Nothing much was expected of Westside's wrestling team this year. There was no tradition to serve as a building block, since predecessors Oceana and Baileysville had not fielded teams since the 1960s. Because Westside didn't even exist one year ago, there was no schedule, and finding tournaments was a tough task. The Renegades were late in getting their 14 mandatory practice dates in the books, and this horrific West Virginia winter wound up dashing any hopes of developing team continuity. Dispite all the hardships, the Renegades saw all their perserverance pay off with the success of one teammate.
Junior Michael Cline made history last Saturday when he won the 215-pound championship at the Class AA-A Region 3 tournament. That made him the first Westside wrestler to qualify for the state tournament, which kicked off Thursday at the Huntington Civic Arena. The odds were stacked against Cline, but he tackled every obstacle head-on. That should come as no surprise because Cline has to prove himself all the time. He won his first match at the state tournament Thursday, beating Alan Keener of Grafton 6-2. Such is the life of a 16 year-old boy who doesn't hide the fact he adds dancing and cheerleading to his list of extracurricular activities. Everybody finds out and they are like, I cant' believe I got beat by him, Cline said with a laugh. A total of 10 wrestlers have been shocked by the Baryshnikov of the mat- and no one has beaten him. Maybe that's because Cline has had to ward off the stereotypes since he started dancing in the sixth grade. Actually, he gave up dance for awhile so he could play basketball, but he picked up cheerleading once he got to Baileysville High School. And it was on the football field that the disrespect really got bad. It didn't last long.
They did (give him a hard time) until I got on the football field, Cline began to explain. They put us in this bull ring, like sumo wrestling, and they kept on making fun of me. I was like, all right...Shortly thereafter, the then-freshman Cline began making his point, one naysayer at a time. I pushed most of them out of the ring, he said proudly. I showed them up on the first day, me being(only) a freshman. Braving the vengture to the world of dance and cheerleading has actually helped Cline in his young wrestling career, Cline said. Cheerleading and dancing (involves) lifting a lot of girls, he said. After wrestling, I would go straight into the next practice, which was dancing and cheerleading. Our coach would make us lift and lift and lift, lift the girls. When I would get home I was dead tired. He is intense, he works real hard, his center of gravity is real low, Westside coach Dave "Bugs" Stover said. He's a super athlete. He's a gentleman and a 4.0 scholar. He's an all-around good kid.
Cline credited his brother, former Baileysville football standout B.J. Cline, and B.J.'s friends on the football team for helping him this season. He also said Tim McCoy from the Gilbert YMCA has played a big part. He just asked me if I wanted to try wrestling, Cline said. So he got me started on it, but coach Stover is the one who carried it from there. I can really say B.J. has helped me out a lot too, he continued. He is always there to support me as an older brother. He tells me just to do my best, no matter what happens. I think that's what is really getting me through this year.
Above article by Gary Fauber Beckley Register-Herald
