Last Saturday the Alliance Bulldogs wrestling team competed in the Southeast Dual tournament in Yoder, Wyoming; dueling Burns, Bridgeport, Hanna Elk Mountain, Bayard and Chadron. The team achieved the goal of getting first place for the third year in a row, but the placing in the tournament wasn’t the greatest moment of the day.

Senior Cristian Hulsey brought many of the spectators to tears when he wrestled Kenny Wohl, a junior who attends Hanna Elk Mountain High School. Wohl is a special needs student who doesn’t have the amount of strength as some of the other wrestlers. Hulsey decided to give up six of their team points, as he let Wohl take him down and get the pin in thirty-three seconds. Alliance still came out on top sixty-to-ten after the loss. The crowd went crazy as Wohl stood and the referee raised Wohl’s hand. After a few moments the ref raised Hulsey’s hand also.

The whole team was extremely proud of Hulsey’s actions and wouldn’t have wanted it another way. Most of the team told me they had tears in their eyes as Hulsey gave up his win.

When Hulsey was asked about his match he said, “I’ve never really done anything that nice before, it felt good.” Before his match he was talking to Devin Ushio and they agreed if Alliance had won every match leading up to the 113-pound match he would let Wohl win. With the loss by David Berg at 106-pound Hulsey had to make a decision; it was in the middle of his match that he made his gut decision to let him win. In the end he said, “I just did it for the kid,” and, “I was extremely proud.” Hulsey’s coach, Travis Peak, said “I’m proud of him for doing something so selfless just to make someone less fortunate than him happy. I’m sure that boy will remember that forever.” Teammate David Berg also said, “I have respect for him and it was a cool thing to do.”

The team might not remember who won what that day, but the team and even the spectators will always remember this match. Just by seeing the joy of Wohl’s face was enough. There have been a lot of matches that have been memorable and will stay in my mind but this one will always be one of the first.