Sander medals third again for Exira-EHK at 195
By Drew Herron - AJ/NT Sports / Feb. 28, 2014
ELK HORN -- It never fails to play out on any given year at the State Tournament. Pick any weight bracket in any of the three classes, and you are likely to find at least one bad hombre who tumbles down the short list of contenders after suffering a loss before the finals.
It's a tough obstacle to overcome for many top-tier wrestlers with lofty and long set goals…to be relegated to the consolation bracket and survive.
Exira-EHK senior Trey Sander could just as easily have closed shop after he dropped a decision (10-4) to eventual champ Tyler Hoffman of East Buchanan in the semifinal round Friday night at 195 pounds. In a flash, the chance of becoming a State champion in Iowa was over, and Sander had nothing left to do but to readjust his goals.
As Sander, teammate Evan Hansen and the coaches left the arena late Friday night, the mood proved to be a bummer all the way around. Hansen had lost his semifinals match almost simultaneously, and for the Spartans brood it was straight to the hotel and straight to bed.
But Saturday proved to be a new day, and with it, a new perspective.
"The main motivating factor for me was that I am a senior, and this was the last day I was going to wrestle," Sander says.
"Hoffman is a good wrestler, and I felt like we both wrestled our best match. It was disappointing, but I'm not about to hang my head. You need to keep moving forward and try to end on a positive note. And then of course, there is always the chance of facing Ben, again. That was a driver for me as well."
In the 1A Consolation semifinals and finals, Sander first picked up a tidy 3-0 decision in his first match of the morning Saturday. Then, Sander earned a most interesting matchup for third when Tri-Center’s Ben Wellman picked up a win by fall in the other semifinal. It set up another bout between The No. 2 and the No. 3 ranked individuals and longtime western Iowa opponents.
In 2014, the two multi-sport athletes would not meet for the State championship in Wrestling, but for third place. It did not diminish the level of competition between the two as they met for the third time in the past six weeks.
"We've been wrestling each other since third grade," Sander says of Wellman. "There is a lot of mutual respect there.
Wellman took the first two matches by decision, both by 4-3 final.
On the mats at Wells Fargo Arena, Sander went on the offensive early, and had his way for the first time this season en route to a 5-2-decision victory to anchor third place.
After some testing of the waters on both sides, Sander shot successfully with a takedown and built an incredibly important early lead.
"I wanted to be aggressive and try to push the pace," Sander said. "I was working things and working things, and then I got that first takedown. After that, I felt like I was in control of the match, and I kept plugging away with the different (scenarios) I had been preparing for with him. And because I stayed offensive on him, I started scoring, and then I knew I had gotten into his head a little."
Saturday’s third place finish is another example of the kind of redemptions and breakthroughs seen every year at State.
Some guys will respond by throwing a tantrum, as well as their headgear when handed a loss that didn’t coincide with their own expectations. And some guys pick themselves up, dust themselves off and go back to work. You can lump Trey Sander into the latter group based on his consolation charge Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
He wasn’t about to allow one loss on one day define a career, or his character for that matter.
"I didn't want to end my career like that…just put my head down and let people beat me," he says. "To come back and wrestle as well as I could, and beat a rival while doing it…it was important to me that I finish as best I could. There is no sense in me feeling sorry for myself for one loss to a GREAT wrester.
"One thing you learn from wrestling is how to handle a loss or a failure."
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