Food can be a touchy subject around wrestlers this time of year.
Many have been struggling to keep their weight level and others are trying to shed more pounds to drop to what they see as their ideal weight class. The competitive season is about two months old, and the wear and tear of weight maintenance can start to tell on an athlete. “Dinners” of a carrot, two pieces of lettuce and a bottle of water can get pretty tiresome. Wrestlers like to post mouth-watering photos of delicious taste treats on social media.
For wrestlers struggling to battle their own growing bodies in a way that allows them to do their best on the mat, food, while necessary, can become the enemy.
Except for the lucky few such as Northampton sophomore 152-pounder Michael Kistler.
“I go home and eat a bowl of ice cream every night,” Kistler said. “Vanilla’s definitely my favorite.”
Now, the reason Kistler can indulge in such a splurge is that he’s wrestling ‘up’ a weight and is a natural 145-pounder. He has some wiggle room on the scale and he’s grown since wrestling at 132 as a freshman.
But, still, if Kistler keeps talking like that he might become a touchy subject with most area wrestlers, for a whom a mere spoonful of ice cream would be a wild, forbidden treat beyond measure.
And given the way Kistler is wrestling, future Konkrete Kid foes would be well-advised to strip area supermarkets of vanilla ice cream – because it seems like Popeye’s spinach to Kistler.
The Northampton sophomore improved to 18-9 on the season when he delivered a huge pin of Liberty’s Eli Santiago in 4:21 in the first bout of the Konkrete Kids’ 41-28 defeat of the Hurricanes in a District 11 3A quarterfinal at Liberty’s Memorial Gym.
“When Michael pinned that kid, it got everybody pumped up,” Northampton sophomore 120-pounder Julian Chlebove said. “He set the tone.”
Kistler knew that was his job.
“In the EPC match against Liberty (a 34-32 Northampton win) we didn’t score enough points and we gave up too many,” he said. “Giving up pins hurt us. Tonight, our heavyweights came through.”
Indeed, 220-pounder Ed Confer and 285-pounder Alex Darabaris delivered a decision and a pin that swayed the match towards the Konkrete Kids.
But it all started with Kistler adding to the bonus point count himself. Given that Liberty won the next four bouts (160-195), three with bonus, a loss in the opening bout at 152 may have put the Konkrete Kids so far behind in momentum, not to mention the match score, that recovery could have been unlikely.
Kistler’s fall laid the foundation for the Northampton win – but he maybe would have liked to have put the crowning stone on instead.
“I am not much for starting matches off,” he said. “My stomach was churning and I could feel my feet turning heavy. But I just went out and did my thing. Once I got the pin I looked up at the Liberty and our crowd and I knew my pin was really important for the match and momentum.”
And for the Kids, ranked No. 3 in the region by lehighvalleylive, to get a chance to take on Nazareth, ranked No. 2 again in the 3A semifinals Saturday (10:45 a.m.) at Freedom. The Blue Eagles won the first encounter between the old rivals 35-24 Jan. 19.
“We talked after the EPC match about how we needed to wrestle better to be a contender against the top teams,” Kistler said. “We wanted to put ourselves in a position to do that.”
Consider that accomplished – and probably another bowl of ice cream – vanilla, please – downed to celebrate at the Kistler household.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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