Congratulations, Shane. This will be a monument for the rest of your life. All that hard work paid off, even without the best support from Stanford. Well done.
The wrestling team was my first beat when I started working at The Stanford Daily in the early 90s. Even back then, I was amazed at what coach Chris Horpel was able to produce without much fanfare or institutional support. Every year he'd have very competitive wrestlers at a few weights, and, every few years, he'd have a competitive overall team, usually with an all-conference performer, and an All-American every five years or so. The members of the team were always smart, humble, hard-working, and self-effacing.
True wrestlers are used to being overlooked, even though they are amongst the best all-around athletes in the world. They do what they do because they love the sport, and hope that others notice how beautifully elemental and yet extremely technical it is.
Such great kids on that team year after year. About 15 years ago, the team took another step and became even more competitive overall, nationally prominent at several weight classes, which makes the recent decision to discontinue the sport even more frustrating.
I think the decision by the athletics department and administration to cancel wrestling and the others sports to be awful, and very un-Stanford-like, especially for the current team members. It's really hard for me to like the AD and admin right now.
-m.
The wrestling team was my first beat when I started working at The Stanford Daily in the early 90s. Even back then, I was amazed at what coach Chris Horpel was able to produce without much fanfare or institutional support. Every year he'd have very competitive wrestlers at a few weights, and, every few years, he'd have a competitive overall team, usually with an all-conference performer, and an All-American every five years or so. The members of the team were always smart, humble, hard-working, and self-effacing.
True wrestlers are used to being overlooked, even though they are amongst the best all-around athletes in the world. They do what they do because they love the sport, and hope that others notice how beautifully elemental and yet extremely technical it is.
Such great kids on that team year after year. About 15 years ago, the team took another step and became even more competitive overall, nationally prominent at several weight classes, which makes the recent decision to discontinue the sport even more frustrating.
I think the decision by the athletics department and administration to cancel wrestling and the others sports to be awful, and very un-Stanford-like, especially for the current team members. It's really hard for me to like the AD and admin right now.
-m.