Conversation with 4-Timer Haakon Peterson

Dodgeville's own Haakon Peterson joins the show to talk about his journey to becoming a 4-Time State Champion!

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:08

Welcome to the Wisconsin Wrestler Podcast with your co-host, Teek Fenwick, and Steve LeFord.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another edition of the Wisconsin Wrestler Podcast. I'm your host, Teek Fenwick, coming to you, not live, recorded from Holman. Joining me, as always, from Koshkinong, my co-host, Steve Lurklin. Steve, great to be here. Steve, always pumped to be here. Excited to talk some wrestling. And Steve, it has been a hot minute. I'm not talking about our podcast because we did the one a couple weeks ago, but we have not had a four-timer on in a while. And I am excited for this one because this dude, not just an elite wrestler, but maybe a better human being off the mat. And I know he's going to have some great things to say. We did uh get one of our graduates from the class of 2026 on this year before he ships off to Michigan talking about the four-time state champ from Dodeville, the 33rd four-timer WIA history, Mr. Hawken Peterson. Hawkin, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, thank you for having me on. I hope I can live up to your introduction.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

You know, you you deserve a grand introduction there, and uh I know for a fact that you will. We're gonna have a good time tonight. So the tough thing is I've kind of gained a reputation, Hawkin, for for picking out, you know, four-timers usually don't have a lot of losses. So if I see a loss on the resume, I'm gonna talk about it. And in terms of the WIA season, you're you're kind of lacking in in that category. So uh we'll I would need to find more things to talk about, but some close ones. Oh yeah, we'll we'll get into those close ones for sure. Uh Hawkin, before we even talk high school, gotta do my favorite question. Let's just get your wrestling story from day one.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah, so I got a flyer at school one day, I think I was in kindergarten, and I just took it home and I begged my parents to let me wrestle. I really have no idea why I wanted to wrestle, but I think maybe it was just like I thought WWE was cool, and maybe it was kind of like that. And so I just begged my parents to let me go out to wrestling, and at first they were pretty hesitant. Um they thought that I'd be too competitive, and if I lose, I wouldn't be able to hand it, handle it. And um I wouldn't say they were wrong, uh, but I finally broke them, and I would say I was about halfway through like the youth season that I actually started uh wrestling, and I think my first practice was at the Dodgeville Matt Club, and then I also wrestled at the Pecatonica Youth uh Wrestling, and yeah, from there I wrestled my first two tournaments and I won both of those. My like my first true tournament, I think my first one was like a beginner's tournament, and then my second one was Sun Prairie, and I think I wrestled uh Danny Heiser and Caleb Cady that day. So yeah, it was a pretty good bracket.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Um that's if you want to send us a photo of that bracket, we might need to post that one. Yeah, three-person scramble.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Yeah, if I can find that, I'll I'll send it to you. I think I had one more other person in it, but I'm not sure if they still wrestle. I'd have to go back and look at it. But yeah, definitely a good first tournament uh to wrestle at. Um and then from there I started to go out to Forex, which was run by Cole Waneke, um, and he's a four-time state champion. So I would say he's the inspiration like behind me wanting to become a four-time state champion. Uh, he got all his brackets framed and they're in the room each day, and you could see them, and it's very inspiring. Like, okay, that's what I want to do. I mean, when you're a little kid and you look at those state brackets, they're so cool. And it's like, I want to do that. So that was definitely the my impetus behind becoming or wanting to become a four-time state champion.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Excellent word choice, I gotta say. Impetus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Love it. Well, it it well, two things. Um, did your did your did your dad, either one of your parents, have any wrestling background when you brought the flyer home?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Yeah, my dad wrestled two years in high school, I believe, just because his friends did it. And he's a lot more into football. He wrestled or he played football for UW Plateau.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

That is brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

Yeah, I'm just impressed because I'm I'm impressed that the flyer worked because I've send numerous flyers home and I haven't had a lot of luck. But I, you know, it's great motivation or uh for coaches to keep doing it because the flyer landed a four-time state champ. So that's a pretty good flyer right there.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah, I know. I guess I'm glad I got it and actually didn't just throw it away.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

All right, Hawking. I do before we keep going with your youth career here, uh kind of WWE inspired that got you into wrestling. Who's your favorite WWE star when you were in kindergarten?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Uh I don't even know. Maybe like The Undertaker, I would say. I'd say that's I wasn't like super big into it, but yeah, I even was struggled to just come up with one right there, but I think The Undertaker would be my uh favorite WWE star when I was growing up.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Hey, no shame in it, man. I was a big fan until like fourth grade, and then my friends started all telling me it was fake and that kind of killed the bad.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Yeah, I don't think I ever like truly watched any. It was more just like action figures and babysitters.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

You like do like Royal Rumbles in your house? Yeah, and yep. I get you. So yeah, your your youth career, you're uh you're at four times or four X with Cole Wanekee. How did uh when was your first youth state appearance?

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Um my first year, I got third. Uh and I lost in the semifinals to a kid I had tech followed like a month earlier. Uh and so yeah, that was definitely very devastating as a little kid. Like I can just remember being so upset after losing that match. Um but yeah, I can remember I think I had his leg up in the air and and I tripped and fell and gave up a takedown Plu's match. I think it went to like ultimate tiebreaker or something like that. But yeah, there's just I couldn't score. There's so many times I guess gonna score at the edge of the mat and then we'd go out of bounds and stuff. But yeah, I'd say that was probably a big like motivation as like being my first year of wrest or yeah, like first true year of full wrestling. Uh but yeah. Uh after that, I think I won every year of youth state that I wrestled in. Uh I think I won five times, I believe. Uh I didn't wrestle in my last two or three years, so I don't think I wrestled in U State my sixth, seventh, or eighth grade year.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

You just don't really lose in the postseason, do you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yeah. No, yeah, you gotta bring it to another level at that point. But um, yeah, I think my first national tournament was postseason nationals. Um and I think I went 0-2. And then the yeah, and then I went to preseason and I lost in the blood round. And then I the next well, yeah. So a whole year later, postseason nationals, I won. So through that year I made a very big jump in like my wrestling ability. Um and I think I was still wrestling for Cole at that time, and I had Reed Spurley as my partner, so we did a lot together. Um, I can remember my dad had a list of like all the moves we worked on at Forex, and uh sometimes it would just be my dad, Reed, and his dad, and my dad would just l say something off the list and we'd have to go do it. And I think, yeah, I think that really helped me growing up, just like being able to learn all the moves and know what they were, and yeah, and all the techniques that Cole showed me were very good and fundament fundamental stuff, and I think all my wrestling after that was built based off of that for the most part. So definitely a great first coach to have.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

So what do you feel in in that season specifically? Like, what do you think really like like what light bulb turned on?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Um, I wouldn't say there was like a light bulb at all. I just I was just very competitive and like I didn't want to lose, so I just knew that if I went to practice and I just tried to get as good as I could, I think that was kind of and just work hard was kind of the thing. Uh and I would say growing up I was really good at being able to focus and pay attention at practice and like truly learn the moves and be able to execute them. Um and I would say part of that is just because I'd done gymnastics from the time I was like five, so I kind of know knew how to move my body, and I think that helped a lot. It's huge. Yeah. I would say that would be like the one thing like I would want my child to do gymnastics because I feel like any sport you're gonna do after that, you're probably gonna do pretty well.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Right. I feel like gymnastics is pretty good, not just physically, but mentally, because it definitely takes some guts to go out and try some of the stuff that they do. Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

Well, that and strength, you know, the strength that just comes with it.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah. No, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

So, Hawken, you're a pretty rarefied case coming into high school because uh you did win Fargo before your freshman year, correct?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 10:41

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

So a Fargo champ coming into your freshman year, pretty no one likes to start the four-timer talk too early, but I think you know, people don't really have a choice when you do something like that. Obviously, that was one of your goals. Did you was there any outside noise at all? Was there coaches or people talking to you about like, hey man, like you could very well do this before you stepped from the school room?

SPEAKER_01 11:06

No, I wouldn't say there was. I mean, I always knew that's what I wanted to do, and so I would say it was just more like my own pressure, but I never really felt that pressure for the most part. I mean, there might have been I would say there was just like one match ever where like I truly felt the pressure, but not even. I feel like I still wrestled well in that match, but yeah. Um even before that, like still in uh I think after my like first two years of wrestling, I switched over to Seabolt, and so that was like a four-hour drive to practice with Reed. And so uh I would say that's when I like even though I had one postseason already, that was when I I probably made some of my biggest gains in wrestling. I would go, yeah, pretty much to every national tournament after that, and you get to wrestle some of the best wrestlers. So even going into high school, I kind of knew that I could compete with some of the best. Um, obviously I had to grow a little bit to be the weight class as 106, but I kind of had to do that my entire high school career.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

So were you uh because far ago were you 94 going into freshman year?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah, I wrestled 88 and then 94. So I did both of my cadet years before I was in high school, and yeah, I was in the finals of all four of those from Freestyle and Gracco.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

So So you're saying when you were a fresh when you were a freshman, you were you were under you were under five, you were you were in 106 pounds, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

No. Um I mean I didn't wrestle a lot of my freshman year because I was hurt. I was supposed to wrestle at the big cheese and my knee got infected, and I had like uh bursitis in my knee, but it got infected, so it was like super tender. I could not hit my knee on the mat at all for most of the or yeah, for most of the season, and that's why I didn't wrestle. So that was yeah, definitely like a question coming into high school. I I didn't wrestled hardly any matches before going into regionals. I had 25 matches, and nine of those were regional sectionals in state.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Right. I did just notice that I had your match thing pulled up for like the last hour, and I saw, yeah, your first match, January 14th. The Norsky invite.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

So was that uh just a lot of rehab before then? Like when did you actually get back on the mat that season?

