Rev Blog Entry 4: Andrew Dorn, UW-La Crosse

Hello everyone, my name is Andrew Dorn. I am a freshman wrestling for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at 157 pounds. Starting college and joining the wrestling team has been a pretty intense experience for me so far. If you find yourself asking, 'What is the biggest difference between high school and college wrestling?' For me, the answer is a team. There wasn't much of a team at my high school. Having wrestled for many years prior to high school, I had a decent background in wrestling. But high school was a struggle for me, not having much of a wrestling room. It seemed as if I had to work twice as hard to be on an even playing field with my opponents. Stricken with many illnesses and injuries, I did not have the successful high school career that I had hoped to have. My senior year started out great. I was coming into the regional meet with only one loss and I felt good about where I stood. To my disappointment, I placed second at regionals and third at sectionals. I made it to state, but I knew I could have done better to place myself in a favorable position on the chart. My first round at state could not have gone any worse. Losing my first match and being knocked out of the state tournament was devastating for me.

As Ross Needham stated in the last Rev Blog, "Anyone who has ever stepped foot on a wrestling mat knows about broken dreams". The moment I lost at the state tournament, I was broken. I did not know what was left for me in terms of wrestling. Then to my surprise, Coach Billy Huebner came to talk to me after my disappointing state match. He said I had untapped talent, and that I was, "a diamond in the rough." He stated that I had not yet reached my potential and that he would enjoy it if I would attempt to reach that potential at UW-La Crosse. I was astonished with this offer. I went from not knowing if I would ever wrestle competitively again to being recruited by one of the best wrestling schools in Division III. I had previously thought of what it would be like to be in a room where I could grow from a high school wrestler into a college athlete. So this essentially made a dream come true.

As summer began to fade and with the school year creeping around the corner, I was both excited and scared to lace up the shoes again. I knew that being in such a competitive college wrestling room was going to be a whole lot different from my high school experiences. I wondered how it would be to wrestle in a room with actual college wrestlers, not to mention some of the best in the nation. I was pumped! As practice came along, I felt right at home. I quickly adapted to the room and was happy for once in my life, in terms of the way the wrestling room was run.

After a few weeks of practice everyone could feel that wrestle-offs were coming up. I was excited to be able to finally show what I could do. I won both of my matches, one of which was a close overtime match. This meant that I would be starting in the first dual meet of the season against Iowa State. The spot was open due to the fact that our returner at 157 pounds, Ross Needham, was out recovering from recent knee surgery. Coming to La Crosse, one of my goals was to crack the lineup and wrestle against teams such as Iowa State. I didn't anticipate that it would come so quickly. I like wrestling tough matches -- it lets me know where I am as a wrestler and lets me know how hard I need to push myself to get better. As it is every year, I had first-match jitters. Still, as nervous as I was, I was excited beyond all belief to be put into the starting lineup, especially as a true freshman. I knew it would be a tough match, but I thought I was up for the challenge. The van ride to Fayette took us three hours, but it felt like days. Warming up for the match was nerve-racking, but I was pumped up to wrestle. The match didn't go the way I had planned, but it was a very good experience for me. I was up against one of the Paulson brothers (Trent) and he introduced me to college wrestling, beating me by major decision.

Andrew Dorn wrestled Iowa State All-American Trent Paulson two times in the same week.

This past weekend we wrestled in the Harold Nichols Open at Iowa Central in Fort Dodge. I was excited to wrestle in my first college tournament. I started out wrestling tough in my first match, but I gradually started getting sloppy. The match actually ended up well with me coming out on top with a pin. I quickly found out that in my next match I would be wrestling Trent Paulson from Iowa State again. I didn't wrestle the way I would like to. I was cautious, and maybe a bit intimidated. My next match was close. And in a crazy third period scramble, I won the match with another pin. I lost my next match, 9-5, in what was a very hard fought match. This loss knocked me out of the tourney. As disappointed as I was to be knocked out, I was happy with the way I wrestled overall.

All in all, I am overwhelmed with the wrestling team here at UW La Crosse. I couldn't ask for better teammates. They are so supportive on and off the mat. There have been times in my life where I thought about quitting wrestling, but I pressed on with it. I went from being a state qualifier with little hope of going to a good wrestling school to being in the starting lineup for the second ranked team in the country and wrestling a Division I All American. It's safe to say that I am glad where I am right now.

My friends and family have been very important to me along the way in keeping me focused and motivated to work through the hard times that wrestling can sometimes bring your way. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my parents for the support they have given me throughout the years, through all the time they have invested in my wrestling and always being there to watch me compete whenever it was possible. The team here in La Crosse has given me a gift. I only hope that I can return the favor.

John Andrew Dorn

Past UW-La Crosse Entries:

Entry 3 (11/3/05)
Entry 2 (10/19/05)
Entry 1 (10/10/05)

Sign In

Rev Blog Entry 4: Andrew Dorn, UW-La Crosse

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Categories

Rankings

Browse

Activity

Support