Hey Guys!

The end of the semester is here! Just one more week of exams and I’m home free. And man, lookin back, it FLEW! I can’t believe its December already and I have to take my exams. And wrestling season is already down to the last two and a half months! But the fact that this semester has gone so quick is a good thing, because as I sit here typing this taking a break from my studying, I am having very little trouble recalling information about philosophers and events that I learned about at the beginning of the semester. Believe it or not, something actually stuck in my head!

I’ll take this time to tell you all about how the end of the semester works. The first and most important thing: I get paid for various things that I’ve done for the school this semester. Second thing: exams. Sometimes they suck, sometimes they aren’t too bad. This semester for me isn’t too bad, except for the fact that I have two exams and a final paper all due within 19 hours of each other. Other than that, my exam schedule is cake.

For those of you who don’t know, the week of finals is different from the rest of the year. Classes don’t meet at their regular times and only once for each class. For example my Monday Wednesday Friday class that usually meets at 10 to 10:50 will now meet Tuesday at 8:30 to 10:30 to take the exam. At 10:31 a.m. on Tuesday, I’m done with American History! (Nothing personal Dr. Lynch. I like ya, but that’s just one more step closer to my degree!) And then at the end of the week, we are done with school till the second week of January or so. I realllllllly need this month off!

Well I gotta get back to studying!

See ya!

>Eric M.

Hey guys!

I just got back to my house from the Mount’s first home wrestling match.  The match was against Ohio Northern University, who we just wrestled last week at a dual tournament in Michigan.  We didn’t wrestle well last week; we fell to ONU 24-11. So we were lookin for a little revenge tonight.  I’m sad to say that we didn’t get a chance to take that revenge. We fell again tonight 22-16.

The overall match was a lot better tonight than last weekend.  Every wrestler on our team improved on some aspect of their match and I was impressed at how much heart was shown on the mat.  Guys who lost last week stepped it up and either won, or cut the matches to tighter scores. Guys that won last week also stepped up and won by greater margins, which helped keep the overall team score closer. 

For those of you who don’t know, team points are scored by how the winner wins a match. For example, a pin is worth 6 team points.  A win with a point margin of 15 or more is worth 5 team points. A margin of 8 points is worth 4 team points, and a margin of 7 or less is worth 3 team points. 

We only gave up one pin, which was made up by our 149 pounder who pinned his guy. But we only won 4 out of the 10 matches so we fell too far behind.

The match was a good experience; it’s always nice to wrestle at home.  We have two more home matches this season; hopefully they’ll have better outcomes than tonight.  And thanks to all of you that came to support us tonight! It was nice to see the stands as full as they were.

See ya!

>Eric M.

Hey everyone!

Turkey day is rapidly approaching and I have to say it is one of my most favorite holidays.  It might have something to do with the fact that I love to eat and always put my diet on hold during the season to enjoy Thanksgiving as much as possible.  My reasoning for this is that I am extremely thankful for how fortunate I am to be able to stuff my face and spend time with my family. So my weight cutting for wrestling can wait. Sorry Coach.

As I said, I am extremely thankful for all the things I have:  heated house, a great family, warm clothes, food, clean water, great friends, an amazing girlfriend, and a caring church among other things.  Many people are not as fortunate as I am and Thanksgiving usually reminds me of these people more than any other time of year.  This week is Homelessness Awareness Week and the College of Mount St Joseph is hosting a week full of events to share homeless perspectives with the students and the rest of the community. 

The week starts with a representative speaker from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Homeless experiences will be shared, followed by a question/answer session about life on the streets. “Street Vibes”, a newspaper written by the homeless of Cincinnati, will also be available.  Tuesday, the movie “Dark Days” will be shown. This film is biographical documentary about homeless who live in abandoned tunnels in New York. Then Wednesday, the Mount’s Quad will turn into Shantytown.  Students will make shelters out of cardboard in the Quad and participate in a mock soup kitchen.  Then the students will actually spend the night in their cardboard shacks outside in the elements!  The week ends with a candlelight vigil in Shantytown on Thursday night and a reflection on connections between homelessness and our faith and how we are called to help the homeless. 