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Um, I did a lot of just like hand fighting stuff uh and did my best to just avoid hitting my knee on the mat. But in wrestling, it's like almost inevitable that you're gonna hit both your knees at some point. So um one yeah, one thing I did, I just had like a knee sleeve and then a knee pad, and then the knee pad would like slide off, and so like there wouldn't be as much friction, and my knee wouldn't get stuck in the mat. Uh, and that was like the main thing, but yeah, I would say it was kind of just like I mean, even when I like first got back, it was just do the best you can not to hit your knee a little bit, but sure. I would say, yeah, by the time the season was getting done, I was pretty well to being recovered at that point, and I haven't had any problems with it since, which has been great.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Well, your freshman year, and I know there might not be a lot of meat on this bone with someone who's undefeated through their career and just wrestled at a tough club, wrestled a lot of tough tournaments, but in the season, did you have any like welcome to high school wrestling moments where it's like like, oh, like there's no age group stuff, like I'm wrestling seniors now, like these guys are a little bigger, a little stronger. Did you have any moments like that during the campaign?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

No, I don't think I really did, and I'd say a lot of that uh would just be from wrestling Reed and Charlie at practice every day, and they're bigger than me. Uh that helps a lot, but yeah. Also, uh that was the first year I'd started going to Askren, and so kind of just like learning uh just a few couple new moves and stuff, and combining that with wrestling with Reed and Charlie every day at practice, and they're bigger than me. So I kind of knew that I felt like I was competitive with them a little bit, and so even being smaller, so I was like, I feel like I'm pretty confident going in, and I don't think there was truly a match where yeah, I I didn't struggle too much my freshman year, I don't think. I can't recall.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

I knew like your closest match before the postseason was a 10-3 win over Levi Ness of Lodi in the Norse Events.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah. No, that yeah, back when there's two-point takedowns, had to do a lot of work.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah. Uh yeah. I yeah, I didn't know much about him when I wrestled the first time. Uh I'd say like the one that was kind of like anticipated a little bit would be Ethan Hayde, the first time I wrestled him. Just and I wrestled him that year and the year after, probably like eight or nine times. I felt like I I had to wrestle him everywhere. Um but yeah. Yeah. And then I'd say wrestling Logan in the finals, Mueller, uh, that was definitely one where I didn't know because I hadn't wrestled him and he we really had no like common opponents at all or anything. The only thing that I knew was that Charlie had wrestled him the year before.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Yeah, running through your freshman year, it definitely was a lot of taking care of business. And I do remember because at state, that was the first time I got to see you in person.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

And uh yeah, 14 to 7 with two-point takedowns. Like that that's pretty clinical on someone. And like Logan is a very solid wrestler. Yeah, we'll talk more Ethan Hayden because I think it's three times this year, but then I think you guys matched up five times your sophomore year. So that's that's always interesting when you have someone that you wrestle that many times. Uh your goal is to be a four-time state champ going into the state tournament your freshman year. Was there any nerves at all the first time you stepped out on the mat?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Yeah, I would say it was before I even stepped on out on the mat. And I think this was the same almost every year I entered the call center. Like, Division I would always already be wrestling, and then you walk in, you hear the whistles, and I wouldn't even be in the arena yet. I would just be out in the halls, and uh I'd feel it a little bit, get butterflies, and then I'm like, okay, I gotta calm down, I'm I'm gonna be fine. I just go out and wrestle. So yeah. I would say, yeah, there wasn't too many times at the call center where I was like truly nervous. It was or like before a match at least, it was just when I'd enter the building. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

See, and I know you looked at it too, but 106 pounds, that bracket. Like there's some big names out here. You got Ethan, Ethan Haydy, obviously we've talked about him. Blake Fry, Blake Fry on this one was a one and done. He ended up being a state champ. And uh Colton Coss Brady Collins, McAllister Ramage. Yeah, Mack Ramage. That's a that's a big bracket right there.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I didn't know that because I'd wrestled Brady and Mac a lot at practice because it was my first year at Askren, and we're the same way. So I got to wrestle with them a lot over the year, and that was super helpful.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Yeah, that's some that's some good competition, right? Is it was it interesting wrestling Brady in the semis, having wrestled him at practice so many times?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yeah. Um, I mean, we knew a little bit about wrestling trailer just because we were at practice, but even still, I hadn't wrestled a whole lot of live against them just because I'd been hurt the whole year and is my first year there. So I would say even though we were teammates, I wouldn't say there was like a whole bunch of familiarity going into the match. I mean, I definitely wrestled them a little bit at practices and stuff, but there's never like we're gonna go wrestle match at practice just because I was hurt.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

So makes sense. So state finals, we discussed it a little bit already. Uh you get the 14-7 win over uh Logan Mueller. First question how was your first walk of champions?

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Uh yeah, I mean it's super cool. I can remember like watching Coles or like hearing the song and stuff, so definitely being out there for the first time. That was super cool. And I would say my freshman year was the best atmosphere for me wrestling. Uh, because you're the first match being 106 and just having everybody ready to watch the finals and cheering. It was so loud before my match. And I think uh yeah, the DJ, the music was like so loud, like the entire arena was shaking. I actually think he I think I heard that he got fired the next year or something because it was too loud. Really?

SPEAKER_03 20:24

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah, I think I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I heard that from somebody.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

I mean, we we have had a new DJ the last two years.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

So it seems like a suggestion of hey, turning down a little bit might be the first step, but I mean, yeah, yeah. That's a step too, I guess, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yeah, I don't I don't know if that's the reason why, if it was too loud, or but yeah, I'm pretty sure I heard that. But yeah, the atmosphere in my freshman year is amazing, and I mean it always is when you're at the call center. I mean, there's not a time where you wouldn't want to be wrestling at the call center.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

So you get your first day championship, and how do you feel after that one?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Yeah, I mean, it's super exciting. Uh definitely going one, two, three is a super cool feeling. I mean, you all three of us accomplished what we wanted to do that year, and I mean, not a lot of teams get to say that is even one person, but to have three of them in a row, that's definitely something that doesn't happen very often. And when you get to wrestle with them each day and they accomplish what they want to accomplish, and you get to do what you want to do as well. It's it's definitely a great feeling.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

That's oh, Steve, that's what you meant by the one, two, three. I my brain was stuck on the one, two, three, four the next year, but that's right. You got Dodgeville what? You guys won like 21 matches in a row or something at the state tournament over the course of two years or something like that, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Yeah, I think it was even more than that because Charlie. Or wait, yeah. Charlie and Reed won, so that'd be six right there, and then we won another three there, so nine, fifteen, and then that'd be twelve, so twenty-seven, I think.

unknown 22:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

And then we won a couple matches before we lost the year after that. So I think it was like 28, which yeah, that's a lot of matches in a row.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

That's pretty awesome. Good time to be a dodging wrestling fan. That was.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

No, and yeah, in part it's like, oh, that's an amazing stat. But it's also like you want other people to be there and be able to make it to the state tournament and break the streak. So that's cool to have other people make it to the state tournament other than the four of us.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

So was it um not wrong? Was it was it Nate that broke the streak?

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah, I think it was Nate or Rhett, one or the other. I think it was like same round. Yeah. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:03

Yeah, to get both of them tournament and do as well as they did.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

It was very, very uh rewarding, not only for them, but for me for like being able to coach them and wrestle with them each day and like try to help and get them better. It is definitely like a passion for me to become a wrestling coach almost maybe in the future sometime. I don't know if that'll ever happen, but it was definitely something I love to do.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

I know that could very much be influenced by career field, but if time allows for you, you should definitely become a wrestling coach. Yes. Yeah, no, the thing about Nate's junior year, and I'm a big Nathan Johnson fan, it's like his bracket to get to state like was not easy.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

No. Yeah, uh I think part of that was because of me a little bit. Uh but yeah, I mean to to get there and then to place how he did and wrestle how he did was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

That's still one of my favorite pizzas of content I got. I don't know if you ever saw the video that I got of his mom screaming during his blood rail match. Yeah, yeah. Now Tony's an icon.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah, no, you can hear her at every tournament.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

So hockey, feel pretty good after your freshman year. And uh almost everyone we had on, they said, you know, that first one is like it's either like, all right, the job's done on this one, or there's like a little bit of relief because yeah, that first one, your first eight tournament, you get it out of the way. Was there anything you did differently during the offseason going into your sophomore year, or were you kind of it seemed like you just had a pretty good process going for you?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Um I wouldn't say too much changed. I mean, I went up a weight class. Uh I know I went 113 at junior duels, um, and I didn't do very well. Uh, but I think in the long run it was actually the best thing for me because then I went down to 106 because that was the weight class I should have been wrestling. I think I weighed in at like 111 when I was at junior duels, and so I think I went like three and five, which hasn't happened very too many times in my career, where I think, yeah, I was below 500 at a tournament. Uh but yeah, I mean the guys that I wrestled were super good, and just being able to get that feel and then go back down to my true weight class at Fargo definitely helped a lot. And I mean, I got a pretty big win in the semifinals because I don't think I was even ranked it uh nationally ranked.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

I can dive dive into that a little bit more. You just said that. You said you went three and five, never happened before, right? Never happened again. Yeah, I think I've covered a little bit at Virginia at Virginia duels.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

I think one year I was like 500, but yeah, I think that being three and five was definitely a shock.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

How how did you reframe that? Like, what did you so you're disappointed, you didn't do very well for you know by your by your standards, right? How did you reframe that and then bounce back to you know, just I I think that's important for young people to hear this, coaches to hear this. You know, what did you do to come back from that three and five performance?

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yeah, no, I mean it was definitely disappointing, but you just kind of have to go back and realize like partially it was just because I wasn't ready for to wrestle that weight class at the time, but also you're wrestling really good wrestlers, so just going back and seeing how you scored and then being able to replicate that even more than you did the first time, and then also just seeing what mistakes you're making. And I would say if you're losing five matches, you're probably gonna be making the mistake a mistake more than once in one of those matches. So if you can fix that, then you're probably gonna be doing a lot better off the next time if you wrestled those eight wrestlers again. Um did you watch film?

SPEAKER_03 27:04

Did you watch film on the matches and and on the mistakes, or is that kind of Yeah, no, I pretty I mean now like I almost watch my matches like immediately if I lose, I think.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Uh sometimes it's just because I want to see like okay, what did I do wrong there? And then I'll watch it more in depth later. But yeah, I'm I really like to be able to watch my matches and see what I did wrong, and then be able to go and fix that uh for the next time. So I'd say that's one thing, but even like if I'm gonna be able to go out and wrestle someone and I know like this is gonna be a competitive match, I like to go see like what are like the one or two things that they're good at. And I feel like I picked up on this from Ben. I always did it, but going to Askren, he it was just like pick one or two things that you're gonna focus on that they're good at and like what positions you want to stay out of or just like know what you're gonna do if you get there, versus like before that, I think I like it was like I tried to watch like everything and like so then like I'd get to the match and I'd forget to do my own stuff. But sure, then once I switched to Askren, like just picking out like the one or two main things that they're good at, and then either just staying out of that position or just being ready for it. So I think that's like a big change. That's good that I have.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Yeah, kind of if you're focusing on the whole thing, you can kind of almost get paralysis by analysis a little bit. Yeah, so yeah, pretty good to break that down and focus on it. Soft four year. I know uh must have been a tough adjustment with being up a weight or two because we had two matches within three points, everybody. And things things clamped down a little bit. I can't ask for a better first match of the year for you, Hawken. You have uh Blake Andres to start off, and I forget which duel tournament this is.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Yeah, uh the Peeper Duels.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Yeah, I think that was up Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

I think I wrestled 120 that day, and yeah, I'd wrestle Blake a lot because I well, not a lot, but I went to RT's for a little bit, and so I'd wrestle with him a decent amount, but yeah, that was a good match, is I feel like, in my opinion, I didn't wrestle the best that day. I feel like I kind of shut down a little bit, but even still to wrestle someone like that in your first tournament at high school is definitely a good match to have no matter what.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

Was that your several match at 120?

