Trey Stegman and Garret Patterson both reached very different milestones during the Big O Memorial Duals hosted at Yuma High School last Saturday.
Stegman, a senior, reached his 100th during the tournament. He enters regional with a 23-4 record this season. The 100th win took a little longer than originally anticipated as he missed two weeks of action last month due to illness.
“I was really itching to get back out there,” Stegman said. “It was a big accomplishment and I got to get it at home, too.”
Head coach Presley Papachek was plenty proud of him: “It was awesome to see Trey get number 100 at home in The Pit. He has had a great season and has had to battle with sickness throughout the season or he would have hit it much earlier. I think it is a great accomplishment and he has worked hard to get there.”
Stegman enters regional this weekend at Akron High School looking to earn his third trip to the state tournament. (He was quarantined for regional his freshman year due to COVID-19.)
“I’m hoping to make it again this year,” said Stegman, who should be the second seed at regional at 157 pounds. “It would be real nice to finally get to place (at state). I’ve been close all my high school career.”
Patterson wins twice, on scale and the mat
As for Patterson, a senior from Otis who wrestles for the Outlaws, he finally got on the mat for the first time in high school. He also earned his first win.
Patterson, who is 6-foot-3, weighed well over 300 pounds entering this season, after playing football for Otis in the fall. He was determined to cut approximately 40 pounds so he could get to 285 (actually 287 with the allowance) and finally get to compete.
He finally reached the goal Saturday morning of the regular season-ending Big O Memorial Duals at in The Pit at YHS.
“I was pretty proud of myself,” Patterson said earlier this week. “It’s probably been five or six years since I’ve been below 300 pounds.”
He went out for wrestling last season but could not get down to weight, dropping from 360 to 320. He practiced all season and came back for one last shot.
“Last year I had fun and the coaches have been great both years,” Garret said. “I just stuck with it and eventually with a lot of support was able to make it.”
Garret said get to his goal by watching his caloric intake. He mostly ate rice cakes, which provide energy but do not weigh much, and also drank roughly one-half gallon of water each day. He said he lost about four pounds per day, reaching his goal last Saturday.
Multiple family members, including his parents Colin and Michelle, all showed up wearing red T-shirts emblazoned with “Patterson 285#.” He also had about 10 friends in the stands cheering him on.
“It was a lot of fun and I had a lot of people there to support me,” he said.
Wrestling in real competition for the first time in high school, it was not surprising Garret struggled a bit on the mat. He was pinned in his first four matches Saturday.
However, it all finally came together in his final match of the day. He pinned Holyoke’s Hudson Koellner in 47 seconds for a true storybook ending.
“It was definitely a very good feeling after two years of trying to get there, and especially after four other matches of getting my butt kicked,” he said.
Coach Presley Papachek said: “Garret set a goal at the start of the season and achieved it. He has worked extremely hard in the wrestling room and at home. He lost over 50 pounds to be able to compete and was able to win a match, which was icing on the cake!”
However, that is not the end for Garret as he will compete Friday and Saturday in the Class 2A Region 1 Tournament in Akron, wrestling for a chance to advance to next week’s state tournament in Denver.
“I hope in this week of practice I can really push it forward,” Garret said. “I want to get through regional and get to state. That’s the goal this week.”