It was supposed to be a day where competitive, talented, highly-trained, hard-body high school athletes gathered to prove what they were made of.

And ultimately, it was.

Saturday, 12 members of Westside High School's wrestling team risked their berth in the State Duals Wrestling Tournament to assist some kids that needed a hand in participating in the Texas Children's Hospital 1K Fun Run.

Marwan Abssi, Joey Ducker, Matt Klein, Ryan Klein, Eric Lofgren, Michael Murphy, Trent Murrell, J.C. Pacheco, Zach Pate, Gerardo Salgado, Taylor Winzeler and J.T. Woodard partnered with students from Barbara Bush Elementary School to run the adaptive race held in conjunction with Houston Marathon activities this past weekend.

But it took some effort and consideration from more than just Westside and Barbara Bush Elementary students and faculty to make it happen, not the least of which were the coaches and powers-that-be at the Houston City Duals wrestling tournament, where Westside was tentatively scheduled to wrestle its first match of the day at 9 a.m.

Without all of the competing coaches agreeing to award Westside a first-round bye, the Wolves would have been forced to forfeit their first match and drop immediately to the losers bracket. And achieving at least a fourth-place finish and a berth to the state contest would have been extraordinarily difficult with a first-round forfeit. But after an extended discussion in an arena where compassion is often at a premium, the coaches and officials awarded Westside the first-round bye and the race was on.

But the die already had been cast. By the time the coaches had given their blessing, the 12 wrestlers had already met at Westside at 6 a.m., carpooled more than an hour to Klein Oak High School where weigh-ins had been opened early just for them, then made a beeline back to the George R. Brown Convention Center, where they met their Bush Buddies and made the 8 a.m. race start.

With or without the bye, the Wolves were gonna run.

They received news of the bye during the race. One kilometer later, they hit the interstate north, arriving at Klein Oak in time for their 10:45 a.m. match start.

There, despite giving up three weight classes to forfeit, despite wrestling several others with underclassmen and wrestlers weakened by a respiratory plague that decimated the team (and the coach) after Grapevine Duals - in which Westside placed sixth, despite Travis Winzeler competing in a full face mask due to an elbow to the face that had closed and purpled his right eye the day before, despite the fact that the whole thing ultimately came down to Matt Klein's final must-win bout in last match of the day, and because 11 of the 13 wrestlers posted winning records for the day, the team finished 2-1 and in fourth place.

Despite being battered and bruised, the Wolves received their berth to the state duals Saturday at the Merrell Center in Katy.

But the real victory wasn't won on the mat.

Ask Marwan about his buddy, who cried the entire way, but with encouragement from his dad and Marwan, finished nevertheless.

Ask Zach and Eric about Terrence who liked to run full speed, all the way to the end and then some more. In fact, Terrence enjoyed the running so much that Zach and Joey received him in a desperate handoff from heavyweight J.T., who doesn't share Terrence's enthusiasm for speed.

Get Gerardo to tell you about "two-wheeling" his buddy the entire way.

Such stories abound.

The project was arranged by Diane Murrell, Trent’s mother, and a social worker with the Blue Bird Pediatric Neurology Clinic at Texas Children's Hospital. It, of course, would not have been possible without Westside wrestling coach Ron Baker, coach Tom Collins at Barbara Bush or the commitment, loyalty and dedication of the Westside wrestlers.

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