Determination
He had everything going for him; the good looks, the girls, varsity wrestling, everything you’d see in a popular boy, Jake had.  Jake, like any other high school kid, had his share of priorities.  He was successful, so his priorities didn’t worry him unless it had to do with wrestling.  Jake always put wrestling first, then girls, then schoolwork.  Even if he had to go to a simple weigh-in and the hottest girl in the school asked him out, he’d simply say, “Sorry, I have weigh-ins.”  He wrestled at 170. That was his set weight class. 
Jake was a very hard worker when it came to wrestling, so he always put in the best, hardest work he could.  He outshined all the wrestlers on the team.  He had already gone to districts, a tourney in which only a few wrestlers from the team get to go to, and their skill level had to be somewhat decent to even qualify.  Districts had passed, and Jake had placed first out of his weight class.  State was coming up, and Jake had started to develop a bit of anxiety. 
“ATTA BOY!” Jake’s wrestling coach yelled to him as he tripped his opponent to the mat.  Jake was now wrestling in his last match before state.  This was big, as it was the match that determined who they sent to state.  He dropped on top of his opponent and spun to his back, but as he got to his opponent’s rear, they both stood up, Jake’s arms wrapped around his opponent’s waist.  As Jake’s opponent tried to break free of his grasp, Jake squatted down and sprung back up as he lifted his opponent over his head, arched backward, and threw him back onto the mat. 
“OOHHH!” Jake’s teammates yelled as Jake slammed his opponent to the mat.
“VERY NICE!  NICE SUPLEX!” Jake’s Coach yelled.  “NOW ROTATE TO THE HEAD!  GET YOUR HALF!”  Jake’s coach screamed with excitement as Jake spun to his opponents head.  Jake slipped his arm under his opponent’s arm and on top of his neck.  He shot his arm forward and flipped his opponent over, holding his opponent on his back.  The referee got on his knees as he looked under Jake’s opponent to make sure both shoulders were down.  SLAM! You saw the referee slam his hand on the mat as Jake finished the match with a pin.   Jake’s team roared as the referee lifted Jake’s arm to congratulate his win.  Jake was going to state, and he was ready.  It was time to start training hard, state was only a week away.
A few days passed, and Jake was worn out.  He spent them doing nothing but schoolwork and training for state.  When he wasn’t doing one, he was doing the other.  He would go home and do some homework, then he would go to the gym and wrestle, lift weights, run, or do whatever he needed to do to prepare himself, not only physically but mentally as well.  He even would train in his own basement with a wrestling dummy if he couldn’t make it to the gym.  He knew it was coming and his plan was to place first at state. 
A few more days of training and school passed.  Today was the day that Jake had been waiting for; state.  His alarm clock blared the most annoying sound as he got out of bed and turned it off.   The time read 4:30 a.m.  Jake didn’t like getting up early, but he knew he had to get on the bus with the few other wrestlers on the team that qualified for state.  He grabbed his bags, one of which contained an outfit for after he wrestled, and another that had a ton of food for after he weighed in, and ran outside to the bus.  He hadn’t eaten the night before just to ensure that he made weight today.  He got on the bus, made his way to the back seats, and fell asleep.  It was a two hour bus ride, so he wanted to get a little bit more rest before he went and wrestled.
“Alright guys, we’re here.” Jake’s coach called out to the team from the front of the bus.  All of the other wrestlers got off the bus, and as Jake was about to step out of the bus door, his coach stopped him.
“Jake, I know today is a big day for you.  I want you to know that us coaches, and your teammates, have put all of our fate within you today.  I want you to wrestle your ass off today, even if it means you kill a kid or two.”  Jake’s coach said to him, winking. 
