Grundy Register Thursday, December 15, 2016 19www.thegrundyregister.com SPORTS

By JAKE RYDERThe Grundy Register

ACKLEY – Caleb Meinders asks himself, “What if…?” from time to time.

But he’s not asking the samequestion his coaches, family and friends have asked him since he was diagnosed with autoimmunehepatitis last fall.

The condition, where a confused immune system sees his liver as a foreign entity and attacks the bodyorganas if itwere a foreignbacte-ria or virus, carries potentially-fatal consequences.

“Everyone says, ‘What if thishappens?’,‘Whatifthathappens,’”Meinders said. “Well, what if noth-inghappens?”

That’sthequestionthatmotivat-ed Meinders in his junior season on thewrestlingmats forAGWSR,where he was a 7th-place finisher in the 220-poundweight class atlastFebruary’sstatetournamentandeventuallybroughthimback to thegridiron as a senior forAGWSR’sfirst season of 8-player football.

Doctors had previously cleared him to participate in wrestling,but not for full contact in football, which was seen as too much of a collision sport forMeinders’ con-dition.

Allthingsconsidered,Meinders’success on the mats was impressive in its own right, butMeinderswasready to earn back his spot on the football field.

Relegated to point-after-touch-down kicking duties for the homeopeneragainstColo-NescoinWeek1, Meinders connected on three of his six PATs inAGWSR’s 55-28victory.

But after the win, Meinders sent a text to his mother.

“I said, ‘Signme up, getme adoctor’s appointment, because I’mgoing to get cleared to play thisseason,’”Meinders said. “Iwantedto be with this team and felt like I could do more than just kick field goals.”

With the help of the hard work thathehadput in theweight roomnearly year-round atAGWSR, hisdoctordeemedhimhealthyenoughto return to the football team.

JamesKoop, entering his firstyear asAGWSR football coach astheCougars prepared for their firstseason of 8-player football, still had his reservations.

After conversations with Caleb andhisparents,Koopagreed to letMeinders play defensive end.

“It’s hard,”Koop said. “He’s aphenomenal student, a phenomenal leader,he’sgoingtodogreatthingswithhislife.…Youdon’twanttheworst-case scenario to happen.”

WhatKoop couldn’t arguewasthat Meinders had already achieved success on the line as a third-team offensive lineman in his sophomore season, thoughKoop noted it did

Determined Meinders making most of senior year

takesome timeforMeinders togetcomfortablewith being on the lineofscrimmageagain.

“Forthefirstfourgameshewasback, hewas helping the team justbybeingonthefield,buttherewassome hesitancy there,” Koop said. “Butinthelastfourgamesandourplayoffgame,hewastearingthingsup like you expected him to before all of this.”

By the end of the season, Meinders had collected team-highswith six quarterback sacks and nine solo tackles for loss and was fourth on the teamwith 53.5 total tack-les.Hewasnamedsecond-teamall-state for the 8-player class by the IowaNewspaperAssociation aftertheCougars’7-3season.

“I think he was disappoint-edwith only being second team,”Koop said. “I told him, ‘Wedidn’tthink youwere going to domorethan be a kicker, and look what you’ve accomplished.’ Maybehe’s deserving of first team if he’shealthy all season, but you deal with lifebasedonthecardsyou’vebeendealt andhe never got down aboutthat. It was always about helpingthe team and being an exceptionalleader.”

Now,Meinders is back on themat and feeling as comfortable inthecircleashewaspre-diagnosis.

“You get a littlemore comfort-able as time goes on,”Meinderssaid. “You start to play the sport and realizethatI’mgood,I’mnotgoingto get hurt, nobody’s going to hitme there because I’mpretty defen-sive as it is.”

That defensive style has been the biggest changeAGWSRwrestlingcoachChadGerbracht has seen inMeinders’approach.