This whole week will hopefully raise awareness of the seriousness of the homeless situation, not only in Cincinnati, but all over the country, especially when so many jobs are being terminated these days.  I know I’m going to try to make an effort to help out in some way.  I’m not too sure how just yet, I’m involved in a small food drive type event at my church that is gathering items to host a Thanksgiving dinner for needy families, but I’d like to do a little more.  I would like to call on any of you reading this to try to help out a little as well. Any little thing helps.

Let me give you an example of something my cousin, Paige, did a few months ago.  Paige took about forty bucks and bought a handful of gift cards to Arby’s.  She took the gift cards downtown and just walked around.  If she crossed paths with a homeless person, she would ask them if they liked Arby’s and give them a gift card.  Then she would hang out and talk with the people and get to know them a little. She heard some pretty crazy stories along with some real heartbreakers.  Paige has done this a few times now and it has gotten to the point where if she’s downtown, she has people coming up to her and thanking her for the gift cards and the meal they purchased with them. 

I have a lot of respect for my cousin for doing this and I hope that I can find the time and money to do something half as decent as what she did.  I challenge you to do something too!

Have a great week!

>Eric M.

Hey guys!

For those of you who don’t know, Cincinnati recognizes daylight savings time.  This means that that a couple weeks ago, we all turned our clocks back an hour to allow for more light in the morning.  It was designed to save on energy for the workplace. But I have a problem with this.

This time of year is obviously wrestling season (my earlier blogs might have clued you in on that) and we have morning and afternoon practice.  Morning practice takes place early enough that I’m still driving in the dark to get to practice and afternoon practice takes place just late enough to be dark once again on my way home. The constant darkness starts to take its toll and get a tad depressing.  And all this on top of the stress of school, wrestling, family obligations, and a combination of all three.  School work is getting tougher, I need to make weight every week now, and the holidays draw a lot of work and time at home. 

But guess what? I have some tips on how I avoid getting stuck in the rut of depression caused by all this stuff.

First and foremost, in regards to wrestling and making weight, I watch what I eat very closely.  I’m nothing close to a doctor, so don’t take my word for anything, but the way I keep my diet helps my energy levels.  I take a B vitamin complex, which helps with the healthy maintenance of the nervous system among other things. I also take my protein shakes that help my muscles recover to keep my body from hurting too much more.  Bodily pain tends to weigh heavy on your mind and keep you from focusing.  I also take ice baths to help my muscles recover quicker as well. 

Along with the supplements, I keep my vegetable and protein intake high and sugar, sodium, and carbohydrate intake low. I don’t know how much this affects my mood, but it helps me make my weight.

In regards to the other factors, I make sure I go to every class (I have yet to skip a class this semester) so that way I don’t get buried in missed work or struggle to find the notes for the missed lectures.  This is hard to do. The last thing I want to do is wake up from a hard practice and get to class. But you gotta make yourself do it.  Speaking of waking up, sleep is vital! I try to get as much sleep as I can, which usually falls between 4 and 5 hours a night, which I know is too low.

Other helpful tips to keep energy levels up that I have found to be successful include a workout routine and chill time.  I’ve found a regular workout routine (as long as it’s not too intensive) increases my energy levels and happiness.  Chill time for me would include napping, watching a movie or two, and talking and hangin out with my girlfriend, Katelyn, and my teammates and friends.  Video games, meditating, listening to music, and other enjoyable activities tend to help as well.

Well I gotta try to increase my sleep time tonight! I hope this might help you cope with the long, cold, sometimes depressing winter months. Just remember, spring is just around the corner!

See ya!

> Eric M.

Hey guys!

It is officially wrestling season!  The team kicked off the season this past weekend at the Eastern Michigan University Open Tournament up in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  We took about 30 guys up to EMU on Saturday to compete with some very tough teams. Most teams in attendance were NCAA Division I teams.  As some of you know, the Mount is a NCAA Division III team, so competing against Div. I is pretty exciting.  Not many Div. III teams get to see that kind of competition. 

The day started off early, with weigh ins around 7 a.m. and wrestling beginning around 9. The tournament was broken into two divisions, the freshman sophomore division (comprised of freshman and sophomores), and the open division (everyone else).  Being a junior, I competed against the upper classmen, facing four Division I opponents, three of which were starters for their team.  I ended the day with two wins, taking out the Cleveland State starter and his backup. As a team, we faired pretty well considering the competition level we were facing. We ended the day with about 25 wins total, which is pretty good in my book! We had two champs in the freshman sophomore division, Dave Harris at 149 and Corey McGrady at 184.  Congrats to these two!

