Caledonia Argus

Mitch Lange sets CHS wrestling milestone

Posted: 1/21/03

by Andrew Miller
Argus Sports Writer

Mitch Lange is a wrestler renowned for his stoic, ice-cold poise. So it came as no surprise that when he defeated Southlandís Isaac Klaehn on January 16, giving him 152 career wins and making him the winningest wrestler in Caledonia High School history, his reaction was not the emotionally charged, fist-pumping spectacle typical of athletes at their apogee. Calm and cool, sporting a poker face that was just a tad blanched from the fracas on the mat, Lange walked silently back to the locker room to tend to some scratches, with not so much as a smirk on his face as the announcer proclaimed his record-setting feat, and spectators expressed their adulation by working themselves into a frothing, mad-dog frenzy.

ìI didnít have too big a reaction,î Lange said afterwards. ìI was happy, but I knew it was going to happen eventually.î

Cucumber cool, as the feller says. Itís an attitude which will prove useful come state tournament time, when Lange will pursue the title heís been questing after since he began wrestling twelve years ago. The state tournament is a ruthless, cut-throat competition, where every wrestler learns firsthand that the world can at times be a cruel, unforgiving place, and all the loving words from motherís mouth over the years become wholly irrelevant.

Lange is familiar with the grim, meathook realities of the mat at the state tournament. Two years ago, he made a bid for the title, only to get edged out in the final. Last year, he again graced the state tourney, but failed to place. This year, his senior year, will be his final shot at a state championship, and his prospects, put bluntly, look mighty fine.

ìDefinitely Mitch is one of the best 135-pounders in the state of Minnesota,î said Langeís coach, Jay Tolleson. ìBut at the state tournament, you canít have an off-match; itís about who brings their best for three straight days. You could hold the state tournament four weekends in a row and have different winners every weekend. But if Mitch wrestles to the best of his abilities, he could very easily win the state title.î

Maybe, just maybe, Langeís fans might be so fortunate as to catch a glimpse of a big, ear-to-ear smile from him at the state tourney. Title or no title, after twelve years of consummate combat, Langeís about due. But if, as Jay Tolleson said, Lange wrestles to his abilities, that grin will come at precisely the right time, as if Lange had been holding out all these years for the one perfect moment to showcase those heretofore-hidden pearly whites.

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