my hero.

what an incredible weekend.

i went to bakersfield this past weekend to support my little brother, dylan, in the california interscholastic federation (CIF) state championships for wrestling. it was unlike any tournament i'd ever been to. 6,000 people showed up to see california's best wrestlers compete for state championship titles. dylan had a rocky start, losing his first match in overtime, but came back to win his next six matches in a row. The second match was won by technical fall (meaning he was ahead by 15 points) and the third and fourth were won by pin fall, both in less than one minute. Day two was even more nerve-racking, his first match would determine whether or not he would place in the top 8 and go home with a medal. using his signature move, he got his opponent into a cradle and pinned him for the win. he won his next two matches, one of which was against the first place winner of the north coast section (NCS) competition the weekend before. his final match was against the kid that beat him in his first match. he wrestled harder and smarted, and was in the lead after the second round, but ended up losing 10-8. it was an amazing match though, he did his absolute best and for that we are so incredibly proud.

my little brother is now ranked 4th in the state :]

dylan was in the contra costa times last sunday, so of course i had to get a copy. on the inside of the back page was this picture and an article that still makes me tear up when i read it. my favorite part is when they quote him:

"This morning I didn't have any expectations for myself," Phillipy said. "I just wanted to wrestle and see how far I could take it. A medal would've been nice but as long as I tried my hardest, I wouldn't be disappointed with myself and it got me fourth place."

he also got amazing reviews by the same author on the east bay prep corner blog. ben enos was updating this blog all weekend, and spoke very highly of my little brother:

"Ladies and gentlemen, if someone is wrestling better than Dylan Phillipy right now, I’d like to meet them."

and

"You can talk championships all you want but what College Park’s Dylan Phillipy is doing today is incredible."

it fills my heart with so much love and pride, this kid deserves all the praise in the world. he's worked so hard to get to where he is now. i feel so blessed to have been apart of that.

i love you dylan <3>**pictures from the contra costa times