The Takedown Newsletter * 01.05.09

The Takedown
Weslaco High School
Panther Wrestling Newsletter
01.05.09 Volume 01- Issue 06

Happy New Year !! Happy New Year !!

Here’s wishing all of our Panther Wrestling community an awesome year! I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to each of our wrestlers and coaches as well as their families for their support and continued joint efforts in helping our program become the best that it can be.

“Parents Night” Tonight at WHS * W-EAST DUAL ! The Panthers host the Weslaco East Wildcats tonight, Monday, January 5, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lackey Gym (east of the Sepulveda Gym) on the Weslaco High School campus. It is also Parent’s Night! We will have a brief presentation of our Junior Varsity and Varsity wrestlers & parents before the start of the meet. Please arrive by 6:30 p.m. so that we can get everyone lined-up for the 6:45 p.m. presentation.

Practice Schedule for the Week of January 5th: Monday: the team will gather for the dual with Weslaco East at 5:00 p.m. in order to set-up the mat and chairs. The dual meet will start at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday: practice from 4:15 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday: practice from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Thursday: dual meet in Rio Hondo Friday: practice from 4:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Saturday: either team practice or a team dual (check with your wrestler).

Panthers Travel to Rio Hondo Thursday for Dual: The Panthers travel to Rio Hondo this Thursday for their next district dual meet. Rio Hondo’s coach, an Oklahoma University alumnus, has informed Coach Pederson that the start of the dual meet will be moved up to 6:00 p.m. so that he can make it home to watch the OU vs. Florida national championship football game at 8:00 p.m. The Panthers will leave the WHS campus at approximately 4:00 p.m. Check with your wrestler for further details. By the way…, Go Gators!

Sharyland Rattler Tournament Changes Format: The Panthers were scheduled to take part in the Sharyland Invitational Tournament on Saturday, January 10, 2009. Coach Pembrook of Sharyland, has informed WHS coach Mark Pederson that he decided to change the format of his tournament to that of a Quad Team Duals Meet. Our Panther Wrestlers were not selected to be one of the four teams for this meet.

Coach Pederson is tentatively planning on having either a practice session or a dual meet on Saturday morning to make use of the time that would have been spent at the tournament. Check with your wrestler so that either the practice or the dual meet can start on schedule.

Tomas Garces Memorial Team Duals Tournament Crowns the McHi Bulldogs as Champion for 2009 The Panthers hosted the annual Tomas Garces Memorial Team Dual Tournament on Saturday, January 3, 2009. This year’s champions are the McAllen High School Bulldogs. Second place went to the McAllen Rowe Warriors, and third place to the Weslaco East Wildcats. Our Panthers finished in fourth place. Other teams competing were the San Benito Greyhounds and the PSJA High School Bears. PSJA North and Sharyland both sent word that they were dropping out of the tournament.

There were exciting matches throughout the tournament and it was a good indicator of the progress some wresters are making and for others, areas that they need to work on. Many teams have stepped up to the mat, so to speak, and each tournament and dual meet can be won by any one of the various teams competing. This can only serve to strengthen the wrestling programs in our two valley districts.

Faces-in-the-Crowd included: Rafael and Sonia Garces (Tommy’s parents); WISD Board of Trustee member, David Fox; WISD Athletic Director, Oscar Riojas; WHS Athletic Coordinator, Tony Villarreal, WEHS Athletic Coordinator Armando Cuellar and San Benito CISD Board of Trustee member Oscar Medrano.

2009 Tomas Garces Memorial Team Duals Champions.
McAllen High School Bulldogs


The Nikki Rowe Warriors pose with their 2nd place medals and
team logo poster.


The Weslaco East Wildcats placed third.



Weslaco High School Tournament Poster

Varsity Girls Compete at Rio Grande City Tourney: On Saturday, January 3, 2009, the Varsity Lady Panther Wrestling team traveled to Rio Grande City to compete in the Lady Rattler Tournament. RGC coach, Ronald Pratt stated that he expected 17 teams to compete at the event. Pratt went on to say that “the girls tend to get overlooked a lot of the time and this tournament showcases just the girls.” Once The Takedown is able to obtain the results for our Lady Panthers, we will post them in an upcoming issue.

Garces Tournament T-shirts Still Available……….. There are still a few t-shirts available at a cost of $10 each. The shirts have become a collectible item and if you want to purchase a shirt, they will be on display at the home dual meets until we sell out.



WHS Wrestling: Is It a Path to the Presidency? Does your wrestler have political ambitions? The following U. S. presidents wrestled in their youth and then went on to capture the highest political office in the land: George Washington (in current terms, Washington would be a district champion as well as a regional champion), John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln (in current terms, Lincoln would be a district champion), John Tyler, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft (a fourth generation wrestler), Calvin Coolidge, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

WHS Coach Mark Pederson has informed The Takedown that he has reconsidered his original stance and is now allowing those wrestlers that did not pass a class in the 3rd Six Week Period, another opportunity to make the team. The wrestlers in question must be passin

No Pass/No Play – 4th Six Weeks, One Last Chance:

g all of their classes by the end of the first three week period of the 4th Six Week grading period (Progress Reports). Coach Pederson said he thought that the period ends Friday, January 23rd, with the grades being posted by Monday, January 26th. This will be eleven days before the district meet in San Benito. Please encourage your wrestler to buckle down and get his academic grades in order so that he can take advantage of this opportunity. If your wrestler needs tutoring, please see to it that he gets it. If there are parents that can help outside of school in tutoring a particular subject, please call us at 956.793.4183 so that we may forward the information. I can offer help with English, Spanish, History/Social Studies and class projects. If you have further questions, please contact Coach Pederson after practice.

On behalf of the WHS Wrestling community and The Takedown Club, I want to express our sympathy to Weslaco High School Principal Isidoro Nieto, Weslaco I.S.D Human Resources Director, Roman Nieto and their extended family at the loss of their mother, Maria Cruz Nieto, on Friday, January 2, 2009. May the memories of your mother give you strength in the days ahead.

In Memoriam: Maria Cruz Nieto