The season has officially started and I feel myself going into it with mixed feelings. I am excited because this has to be the best team in CMU history talent wise. I really beleive if we wrestle at the level we are capable of we can come away with a National Championship. We have 8 returning National Qualifiers, 3 returning All-Americans, and 2 people who have been one round away from being an All-American. Pre-Season rankings have as high as 4 in the country but we know we are capable of doing better than that. For me personally, it is a chance for redemption from a season I would like to forget and a final chance to accomplish my goals. I'm not going to dwell in the past but after losing to eventual 2x NCAA Champion, Joe Dubuque, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and being one round from all-american; lets just say I had high expectations going into last season. After having a dissappointing ending,to what was a good summer of wrestling when I got injured right before the University World Championships, I never felt like I was able to fully mentally bounce back last year. I had worked so hard and was wrestling the best I've ever wrestled in my life only to suffer a freak accident while drilling the day before departing to Mongolia. It was a really tough pill to swallow. I tried to come back a couple times to early and ended up reaggrivating my high ankle sprain, making me even more frustrated. Looking back I definetly should have taken more time off to let my ankle heal and just to take a break from wrestling. I was extremely frustrated after being one match from All-American and then getting injured right before the World Championships. That seemed to carry over into the season and I feel like I just burned myself out. So this past summer I took Coach Borrelli's and took some time off. I also decided not to wrestle any freestyle or greco during the summer like I had in the past. Instead all I did was drill. I drilled offense. Everyday. I just drilled. Instead of trying to change my style like before we worked off it and added to it. Not being able to wrestle for a while started to give me that drive back that I had been missing. Towards the end of the summer I also went back to running everyday like I used to in high school. It gave me a chance to clear my head and regain my focus. It has also helped with dealing with stress. I'll take everything that is bothering me and all my past dissapointments and use them as motivation in my workouts. Besides my offense I have been working on the other things that were holding me back last year. I even have already have a big jump start on getting my weight under control. Last year at the begining of the year I was around 144!! This year I'm already weighing in the low 130s. Its amazing how much eating a little healthier and doing a little extra working out on ur own can help manage your weight. I feel the biggest thing holding me back last year was myself. It's hard to explain but I felt like I lost that mental edge and confidence I used to have. To get it back I have just been trying to do the right things so I can go into every match knowing there is no way I could have trained any harder or that this guy has worked as hard as me. I try to get in runs or just go into the wrestling room and jump rope for an hour on my own in my spare time instead of just sitting around. I try to get in one or sometimes two extra workouts on my own a day. Which means I work out 3-4 times a day. It got to the point where roommates said they were getting a little worried I'm going to burn myself out again. But I've thought about it and I really don't see that happening. I don't see it as something I'm forcing myself to do, it's something I really want to do. I feel as focused and driven as I ever have in my entire wrestling career. As long as it doesnt start affecting my school and I listen to my body and give it a break when it needs one I will continue to get in those extra runs and workouts in my spare time. I still feel I need to open up more in practice and be more offensive. My goal is I want to wrestle fearless. Be able to go out and just let it all go. I'll continue to work towards that though and keep moving forward and after this season I can hopefully look back with no regrets.