We had hoped to win it, but we rebounded from some tough matches and had three kids on the podium.

We came here to win it and we didn't. But we still had a great meet and earned some strong seeds for next week's state tournament. We have five or six quality wrestlers that should have a good chance of placing.

This tournament showed some of our weaknesses. We got out-wrestled by Chesapeake and had some letdowns in other matches. This format also shows what type of shape the kids are in. We've got a lot of work to do, both with conditioning and technique.

Justin always wrestled in the toughest weight class at states. It was great to see him overcome those semifinal losses, knowing that his life was going to be that much better, and wrestling was going to be that much more fun for him. It was also great for him and his family, because they win and lose with him. When he steps out on the mat, we're all out there with him.

My lack of faith in God is not a dilapidated house.
It does not need to be razed to the ground or burned down to cinders.
I refuse to be the wounded woman on a cross
that you crucify with your disapproval like nails;
I will only be the woman who believes in thunderstorms
the same way lightning loves the tops of trees it strikes
every time it gets tired of being pent up in an unforgiving sky,
the only difference is that I believe these are natural weather phenomenons,
not God’s belly rumbling or synapses firing.
When my doorway is filled with groups of people
wielding religious conversion pamphlets like crossbows,
I will be the martyr who steps aside to let the arrows
crack through the plaster in my wall instead of piercing my chest.
This is not a eulogy to the believer I could have been.
This is a battle cry to the believer I always have been,
believer in sunsets like splashes of paint, handholding
like willow branches brushing one another, new mornings
after old nights spent drowning in despair, believer
in love as an entire language instead of a single word.
Just because my beliefs align themselves on a different spectrum
does not mean they are the wrong wavelength or color.
And even though I think the universe was created by the Big Bang
instead of a God with magic dust shooting from his fingertips,
my universe does not contain fewer stars.

We'll never raise enough money with motorcycle rides, but we can raise awareness.