Even though Tom isn't around anymore to go to wrestling matches with me, I can't seem to stay away--at least not totally. I went to a dual match with Hudson's Bay a couple of weeks ago and since I was an airplane widow for most of the day, I decided to go to the district championships. It was fun to see Jake Thomas and Brady Stoddard--teammates of Tom's years ago--sharing their expertise with the current Thunder wrestlers as coaches.
And Coach Chipman is still the head coach and it is still entertaining to watch him get excited during matches.
It is heartwarming to see the "little" wrestlers that Tom taught when he was in high school and has kept in touch with by helping out with practices when he was home for Christmas break while in college. Kenji Yamishita has had an awesome year winning multiple championships and Brandon Profitt was another little guy Tom worked with that isn't so little anymore and is also an exceptional wrestler.
I only stayed long enough to watch through the semi-finals so I didn't watch the rest of the consolation rounds or the finals but the Thunder won the district championship and have many wrestlers going to the regional tournament next weekend. They had an awesome day. Tom would have loved to be here to see them with me, I'm sure.
Part of the reason I left early was because Bill and I had made plans to go out to the Columbia Gorge to shoot some video when he was finished with the plane and I took a few pictures of course. It was a beautiful day to go although a little chilly.
All in all a very good day.
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