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because yeah, I forgot about that. I wrestled I think I wait, I might have weighed in at 113, I could be wrong, or like close to it. I think the next tournament I wrestled 113.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Okay, oh yeah, so you're you're giving up a little bit of weight, like you said, Blake's a good rep you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

He's a really good wrestler. I mean he's a state champion, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So yeah. I mean, I'd watch them wrestle Charlie all the time. I think the rest of that year they probably wrestled a bunch, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

And then going down to uh the Sock Prairie invited in the finals, Logan Clausen, a badger, kept it 3-1. And this is still two-point takedowns, I think.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Yeah. Uh I I we always go to, well, yeah, for the last four years we've gone to a vacation during Christmas. And so I was going down to yeah, I went down to Costa Rica, I believe, and I got back and I was like probably 122. And 113 was probably like my hardest year of like making weight. Uh, but it was halfway through the season I started to grow. So like the beginning half of the season, it was really easy to make 113, and then as the season progressed, it got harder and harder. Uh, but yeah, I think I wrestled 126 that day. Uh I would have wrestled well, I would have wrestled 120 if Charlie wrestled 126, but he was hurt, so he didn't want to wrestle up a weight class, but he still wanted to wrestle, I think. And so it was like I could just make 113 or just wrestle 126. And then I think I wrestled 126, I'm pretty sure. Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Yeah, yeah, because yeah, 132. Oh, that was before Christmas, but up.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Yeah, I just say yeah. Yeah, I have I just that one was just for the team at that duels, just to hopefully win a few more matches than we would have if I wrestled 113. Uh but yeah, wrestling him at 126. I mean, a part of it was just like being up two weight classes, but he's a really good wrestler, and to get better matches, that was kind of part of the reason I also wrestled 126 is I knew he was gonna possibly be there. So to get a good match like that and just prepare myself for the rest of the season.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Was that match? Was it uh was it takedown in the first and then matching escapes in the second and third?

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Or I think it was zero, yeah, it was zero, zero, and then I wrote him out, which I pretty much never had to do before. I mean, I'm not I wouldn't say I'm the biggest top wrestler ever. Uh I mean many of my matches are just takedown and cut them up and let them go. Uh but uh yeah, uh just get the ride out, and then I got an escape, and then I got a takedown probably 20 seconds after that, and then I let him up, and I don't think I got a takedown after that. Yeah, so it was three to one.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

And after that, not not really a whole lot of close matches, as it's a lot of pins. How many pins did you end up recording in your career? Um I don't know. I feel like you're more of a tech guy.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Yeah, the best question of any tech calls I had. Uh really the only time I would get a pin, I think, maybe before the three take three-point takedown, it would just be if the team needed, well, yeah, before the three-point takedown, I would pin I'd try to pin them just because it would be like 15 takedowns to get a tech fall. But yeah, after after the three-point takedown, then it was just like, okay, I'm gonna get seven takedowns and work on seven different takedowns or seven takedowns and uh yeah, and just get the tech fall. But before yeah, once the three-point takedown happened, it was pretty much only if the team needed me to get six points. So pretty much every duel I'd try to get a pin. Um, but other than that, at tournaments I just like to go and try to get a tech fall.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

My biggest question for your sophomore year, so you you beat Ethan at 20 to 5 in the final. You wrestle Ethan Haiti five, wait, one, two, three, yeah, five times, four times in about the span of a month in the last month of the month of the season. Now, you're a great wrestler, Hawkins, but Ethan, of course, as you know, like he's a very good wrestler as well. Yeah. I know it was majors, text, he had a pin in there, but did he like come at you with adjustments every match, or how is it wrestling someone like that's still that pretty good you know, five times through the course of a year?

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Yeah. Um, I mean, you always gotta like change a little bit of how you wrestle and uh figure out the things that worked in the last match and see if you can improve upon that and just like continue to find that area, and then if they shut it down, you've got to find another area. So it was definitely difficult wrestling him four or five times in a season just because he's a good wrestler and he makes adjustments, so you kind of just have to find the next opening that's there if he's shutting down one thing. But yeah, it it also helps when you can like attack many positions versus just having like one takedown that I think that was a big help when I wrestled him was I could do a high crotch or a single egg, and so it was kind of hard. I was I mean, make I tried to make it hard for him to like shut one thing down because I would just try to find another thing. But yeah, no, there's plenty of times where I've wrestled people at practice, and then you have to wrestle them at a tournament, and it's it is hard because they know what you're gonna do, and they've felt you so many times, so you just have to keep finding a new way to score because they're gonna be expecting what you do at practice or in that last match.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

Aken, you're just spitting straight philosophy tonight, and I I'm thoroughly enjoying it. How'd you feel after your second state title, sir?

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Yeah, I mean Does the feeling ever get old or no? No, it it doesn't. I mean, yeah, about the only thing for my high school season, I just wish I would have enjoyed it a little bit more of just like when I was in the state finals and like after you win and just like taking it all in. I felt like at least my first three years, I kind of just like got my hand raised and then walked off off the mat versus just like enjoying being in the crowd that you're surrounded by. Sure, and just like truly enjoying it. I mean, yeah. I mean, everyone does it after the fourth state title for sure. Uh, but after doing it that time, I was like, oh, I kind of wish I would have enjoyed being surrounded by such a great crowd.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

That's um similar advice to uh Mr. Grayson Clark. Be where your feet are. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I mean winning a state title is awesome. And again, doing it with four of us is an even better feeling because all four of us wanted to win a state title and we did it. So, and then going back to communic the community, and there's fireworks, and get to talk and be with the fire, well, the fire trucks and everything, and yeah. So that's cool. Just being surrounded by an amazing community and being surrounded by some of the best wrestlers uh in the state uh on your team is definitely a fun feeling.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

So, a couple more uh thoughts on that. How was that experience? I mean, you're you're probably warming up during Shane's match, so it's gotta be hard to might not have focused on that one too much, but just how was that like watching Charlie and then uh uh Reed's matches? I guess in the tournament, how was that experience with four guys winning the state title in a row?

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Yeah, um, at least for like the early rounds, uh it's kind of hard to watch them if they're before or after you because you can't really stay on like the floor, uh, or else you just have to go back to the halls and you really can't see anything. So I know a lot of times I tried to like sneak in the corner and just like sit by the chair, um, but pretty much every time I'd get kicked out. Uh but even yeah, even still I got to watch some of their matches. Uh I know like Shane and Aiden Grunfelder were wrestling at the same time when, but I feel like I watched them a lot. I wasn't too nervous before my match, so like I felt comfortable watching them wrestle, and uh they both won, and I was super excited for them. Uh, and then I got to go out and wrestle. Uh, I don't think I got to see Charlie's match really at all. I thought he was losing because I think he threw him, which is kind of expected when Charlie wrestles, of kind of a crazy match, and I think he got like a five-point move uh right away, and I think they gave it well, like they didn't give it to the other person, but on the like scoreboard it was 5-0, and I was just in the back and I saw five-zero, and I'm like, oh my goodness, what happened? Did he like try to do something on his back? And I was like, that's definitely a possibility when Charlie's wrestling, and then they switched it, and I was like, Oh, okay, I'm good. Yeah, he's he's gonna win. Uh, and then I think, or yeah, this might be my freshman year. I think when I was watching Reed, I was like in my singlet, and I didn't have my pass, so I was literally in my dodge little singlet, like up in the stands, watching him wrestle, and I was trying to get back down so I could like be on the podium, and whoever was the worker, she wouldn't let me down, and I was just in my singlet, and then had to like go run and grab my pass, and I got down eventually. But like that was pretty funny. I was just in my singleton socks, I didn't even have my shoes on at that point, and I was just trying to get down to the floor because I needed to get my like podium picture, right? But yeah, no, I definitely try to do my best to watch other matches. I really enjoyed watching all of them wrestle, and seeing that be successful is uh I mean, I I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

So I'll tell you what, the Dodgeville suite was very lively and that night. They were about two sections away from where I was doing the TV commentary, and I I did I picked four Dodeville wrestlers to win state that year, and we we went to like commercial quick, and I look over, and they they it was a sea of orange just going crazy, man. That was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 40:42

Yeah, but yeah, in that night team, too, you called me way later. I was driving home and I'm like, you just got out of there? He said, Yeah, I couldn't get away from the Dogeville people. They were all happy with me that I picked uh all four of them.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Yeah, no, you I think you yeah, I know I've seen a picture of you with a couple of the guys before up in the up in the suite.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

After all the wrestling was done, I went over into the suite, and I was like, How about them Dodgers? And like the it was yeah, like a core memory for me, and uh it was great energy.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Yeah, yeah, no, that's definitely one thing about the Cold Center is not only the wrestling, but the entire states there, and when you're wrestling, you get to know a whole bunch of people, and a lot of the communities surrounding Dodgeville and outside of Dodgeville, so you get to see so many people that you've known pretty much your entire life just from wrestling, and to get to see them all in one place is super amazing, and you get to see so many people you know along the way, and just the support is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

It's like a big class reunion at the big tournament.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

I know on the club scene, hawk you're wrestling good guys every time you you step into an AWA room, but you were blessed with uh in your own high school room, you guys had four state champions. Take us through that day-to-day experience because three months of wrestling, like elite talent. I'm sure not every day is perfect, but just uh I guess take us through the day-to-day experience of that. What are some of your favorite drills with the guys that year?

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Yeah. Um, I would say for the most part, we were kind of on our own. That's just like the one thing about Dodgeville is we have like the four of us or the three of us or our five of us, it just depended on the season. Uh, whereas like we had such we had people that were brand new to the sport, and then we also had some of us that were very elite. So it's hard, it just made it hard for the coaches like to get everyone on the same page. So that was one thing where like we had just try to help out our best with like the wrestlers that were new to it and making our team an actual team versus just the four of us, which was amazing. And I would say a big part of that was just Reed and Charlie's success that first year and getting a bunch of people out. So yeah, just helping out as much as we could with the other wrestlers and then really just focusing, focusing on what we knew we needed to do because we knew the things that we needed to work on, and we didn't need our coaches to tell us that. And if there was something that we were having a problem with, they're always there for us. Uh, so that was amazing. But to be able to work on the things that we needed to work on, which was a really big help.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

So whether it be drills or live, uh let's say uh you're wrestling a Teak Fenwick level wrestler, you know, four time regional qualifier level, just to give you some perspective. What do you do in those situations to to help get yourself better?

