill City (12-4).

Sam gave us a little scare after winning the Schooler match, as Sam left the mat in obvious pain. A medical person came to examine him, and we suspected it might be a torn muscle below the rib area and wondered if Sam would be able to be in condition to wrestle at State. They soon got ice on the injured spot and masked the pain with Tylenol. Fortunately, it wasn't a torn muscle and Sam was able to practice the following week and be ready for State.

Seth is shown wrestling Kelly from Philip Area
at Regions, a match Seth won by pinning Kelly (4:59).
Seth had lost to Kelly last week at Districts (4-7).


With only 29 seconds left in the first period at Regions
in Seth's match with Kelly, the score is tied at zero.


Just before the time ran out in the 3rd period,
Seth won by a pin over Kelly. The clock still
shows the score prior to the pin when Seth was
behind by two points. You can imagine how
exciting this match was to watch.


The four qualifiers for State at 119:
1st, Steimetz (Hot Springs),
2nd, Stoesser (Stanley County),
3rd, Ireland (BCHS);
4th, Kelly (Philip Area)


Sam and Wagner's Dion shake hands
before the start of Sam's first match at State.


Sam put up a good fight, but the match ended 0-8.
Wagner's team finished in 1st place with 141 points.

Behind Wagner, Canton's team came in second with Hot Springs placing 3rd. Both Canton and Hot Springs had been A schools until this year.

Seth wrestling at his first high school State tournament.
Although Seth ends up on the losing side of his
first match with Bronte from Garretson (4-8),
Seth wrestled well and the match could have gone either way.


Seth went on to win his next match over Soulek
from Kimbell/White Lake (7-0).


In the second-round wrestlebacks, Seth
met up with Anderson from Groton Area. Again,
this is a wrestler Seth could beat but didn't this time,
with the score ending at 1-3. With two losses,
Seth will have to wait until next year to place at State.

Our son Brent is the coach for the BCHS team. (He is shown in the upper right-hand corner of the photo above.) They have had a good season taking six wrestlers to State from the seven who competed at Regions. They all wrestled well and have a right to feel good about their State performance even though BCHS had only one place this year at State. Waylon Macek, the only senior, placed 6th.

We enjoyed having the opportunity to watch our two grandsons, Seth and Sam, compete at State. The pictures I have posted here are not great since we took them from where we were sitting in the stands. I had to choose from those least blurry, which is hard to get when these wrestlers keep on the move and we're too far away for flash to reach. Still, I wanted to share what I could and brag a little on our dedicated grandsons who have worked hard to develop their skills and wrestled well.

On our way to Sioux Falls on Thursday, we stayed overnight at Curtis and Marla's in Mitchell. On Saturday, Marla went to Sioux City to watch Haley and Maggie compete in their respective show choir competitions. It turned out there was only one junior high show choir performing, so Haley's group was announced as "sweeping the junior high division." Maggie's show choir really did sweep the competition. They were grand champion, best vocals, best choreography, best band, and best stage crew! We watched a recent performance of Maggie's show choir on YouTube and were really impressed.

Mediterranean Cruise - Malta

Malta was our last shore excursion. It was day 11 of our cruise, and it turned out to be a beautiful day with sunshine and blue skies. Malta is made up of three small inhabited islands: Valletta, Gozo, and Comino. We docked at Valletta.

English and Maltese were established as the official languages of Malta in 1934, so we had no language handicap here.

The Grand Harbor of Malta - taken from the ship.


Fort St. Angelo - view from Valletta


A closer look at the fort - taken from the ship


Harbor at Valletta - View taken from the ship


Flour Mill and unloading dock

Sam had been to Malta with the U.S. Wheat Commission several years ago to meet with the millers about buying U.S. wheat. The wheat would be unloaded and made into flour here.

There were also smaller boats and yachts.


Another view - taken from Valletta

Some tourists choose to see the city by horse and buggy.


We chose to tour the city in a hop-on/ hop-off bus
using an audio tape to tell us what we were seeing.


We sat on the upper deck for a better view and so
we could take pictures. Of course, this does not always
allow enough time for preferred photographs;
but we did get plenty from which to choose.

Here are some of the things we saw on our bus tour. The first three photos were taken in the city of Valletta. As we continued on to Mdina, we enjoyed seeing a more rural landscape.

Valletta

Valletta


Valletta

Going to Mdina


They use rocks and cactus for fences.


We stopped to see a demonstration making glass.


These were expensive dishes that featured
images copied from famous artists.


Another example of interesting architecture.


