Thank you to all families who supported the Elk River Wrestling fundraiser! The winners are listed below!

1st Place - 4 Wheeler          Ms. Kowalchyk
2nd Place - $1,000 Cash     Todd Thomphson
3rd Place - $750 Cash         Levi Dargis
4th Place - $750 Cash         Pat Brykovsky
5th Place - $500 Cash         Pete Haag
6th Place - $500 Cash         Nicole Haag
7th Place - $250 Cash         Don Harms
8th Place - $250 Cash         Steve Bart

Winners from our wrestling families are:

   Bucket #1 - Youth Wrestlers: 

• Eric Flahave sold the most tickets
• Anne Keroj for selling all tickets

   Bucket #2:  Middle School & High School Wrestlers:

• Erin Pelltier sold the most tickets
• Tonya Eggers for selling all tickets

Athlete of the Week: Lafayette Bade, Elk River wrestling

by Jake Andersen
Sports Reporter
ER Star News

Lafayette Bade remembers watching practice partner Casey Schilz compete at the state tournament last season.

While he was thrilled for his teammate, he couldn’t help but think about how close he was to joining him. Wrestling in the 285-pound third-place match of the Section 7AAA tournament, Bade fell to Blaine’s Dylan Krump by fall. This marked a disappointing finish to his sophomore season, considering a win would have advanced him to face Tim Mandyck of Coon Rapids in a true-second match, with a trip to state on the line. Instead, Krump sent him home early, which didn’t sit well with the Elk River heavyweight.

“All I could think about was being successful and being on top and that I wouldn’t stop until I get there,” he said.

To prevent last year’s disappointment from happening again, Bade put the work in during the offseason. Preferring to hit the gym when no one was there, Bade and teammate Tyler Benson spent countless summer nights working out at The Gym 365 in Elk River until the wee hours of the morning. The workout habits continued into football and wrestling season with Bade being the first one to the school gym in the mornings, asking coaches to open the doors early. On top of that, he’d spend time working out after practices.

Furthermore, Bade saw a better opportunity for himself and the wrestling team by competing in the 220-pound weight class, meaning he’d have to cut 20-30 pounds following football season. This presented quite the challenge for the big man, considering he’d have to maintain a weight around 250 pounds as an offensive and defensive lineman on the football team.

Even so, Bade was up for the challenge. As matter of fact, he didn’t need anyone else to motivate him, but himself.

“With football, wrestling, track, school and anything in life, there’s always someone trying to get better than me, trying to beat me in life and that just bugs me a lot,” Bade said. “I can’t let that happen, so my brain works differently. I just want to work out and be better than everyone else. Not in a cocky or bad way, but in a way that drives me and makes me successful in life.”

With the football team making another state championship game, Bade got off to a late start with the wrestling team, but after taking two weeks off, he set out to cut the weight.

In a matter of a week, Bade lost over 20 pounds by going through intense workouts and practices, while managing a consistent diet. Normally, he’d eat whatever was put on the table, but this time around, he kept his portion sizes small, while eating leaner meats and a ton of fruit. Of course, drinking plenty of water and cutting out sugary drinks like pop was key to losing weight as well.

Bade told role model and Elks assistant coach Gary Clem about his plans to wrestle at 220 first and he wasn’t the least bit surprised to see him transform his body so quickly.

“He worked every day after practice and cleaned up his diet with one goal in mind: making the state tournament,” said Clem, who’s coached Lafayette since first grade. “He has to be told to go home from practice. He just works that hard (to accomplish what he sets his mind to).”

Initially, Bade had a tough time adjusting to a new weight class, losing his first two matches, but he said that things started to click when he took second place at the Cambridge-Isanti invitational on Jan. 6.

“It was a struggle right away. I was hard on myself because I wasn’t getting it. The speed was bad for me. I just wasn’t wrestling well because I wasn’t moving my feet (against quicker wrestlers) and wasn’t myself after losing all that weight. After busting my butt in practice and getting quicker, it started to come together, though,” Bade said.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this event!  A total of $720.26 was donated to The Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund.  Details of the event is described in the letter to the right.

A special thanks to Totino Grace and Annandale/Maple Lake wrestling captains and fans for participating!