Ben Cherrington, cross country, take pride in the work, indoctrination, Russia in the Olympics, and more…

Hi 👋

Welcome to Week #9 of the Wrestling Snacks newsletter.

Picture this: I arrived in Las Vegas last Friday at 5pm. We checked into our hotel at Circus Circus. The quarterfinals for the Cliff Keen Invite were starting at 6pm, we hadn’t eaten dinner, and we had just survived an 8-hour drive with a 5 and 3-year-old. I came to watch wrestling, knowing it probably wasn’t going to be possible to watch much of the action with the whole family in tow.

Yet, I still persisted.

My wife and our three-year-old decided to stay at the hotel room while I speed-walked desperately with my 5-year-old exactly one mile down the street to get to the convention center where the quarterfinals had already started. We arrived, and my 5-year-old was exhausted! She sat down, took her socks and shoes off, and threw them on the ground while mumbling, “My feet are sweaty!”

Ridge Lovett of Nebraska was wrestling, and everyone was standing in front of us along the fence. I couldn’t see anything! One match in, my 5-year-old said, “I’m hungry.” We left the tournament area and wandered through the casino to find a couple of slices of pizza. We sat outside of the tournament to eat, went back in to watch a couple more matches and then my daughter said she was bored and wanted to go back to Circus Circus. So, we made the one-mile pilgrimage back to Circus Circus to play carnival games and meet up with our friends.

As I walked back to the hotel, my brother texted me, “And you thought you came to watch wrestling,” I reply to him half jokingly, “I came to indoctrinate my kids. Little bit here… little bit there.”

This past weekend was a lot of fun. I was able to watch a “little bit” of great college wrestling with some friends and family, catch up with Brock Hardy, Ridge Lovett, and meet Hayden Hilday’s parents. We experienced lots of fun games at Circus Circus with the kids and did a rock climb in Red Rocks in superb weather. All worth it, even though I didn’t get to watch the whole tournament.

I’m glad I took my little kiddos to the tournament. Hopefully, it continues to impact them in a positive way so that we continue to grow the sport.

The world needs more wrestling fans and wrestlers!

Let’s GO 💪

News Bites

• 🤼‍♂️ Cliff Keen Invite Team Results: 1. Iowa State, 2. Nebraska, 3. Ohio State, 4. NC State, 5. Oregon State, 6. Cornell, 7. Stanford, 8. Michigan, 9. Oklahoma State, 10. South Dakota State.

  • Individual Results: 125: Nico Provo (Stanford), 133: Kai Orine (NC State), 141: Jesse Mendez (Ohio State), 149: Ridge Lovett (Nebraska), 157: Peyton Robb (Nebraska), 165: Izzak Olejnik (Oklahoma State), 174: Cade Devos (South Dakota State), 184: Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa), 197: Trent Hidlay (NC State), 285: Yonger Bastida (Iowa State).

• 😢 Penn State Wrestling Loses Shayne Van Ness To Season-Ending Injury.

• 🤼‍♀️ Women’s College Rankings released.

• 🤯 CKLV Spurred Over 130 Upsets In NCAA.

• 👨‍🎤 College wrestlers Lucas Davison, Stephen Buchanan among 14 athletes named to WWE’s NIL program.

• 🤥 BREAKING NEWS: The Russians are officially in for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Snacks

This week's snacks come from Ben Cherrington: NCAA National Champion for Boise State and head wrestling coach of UFC fighters, Justin Gaethje and Kamaru Usman.

Below are some excerpts from our conversation, along with key takeaways and tips that can be applied to improve yourself as a Coach, Athlete, or wrestling Parent.