Main gate to old Mdina, Malta's medieval capital.


We bought a ticket to go inside this
Cathedral Museum
and St. Paul's Cathedral across the street.


Altar in St. Paul's Cathedral


Colorful floor tiles over tombs in the Cathedral.


Mdina has some narrow streets.


A high wall around old Mdina


Notice the pheasant feather decorating the horse's head.


Barracca Gardens
This seemed to be a good time to eat the snack we
brought with us while we waited for the next bus
to come along to continue on our tour.


Not sure what is growing here.


See the rows of plastic greenhouses.


A view showing the landscape and the
large rotunda dome of the church in Mosta.
This is the largest unsupported dome in the world,
and the rotunda is the third largest in Europe
and the ninth largest in the world.


Rotunda of St. Marija Assunta (The Mosta Dome)
During World War II, a Luftwaffe bomb fell among
a congregation of 300 people but did not explode.
Its replica is on display in the rotunda today.


Balconies are common.


This balcony may be on a government building
as evidenced by the two flags.


These are some ruins, but I don't recall any details.
The country has been inhabited since around 5200 B.C.


Looking from those ruins toward the city.


These are ruins from a former fortress.
Malta became part of the British Empire in 1800,
and became independent from the British in 1964.


Rocks are prevalent on the landscape.


Flat farming area.


Cactus and rock fences in the area.


A quilt pattern of crops.


Farmers at work.


A contrast in the landscape:
green foliage, white buildings, and blue sea and sky.


The little island is said to be where
the apostle Paul was shipwrecked. It is thought
he brought Christianity to Malta while he was here.


Our audio tape pointed out this area as having the
best beach, and there was a tourist area nearby.


These small buildings were spaced along the
coastline where they had been used as places of
observation for possible invaders.


Back in Valletta and a good
view of the bell tower.


This palm-lined area is where Sam stayed on
his first visit to Malta with the U.S. Wheat Commission.


Sam stayed in the Westin Hotel shown here.


Here we changed buses and went to the city center.


Another large building in Valletta.


A fountain makes a good place for a photo.
(Sam & Narene)


We walked down this pedestrian street,
and Karen and I bought a Maltese cross necklace
in one of the little souvenir shops.


Sam discovered that St. John's Co-Cathedral, which
he had visited before when he came to Valletta,
was a short distance ahead on this street.


St. John's Co-Cathedral
(Click on the name to go online for interior pictures.)

It was 4:00 p.m. when we reached the entrance,
and the man was locking the door so we were unable to go inside.
It was built as the conventional church for the Knights of St. John.

In 1427, these islands became part of the Kingdom of Sicily and remained so for four centuries. In 1530, the king of Sicily granted the Maltese islands to the the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in an effort to protect Rome from Turkish invasion. The Knights remained in Malta for 268 years.

Roman ruins in Valletta.


Wall of Valletta

After having an enjoyable day in Malta, we returned to our ship. The next day was a sea day and then we were back in Barcelona, where Jairo's father met our ship and took us to the airport.

Our flight from Barcelona was to Atlanta. Because of the bomb attempt on Christmas day, security was tight in Barcelona. We had gone through the usual security and thought we were in line to board the plane for Atlanta, but instead we were in another line to have our carry-on luggage checked and undergo a body search. The lines were moving very slowly with the women in a separate line from the men because of the body search.

Two women in front of Karen and I were not going to Atlanta but to New York, and their plane was about ready to depart. An official circled their boarding passes and sent them in a different line and did the same for Karen and me, although we didn't realize what was happening. We followed right along as directed and went straight to our plane without having to go through the second security check.

Sam and Bill, however, were still waiting in line. Karen and I became concerned when it was ten minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave and they still hadn't come, so I went up to let the flight attendant know our husbands had not boarded yet. She assured me that there were 23 they were waiting for and would not leave without them.

Finally, our husbands boarded the plane and told us how thoroughly they had their carry-on luggage checked as well as a body check. Most of the items in Sam's carry-on belonged to me, including satiny pajamas that didn't look very manly. Every item had been examined, but the man going through the suitcase had carefully folded everything and put things in the plastic bags like I had it. It would have taken him less time had the suitcase been stuffed haphazardly like I saw another woman's.

When we arrived in Rapid City, the four of us were among twenty or so whose luggage did not get transferred in Minneapolis when we changed planes. Federal Express delivered it to us four days later.

Now I have finally finished these blogs about our Mediterranean cruise. It's still amazing to think we have actually been to these historic places and have had our picture taken by the pyramids of Egypt!