“When he was a freshman and sophomore, hewas gasoline on afire,”Gerbracht said. “He’d jumpright in there and do some crazystuff. Last year, we talked about changing his offense and style ofwrestling and he became more

defensive.”The changes haveworked.Ger-

brachtacknowledgedthatMeinders’junior campaignwas his best yet,andMeinders is stronger thanever,determined to make the senior year even more special.

Gerbracht knows he still has tomake sure Meinders is prepared.

“Last year was one of those years where every time he’d hit thematand I heard an, ‘ugh,’ I’d sprintover and ask if he’s OK,” Ger-bracht said. “Even before the start of the year, I said, ‘You’ve got aplan set up in case somethingdoeshappen?Because you’ve got to beprepared.’”

By JAKE RYDERMid-America Publishing

DIKE–Moving from Iowa toTexasisalife-changingevent.

But for Sydney Petersen,her commitment to the Univer-sity of Texas volleyball programlast Wednesday was made in part because she felt the Austin campus maintained a Midwestern feel.

“It’s obviously a great, bigschool,” Petersen said, “but not as big as I thought whichmademethink, wow, I could see myself here.”

The 5-foot-3Dike-NewHart-ford junior libero, named to the elite all-state team last month after help-ingleadtheWolverinestotheClass3A championship, was also con-sidering Iowa State andNorthernIowa, the latter of which is helmed bySydney’smother,Bobbi.

There was no doubt that Bobbi Petersen, head volleyball coach, wanted to recruit Sydney to jointhePanthers.But Sydney said thatwhentalkingaboutmakinghercol-lege decision, being a coach andbeing amotherwere separate ave-nues for Bobbi.

“She put all those coach-ing things aside…when shewastalking tome asmymother,”Syd-ney said.

Sydney also reached out toher all-state twin sister Baylee for adviceinmakingthefinaldecision.

She’s still undecided onwhatshewants to studywhen she’s atTexas, but Sydney said that froma volleyball standpoint, the Long-horns’ championship pedigreespeaks for itself.

Texas has won three national championships – the most recent in 2012 – and has made 12 Final Fours and 27NCAA tournament appear-

ances out of the 30 tournamentsthat have been held in the sport’sNCAA-sanctionedhistory.

“Obviously,they’rewaygood,”Sydneysaid.

Thereisalsotheappealofget-tingworld-class instructionnot justfrom Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott but also from assistant coach Erik Sullivan,who is in chargeof help-ingtheteam’sdefensivespecialists.

SullivanwasTeamUSA’slibe-ro for themen’s indoor volleyballteamatthe2004SummerOlympicsand was named team leader of the bronze-medal-winning 2016men’sindoorOlympicsteam.

“It got me very excited thathe’d beworkingwith theDSes,”Sydney said. “I’mpumped to havehim teach me.”

Petersen plays club volleyball for the Club of Iowa team based out ofWaterloo/Cedar Falls. Shesaysshe’sreadynowtogetbacktofocusing on finishing out her highschool days in Dike.

“It’s like taking something offmy shoulders,”Sydney said. “NowIcanfocusonhighschool,keepingmy grades up, playing volleyballandgettingbetter.”

Dike-New Hartford’s Petersen chooses Texas volleyball

Sydney Petersen

While Meinders is prepared for the worst, it’s the furthest thingfrom his mind once he’s acrossfrom his opponent on the mat.

“It’s just getting back there andtelling yourself you can do this,”Meinders said. “Mygoal is tobe astatechampthisyear.I’vegottoughcompetition,butit’swrestling.…Ifyougooutthereandwinthematch-esyou’resupposedto,thingsmightend up going to your benefit.Youjust have to wrestle your match and do your job.”

AGWSR’s Caleb Meinders wraps his arm around the head of Dike-New Hartford’s Ethan Huntington during a wrestling match at AGWSR High School last Thursday. Meinders has started his senior season 8-1 on the mat after earning second-team all-state honors in football during the fall. (Jake Ryder/The Grundy Register photo)

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