State Baby!!

Jaren's Going to "State"

Jaren's famous grin!

Another week of excitement for the Novakovich family. Jaren travelled with the East Valley Wrestling Team to Yakima to participate in the Regional Wrestling Tournament. Mom, Dad and Zoe followed to support and cheer on the Knights!

The Tournament was held at the new West Valley High School in Yakima, a beautiful open facility. There were only four mats set up from one end of the gym to the other so it was easy to watch any match. Jaren's first match was against a kid from Lynnwood High School that we had never see before. He was nervous but felt prepared. I only wish I could say the same for myself, I was pretty much a wreck. Jaren pinned the kid in the 3rd round!

Now he would have a little break and then wrestle another kid from Lynnwood High School who was ranked in the state. This kid was a little tougher than the last and Jaren lost to him by points. This would take Jaren out of the championship round but he still would have a chance to place in the top four to move on to the State Tournament. Here lies the problem, Jaren would have to wrestle his team mate Casey again and would have to win the match to give him the chance to wrestle another kid for 3rd or 4th place in the tournament. Somehow this just isn't fair, you shouldn't have to wrestle your team mates. However this is the way it goes down and Jaren took to the mat with Casey and beat him by points. Jaren would now meet the Sunnyside kid that he has wrestled twice before and won, but you never know what is going to happen. Jaren talked with his coaches and got the mental strength that he needed to beat the Sunnyside kid by points.

Casey on the left (floor), Jaren in Green

Jaren ended up placing 3rd in the Tournament securing himself a spot at State! He was so happy and so were his coaches. It was a long day and four matches really takes it out of you! Jaren fought hard and only ended up with a broken nose, Velcro burns on his legs and minor scrapes and bruises.

One tired kid with a broken nose!

This is a dream come true for Jaren and he is thrilled to be able to wrestle in the the Tacoma Dome next weekend.

Jaren with Coach Hanson

Even after a loss in the second round Jaren is still ranked 7th in the State at this point! Way to Go Jaren!

So one more week of starvation and then it's all you can eat for a kid that has had to keep his weight in check for the past month. He's so excited about that! After all it's food that makes a 17 year olds world go round!

Sub-Regional Wrestling

After a long week of limited food intake Jaren made the 114 lbs mark for the Sub-Regional Wrestling Tournament. It was a week of eating high protein, limited carbs and NO sugars. One night for dinner consisted of a glass of Chocolate milk while another consisted of a hard boiled egg. I'm not sure how he survived the whole thing but he was driven like I'd never seen him before. The week also included regular practices at the gym learning offense and defense moves and strategies.

Finally Friday was upon us and Jaren felt confident. Mike and I were nervous for the tournament after having researched past tournaments and meet to find the records of those who Jaren would wrestle. I really don't recommend this as it only adds to ones nervousness. Jaren's first match would be against a local kid from Shadle Park, but his second match was to be against the no. 1 seed from Sunnyside High School. These two had met last year in the same tournament and Jaren had won in overtime.

So off to Mead High we went to witness what turned out to be a very exciting evening. Jaren was confident and took to the mat for his first match. A win by Pin in only 18 seconds! Followed by a win by decision of 13 to 8. Mike, Zoe and I were on our feet the whole time as we watched Jaren take control of the matches.

Saturday morning would be tough for Jaren as he had to go against his own team mate in a semi-final match. No body knew what would happen in this match as Casey (the Varsity 112 for East Valley) had wrestled well all year and had not lost in this tournament yet also. If Jaren were to win this match he would meet the No. 5 kid in the State from Rogers High School. It was the second match of the day, Jaren and Casey took to the mat to see what would happen. Jaren took control of the situation and won by Tech 15 to 0. It's always tough to wrestle your own team mate and all you can do as a spectator is watch and wait for the outcome.
Now Jaren has to wait 'till 5 pm to wrestle in the Championship round.
Jaren's "Golden Ticket" to the Championship round!

The whole tournament takes place in a gym with five mats all joined together and there are matches on every mat all day long. When they prepare for the Championship round all the mats are taken away and two are left in the center of the gym. One for the 3-A schools and one for the 4-A schools. A light is lowered from the ceiling and spectators move and rearrange their seating to get the best view of their schools competitors. The MC will announce each wrestler as their match comes up and tells about their accomplishments in the wrestling world. The excitement is high as we wait. Jaren is in the second weight class so there is not too much time to wait.

Just prior to final round with fellow team mates and coaches.

As they take to the mat and the start whistle goes we are nervous to see what will happen. Jaren wrestled strong and hung in there with this kid. Unfortunately after regulation time we are tied up at 4 to 4. So we will have to go into overtime. The first to score points will win. They stumble to the mat and the Rogers kid makes it on top first so the match is over and he gets the 2 points for the take down. Jaren gave it his all and took 2nd in the tournament! We are so proud of him and are so grateful for the support of family, friends, coaches and fellow East Valley Wrestlers and their parents.

Jaren 2nd and Casey (team mate) 3rd

Sunday evening the rankings came out and Jaren is ranked 6th in the State in the 112 lbs weight class. What a great accomplishment. Hopefully this will give him the confidence to wrestle tough in next weeks Regional Tournament in Yakima!

Missionary

hey fam,
your emails really lifted my spirits this week. it was a rough one, just between getting things ready for zone conference, district leaders not doing there job, areas not doing any work and other spaz missionaries. lol. but i am doing good today, i just laugh at these types of things. they make good mission stories. lol. so zone conference is tomorrow and it could be interesting, i'm excited though. i'm glad that you all got my pictures and enjoyed them. oh and by the way, it is -20 outside today!!! it's freezing cold, and windy which makes it worse. good thing it is pday!! As for the boat don't you dare sell that thing, i'll be some mad if you do!!! That is good that work is going well, i'm kinda of excited really to come home and have a job that pays again. of course that novelty will where off in the first hour of work eh? lol. but i will be there to work for ya. i need the money. i have not thought a lot about where i want to go to school, still don't want to go to BYU but we will see. Eastern has a good dental program so that might be a good one to check out. i don't know. thinking about home is a bad idea for me, because at times it seems so close but then others it seems so far away really. but the time is going to fly by. Kentville has gone slow, i don't know if i really like it hear. it's just too small. i like doing missionary work in big cities with lots of people to talk to and things to do on pday. here we just sit around on pday, it sucks. my companion is cool though, we get along, not great, but we make things work. i have fun. i've just been blessed with really good companions in the past. so i started a new thing this week that i thought you allmight be interested in doing yourselves. every night when i write in my journal i think about the day and then pick out a miracle and write it down. This is in hopes to better see the hand of the lord in my life as a missionary. it is cool. Good work with being member missionaries lately, you will be blessed for that. i wish we could get any of themembers here to do something. some are good but some have no desire and it sucks to have to go knock doors when you are on the verge of losing limbs because it is so cold!! I have been trying to put a good effort forth though, just show the lord that i'm willing to do what he needs me to do, i just need to work hard. i really don't want any regrets this last 7 months. I have done pretty good so far. i just want to finish really strong. i don't know if i will get to PEI mom, it doesn't look good. the sandwich maker is golden!! good choice on that one. makes some wicked good grilled cheese!!! well my time is short this week. i love you all and thank you so much for all you do and the love yougive me, i really do feel it. i'm doing great, i love it out here and sometimes i don't ever want to leave!!! and sorry mom but yes i still want to fly home by myself like normal. i just think it would be sweeter for me. thanks, i love you all and hope you have a great day and week.
Elder Nick Novakovich