WAYNESBORO – It was more than a night of wrestling at Waynesboro Area Senior High School on Wednesday.
It was a night to honor the memory of Mindy Rouzer and all those who have been touched by breast cancer.
Waynesboro hosted South Western in a non-conference meet in a special Pink Out night at the home gym. The Indians defeated the Mustangs, 45-27, but wrestling was only a part of what transpired on an emotional evening.
Prior to the start of competition, the following words expressed the tone of the past couple weeks as the Rouzer family – husband and father Mike and sons Laken, Bodie and Kaden – dealt with the loss of wife and mother, Mindy Rouzer:
“Before we wrestle tonight I’d like to tell everyone here thank you. Thank you for your support in making tonight happen. Everyone here at some point in time in your life has known someone or will know someone who battles against breast cancer. Tonight, we are here to celebrate a true warrior from our own wrestling family who battled the disease for more than a decade. Mindy Lynne Rouzer.
“Tonight needs to be a celebration of Mindy, and I know for sure that Mindy’s watching tonight and she doesn’t want anyone here to be sad, she wants she wants to see both teams battle and she wants to see you fans involved. So that being said let’s get this night started off right.”
Nearly $10,000 has been raised in the last month for the Pink Out Night meet.
“After taking care of the expenses of the t-shirts and the very special singlets that the boys will be wearing tonight, we as a wrestling program will be able to donate over $6000 to The Cumberland Valley Breast Cancer Alliance in Mindy’s name and also will be able to help the family with expenses.”
Waynesboro won the first four bouts by fall, starting at 138 pounds. Bodie Rouzer built a 9-0 lead before closing out the match in 3:32 with a pin that set the tone for the night.
Luke Lehr then followed with a fall in the 145-pound contest to give the Tribe a 12-0 lead.
Kaden Rouzer, wrestling at 152 pounds, won by fall in 45 seconds. At 160, Waynesboro’s Robert Howard pinned his opponent in 1:45 for a commanding 24-0 lead.
South Western got on the board with a pin at 172, but Waynesboro’s Titus Mong got three points back with a regular decision at 189 pounds.
The Indians’ commanding lead wasn’t too commanding after South Western won two straight matches by pin and won by forfeit to close the deficit to 27-24 after the 106-pound contest.
Waynesboro pulled away with three consecutive pins by Michael Tweed (113), Jayden Rooney (120) and Calvin Myers (126) to lead 45-24.