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Um for the most part, I think my first two years, I really only wrestled live with Charlie, my sophomore year, because Reed tore his ACL, so he didn't wrestle. At all that year, besides regional sectionals and state. But uh there wasn't a whole bunch of times where I would wrestle them. It was more just like I would watch and either like say, Okay, you need to like fix this a little bit, or this is what you could have done and just help out with that. But yeah, for yeah, for that, it's kind of hard to just go out and wrestle them. It would just be more like I would say just like a spar, like go just wrestle, see what they do in this position. Oh, you could do this versus that versus like calling it live, because I feel like at that point it would just be if I was doing live, it would be demoralizing to someone that's new to the sport.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

Yeah, you're you're kind of you're either scrapping them.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:50

Scrap them a little bit, put them in the right position, that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

Yeah. Yeah. And just help them work on the things that they need to get better at. And just like I feel like my philosophy, at least for like high school wrestling, if they're new to the sport, is just like try to get really good at one move and just like execute that because you're probably gonna find an opening in one of those matches. And then yeah, if you can I feel like in for high school wrestling, if you can have like one move that you're gonna be really good at and just find a way to get to it, you're gonna do really well or a lot better than you were doing.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

If you get a good takedown, a good stand-up, and a good half, you you put yourself in a spot to potentially qualify for state, is what I was always told. I think it's a little different now, but I I still think it rings through a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

Yes. I would yeah, I would I would say as there's been more clubs and people are continuing to wrestle outside of the season. I mean, Wisconsin's now, I would say, one of the best wrestling states. Um and yeah. Agree. So I I think it's a little bit different now, but I would say like wrestling out of the high school season is always gonna be the difference. But yeah, for someone that doesn't only wrestles those three months, yeah, just like working on one thing and getting really good at it, and obviously you're gonna have to diversify at one point or another if you want to become really elite. But for those guys, I mean, yeah, just find one thing that you're gonna be good at and work on that.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Oh, and I like that because you know, you're you're in a position, I'm sure there's a lot of good wrestlers that find themselves in that. There, there's probably guys that are state champion caliber that have no other state qualifiers in there. Yeah. But your sparring description, it kind of reminds me of uh Ben and his funky book. He would take guys that weren't great at all, he would get them in the right positions and like kind of let them put him in a spot that he wasn't familiar with, so like he would still allow himself to get better. So uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

Yeah. No, for sure. I was definitely blessed to have so many great partners, and that was kind of like when I was going into high school, even like deciding where to go for school, because I mean I really had three options with Dodge from Inner Point and Peck Argyle. So, because I had to open enroll to go to Dodgeville. It was kind of just like a factor of like academics, and I mean having Reed and Charlie, like it yeah, Reed moving from Inner Point to Dodgeville kind of had a big effect of like, okay, I could wrestle with who I've wrestled with my entire like life up to that point. Uh so that was also a major factor in it, but yeah, just having those three and then yeah, even at Peck, like Aiden and I would have been the same weight that year. So that was like I mean, one of us is gonna have to move up a weight, and obviously I feel like either one of us would have done very well at the next weight class, but it's kind of hard when you have to bump one of us up to a weight class that's probably not our best weight class at that time was sure a little another factor.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

I would say it's a different ballgame, yeah. Yeah, yep. Well, hey, big respect to you. I mean, I was focusing on like the state champs, and then for you to bring the whole team into it. That's why you should be a coach. And I'm sure for you two, you seem like a pretty selfless deal. We all get this in wrestling, but you probably had some guys like winning their first career matches or winning some smaller tournaments where you you probably feel more pumped than like you personally feel like at state or something like that. Like success in wrestling is an undefeated feeling.

SPEAKER_01 48:39

Yeah, I agree. That that's that's definitely one of the things, like from just like seeing how well Nate and Rhett have done, specifically those two, because I worked with them the most. And like just seeing not only that they were like winning matches, but winning like really good matches was like super exciting and like pumping me up way more than me winning a match. And so, yeah, that's a super rewarding feeling for someone else to be successful and knowing that you're probably helping them win some of those matches, or at least help them to some degree. So I would say for sure, coaching has felt very rewarding to me.

SPEAKER_02 49:19

Hawkins, as we're between your sophomore and junior year, this is the most out of left field question I'm gonna have for you. Uh you might have to think a little bit on this one, but you brought up all your family went on vacation uh during the holiday week the last four years. And man, I'm a big Buy State fan, and I definitely miss Lincoln Peterson at Buy State, but I also understand, too, like you gotta find your spots when you can as a family, and you gotta have some Utah. And if you were doing it in late February, I'd probably have some questions, but I I get like you gotta take your vacations when the window's available for everybody. Power rank your four family vacations from your high school career.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Oh, that was not what I was expecting, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:04

Oh, what were you expecting?

SPEAKER_01 50:06

I thought you were gonna say something about buy state and why I wasn't there. I feel like for I I do catch a lot of flack. I would say, like, from my high school career, I no, I would say I catch the most flack for like not being at those tournaments, but I mean, obviously Buy State's a great tournament. I'm not trying to discredit that at all. But just like the tournaments outside of that that I can wrestle at are way more important, and I wouldn't want to miss that versus missing by state. But um who I would say okay, we went to Mexico. That was probably our worst trip, I would say. It was still really good, but I just the fit the food I wasn't a super big fan of. Um, our first trip to Costa Rica, I would say that would be number one, I would say.

SPEAKER_03 50:55

Were these like resorts, or did you guys go traveling or what what was that?

SPEAKER_01 51:00

Yeah, um, yeah, for the most part they're resorts, and then we would go off and do some other stuff outside of it. But yeah, Costa Rica was super cool of just being able to uh yeah, just the food was amazing. The fruit, uh I loved it. Uh probably part of the reason I was 123 and I was wrestling 113. Uh but yeah, the food was amazing, and then we got to go ziplining and horseback riding during Christmas, yeah, Christmas Day. Uh that was definitely amazing. Uh and then I guess we only went to three. My first year I just couldn't wrestle uh because I was hurt. And then uh we went to Guatemala in Belize. I'd say that was the second one. Uh we went to Mayan Ruins, and that was like crazy. Like it's just like, how did people do this? Like, this does not feel real. And then like, and it wasn't even just there's just like one building here or there, it's like giant buildings everywhere. And so that was definitely super cool, and like I do like like learning about history a little bit. I mean, I don't like history of the class, but like on my own, like watching videos about history that's like going out and living it a little bit, yeah. Yeah, and then yeah, and to go out and see it was like amazing, and then so we got kind of like more of like hiking through those, and then we went to that was in Guatemala, and then I think in Belize, or maybe that was Belize, and then when we went to Guatemala, one or the other, uh, that was more just like relaxing. Uh, we went fishing, uh, and then what we fished we ate for lunch and stuff. And just yeah, going to the pool and eating, and yeah, everything that went with it is really fun vacation. So yeah, I would say Mexico and then Guatemala and Belize and then Costa Rica.

SPEAKER_02 53:02

Costa Rica takes the cake. If you if your dad has some photos of the Mayan ruins, uh send them my way.

SPEAKER_01 53:10

Yes, we will. I will. I we have some, we have a lot.

SPEAKER_02 53:15

I I can only imagine yeah, you have two photographers in the family, so yes, yep. Uh fun stuff. And you know what? I'm glad you uh I wasn't going the the by state direction. I'm glad you said something, yeah. Outside noise is outside noise. I think uh you you put in too much work to get flack for something like that, but there's there's always gonna be armchair quarterbacks, brother.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

I'm gonna say something on that uh Hawkin. I don't remember which one, I'm gonna blend it all together, but I remember I the thought came to me. I was like, oh man, we're not gonna see Hawken. And I was like, and I and I don't remember the year, right? But you weren't at Buy States, and you know, I'm I'm just gonna, as a guy involved in the sport, the thoughts came in my head, you're right, of all the flack you probably get. And then later that year, it was that season, you beat somebody, and that instantly, I instantly went, oh my gosh. You know, like he had he doesn't have to prove anything to anybody because he's like, I just want you to know that that was um, I'm giving you my honest thought, so I don't know if you you probably don't care or whatever, but it was like, no, that kid is he he's the real deal, and he doesn't have to go to by seat to prove it anything to anybody, is what my my mentality was.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

So I just want you to know that that was uh um yeah, no, obviously it's it's a great tournament, and like I would have loved to be there and wrestle there because it was it is like outside of the state tournament, the best competition you're gonna face, um, and sometimes better than you're gonna wrestle at state.

SPEAKER_03 54:44

But yeah, that is just like the only time that worked out for our family to go on a vacation because and you can you wonder what as a as a dad, you cannot get that time back. So I I respect it 100%. So Tig, I I have a great question for junior year.

SPEAKER_02 54:58

So if you're ready to crank to that uh that bracket, that's uh yeah, can you got anything on your sophomore to junior offseason besides gaining the I do, I do. Yeah, let's hear it.

SPEAKER_01 55:11

That's good dimension. Uh what was it? I wrestled in the last chance qualifier, and I won my first match, and then I got tech'd by Nathan Tomasello. And the one thing is I wrestled 113, and then this is 125, and so I'm not cutting like any weight at all, and you're wrestling a grown man, and so but just be able to wrestle him, and then I wrestled Gary Steen and I lost that match as well. But be able to go out and compete with them uh was amazing, and like instantly, I'll I'll bring this up later because this year at the US Open is kind of the same thing, but to go and wrestle those guys that were so good, and then to go back to Askren and wrestle someone and just like wow, this feels so much different, and like I feel like I got better just from like wrestling them, and I hadn't even practiced after that yet. It was literally my first practice back, and I was like, wow, I feel so much better just from wrestling these two guys in 12 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 56:11

Nathan Tomasello's a bulldog. Oh my lord.

SPEAKER_01 56:14

Yeah, yeah, I knew the high crotch was coming, and it instantly happened, right? Like probably first 20 seconds, and then I did figure it out, but I think he got back to it eventually. But to be able to wrestle with him for three minutes or make it out of the first period, obviously you want to win the match, but I was kind of a little outclassed and outpowered at the moment, and so it was kind of just like try to survive after those first that first takedown and gut wrench that I had no chance of stopping the gut wrench at all. Uh, but yeah, to be able to wrestle with him for three minutes, and then Ben was like, okay, go out and try to score, and then I did, and I think I got instantly taken down and then gutted again to end the match. But yeah, it was just a great opportunity to go out and wrestle, and then I went out to U-20s, uh World Team Trials, because I had qualified from winning Fargo the year before. So I didn't wrestle at the open because I was too small to wrestle 125 yet, and then by the time uh last chance qualifier happened, and then uh I was big enough, and then so I was like, okay, I'm gonna wrestle U-20s too, because I wrestled at this. And then I think I got I lost, yeah, I went 0-2 there. I got beat by Aaron Seidel and Davis Motika, so two pretty good matches. Uh I mean a loss, but to be able to wrestle them again is yes, great feedback. Um and then I think I wrestled a pr like maybe a couple practices after that. And I I had gotten a stinger before I went to U-20s, and then I got another one after uh that like probably like the week after, and I lost all the strength in my arm for I mean, I'm still dealing with it a little bit, not the strength part, just like I get stingers from time to time. So yeah, that after that I was done for the summer. So I didn't wrestle from I think it was May to the high school season. I mean, I'd I'd practice, but I couldn't go and compete, and I couldn't really wrestle live because I mean I was regaining the strength in my arm, and then the endurance too, that was a big part of it. My arm would get super tired. Um, and then yeah, so that was definitely my biggest growth as well. I didn't compete for I don't know, a couple months, well, more than a couple months, and so I yeah, by the time the season came, I was 144, and so that was also a big change. But yes, it was very demoralizing the injury just because I'd go back and feel like okay, I'm feeling pretty good, and then I would hit it again, and it's like, oh my goodness, like is this ever gonna get better? But eventually I've just strengthened my neck and done a bunch of rehab for it, and I would say I'm hope hopefully I'm over the hump, but I feel like for the most part I've gotten over the worst part and just continuing to work on those things. But it's definitely not a fun experience, but it also made me a lot better wrestler because I had to wrestle different from it, kind of like the knee injury a little bit. But this one was affecting me a lot more, so it was I couldn't shoot because I didn't want to hit my head on someone's neck or on their body anywhere, so it's just like I kind of gotta. I mean, I was already good at snap downs and go behinds, but it was kind of like the one thing I had to do over and over and over in like arm drags. So yeah, so it helped me a lot in the long run, even though it felt super frustrating at the time.