The day ended around 6 p.m. and we had a 4 hour bus ride back home. I am pretty happy with the trip.  It’s always nice to compete against some of the best athletes in the sport and know you can hang with them, that’s how well head coach Casey Stouffer trains us here at the Mount. 

If you’re interested in the stats of the tournament and how the season progresses from here, you can check out our info on the Mount’s website under athletics and I thank you for your support!

>Eric M.

Hey guys.

I am sad to report that the Black Llamas (my intramural soccer team) posted their first loss to close the regular “season”.  We still get to play for first place in the playoffs, but it ruins our perfect season. I’m placing the blame on the fact that I have been watching my weight for my first wrestling tournament this weekend and haven’t walked through the doors at Chipotle in quite some time. Bottom line, we’ve been slacking on our training and I’ll be sure to get one of those burritos first thing when I get back from my tournament.

On a lighter note, advising season began last week and scheduling for classes next semester begins over the next few days.  This means that the semester is almost over! But that’s not the only good thing about advising season. Since I’m in the Education Department, I need to fulfill course requirements for both my major, History, and for the Education Department. After not looking at the course maps for each department for a while, I tend to forget what all I need to get done still before I graduate.  So when advising comes around, and I meet with both my advisors, I get a mental refreshment on the remaining course loads for my time here at the Mount.  And this semester I was pleasantly surprised! I wasn’t supposed to graduate on time due to a change in majors, but I have caught up my classes and am now on my way to graduating in four years. That’s great news! I won’t have to fork over an extra semester of tuition!  And I owe all this to my advisors. I sort of bounced around with my major advisors because I changed majors, then my history advisor was on sabbatical so I had a stand in. Now, I have my usual history advisor. I also have my Adolescent Young Adult (AYA) Education advisor that has really helped me stay on track and get things taken care of on time.

If any of my advisors read this, Jim, Buffy, Dr. Lynch, and Dr. West, thanks a lot and I appreciate the hard work you all have done to keep me on track!

To the rest of you, I’ll get back to ya next week!

>Eric M.

Hey guys.

I am sad to report that the Black Llamas (my intramural soccer team) posted their first loss to close the regular “season”.  We still get to play for first place in the playoffs, but it ruins our perfect season. I’m placing the blame on the fact that I have been watching my weight for my first wrestling tournament this weekend and haven’t walked through the doors at Chipotle in quite some time. Bottom line, we’ve been slacking on our training and I’ll be sure to get one of those burritos first thing when I get back from my tournament.

On a lighter note, advising season began last week and scheduling for classes next semester begins over the next few days.  This means that the semester is almost over! But that’s not the only good thing about advising season. Since I’m in the Education Department, I need to fulfill course requirements for both my major, History, and for the Education Department. After not looking at the course maps for each department for a while, I tend to forget what all I need to get done still before I graduate.  So when advising comes around, and I meet with both my advisors, I get a mental refreshment on the remaining course loads for my time here at the Mount.  And this semester I was pleasantly surprised! I wasn’t supposed to graduate on time due to a change in majors, but I have caught up my classes and am now on my way to graduating in four years. That’s great news! I won’t have to fork over an extra semester of tuition!  And I owe all this to my advisors. I sort of bounced around with my major advisors because I changed majors, then my history advisor was on sabbatical so I had a stand in. Now, I have my usual history advisor. I also have my Adolescent Young Adult (AYA) Education advisor that has really helped me stay on track and get things taken care of on time.

If any of my advisors read this, Jim, Buffy, Dr. Lynch, and Dr. West, thanks a lot and I appreciate the hard work you all have done to keep me on track!

To the rest of you, I’ll get back to ya next week!

>Eric M.

Hey guys!

SO I lied about doing the Habitat for Humanity project last weekend. The plans fell through. BUT we did redeem ourselves as a respectable team by cleaning up the woods and walking trails around the part of campus known as Earth Connections which counted as community service hours.  The mission of Earth Connection is to explore ecology, demonstrate sustainability, and experience spirituality.  The team worked for four hours on Saturday to clean up the downed trees and other debris and decaying material that was left from the “hurricane” a few weeks ago.  It was a pretty cool experience where we got a lot of work done and got a little closer as a team. It’s also very gratifying to do some work without receiving any monetary compensation and doing it for the good of the community.  

