3. The Threshold of High School Sports: The State Tournament

Thank you for baring with me as I had my delay on my top high school sports moments. In case your memory is a bit fuzzy, here was my list so far:

10. Perry vs. Lakeside Football Game (Senior Year)
9. Perry vs. Madison Basketball Game (Sophomore Year)
8. Wrestling
7. Winning the CVC Tennis Tournament for my 4th and Final Time
6. Winning the CVC Team Tournament as a Freshman
5. Burning the Jersey: Beating Geneva in the 2013 Tennis Season
4. 2011 Regional Cross Country Meet

Here is 3. The Threshold of High School Sports: The State Tournament

Because it was hard to compare either of my 3 experiences at state for me, I took the liberty to combine them into one. I reached the top level of cross country twice (2011 and 2012) and tennis once (2013). I consider this a great honor to have qualified for states this many times, let alone once. To also experience state in two different sports was also an opportunity I didn't take for granted, as most people that get to state only specialize in that one sport. And now to be

After qualifying to get to the state cross country meet my junior year, it was a whole new experience for me and my teammates. We were only the 2nd boys cross country team in school history to qualify for the state meet and the first to run on the new course at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, OH. The OHSAA moved the meet to here from it's prior home at Scioto Downs in Columbus, OH because Scioto Downs inserted gambling machines and wouldn't shut them down. When we were at the state meet, we had dinner the night before at the Spaghetti Warehouse with none other than thee Jared Champion. The next day we didn't race until the afternoon so we had time to kill in the hotel. After watching probably 6 episodes of My Name is Earl we finally left the hotel and ended up getting in some bad traffic. No worries, we got to the site of the state meet just in time. However, our team was just happy to be there and that was evident. With no goals, we went out and got 14th out of 16 teams. Not good, but on the flip side we didn't come in last! The two teams we beat though were also from our regional, so we didn't put on an impressive showing as a region either. All in all, it was a great experience and a big weight off my shoulders knowing that I finally got to state.

My next state experience was the next year in cross country. This time though, our team came down to the National Trail Raceway with a purpose. We weren't there to show up and get killed like the previous year. And with a year of experience under most of our belts, we were prepared. Our realistic goal was cracking into the top 10 of the state this time. We also had some support from our school this time, as The Red Army (our newly formed school student section) and our Boy's Basketball team (thank you Coach Ice). With the help of a nice sunny day in Hebron, our team went out there and did work. As I came around the final turn it was the weirdest thing that has happened to me in running. I thought, "This is my last ever finish in high school." With that in mind and the huge grandstand with everyone yelling, I had my best finish that year. Our team had many personal records set, as did I (17:39 5K). And at the finish we were all drinking our chocolate milk and Sarv (our coach) asked us how we thought we did as a team. That's when Aaran Gessic (our top runner) stepped in and said, "We got ninth." Sarv was shocked he already knew but we then celebrated. It was fun celebrating with our teammates, family and friends as cross country was now over. Like the prior year, we then went out to dinner at TGI Friday's and got some candy apples at the local mall. On a side note, we also beat our rivals NDCL! They got 10th place. Competing in the state cross country meet both years was an absolute blast.

Last but not least, my experience at the state tennis tournament my senior year was a great one. I qualified for the state doubles tournament with my good friend Dan Walker. We were the first doubles team in school history. The state tournament was held this year at Ohio State's tennis courts in Columbus. We showed up at the courts the day before the tournament to get some hitting in on the courts. The courts were very neat and fun to play on. We actually practiced next to the team we were playing from Columbus Academy. The next day was the day of the tournament, so we showed up at 7am to hit at the courts. We practiced a little bit with Hawken's doubles team (Adam Lee and Vid Yadav) and University's doubles team (Robby Stroup and Clay Hribar). At 9am the singles matches started and we watched some good matches. Unfortunately it started raining so we had to go indoors to a club 30 minutes away and play indoors. It was unfortunate that we couldn't play a match on Ohio State's courts but at least we got to practice on them. So when we finally got on the courts, we were matched up with Abram Schottenstein (grandson of the man who the Schottenstein Center on Ohio State's campus in named after) and Jacob Wareti. With Dan serving, we held the first game at 40-love but it was all downhill from there. The crowd was great, with a few hundred people watching the 4 courts on the side we were on. We had many supporters such as our athletic director and my girlfriend Myka and her best friend. It wasn't our day though as we lost 6-1, 6-0. This team from Columbus Academy however went on to beat every other team they played pretty bad and they ended up winning the state championship in doubles. It was great tennis to play and to watch, as this was also a great experience.

Stay tuned for moment number 2 tomorrow.

Thank you,
Fry That Chicken