Independent file photo In this file photo, Marshall’s Elijah Sterner grapples with an opponent from MAHACA during Friday’s Section 3AA individual wrestling tournament. Sterner will be competing in the team and individual portions of the state tournament beginning with today’s team matchup with Foley at 9 a.m.

MARSHALL - Wrestling is not so much a sport as it is a way of life for the Sterner family, who have been bringing national acclaim to the Marshall area through their work on the mat over the span of five decades and three generations.

Beginning in the late 1960s when Mike Sterner took over as head coach of the then-Southwest State wrestling program, the national awards and recognition have continually followed the Sterners as Mike and the newest generations have all left their mark on the sport – including a state and national championship for Mike’s son John Sterner, who would eventually take over as coach 30 years later.

Now, the latest in the long line of successful wrestlers in the family is carving out his own path as a Marshall wrestler and soon-to-be Mustang – senior, Elijah Sterner.

Meeting

expectations

With the last name Sterner, there is no escaping the lofty expectations that others may put on you, or, for that matter, expectations that you may put on yourself given the unparalleled success of past generations in the sport.

As a young wrestler, John dealt with the same pressure that Elijah feels at times today, but the common thread in dealing with the added pressure has been the unending support of their fathers in pushing them to establish their own legacies, as challenging as it may be at times.

“It was a real challenge,” remembers John. “Everybody would tell me how good my dad was. I don’t know if it was more so pressure that people put on me, but it was just pressure that I felt that I had to raise myself up to the level that my dad was at. So yeah, that was the real challenge, overcoming that natural fear that I wasn’t going to be worthy and raise myself up. The best thing about my dad is that he had the great ability to make everybody feel that they’re worthy.”

Applying his father’s teachings to his own son, John has sought to help Elijah strive to make his own name in the sport.

“It’s always been not like a challenge to me, but I’ve tried to live up to it even though my dad tells me you don’t have to live up to my name or my dad’s name you have to make your own destiny, and this year I’ve been striving to make a name for myself,” said Elijah.

Through hard work and perseverance, the two have accomplished their goals and carried on the legacy set forth by Mike. John’s career on the mat netted him a state championship and a program first individual national championship. For Elijah, his senior year has been filled with a great deal of success that has guided him to a No. 10 overall ranking in AA at the 170-pound weight class where he currently holds a record of 22-8.

Learning to

love the sport

Like his father John, who spent his own middle school years on the hardwood in the winter and not the mat, the desire to become a wrestler wasn’t always there for Elijah as one may think given the family’s history. The love of the sport did, however, grow over time due in large part to the development of added confidence in himself, and the arrival of a new wrestler to the Cottonwood area, Lucas Hodges.

“When I was growing up I was off and on about it up until seventh grade,” said Elijah. “I started getting more into it, but I wasn’t really sure of myself. I didn’t want to be put in a situation where I wasn’t confident. As the years have gone by, I am starting to enjoy the challenge more. I love meeting opponents that make it tough because that means I’m working that much harder and I’m getting more of a benefit out of it.”

Right by his side through it all has been Hodges, who John refers to as a God-send in providing his son with not only a teammate, but a best friend too.

“I think Lucas had a lot to do with it,” said John. “I think it was a really important. It’s just a God-send and a blessing that the Hodges came to Cottonwood, and that they wrestled. Those guys were inseparable in sixth grade and seventh grade.”

Flash forward to today, the two are now seniors and once again teammates representing Lakeview on the Marshall wrestling team. In a matter of hours, they will be taking the mat for the program’s first-ever trip to the state tournament after upsetting Fairmont/Martin County West in the Section 3AA championship.

Reflecting on the journey to get to this point, Elijah’s most treasured memories have come from the camaraderie between Hodges and the rest of his teammates.

“We’ve got a bunch of close guys here and it’s one thing about wrestling is the bond between the teammates seems to be closer than it is with any other sport I feel,” said Elijah. “Especially here in Marshall, we’ve got a bunch of good guys who bond really well together.”

Coming full circle

Prior to the team’s thrilling victory over the Red Bulls in the section finals, the Tigers took part in a special dual-meet at SMSU in early February where they took on New Ulm to close out the regular season.

Under the watchful eyes of his proud father and grandfather, Elijah took to the same Mustang mat that the eldest Sterners had helped put on the map through years of excellence as head coaches, and in John’s case, one of only three in the program’s history to win an individual national championship.

In seeing it all come full circle, John was overcome with a wide range of emotions.

“It makes me cry man,” said John. “Every time he steps on the mat in a Marshall uniform and wrestles on the Marshall mat, even when he stepped on the Mustang mat when they wrestled New Ulm, oh wow, my heart is just filled with joy, pride and just overwhelmed.”

While he’s on the mat, Elijah says he can always pick out his father’s voice in the crowd.

“He tries to make it to every single meet that he can, and you can always hear him yelling up in the stands giving me advice,” said Elijah. “I can always pick out his voice out of anywhere. It’s very distinctive.”

For the eldest Sterner Mike, the experience of being able to watch Elijah wrestle holds special significance in that it not only serves as a source of pride, but also as a tool in alleviating some of the symptoms associated with Dementia.

“I have my dad always talking to me about different things I can do, and he brings my grandpa along with, who’s suffering from Dementia now, but it seems like the atmosphere from wrestling and the people that you make connections with help with that because he’s always smiling and giggling when he’s at wrestling meets,” said Elijah. “He just doesn’t get a lot of that much more unless he’s out.”

On the way home from events in which John and Mike attend, John says he notices a huge difference in the way that he communicates.

“He just gets super excited when he sees Elijah on the mat,” said John. “He yelled the other day at the last meet he was at he was yelling ‘go E go’ and so it’s just really fun to hear him get excited to see him get excited for something, he gets really cognitive. He talks different on the way home from wrestling meets.”

Closing one

chapter, beginning of another

Elijah’s final chapter as a Marshall wrestler is a historic one, as he and the rest of his Tiger teammates accomplished a feat that no other team in the history of the program has been able to do– earn a trip to the state wrestling tournament. The action begins today at the Xcel Energy Center.

When the team portion of the state tournament is complete, the wrestling marathon for Elijah will continue all the way into the weekend, as he takes part in the Individual tournament just as his father did during the 1984 season.

Though the week will spell the end for Elijah as a high school wrestler, his wrestling career here in Marshall will continue into college as he plans to attend SMSU to continue his career on the mat under coach Jesse Nelson. For John, who currently serves as a volunteer coach for the program, the proud father couldn’t be happier for his son to be in such capable hands in furthering his wrestling career.

“I care and believe in Jesse and know what type of coach he is,” said John. “We feel that he would be in such capable hands to be with Jesse. I’m so glad that he’s got the coaches that he has and the opportunities that he’s had and it’s just amazing.”

After embarking on his own journey as a Mustang wrestler, John has already begun to pass on advice as he prepares for his next chapter on the mat.

“One of the things that I think that he’s already heard me say is that he has the keys he has all of the tools, it’s just now how he applies it,” said John. “There’s a number of people who have told him that the way he’s been growing as a wrestler lately he can only keep going up. He’s made a lot of improvements just in this year alone and seeing those improvements and then getting into a college room where he’s wrestling with kids of that caliber all the time it’s only going to make it physically better for him. So that’s the reminder, that it’s just time and patience and effort, that if you just keep working good things are going to happen.”