The BigRich Sports Report

The curse hanging over the High Plains wrestling team and maybe more specifically coach Martin Phillips was lifted Saturday night. 
That’s written with a bit of jest, but also with each yearly blow in the state wrestling finals felt all the more real. 
The relief written on Phillips’ face, hopefully captured by a statewide audience, could have melted last week’s subzero temperatures. 
How does it feel to finally win a state title?
“Better than you know,” a relieved Phillips said after plenty of photos, smiles and celebration. “Honestly, I needed that off my back.”
Gage Friesen was the guy. He’s always been the guy. They saved the best match for last Saturday and made getting home near midnight all the more worth it. 
During legendary coach Norm Manstedt’s final match in 2019, Lance Russell lost in the final, a potential three-peat lost in the shuffle.
Since then, HPC wrestlers have come up short in the finals four times, all under Phillips’ watch. Twice a year ago when Lance Russell’s shoulder gave out on him and Wyatt Urkoski’s run at perfection was inexplicably wiped away. 
Phillips and I joked on the phone the Monday after districts in an interview that we just wouldn’t go there. No jinxes entering this tournament.
Maybe it was poetic justice that just hours earlier, former Storm great Dylan Soule, who was Phillips’ first state finalist who lost in 2020, captured a state championship as an assistant coach for Chadron. 
Urkoski was there, too, a two-time finalist for Phillips and the Storm, unable to reach the peak.
His smile for Friesen was as big as anyone else’s. A guy who had fallen twice on that same Class D mat got to celebrate with a former teammate and coach, whom he cherished. 
Watching a kid’s dream of reaching the state wrestling final only to have it ripped to pieces in six minutes or less really does something to your psyche. 
I didn’t understand it until I really bought into this thing. I wasn’t a huge wrestling fan growing up. I still don’t understand everything about it. 
What I have is a passion for the boys and girls who lay it all out there and chase their dream. All I have to do is not mess up their story. 
Maybe that’s more pressure-packed than I made it sound, but really, that’s my dream. Telling Friesen’s story of triumph, remembering the nightmares of Soule, Urkoski and Russell. 
But, there’s something profound about Friesen’s success; something that is often overlooked.
He’s not a lifelong wrestler. Never claimed to be. Told me he’d be riding the bench for the Storm basketball team. Can’t shoot. 
He didn’t really want to wrestle, either. Didn’t seem like his thing and admittedly, wasn’t very good at first, either. 
But there he was Saturday night, the final medal stand presentation as Phillips put a gold medal around his neck. 
Phillips has long called Friesen a sponge, soaking up buckets of information at a time. HPC has a lot of kids like that. 
“I think we have a ton of coachable kids in our school,” Phillips said. “We have great families. They buy in to whatever we’re doing and our program. As long as we can get a couple more of them, just try it. I know we’ll have great things from them.”
How cool of a moment was it for HPC’s two long time assistant coaches Fred Church and Corbey Grause?
They’ve been in those coaches chairs well before I or coach Phillips got here. There’s not much they haven’t seen or done. 
There are your hardcore High Plains Community backers. Those two are near the top of the list.
“I don’t think I could ever leave Fred or Corbey,” Phillips said. “People know them more than they know me, that’s for sure. I couldn’t ask for two better dudes who just love this community and the kids.”
This year, there were no tears underneath the CHI Health Center bleachers. There was no devastation. Only jubilation. There were smiles, high fives, hugs and shouts of triumph. 
The cloud over the HPC wrestling program is gone. Let the Storm roll. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.