Deron Winn scores a national championship victory for the wrestling team in its last season
Carlos Restrepo
-Editor-In-Chief-
Des Moines, IA – In their last season ever, the STLCC-Meramec wrestling team finished fifth at the NJCAA National Wrestling Championship, with Deron Winn as the champion of his 184 pounds weight class.
Out of the other seven wrestlers that competed in the championship, four also made it to the winning podium:, Quinten Haynes, 149 pounds weight class, finished third; Anthony Saulled, 165, also finished third; John Vogt, 174, finished fourth and Craig Chiles, 133, finished seventh.
“It’s nice to have someone like Deron on the team this year. We had a lot of guys who wrestled really good, but he’s just an incredible wrestler,” said Nick Vogt, head coach, who took over the command of the team last year after former coach Ron Mirikitani was removed from the position. “It’s been a lot of fun with him.”
Adding to the emotion of the tournament, Winn’s victory will become the last one ever for Meramec’s wrestling program, due to the decision by the administration to cut wrestling, men’s soccer and women’s volleyball as a result of budget constraints. Vogt said this did not affect the performance of the team at the championship.
“We knew we had to wrestle. We came to practice every day; we worked hard and at the end of the year it turned out alright Vogt said. “You deal with controversy all the time, maybe you don’t agree with all the decisions that are made, but you have to deal with them, and that’s what happened.”
Winn said what kept them motivated throughout the year was their team unity.
“We were like brothers,” he said.
In making a case for the continuation of the wrestling program at Meramec, Winn asserted that this was “the best team in school.”
At the podium ceremony, Winn climbed up to the number one spot as parents, coaches and media took photos. He, as all the other Meramec wrestlers, was wearing a jersey with Japanese letters written on it.
On the back it read “never, ever give up.” In front, “Mirikitani trained.”
