By Dennis Hampton-

Noah Dahlstrom a junior at Mount Vernon High School, was about five years old when he first laced on his wrestling shoes and hit the mat. “My dad thought I’d have fun with it,” said Noah.

Wrestling in high school has been very good for Noah, being able to wrestle varsity ever since his freshman year. As a freshman he wrestled at 125 pounds, as a sophomore last wrestling season he wrestled at 132 pounds and as a junior he plans on wrestling at quite a bit heavier weight than before, 145 pounds.

One of Noah’s favorite memories he can recall goes back to when he was in fifth grade, wrestling at state. “Wrestling in that stadium (Veterans Memorial Stadium) was an amazing feeling,” said Noah.

Two of his worst memories Noah said were from when he was wrestling in eighth grade. Noah explained how he was wrestling at the state tournament and he was wrestling a kid when the kid threw back his head hitting Noah’s head and causing Noah to bite a piece of his tongue off. At that same tournament he was up 11 points in the last 12 seconds when his opponent stuck him.

As a junior, he does have one specific goal: “I’d like to go to state,” said Noah “and win a spot on the podium, hopefully on the top.” One of his favorite places to wrestle is at Clinton, “because they have so many mats out.” That’ll change for sure if he gets a chance at wrestling at the Wells Fargo for state wrestling, where there are two more mats and many more fans at the state tournament than at Clinton.

Wrestling is not just a sport of strength or muscle, but also mental. For you to win, you need to go out on the mat with the winning attitude. Kyle Durgin, a senior wrestler for Mount Vernon, said, “He has both, he has the winning mentality that you need to win and the strength to do it.”

Noah’s favorite move is, without hesitation “The cradle. Which is pretty much anyone’s favorite move.” With nearly half of his wins coming off of pins, the cradle was a good friend to him. Kyle Jilovec a senior at Mount Vernon High School and also Noah’s wrestling partner, “Noah is a good wrestler, especially when he gets you in that cradle.”

Even though Noah enjoys wrestling, wrestling in college is not a reality. He said, “If you’re going to go anywhere for wrestling, you have to be pretty good from the start.”