CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, echoes through my head as I walk to the middle of the mat. "At 160lbs Aidan Conner of La Junta vs. Rodney Jones of Hotchkiss." All I can think of is every bead of sweat, every drip of blood, every mile, every push up, every tear. Why? All of this: just to be victorious. All in preparation for one match, six minutes. For some these six minutes may only be a …showed first 75 words of 1383 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1383 total…it all again. I would do it again anyways, but now there would be that thought of defeat in the back of my head all year long. That defeat is what I will use to drive me for the next 12 months. I will get to experience that one match again, those six minutes that can mean so much or so little, on that cold frigid night in February, at a place called the Pepsi Center.