SPEAKER_02 59:43

Now, it it's been well established over the course of this hour that you're a pretty competitive dude who does not like losing. But again, it's like Thomas Sallow and Sidel. Is that a little bit easier pill to swallow afterwards?

SPEAKER_01 59:56

Yeah, no, it it is, but it's still yeah, I still don't like losing ever, so it's still very frustrating. Uh, but yeah, no, it is a little more acceptable if per se, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:09

If you yeah, yep, I got you. Still gets that fire, but I think you used a great term, just like the feedback that you get from that match. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:22

Steve, uh, is your question related to Hawkins Grosspert?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:26

Uh, well, no, it was actually well, not not him getting chunky, you know, chunking up to 144. That was so TV. I'm just joking. That was what you're gonna do. No, it was more about his state bracket at 144, but he kind of already answered it, so I I'm uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:44

Well, yeah, we'll once we get to state, you can drop it on him. Yeah, you bet.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

Yeah. There's definitely two matches I'm sure you're gonna bring up.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:54

Oh, I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:54

Oh, and this year at 144?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:58

Oh, okay, all right. Yeah. I'll see if you call it one for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:01

One for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:02

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

If you did it. I'm trying to think of what the other one would be now.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:07

It's like the first, it's like the second tournament and third tournament, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:11

Oh, no.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:12

I guess no, I guess there's three. There's three. There are three, but the first, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:17

In third tournament. Okay. Okay, yeah. Now, all right, now I saw the third. Yeah, there were two pretty clear ones. Uh first and foremost, uh you're out for a little bit, and you go up to 150, 144. Yeah. You're very you're obviously technically superior to basically almost everyone at this level. Uh was there still an adjustment, those first couple matches where it's like, oh, like these guys are a little bigger and stronger than 113 pounds? Or yeah, I guess you did 125.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:47

No, for sure, that was a a part of it is just like getting used to it and competing for the first time, not only moving up a bunch of weight classes, but competing for the first time in a long time. So, yeah, my first tournament was I mean, there wasn't any shocks, my first tournament back, but as mental like internally, just like the strength, okay, I've got to get stronger here. And so, I mean, I started going to uh the edge, and that's at the hospital in Platteville. And so I've been working with them for the last 18 months, and I do the Michigan workouts now, but yeah, so that was a big focus this year as it was lifting and getting stronger because it I would say I was my weakness and I was weak, so so compared to the competition at the point. So working on that was a big thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:41

By the way, this podcast might might be sponsored by the edge now. We got like are you rocking an edge shirt?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:47

I yeah, I am I am rocking it. Oh, wrong way. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:51

Let's go. Yeah, always opposite.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:56

Uh well, speaking of 144, we gotta get into I forgot that this was the second weekend of the, and then they all jumbled together for me at some point.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

Yeah, no, there's a lot of matches during the year.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

The one match that I saw the box score of that week, and I had questions right away. And you versus Dylan Weigel is in the Raiders scramble finals. And I did get to see the video of that. Talk about a clash of styles because like you are an offensive aggressor, and Dylan Dylan's a great wrestler in his senior year. He like, or your guys' senior year, he definitely has upped his game on the offensive end. But Dylan, like he's just an excellent defensive wrestler. So it seemed like it was a just a good matchup where everything fell together for a close match. But let's hear your thoughts on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

Yeah, no. Um, yeah, going into the matchup, I knew he was good, but I was not expecting to be in an ultimate tiebreaker match. I mean, that's never the plan when you're wrestling a match, I don't think ever. Of I want to go to ultimate tiebreaker. But uh yeah, there is a couple times in the first period where I know like probably like 30 seconds into the match, I had his leg up in the air, and then he dove under my legs and we got in a stalemate, and I was like, okay, well, I should have scored there for sure. Uh, but I didn't because he wrestled out of it, and I was kind of annoyed at myself for that. Like, how did I let that happen? Um, but yeah, I just kept trying to score, and he did a really good job of like not letting me get to my stuff, and then also like using the edge to like if he needed like I guess like a break almost, like he can use the out of bounds as like it's not like freestyle where if you give a push out, you're giving up points every time. You can kind of use it to like get out of positions, but I mean he's really good, and I mean we both got an escape, and I I was getting frustrated because like there's many times where like I thought I was gonna score or and I didn't, and it's yeah, it's definitely frustrating, but you just have to keep wrestling through it. I mean, the match isn't over, so you just keep wrestling, and uh I think in the third period I got to or I took a shot and he got to my leg and he had my leg up all the way in the air, and I could see the time. There's like 40 seconds left. I'm like, oh my goodness, this is not happening right now. Uh but I mean the first thing I thought was at practice that week, I think, with Ben in our private group, we talked about if someone has your leg up in the air and you are gonna give up the takedown, you should, or like you don't want to give up the takedown with five seconds left and then have a second or five seconds to get an escape and get a takedown. So my thing was like that was the first thing that popped in my head. And so I saw the time and I was like, okay, I'm gonna turn down here and I'm gonna try one thing, and if I don't give up a takedown, Then we're gonna be back up on our feet. But at the worst, I'm gonna give up a takedown. I'm gonna get escape. I know I'm gonna get escape, and then I have 30 seconds to get a takedown versus having five. So, I mean, all that went through my head in probably like a second, not even.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:15

Uh it's good thinking. And so I I turned down and I like sealed out, and he tried to hop on me to like get a takedown, and then I was in turtle shell, we call it, and I was able to like get back facing him, and then is one to one at that point, and then not too much happened in the overtime. And one thing I will say is because it was zero to zero going into this uh second period, and if you get the first point, you're gonna have choice in ultimate tiebreaker, and he deferred. And I was like, okay, well, if I do go to ultimate tiebreaker, I'm gonna be able to choose whatever position I want. And so, I mean, that was probably something I learned from Coach Schmidt's at Minner Point so long ago, just from wrestling, and then so just taking that with me all the time, and obviously it's a rule, but I think that's where I first learned it, and ever since. That's kind of how I associated it with Coach Smith's. But yeah, so during I mean, I tried to write I tried to ride him out during the first 30-second period, but he did get out. And I mean, I wasn't too worried about it because I knew I'd be able to go on bottom, and I hadn't had problems the first two times to get an escape, but so I was just like, okay, there's 10 seconds left. I'm not gonna try anything silly here. I'm just gonna wait 10 seconds and then go down and get an escape and win the match, hopefully. Uh but yeah, that was definitely a match where it's like a shock, like, okay, I need to get better, and it was a big motivation. I know like the medal is still on my door to this day. It's the only one on my door. Uh, but uh that and I think yeah, there was a storm that night, and I immediately went back to the high school and like I think I ran and I wrestled with Rhett, I think, like when we got back to the high school, and then we did get kicked out because it was storming. But yeah, no, that during that I would say that was probably one of the biggest matches where like it was like a big motivation for me to like get better. I I knew I was like I was knew I was gonna be fine still, but like that first like day I was like so shocked. I was like, I need to get so much better. Uh and obviously he's a really good opponent opponent, so it's like I mean it was still frustrating because I like felt like I should have done better than I did, but you're wrestling someone that's really good, so like it is hard to say that I should have scored more points or anything, but it's just like okay, I need to get better because he's a really good opponent, and um I might wrestle him again a bunch a bunch of times this season, so I've gotta get better. And so yeah, it was definitely a big shock, and I was yeah, like immediately after the match, I was like super frustrated. Like, I think I think I was crying because I was like, what just happened? Like, this is not supposed to happen, and it did. But I was like, I've yeah, and then I was like, okay, I've gotta get better. I had definitely overreacted, but like it's like okay. Well, it's uh gotta get better and go, get better.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:25

So you think about the the long recovery and the weight change, and then just the perfect storm of a matchup, and then for you to still come out of it with a win, it was like uh like a win-win. Like you it was still a match that you got to learn from, and yeah, and the band. I would say like the big yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:47

Yeah, the biggest thing I learned from that was just like at least in in fo in freestyle is different because you can use the edge to score and like threaten a push out and then maybe get a bigger takedown off of it because of the threat of a push-out. But in folk style, like it's just like circle to the edge so then you can get a takedown, versus like because then it's harder for them to use the edge as like a safety net, kind of. But uh so that was like one of the biggest things, but uh also just being more controlled once I get two leg and being able to finish. That was like a big thing I worked on with Coach Messenberg that year is just like once I get two leg, like making sure I finish every time.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:31

Do you like freestyle or folk style more?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:34

I like freestyle more just because you they're at yeah, the edge is like I do use a lot of pressure, so like having that as a threat, it definitely I would say helps my wrestling. But yeah, I mean, a lot of the wrestling I'll be doing from now on is folk style, and so that's what I've been working on since Pay N's is done. But yeah, I would say I mean I'm super happy the match happened and that I got to wrestling because it is a big drive to fix some of the things I needed to fix.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:04

So and I gotta say too, I I respect your deploy like the way it's like you're like media trained or something, Hawking. The way the way you talked about him like using the edge or whatnot, because I'm I'm sure people can watch the video and they'd want to like that they could stay stalling right away, and I think there could be a fair point with it, but also too, like put me in a match with you, and there's nothing I could do to stop you from scoring points. Like, yeah, I I get props from Dylan for keeping like his match in that sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:36

Yeah, no, yeah, he was yeah, his game plan worked very well, and it was that was a little frustrating for me. I was like, okay, I feel like I should get more than just one selling call, but I mean, obviously, I I didn't I didn't even want the refs to win me the match at that point. Like, I'm glad they didn't in the long run. It was definitely frustrating in the moment. Like, I feel like I should have got another stellaring call, but I mean it it is what it is. You're not you're not gonna be able to complain to the ref, give me another stelling call. That's just not how it's gonna work. So you've got to find another way to win the match.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:12

That that's just an elite mindset. I yeah, I'm a big fan. Well, the next week you brought up the next, I almost like missed this one when I was going through results, but you come across another really good 144-pounder this time in freshman uh Kate Auberg, and uh just running through with the box score of that match. No score in the first period, not something that happens often again. Yeah, no, and then yeah, skate takedown, you're up 4-0, and then you two match uh three to three in the third period. So you get the 7-3 victory, but yeah, take us through that match.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:49

Yeah. Um, I think Kid like started going to Askren like that summer. So I'd wrestled him with a little bit, but at that time I was like early in the summer, like right after my state title, because I didn't wrestle that summer at all, but or pretty much at all, because of my neck. But like I think probably a couple weeks after the state that year, I I know I wrestled him and it was freestyle, so it's different, and he's really good at crotch locks. But I I think I got like we were wrestling a match, and I think I got like tech's right away because like I just kept getting crotch locked, and I was a little bit smaller, but going into that match, I was like, okay, a little bit, I've gotta be I just gotta like finish quick and not let him because he is super flexible and he's really good at like defense and underhook, so like I kind of knew that a little bit because I've wrestled with him a decent amount at Askren that season before uh I wrestled him, but yeah, definitely from the week before I was like, okay, that match was tough. This match is gonna be tough too. I've gotta get ready for it. And not that I wasn't gonna be ready if I didn't wrestle him anyway, because that's just how I am. I want to be ready for every match. I didn't take any match lightly, and I definitely didn't take Dylan's match lightly at all. I knew it was gonna be a good match, and I well, I didn't want it to be a good match, but uh yeah, just go out and wrestle how I'm gonna wrestle. So yeah, but I knew it was gonna probably be a tough match for me, definitely since it was newer uh a weight class and the match the week before was close, so I was like, okay, I've just gotta go out and wrestle how I always wrestle and just work on well, fix the things I've been struggling with the last week. So it was definitely that was one thing from my junior year is I had really good matches, and I think that helped me a lot because not only was I getting back into wrestling again, it was I was wrestling up a weight, so getting into wrestle them was definitely a great thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:49

