Jake got Mono. I knew he had not been at his best for a while, but I failed to see it getting worse. When I would get home from work, I would find him sleeping on the sofa or in bed, I'd wake him up, he would say he felt good and we would go to practice. He used to meet me at the door with his wrestling shoes on and his bag ready to go to practice. You see when Jake isn't wrestling at his best, he is still very very good, and I just thought it was the end of the season catching up with him. Then he got sick at practice the Thursday before the Wichita Classic but he insisted he was fine. Then he got sent home, sick from school the next day, and still he insisted he was fine. Then I took a good look at him and decided to take him to the doctor. He had Mono and he had it bad. Now I was left with a decision to make, feed my ego and push him to another state title or help my kid get back to good health. I love my kid and "he" is what is important, not another trophy. If you know Jake, you know he is always happy, physically strong as can be, one heck of a technique wrestler with a bunch of moves that he is ready to use, and most of all he is good hearted, clean and honest little wrestler. Jake has brought home hardware from: Cliff Keen Kickoff, Tulsa Nationals, United States Juniors Open, Mid America Classic in Iowa, and he is the 2004 Oklahoma Series Points Champion [check out his picture on Oklahoma's web site] He has not been beaten in Kansas this year. He has 47 pins for this season alone. He never back talks the coaches or messes around at practice. Dispite all that he has got to get back to full health before he goes on. He is cool about it, but I'm taking it hard, even though I don't let him know it. I think we'll stay as far away from wrestling as we can get for the next two weeks, maybe we'll go to Missouri. Anyway, now that I got all that out of the way, Good Luck to Boo, Zack, Alex, Robbey, the Umschieds, Quinten, Nic, Codie, Tyler, and Eron, just to name a few. Hey Zack, Jake sure looks up to you so bring this one home for him. Thanks for asking about him. Jeff Leckliter