After a third place finish at the Al Dvorak tournament just before Christmas, the Caravan wrestling team headed into the break on a roll. We were all really excited for the break. After the Dvorak tournament, we had a week off from competition, so we did not have to make weight for a long time. Not having to make weight let us enjoy our Christmas a little bit more.

Right after Christmas, we were all back on our diets and practicing every day, getting ready for the Cheesehead Invitational in Kaukauna Wisconsin. The Cheesehead tournament was made up of 30 teams (10 from Illinois) including four teams ranked in the top 25 in the country. The Caravan, ranked 25 in the country, was the lowest ranked team out of the four.

Nevertheless, we knew going into the tournament that we had a very good chance at winning if we all wrestled our best. We had a great week of practice and were ready to go.

We showed up to school Friday morning around 9:00 and had a short practice before the long car ride. After practice, we all showered, hopped on the bus, and drove three and a half hours to Kaukauna. The bus ride was pretty quiet. Many of us slept.

Once we arrived at our hotel, we had about an hour to relax until we had to head over to Kaukauna High School for weigh-ins and the start of the tournament. The first night, everyone had two or three matches. Everyone on the team won his first match and did a great job in their second and third matches. After the first night, the team was in second place.

After day one, we headed back to the hotel. Most of the team had to lose some extra weight before bed for the second day of weigh ins. Luckily, the hotel had a treadmill, and once our weights were good, we went right to bed.

Day two was a long one. Most wrestled about four matches on the second day, and wrestled very well. We took over first place in the tournament pretty early in the day and ran with it. With nine wrestlers placing top eight in the tournament, we dominated the field.

As a result, the Caravan was your 2019 Cheesehead champion!