And the last thing that I have before we take it away to the postseason, I get one of the most hype matches that once I saw the brat, I was just so looking forward to. But roll carry, and I think the thing that's cool with Rowan is you guys had to have crossed paths many times years prior, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:08

Yes, for sure. I've well we've yeah. I mean, I've wrestled almost at like every uh club within at least like within our area of the state. Yeah, but even outside of that, I've wrestled at a lot of places just from being at Seabolt and then finding other places to wrestle when I couldn't make it there because it's just so far away. But yeah, so I'd I think I'd wrestle them at Nazar's and uh I used to go to Minner Point a little bit when I was younger, so I wrestled them there. And so yeah, I mean I definitely have wrestled, I'd wrestled them a decent amount. I mean, not recently during that time, but in the past I'd wrestled them a decent amount, so yeah. It was yeah, and it was definitely that was definitely like there was a lot of hype going into it and stuff, so like just kind of keep that out of the way and just like do what I do every time. And I think I would say, yeah, I wrestled pretty well, and it he's a really good opponent, and yeah, so being it another good match to have again before the postseason.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:12

Well, also again, like not like you uh you have nothing to prove to anybody. You've proven it on big stages plenty of times, but Roan, by state champion, has a win over Rhett Koenig. You square up with him at conference and you beat him. Like I that was one of like the biggest message sending wins of the year for me. Like that was that was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:37

Yeah, no, it's definitely yeah, he's a great wrestler and he's super good on top. So that that'd be like the only thing if I could go back and do it again, is just like choose bottom. Just try it.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:49

Try it out, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:50

Yeah. But obviously, you want to win the match and you don't want to give someone their best position, especially when you're having a tight match. So that's just one one the one, yeah. The one thing looking back is just like, oh, I could have worked on bottom because I never like to try that. Yeah, for the most part, I never had to work on bottom, or I just didn't have to either I wasn't forced to do it, or even if I did, it wasn't too much of a threat. But like someone like him, that's I mean, a lot of middle point wrestlers are good on top, but specifically him, he's really he's really good on top. So that that'd just be like one thing looking back on it, but obviously you want to win the match, and that's I just chose to go on my feet, I think, because I wasn't gonna give someone their best position when I'm winning the match.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:41

But he took your advice, Steve. Don't choose bottom against a mineral point wrestler.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:48

Yeah, no, they they work on it a lot. I've been at their practices before, so yeah, it's definitely an emphasis there.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:58

All right, Steve. I uh well it's not that I don't have nothing for the postseason, but let's let's hear your state question for Hawkins Junior Year.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:07

Hawken, did you uh did you figure out you said that was the two. Did you have the third one that you thought I was gonna bring up? No, it was uh Rowan and uh Dylan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I was I was just gonna make a um and you kind of already addressed it. I was gonna ask the question for first off, I know it's an old movie, but have you ever seen The Matrix? Uh yeah, I have. Okay, the old school one. It I well funny, because I'm I'm watching you talk about your old matches, and I literally think tell me, are you do you see them when you because you keep on you keep looking up and you're like, oh, and I I I learned we have we've had four-timers on, they're like, uh, I think I wrestled this kid. I literally think you could go through all four years and be like, oh, I wrestled this kid, this kid, this is what I did. And I'm just watching you visualize. And I guess my question, and this isn't this isn't even a significant one. It was your it was your semifinals match. Obviously, I was uh I have I have right sound ties, so I was you wrestled Lewis Lewis Hawk. And I didn't think, you know, I wasn't like Lewis Hawk's gonna beat you, right? But there was something I noticed in that match, and that's why I brought up the matrix because you your brain, I was wondering if you just is the match just slowed down for you. In the make well, let me here. I gotta go through this long rendition, then I'll let you because in the matrix, he just kind of starts dodging all this stuff. And I watched Lewis Hawk. Lewis Hawk came at you. It looked like he had two things planned. He'd like, I'm gonna do this, and he's gonna stop it, and I'm gonna do this. And your brain, I I'm just I'm just putting myself in your shoes, and and I'm gonna go back and tell him not that I'm comparing my wrestling career to Hawkins. But I remember going to college and wrestling and coming back at Christmas time and wrestling with the high school kids, and it was like, oh my gosh, you guys are terrible. Not to say Lewis Hawk is terrible, but I watched you just kind of go, Oh, he did this, he did this, and I'm just gonna go to my third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh move that I have. And I'm just I don't know, there's a lot that I threw at you and tell me, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:04

Yeah. What do you say when you're on a rusty? Yeah, yeah, I understand. Uh for sure. I mean, against Dylan, like when I looked at the clock and like I that was probably like the first time ever where like I like thought something and like looking back and watching the match, like I had to have thought it in like a split second, but like in mid-match, it felt like I had a lot, a lot of time to think about it. So I would say like in certain positions, sometimes it it like happens where like it'll slow down, or just even like, oh my goodness, what did I just do? That like I can remember I did like a down block go behind against someone, and I was like, or no, I I down blocked and then I did an arm drag, and like I was like, Oh, that was that was really nice, and like I didn't even think about it, and then but yeah, there are definitely some times where it's just like I didn't even think about that, and that just happened and I did it, and it's like okay, that was that was good. But yeah, definitely does slow. I would say some there are things that in matches where I've had like slow down, but I would say that's pretty rare. Um, but I just think it helps when I mean, especially with Askrin, uh, but even at Seabolt and everything before that, is just like being able to learn the positions and then just like know what you're gonna do at in every position and just like go through it and what possibly they could do. And obviously there's things I can still work on and uh like predict and stuff, but yeah, I'd say that's one of the biggest helps from Askren is just like going through every position and knowing what I have to do next, or if I do this, then I could do this and so on. So yeah, it is Ben talks about it a lot of just like being able to wrestle in every position and know what you're gonna do, just like have a plan. So I would say wrestling does slow down a little bit sometimes, but also you're wrestling people that are really good and know what they're doing, so then against someone like that, maybe maybe it doesn't slow down quite as much.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:07

Yeah, I think a little more, yeah. Yeah, oh that makes sense. I'm just thinking like what Hawken feels on a wrestling man is what I felt with my my Rubik's cube this summer, and I'm like, that's like the lamest thing I can say on a wrestling podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:27

I mean, there was I think my freshman year I I learned how to solve Rubik's Cube, so it's not I wouldn't say it's lame.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:35

Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:37

I don't know how to do it anymore, but there I I did learn it at one point.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:42

That that was that's been my fixation this summer with a little more free time. Yeah, no, it's just like there is moments where I'm like I'm playing with it, I'm like, oh, I used to have to think really hard about doing that, and now it's just like yeah. I'm not surprised at all that you learn how to solve a Rubik's Cube, though. You I yeah, your IQ SP off the chart. All right, Hawken, anything or you win your third state title, you're one away. I feel like this conversation has like transcended like the state title talk at this juncture. Uh I'm having a fun time. I hope you guys are too.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:22

Yeah, no, I am too. Uh yeah, my third state title. I mean, every year except my freshman year, I wrestled the same guy in the sectional finals as I did in the state finals. So in one part, it like took the mystery away that I had in the my first year, but also like it was like, okay, I have to do it again. Like there was also like, I mean, obviously, yeah, you don't want to have to wrestle the same person over and over ever. So when that happens, it's kind of like uh a little bit, but all you you also like performed well the first time, and so you have to go out and do it again, and like it's not given anyway. So, like, even though you know you beat them a week earlier, you still have to go out and do it again, which can be hard for, especially when like if you win the first time, it's like okay, I won, it's not gonna be that big of a deal, but you can't treat it that way, especially not in the state finals, because they're gonna give their best because it's the state finals.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:21

Um, but yeah, I was and I think that kind of got in my head a little bit my junior year. Like, that was the most nervous I've been at the Cole Center, probably definitely my high school career, maybe ever. Just like I had to like stop and like I was watching the wrestling, and then I was like, okay, I gotta stop, I gotta just go forget about it for a little bit, and then I came back and I was fine. But yeah, it was definitely yeah, definitely nervous for a little bit. But I was like, this is ridiculous. I wrestled him last week, I'm gonna be fine. I mean, obviously, again, you have to go do it. He's a good wrestler, he's in the state finals. It's not just anyone, it's someone that's in the state finals, but yeah, it's just like okay, just go out and do what you do every time, and that's kind of what I think when I get nervous. It's just like you wrestled so many matches, just go out and wrestle.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:11

Hey, nervous isn't totally a bad thing, it just means that you care. So yeah, it's all about managing it, is what what it really comes down to. Um anything, there's one thing I can think of from the junior to senior off season. Yeah. I'll see if you mention it first. So what do you what what highlights do you have, or what memories do you have from junior to senior year?

SPEAKER_01 1:25:34

Yeah. Um I mean, Fargo is I mean, I didn't do how I wanted to do, but I think it was a big turning point for me in my wrestling, and it kind of happened this summer as well. Like I had to relearn that lesson. But uh yeah, I mean the first thing is just wrestling Bo Bassett in the semifinals is like and it did not did not go well at all, and you that doesn't very often happen to me, so it was definitely very disappointing. Like I thought I should do well. Um, but yeah, I would if I could go back and do it again, I would do it a lot different than I did, but you can't do that, and I'm probably never gonna be able to wrestle him again. But I mean, yeah, he was on the team at Brazil, and I mean he's a super great guy from what I know, and when I talked to him, he was super nice. So uh, but yeah, it was just kind yeah. If I could go back and do it again, which you can't go back and it already happened, but I would have wrestled a little different than I did. So, but it's also just lessons you gotta carry with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:42

So well, that's an interesting match too, because I think if you like I think of your pace and just always attacking on offense, and uh when I think of Bo, I think of his pace and always attacking. Like, so how did that clashes like what was that like wrestling like this like version of you kind of?

