Caledonia Argus

Hatlevig meets President Bush

Posted: 1/16/02

By Shannon McKinney
Argus Sports Writer

Trent Hatlevig, a CHS graduate and former wrestler, didnít really expect to meet President W. George Bush when his wrestling team traveled to Washington D.C. for a meet.

Hatlevig is a student at the University of Minnesota. During a trip to compete against Virginia Tech and James Madison in Washington D.C., the team was given a tour of the White House Sunday December 9, 2001 followed by a 20 minute meeting with the president.

A few days before the meeting, their team had won both meets and had spent the day Sunday touring the different monuments in Washington.

Hatlevig explained that their head coach knew someone who was able to make a series of personal connections to receive a tour of the White House. The team did not know for sure if they would meet the President until it happened.

ìIt was kind of a sketchy deal,î he explained.

After the tour, the team was taken into the room where President Truman had his ìfireside chatsî. After waiting about half an hour, secret service men entered the room, followed by Bush.

After the president shook everyoneís hand, he asked his assistant if he had time to spare. When he found out that he did, he led the team into the Oval Office and began explaining how he decorated it. He had two pictures of landscape in Texas from a favorite artist and a picture of a general from the Civil War.

Bush uses the same desk that John F. Kennedy used, which originally belonged to president Eisenhower.

Since Hatlevig wasnít expecting to see the President, he was very surprised when he did.

Other players asked questions, but Hatlevig was too spellbound. ìI couldnít say anything,î he explained. ìI couldnít believe we were in the White House talking to the president. For 10 minutes he wasnít the president. Itís really unbelievable that he just opened up. We saw him later in the day on TV doing his job.î

Hatlevig added that he was impressed that the president would take the time to talk to a ìlittleî wrestling team in Minnesota. ìHeís obviously an intelligent guy and well spoken,î said Hatlevig.

Hatlevig plans to graduate in the fall of 2003 with a kinesiology major and become a personal trainer.

He currently competes at the 141 pound weight class and has a winning 5-3 record this year. He said college is a lot different from high school wrestling.

ìItís more intense. Practices are a lot harder. Youíre dealing with practice, school work and keeping weight.î

But overall, Hatlevig enjoys it.

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