“Thanks coach.  It means a lot.  I’ll be sure to kill three, just for you guys!” Jake jokingly replied.  He got off the bus and ran inside to catch up with the team.  He got in the doors of the building where state was being held, as he caught up with the team who had already found the weigh-in room.  Jake knew he had no problem making weight.  All of the wrestlers lined up in weight order: 106, 113, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220, and Heavyweight, which was 250 or more.  As the wrestlers all weighed in, Jake made his way up to the scale.  He stripped down to his underwear, and stepped up onto the scale. 
“All good.” The weigh-in ref said as the scale read 168.2.  Jake was on weight.  He rushed over to his post weigh-in bag and quickly unzipped it as he grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and a turkey sandwich.  He devoured both in what seemed to be light speed.  A few hours passed, and people were already starting to wrestle.  Jake had already won two matches, which meant he was already in at least 3rd place.  As the announcers called off his name and weight, Jake made his way to the middle of the mat, and began to wrestle.  This match was back and forth, but Jake eventually won the match by 4 points, which was the equivalent score of two takedowns.  Jake was now in 2nd place.  One more match and he would have everything he wanted.  Jake ran off the mat, shook the opponent coaches hand, then went back to his coach.
“You’re doing great Jake.  Make sure to pace yourself, this is your biggest match coming up, don’t rush it.  Make sure to take your time, work your hand fight, get that snap if you have to.  Keep up the good work, buddy.”  Jake’s coach said.  He seemed to be more excited than Jake was, but everyone knew Jake had all the anxiety in the world right now.  Jake waited an hour before his final match. 
“Jacob Williams of the Rockets, versus Clark Beckham of the Warriors, for the 170 pound state final, you are on deck!  Again that’s Jacob Williams of the Rockets and Clark Beckham of the Warriors, you are on deck for the 170 pound state final!” The announcer spoke clearly over the stadium.  Jake stripped down to his singlet, and started to warm up, lightly hopping up and down, shaking out all his limbs.  He was ready to take his state title home with him.  As the match before Jake’s finished, he started to fill with angst as he knew he was wrestling next.  He went up to the mat, put on the green anklet, and ran back to the middle of the mat. 
Jake shook his opponent’s hand, and zoned in to nothing but his opponent.  As he heard the referee blow the whistle, he started to move back and forth, every now and again touching his opponent’s head to mess with him.  He finally tied up with his opponent, wrapping his hand around the back of his opponent’s neck.  He yanked and jerked his opponent around by his head as he tried multiple times to break his defense to get a takedown.  Before he knew it, the whistle blew and it was the end of round one. 
Jake went back to the middle of the mat after the 30 second break, and got back into his stance.  He heard the whistle, and repeated the same thing, grabbing his opponent’s head and yanking him around.  Jake was starting to get frustrated at his opponent’s defensive skills, so he tried something else.  He pressured toward his opponent, causing his opponent to pressure back.  As his opponent drove toward him, Jake used his opponent’s momentum and yanked his head down, causing him to fall forward.  Jake acted quickly as he spun to his opponent’s back.
“YES!!!  BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL!”  Jake’s coach yelled as he got his opponent’s back.  Jake closed his eyes as time seemed to slow.  The sound of the stadium began to warble as Jake zoned out to the sound of only his thoughts.  Today is the day… I can do this.  Suplex and it will be over… Jake thought to himself.  He took a deep breath as he opened his eyes and everything came back to him.  He wrapped his arms around his opponent’s waist, squatted down, and sprung back up.  He lifted his opponent over his head, arched backward, and threw him back onto the mat once again, making his opponent hit the mat with a crushing THUD.  Jake held his opponent down as he was arched backward. 
SLAM!  Jake heard the slap of the referee’s hand against the mat, waited a few seconds, and heard his team begin to go ballistic as he realized he won with a pin.  Jake had won his state match.  He did what he thought was impossible.  He got up, back flipped with joy, and ran to his coach and hugged him. 
“THANK YOU COACH!! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!”  Jake exclaimed.
“I knew you could do it buddy!”  Jake’s coach said back.  They walked off of the mat as he walked into the crowd of his team.   Jake had won state, and he never had any regrets about anything.