SPEAKER_01 1:27:01

Yeah, no, um I mean like the first thing like I felt like he was reaching a lot, and like I thought I was just gonna be able to shoot in on a double leg and take him down, but I I don't shoot double eggs very often, but either way, like obviously he's wrestled people that probably have thought that before, and so he was ready for it like as soon as I shot. He and he's really good at front headlock stuff, so I think four of the takedowns he got were a go behind, and that was like the one thing I would really change is I would not react to the fake as much as I did because every time I did I got snapped down and he would just run around for takedown. But uh yeah, just being able to like maintain the hand fight and not try to dive under because I felt like he was reaching a lot, and that's kind of what he wanted me to do. I think. I mean, I could be wrong, but that's what it felt like to me is like he was reaching, and he'd felt people do this to him before of just like try to go shoot under him because he's reaching, but he's a really good wrestler and he's figured it out. And so I think I gave yeah, I gave up too many go behinds, but yeah. If I mean I was able to stop him one time when he got in on my leg, and so that was my thinking, and then the other time he got a push out from getting on my leg, so it's like if I could go back, I would just be more like upright a little bit, just so that I wouldn't get snapped down as much, and then he would have to like score on me versus giving him the score because I reacted too much to his fake.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:29

Oh, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:30

I mean, his best position I would say as a front headlock, at least I think, is a fake snap. Um, but so just not letting that happen and then make him truly score on me from like a leg attack. So that'd be like the major thing I would change from it.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:45

But what we was that at at Fargo?

SPEAKER_01 1:28:48

That was 144.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:51

And then you went and you gained another 20 pounds from July to November. Steve, that's something that Hawken and I have in common, is we have both gained 25 pounds over the course of a year. My 25 pounds probably looked a little different, but it's awesome for Hawken.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:10

It's not awesome for you too.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:12

Ouch. Uh yeah. I mean, Fargo, I hadn't like I just I did it really well, so it wasn't not hard at all, but I mean, pretty much immediately I think I was like almost 160, I think. So then it was just like I can either wrestle 157 this year or I could just wrestle 165 and feel good and continue to grow. And I know I was still growing, and I still feel like I am maybe a little bit. So just not having to cut weight and just see how big I'll get is kind of the decision, especially from 144. I thought I was gonna wrestle 132 that year and I wrestled 144. So uh that was one thing, and then yeah, just knowing that I was big and why cut weight when I could just wrestle 165, feel good, yeah, yeah, have fun and continue to learn. I feel like that's the one thing. It's just like when you cut weight, sometimes you forget about the wrestling part and you just think about making weight. You you look good.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:17

I I it's funny because this will happen when you guys become parents, but you know, like my daughter who's now 18, I still see like a little little kid. You know, it's just it's hard. It's like yeah, you walked out at 165. Uh, in my brain, I still saw you as 106-pounder. I'm like, holy cow. Yeah. But you you have to be T Hawkins gotta be the widest span of four-timers, right? For uh um, or biggest span for weights?

SPEAKER_02 1:30:44

Close to yeah, well, yeah, because Keegan went what 120 to 160, I think. So, yeah, 106 to 165. I I don't know if anything beats that.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:56

Yeah, no, and I pretty yeah, I pretty much wrestled every weight class at one point or another. I think besides I didn't I don't wrestle I didn't wrestle 157, and I don't think I wrestled 138, but at like a tournament or even just like a match for a duel. But I think every other weight, like I actually wrestled at one point or another, even if it was for a match.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:19

I I might need to do some recon on that right now, though, because your senior year, it's it is a a lot of tech falls. Uh highlight right away. I mean, you get the tech over Jackson Busty, but I I kind of feel like the pin might be uh yeah, take us through the Jackson Busty matches from your senior year.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:40

Yeah. Um obviously he's really good. He was a state champ the year before. Um, and so going into it, I mean, is kind of another one like this happened before the year before when I wrestled someone that was pretty good when I moved up a weight class. But at this point, I'd also already wrestled Sam Zanton, and he's a really good wrestler. But uh yeah, so just going into it, I just kind of wrestled how I normally wrestle and I got the job done. But yeah, the pin I definitely wasn't I don't really pin too many people and to get the pin was nice. That one, yeah, and I hadn't even got that was my first takedown of the match, and he did a really good job of like defending my first takedown. And so like I think it took me like 30, 35, maybe 40 seconds to like almost get that takedown, and then I don't remember, or maybe that was my first yeah, I think my first takedown took like 40 seconds to get once I got on his leg or something like that, and then I think I got like a dresser dump to pin him, but yeah, it definitely doesn't happen all the time, so it might have been harder to get a tech fall that match, but I got the pin. Uh but that was kind of also one of the things like throughout the season, like I knew I had like a streak of like ending the match early every time, and it was almost in for the most part, I did uh go into the third period in like my second tournament, but it was also just because they scored the match wrong. I tech'd him earlier, and then it was fine. I was like, okay, I'll just go and bottom and get an escape for the tech. But uh it was kind of just like okay, I'll try to end every match early, and then like after a while, I was like, no one had made it out of the second period, so I'll just try to tech everyone before that happens. And then Jackson, I don't think I tech'd him in the second period, but uh yeah, so that's kind of just like try to keep the streak of ending every match early this season, and I didn't get it done. I was close in the final the finals of sectionals, and then at stage is kind of just a little different where I wanted to make sure I won after I got enough points, so but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:48

Yeah, and Cameroon, man, just uh I mean for a freshman, he's just impressive. I did today. He did it that way. How is he able to uh to stave off the Hawk and train for those two matches?

SPEAKER_01 1:34:03

Yeah. I mean he's really yeah, he's really good at obviously. I think what he got fourth at Fargo year before, and then he got second this year. So you're wrestling someone that's very experienced and not only good at the state level but the national level. So yeah, going into it is that was probably also one of the more like anticipated matches I've wrestled in in my high school career, uh, at least from the crowd, I think. But uh yeah, that one is I really again just go out and wrestle and see how I'm gonna do. And uh I was yeah, I I took him down with like 20 seconds left in the first period, and I got a cradle, and so it was five to zero. We were on the out of bounds, and I wish we were in the center of the mat because then maybe I could have got a pin. But uh so then it was I think it was five to one or five zero going into the second period, and then uh yeah, by the end of the third period, I was a takedown away from getting the tech fall, and I was on his leg with like oh, I think there was like a restart with 10 seconds left or something like that, and I got on his leg and I definitely had a chance to score and I didn't, uh but yeah, to get the tech fall. But I I was a little upset that I didn't get the tech fall, but again, you've got to realize that you're wrestling someone that's really good. So you can't yeah, can't really be mad about it because I I wrestled hard and I did the best I could to get the tech fall and I didn't, and it was a little frustrating, but then after a day, you realize that okay, you wrestle well.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:39

So there's do you feel like your state final? I know you said you know you racked up the points and then you were in position for victory. You was there any part of it where it was kind of like the settling back and just taking in the moment a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 1:35:53

Um, I wouldn't even yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't say there was any like taking in the moment because you never know what's gonna happen during the match.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:03

Yeah, and especially against someone that good, I wouldn't want to do that. Um but yeah, just I just wanted to make sure I was gonna win the match, and I had the match one, and I didn't want to have a horror story for my last high school match. And after, yeah, I think it was 12-4, and I was like, I'm probably I'd be fine if I went on bottom. Again, this is when I went neutral, I think. And I was like, I didn't do a whole lot the third period. I kind of just was I'm just gonna stay in good position and not let anything wild happen and just win this match. And then by like the last I don't know, 20 or 30 seconds, I was like, okay, I don't I don't want to end this match and not get another takedown or not be on top. Like I should try to get another takedown here, and I did. Uh so I was yeah, I mean, definitely I'm happy with how the match went. I mean, I could have tried maybe a little harder to get a tech fall, but again, I wouldn't want anything I wouldn't change it because you never know what could happen. And I I wanted to ensure that I was gonna win, especially since I had the match pretty much locked up. So it wasn't like I was winning three to one and I was like, if I give up a takedown, I lose. It was like I'm up by a bunch of points, just don't do anything stupid at that point. So yeah, it's really just stay in good position. And again, like there's no guarantee I would have even scored more points if I tried to, because I'm wrestling someone that's really elite. So yeah. Just get the match, get the job done, and and then just enjoy winning your fourth state title.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:49

So I was gonna say, you know what question's coming next. How'd that fourth one feel, especially with the the crowd reaction?

SPEAKER_01 1:37:55

Yeah, no, I mean, it was amazing. I I loved I loved it, and then you get the standing ovation, which happens for every fourth four-time state champion, and it's super cool. And I think uh yeah, alongside Taylor, she was like a minute after me, so that's also really cool. Um, but yeah, just I mean, there's I don't think I've yeah, there's really good feeling and hugging my coach and just like thinking about everything that happened for me to get to this point, and just like actually having it come true of like hardly anyone gets to become a four-time state champion, and not only that, but like the dream from pretty much not day one, but pretty close to it, just because of my like first true coach and Cole Waneke being a four-time state champion, and then like okay, I want to do that, and you think about it every day and see those brackets, and then you actually do it, and you're like, This is super cool. Like, I did what I wanted to do since the time I was like seven, and obviously it's not the ultimate goal because once you won two or three times, you're like, Okay, there's bigger things than this, but also this is like a huge accomplishment, so enjoy it, enjoy it, and then it's been a goal, like most of your life, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:39:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:13

No, I have yeah, like I have a uh two takedown like signed from the badgers, like the big hand, the red hand, and then I think I wrote I wrote on it probably when I was like seven or eight, maybe nine, and it as like I will be a four-time state champion, and then I looked at it this fall or yeah, after the tournament, and I was like, Oh, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:35

The little time chap tool. That's cool. Fun fact for you, Hawken, and you may have been because Ryan was your coach, right, for Dodgeville. Yes. Lorde. Yeah. Steve, I don't know if you remember this, but Hawkin, if you're doing like the six connections, like Kevin Bacon or whatever. Hawken, coached by Ryan Lorde, who used to be or probably still at like pretty good pals with Matt Hinookie. Yeah, the first ever four-time state champion.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:07

Yeah. Uh what is it? Coach Bourmett. Uh I think he's coached three of the four undefeated uh four-time state champs. Three of the four. Oh wow. I'm pretty sure. So it will be yeah. Yeah, because he was there. Uh I don't know if it was Jared. I don't think he coached Jared. But I'm pretty sure he's Yeah, he coached Kevin Black. That's what it was. Yeah. So three of the four, which is pretty cool. As long as I make it to Michigan, I guess. Got a month.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:45

That dude's gotta have some pretty good. We might need to get that guy on the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:49

Yeah, I know. He's got some good Wisconsin ties.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:53

Well, yeah, Hawkins. Speaking of college, do you want to speak anything else on your high school career real quick? Or not quick.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:01

Yeah. No, that's pretty much it. I mean, just the one thing was just like how I was gonna do the summer. I had no idea because I hadn't wrestled a national tournament. Obviously, I wrestled Eastern, but it's also like a younger age division. But even still, I mean, 16 years is really competitive, but against like someone your own age division, it's like hard to know how you're gonna do. So that was just like the one thing going into the US Open. Like, how am I gonna compete against some of the like very best at my age?

