At the Glen Brand Dual Tournament earlier this month, Caleb Seaba needed just two wins to achieve a goal that only a handful of high school wrestlers are able to reach.
After besting his opponent from West Marshall in his first match of the morning, Seaba says he wasn’t aware that he had 99 career wins to his name. However, a few suspicious signs in the home crowd tipped him off before he took the mat against Decorah’s Steven Munoz.
“I didn’t know where I was exactly,” Seaba admitted. “But since there were “100” signs in the crowd, I knew I was close.”
74 seconds and one pin later, Seaba joined some elite company.
“It meant a lot to get the 100th win,” he said proudly. “I’ve been working for that for four years and it’s really a big achievement that I can carry with me the rest of my life.”
Seaba, a Goldfield native, has been at it for much longer than four years. The senior started out as a kindergartener in club wrestling at Team Valley and credits Coach Valley, Dr. Dan Gabrielson, Coach Anderson, and Coach Morgan for their parts in his growth and success.
“Growing up, I’ve always been around the Clarion wrestling crowd,” said Seaba. “That’s had a huge impact on my life.”
Another driving force in the 157-pounder’s will to win came from being raised in a wrestling family that he described as “really competitive.” At the end of the day, though, Caleb is competing against himself and just trying to top what he accomplished a year ago at the state’s highest level.
“Stepping on that podium last year, I got 8th place and that meant a lot to me,” Seaba reminisced. “I’m looking forward to going back to the state tournament and hopefully placing higher than that.”