Speaking of teams, the wrestling team will be hosting the Blue and Gold Showcase this Thursday, October 23 at 7:00p.m. in the Harrington Center.  This is an intersquad match, where we just wrestle our teammates to allow the school to get to know the team.  This should be pretty cool, there are about 15 matches scheduled and Coach Stouffer got us a spot light to hang from the ceiling of the gym to shine on the mat.  He’s going to turn off the rest of the lights in the gym and just leave the spotlight on. This should be pretty cool! If anyone is semi-interested in wrestling, or the Mount St. Joseph wrestling team, come out and support us Thursday night!

Hey guys!

I just got done with my intramural soccer game (we won putting us at 5-0 on the season!) and found out that wrestling practice is cancelled on Friday (the afternoon session) and Saturday because the team is planning on participating in Habitat for Humanity on Saturday. This is pretty exciting and I figured I’d let ya know.

First off, let me rewind and explain a few things.

The College of Mount St. Joseph has an organization called SAAC which is the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. The purpose of the SAAC is to enhance the total student-athlete experience by promoting opportunity for all student-athletes; protecting student-athlete welfare; and fostering a positive student-athlete image, while maintaining the tenants of the Division III philosophy (information courtesy of the MSJ website).  This is my first year as a member of SAAC and it’s really a cool experience.  Last meeting, we talked about organizing involvement of the MSJ athletic teams with the Habitat for Humanity projects around the city.  I told Coach Stouffer about this and he decided to cancel practice for the weekend and get the wrestling team involved!

This is pretty exciting because Habitat for Humanity repairs and builds homes for underprivileged people so they have a safe and livable place to live.  Here at the Mount, community service plays a big role in our values and beliefs and there are a lot of opportunities to get involved and really make a difference in the community. I’m proud to have the opportunity to be a part of this and it should be a very valuable experience.

I’ll let you know how everything goes, and hopefully get some pictures to show you!

Take care!

>Eric M.

What’s up!

I haven’t really talked about it much yet this year so here it goes, I’m gonna tell ya guys about the MSJ wrestling team! As I’m sure some of you know, I am on the Mount St. Joseph wrestling team.  This will be my second year serving as captain and I guess it’s kinda my job to promote the team.  Or at least that’s my justification!

Last year we had a new head coach, Casey Stouffer, and it was sort of an experimental year in terms of scheduling and conditioning.  We had a few scheduling difficulties with matches being scheduled too close to each other that led to some of the team members getting burned out from losing weight too often and too quickly.  I think we all learned from that and the schedule is a little more spaced out this year.  This is a very good thing. I cut a lot of weight last year and there was one week where we had four weigh-ins in one week, and that killed me!

This year however, we have a lot of new freshman that should prove to be some tough competitors.  Last year, we ended the season with roughly 15 athletes.  This year, we have about 35 coming into the season.  We’ve had a few guys drop off the team after the first two weeks of two-a-day practices, but overall, I’m impressed with the work ethic and dedication of the majority of the freshman class.

Some things we are looking forward to are the Second Annual Takedown Clinic/Tournament we are hosting for high school wrestlers this Saturday, October 11 and our season opener at Eastern Michigan University, which is a Division I open tournament. That tournament is a good test of how good of shape we are in since we will be competing with some Division I and II athletes.  Last year, we won about 14 matches and had a few people place, and of course we are looking to do better this year.  And I don’t see that as being unreasonable at all!

We have a few home meets this year, which is a big improvement of the one that we had last year.  Our home opener is December 2 against Ohio Northern University at 7:00 pm, followed by our dual with Division I Purdue on December 21 at noon.  This is going to be a huge match! Not many Division III teams have a chance to dual a Division I team. We had the opportunity to dual Purdue last year at their home gym and we competed fairly well, so if you can, come to this meet and support the MSJ Maulers!  Then we close our home meets with a tri-meet with University of Indianapolis and Notre Dame College on February 10.

I’m sure I’ll be keeping you guys posted on how our season unfolds as it happens!

See ya!

>Eric M.