SPEAKER_02 1:41:32

Mm-hmm. Yeah, U-20s is just a different ball game.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:37

Yeah. Yeah, and that was like the same thing. I wrestled at the senior division, and I actually wrestled with Maddie Bianchi, and then uh won maybe two matches after that, and then I lost. But to get that experience again of wrestling really good college guys and then going down to U-20s, I think it helped me a lot that week of getting prepared. And then I mean, I got beat by someone from Penn that was uh I think he was like two matches away from uh placing at NCAs and then going out and beating uh Will Denny that was in the blood round and was ranked like 10th, I think, or seated 10th at the NCAs was like pretty big. Like I knew I knew it was gonna be a tough match going into it because he's a really good wrestler. But yeah, and then just like even see I mean, yeah, I think if I mean I don't know for sure, but if I didn't wrestle in the senior division, then maybe that match could have been a lot different. Just I feel like it really helped me prepare for that match, just getting that feel versus that being like the first really good opponent I wrestle. Like, I feel like that could have been a big shock if I hadn't wrestled those matches the day earlier.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:49

Oh, yeah, like kind of like ease yourself into it a little bit, or not ease yourself, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:54

It's uh Yeah, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:58

Well yeah, fun summer. Speaking of Michigan hawking, we can talk on that. I'm sure you had a lot of interest from a lot of different schools, but what led you to choosing Michigan?

SPEAKER_01 1:43:07

Yeah. Um I wouldn't say there was like one thing, it was just like I got there and it felt right like immediately, like just from interacting with the coaches to knowing quite a few of the guys on the team and or wrestling them before just like being on the same team as them. Uh so yeah, and the academics are amazing, they're the best public school in the nation, so that was also a big part of it. But yeah, just having the great coaches and partners that I already would know, and it just felt like a great fit.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:40

So it could be Michigan. Walbert's going there too, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:43:45

Yeah, no, we're gonna be roommates.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:48

Love it. I actually just messaged him tonight asking him if he wanted to come on at some point. So we'll we'll see. We'll see if he likes us as much as you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:58

Yeah, no, I yeah, I'm I'm sure he'll come on. I think he's on a cammy trip, so I don't know if he has internet or not. Because I think he and his parents go on like a well, his family goes on a camper trip and like there's no internet at all for like a whole week when they go there.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:13

Alright, yeah. Tough press to respond when that ends. I'm glad to know all that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:17

Yeah. So it might take a little bit, but I think he should be back soon.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:21

Well, I have just a couple more questions for you. Steve, I gotta I'll ask one question, and then we gotta do your speed round, and then I have the last one. But shoot. Yeah, let me quick I gotta quick remember that. Uh all right. It's been a while, but you got six questions if that'll help jog your memory. Okay. Hawken, for you right now, whether it be Michigan wrestling life, uh, what what are your goals going forward?

SPEAKER_01 1:44:48

Yeah, um, I mean, I'd love being an NCA champion, and then hopefully after that, become a world champion. I mean, Olympics are like the final goal. And I think realistically, for me, it would be 2032 would be my last like Olympic year. I don't think I'd probably maybe maybe I would. I have no idea. That's a long way in the future to wrestle 2036. Uh, but yeah, definitely 2028. That's coming up pretty soon. And then yeah, 2020 well, 2032, I feel like I mean, yeah, even 2028 is a decent ways away since I haven't even wrestled a college match yet. So just seeing how much better I get from there, and uh yeah, so hopefully end up becoming an Olympian, that's like the final goal, but yeah, no matter what, just seeing how well I can do and how good I can become.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:43

Then potentially coaching at some point after that. What's yeah, what's your career your career thought right now?

SPEAKER_01 1:45:50

Yeah, I think I'm gonna be an orthopedic surgeon just because like from the injuries I've had over the years, I mean a lot of them were when I was well more of like broken broken bones were when I was younger. But uh yeah, just from interacting with uh like orthopedic surgeons and sports medicine when I was younger and even in high school still, so just that kind of inspired me to maybe become an orthopedic surgeon.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:20

Love it. Stevo, you got your maybe you can what's what's that? Go ahead, T. Oh wait, what were you gonna say? Were you gonna talk about the other thing?

SPEAKER_03 1:46:27

I was gonna say maybe uh I just got my left hip done, uh Hawken. Maybe you can do my right one, maybe you can do my right one in a few years.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:34

Yeah. Hopefully your right hip stays all right. I've got to do that. I hope so. I hope so.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:39

All I know is my orthopedic surgeon. Uh, I didn't talk too much, did a great job, feels awesome, and uh, he drives very nice cars, so that's an excellent uh excellent field choice to go into. Yes. I joked with him. I said, uh, well, is this gonna pay for your new uh your new vacation home? He said, Oh, I gotta do a couple more than that. So all right, Steve.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:03

Oh, your time to shine. Hawken, next one up. We have a speed round of questions for you. Speed round. Speed round. We've all we I know we're an hour 48 into this, and now we're hitting you with the gauntlet right here.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:14

No, there is no speed. Yeah, we're we're not speeding. You know, team, there's actually seven questions. I can't believe I remembered them all, but here they are, Hawking. You're supposed to answer them as fast as you can to come ask you out. Fast and fury. I'll start with the last one first, but wrestler, past or present, uh, that you most look up to.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:32

Cowdenk.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:34

That's a good one. All right, uh, best takedown.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:37

Uh fake snap. Yeah, fake snap. Favorite pinhole. Um, I'd say an arm bar and half.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:47

Armbar half. Nice. All right. Uh, you just made weight post weigh-in food, your go-to post-weigh-in food.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:58

Peanut butter and jelly, uh, fruit snacks, gnobar, and then probably another peanut butter and jelly.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:03

Big one, big one. I tell you what, we gotta keep a little tally of our four-timers. That is definitely the most popular one. Followed quickly by a subway sub, just throwing that out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:13

Yeah. No, yeah, I was never a subway sub guy, just peanut butter and jelly.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:18

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:18

Probably like five or six in a day at a tournament.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:21

Nice, nice little honey on there, or just uh throw the honey on there.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:26

Yeah, just peanut butter and jelly.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:28

PD B and J. All right, biggest. Now, this can be uh either state or national level. It's up to you. Or maybe you can do both if you have one, but your biggest individual rival.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:41

Um I during the high school season, Ethan Haiti for sure. Yeah. I mean, it's just it just has to be him. I wrestled him too many times. Uh outside of that, I can't really think of one. I've wrestled a lot of people, but there hasn't been like one guy that stands out on the national level. Like I wrestled this guy a bunch of times. I mean, maybe Brock Mitsu, my own teammate.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:04

Do you have a big team rival from the question?

SPEAKER_03 1:49:09

Sorry, Steve. Biggest team rival, T. Take it away.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:13

Yeah, no, uh, I would say Dodgeville uh and like Middle Point, but not even. Like, it's just not it wasn't competitive ever. So I would say that. Uh it's definitely not like Middle Point and Fenomore, which is definitely awesome to see. Like, it's pretty crazy, like the competitive competitiveness between those two at tournaments, even like before I was in high school when it was like a super big rivalry, I would say. I mean it still is, but when they're same division and stuff, it was it definitely got rowdy.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:46

The uh KT uh a little side note for ya the Dodgeville Quick Trip, my favorite stop on my way to Mineral Point, uh we we go broadcast matches there. Just throwing it out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:56

Oh, I've got one for you. It's it'd be the Ohio State Buckeyes. I mean

unknown 1:50:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:02

Coming up. There you go. All right. Last question, Hawken. Now, put yourself in it. You're walking out for your first match at Michigan. Dual meet competition. The day before they come up to you and they say, Hawken, you get to choose your walkout song.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:19

And that song is 24K Magic by Bruno Mars.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:23

Yeah. Nice. I don't even know what that is, so I'm going to have to write that down. You know, I that's not uh usually I don't know the kids' songs, uh, what they are, so I have to write them down and go listen to them. But 24K.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:35

Steve, you've definitely heard it before at some point. 24 carat magic in the end.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:42

Yeah, probably not, Tegan. It doesn't help when you sing it. Probably makes it worse when you sing it. I will tell you this, Hawking, when we get the old timers on, because we go back and we get like, you know, uh uh Underwood and all them. When they give the walkout songs, I love them because they're from my era, and I'm like, yeah, it's a great song. You young and still songs, I'm like, what's that?

SPEAKER_01 1:51:02

Yeah. I'm a big fan of like the 80s music, so I feel like I know quite a few like older songs. Uh I would say 90s, I'm not quite as good, but I would probably fare better with the 80s.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:17

Yeah, 80s greater than 90s music. Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:21

100%.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:22

Yeah. That's good. That's good. Great speed round. Yeah. Yeah, that was awesome. Well, my last question for you, Hawken. Oh, I love this question. If you had to give advice to younger wrestlers, or think about it, if you had to give advice to uh kindergarten Hawken Peterson right now, what would your advice be?

SPEAKER_01 1:51:45

Um I mean for advice for wrestlers, kindergarten, it's hard to like fully give someone that advice.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:52

I would just say like How about like seventh grade hockey?

SPEAKER_01 1:51:55

I'd almost give it, yeah, almost give it to the parent. But just like you gotta like intention it intentionally uh focus on like getting better each day. It's not like I feel like a big thing that separated me is like when you cut weight when you're younger, you don't think about wrestling uh and getting better. It's just like okay, I've gotta make weight. So I feel like that was a big thing. Like I never really had to make like cut weight at all when I was younger. I think the first time was like in eighth grade was the first time I lost, and it was like two pounds. Uh but yeah, just focus on getting better each day and like find someone that's gonna help push you there. And like you need a a great coach, obviously, and then a great partner. And if you have those two things, I feel like you're gonna be really successful because you're gonna have someone that pushes you and be there alongside with you when you go to tournaments and stuff and have fun with along the way, and then have a coach that's gonna propel you to that level and teach you all the things you need to know to get better.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:53

Excellent. Just like the rest of this podcast has been. That was good. Well, that's it, Hawk. Hawk and I think you have the record. Uh I Steve, is this our longest four-timer episode? It might be.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:07

I might. And uh I mean, if if there's someone to blame, it's all on us because man, I I just kept thinking of more and more questions than Deep Dive would ask you. It's like uh it's fun. It's fun. Yeah, it's fun picking your brain, it's fun picking your brain. It really is. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:20

Yeah, no, I I enjoy going back and recollecting on it, and it is sad that it's over, but I mean, it was such a great blast of a time, and so I wouldn't want it any other way than it was. And I'm lucky to say that, I think, compared to a lot of other wrestlers with how my career went, but even if it didn't.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:43

Well, hey, we're pumped because now when we're watching the NCAs and we see you out of the mat, we're gonna be like, look, that guy right there, he was on our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:52

So yeah, yeah. I'll try to give you guys a shout-out.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:57

There you go. I'm done. Yeah, we'll send you some gear or something, win the files and pop on a Wisconsin wrestler pod. There you go. Hawking, I gotta say it it has been an honor following you, covering you the last four years. Uh again, great wrestler, and even better, dude, as I learned more tonight. Like, yeah, you are just a joy to be around, and like we were just blessed to have you in Wisconsin high school wrestling for four years. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:24

I appreciate it. Means a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:27

You guys got anything else? No, that's it, bud. You wrapped it up very well. Yeah, I think it's dinner time in the Fenlock household, so I'll wrap up here. Uh thank you, Hawkin, for coming on. Thank you, everybody, for tuning in. Don't know what we'll be doing next. Uh sounds like Kellen is off the grid, so maybe we'll message Miss Whiting next year and see what she's got going on. But whatever show we're doing next, we got one month basically until sectional previews, so that'll be fun. Uh till next time, we will catch you on the flip.