Matt Levins - The Hawk Eye
Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville high school wrestling coach Bill Plein has seen and done a lot of things in his Hall of Fame career.
When the state wrestling tournament gets under way Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Plein will add a couple more to his list.
The Nikes qualified 11 wrestlers for the tournament in their quest to win their second Class 2A state team title in four years.
Among those 11 wrestlers will be three sets of brothers -- Dirk and Colt Boyles, Kaiden and Kohen Dietzenbach and Joey and Jared Glendening.
For the Boyles, it will be their second trip to state together. For the Dietzenbachs and Glendenings, it will be a first.
And for all three sets of brothers, it will be an experience of a lifetime, something they will talk about the rest of their lives.
"It means a lot. I really wanted to before he graduates to be able to go to state with him," Jared Glendening said.
"I'm always wrestling with my brothers, trying to prove that I'm better than them, even though they are pretty good," said Joey Glendening, whose older brother, Josh, was a state runner-up two years ago for the Nikes. "I've always wanted to go up to state, even though I'm not the best out there on the mat. I still try pretty hard. This is the first year I've made it. I wanted to make it my freshman year because my older brother was a senior that year. It means a lot that me and my little brother are going up there together. Hopefully we will next year, too."
All three sets of brothers started wrestling at an early age. From rolling around on the living room floor to sparring on wrestling mats at home, there have been more than a few lamps, pieces of furniture broken, a few bumps and bruised and a little bit of blood through it all.
But it was well worth the price to get the opportunity to wrestle together on the biggest stage of all.
"We started off together in the basement five and six years old wrestling each other. We've been together ever since. I've learned a lot just from wrestling him," said Dirk Boyles, a senior at 157 pounds. "Now that I'm a lot bigger than him we don't wrestle around as much as we used to. When we were little we used to wrestle all the time, always scrapping, always trying to work on something, get better at something else."
"It's been something. He's the older brother, so a lot of times he's beat up on me quite a bit. But he's definitely taught me a lot," said Colt Boyles, a junior who qualified at 120. "It was pretty even when we were smaller. Now there's not a whole lot I can do to beat him because he is quite a bit bigger."
For Kaiden Dietzenbach, a state runner-up last year, there is unfinished business to tend to this week at 138 pounds. But he knows his staunchest supporter will be his little brother Kohen, who wrestles at 106. Kohen is a spitting image of Kaiden when he was a freshman and Kaiden gets his biggest thrill watching his little brother compete, as long as it's not against him.
"It's awesome. I love watching my mini-me go out there and kick some butt. I love it. It's stressful at times, for sure, coaching the little guy. But it's good. It's fun," Kaiden Dietzenbach said. "We're always scrapping, learning new moves. I'm showing him stuff. He's great also. He's always ready to learn. Whenever I have something, he's always trying to pick my mind."
"It's really fun being able to be on the same team and him. I look up to him. He's a really good wrestler. It's nice to have that person to look up to in the room and at the tournaments," Kohen Dietzenbach said. "I work with him a lot on certain stuff, depending on who I'm wrestling. If I know he's doing something, I'll work with Kaiden and he will do it and I'll try to counteract it. It's nice to have someone to roll around with, even on off days without practice."
For the Glendenings, it is a continuation of the family wrestling legacy. Their father, Brian Glendening, was a state qualifier for Burlington back in his day. He wants nothing more than for his sons to get the same experience he had and have an opportunity to bring home a medal.
"My Dad was a pretty good wrestler. He wanted us to wrestle. He didn't expect anything really good. He just wanted us to qualify for state. When Josh was wrestling he figured out that we were pretty good. Josh made it to the finals his senior year. He expects me and Joey to place, as well," Jared Glendening said. "I started when I was three. He was our coach for West Burlington. He would bring me in the room and I would just roll around with the other little kids."
"It's my first time going up there in high school. I felt really good about it because it's all my Dad really wanted from us, just to be successful. It feels good to achieve it," said Joey Glendening, a member of the WB-ND football team which won the first playoff game in program history this past fall. "(Jared) just kept on wrestling as hard as he could no matter what. Always moving on. Never let a loss change any outcome. Keep pushing through every match."
Whenever any of the brothers need to polish up on a few wrestling moves, strengthen a weakness here or there, they need look no further than their own home to find a willing training partner. They are each others' biggest fans.
"I work with him a lot on certain stuff, depending on who I'm wrestling," Kohen Dietzenbach said. "If I know he's doing something, I'll work with Kaiden and he will do it and I'll try to counteract it. It's nice to have someone to roll around with, even on off days without practice."
"I'm teaching him the ways. We have a lot of practices together. We work in the room a lot. He's always improving. He's wrestling really good. I'm glad to see that," Kaiden Dietzenbach said. "I love it. My heart gets pumping. I get a little more stressed when he's wrestling than when I am."
No matter what happens this week, the band of brothers will be just that -- brothers. It is a bond that will last a lifetime.
"We went together last year and I placed. It sucked to watch him not place with me. I'm hoping this year we're both pretty high up on the podium together," Dirk Boyles said. "I think it's going to be fun. I think it would be awesome for all of us to place. It will be cool. This is Mr. Plein's biggest team he's ever taken. We've had a pretty good team. Our goal is to win the whole thing and bring home the team title."
"He's always done a better job of keeping his composure out on the mat, not letting other people's records and stuff like that affect him. He's does a lot better job at that. That's something he's taught me," Colt Boyles said. "It will be fun. This will be our last year since he's a senior. It would be nice if we could both place. That would be a pretty good weekend."