March 6, 2024
By: Thomas Bigford
Wrestling is a lifestyle, And Malachi Kapenga has been doing everything that he can to prove this true. Malachi is a junior at Hamilton High School and is a current state champion at 120 weight class and is looking to become a 2x state champion. Malachi’s been wrestling since he was very young and he has wrestled pretty much the same group of boys since he was little. Because of this Malachi has a pretty good idea of how his opponents wrestle. He also goes and watches who he thinks he will wrestle in order to scout and look for what he should practice in preparation for his matches against them. Malachi proved his dedication to the sport of wrestling right out of the gate when he only took a week off after the state championship before starting his training for the upcoming state championship. He spent as much time as he could, whether it was wrestling out of state at tournaments that were made up of nationally ranked wrestlers or just practicing in a barn with some of his fellow high school wrestlers.
Another key role in helping Malachi get ready for state was having a consistent dieting routine. Malachi viewed it as “not just for cutting, but also to feel good” and said in my interview with him that when he’s dieting, he likes to eat “a lot of eggs, yogurt, and a lot of high protein stuff” and then he switches his diet after weigh-in and tries to get “a lot of carbs, like fruit and things like that”.
During wrestling season, Malachi doesn’t lift weights since he needs all of his strength to wrestle, but during his “off-season” he lifts and does agility training in order to keep in shape and to get stronger and quicker to better fend off and counterattack his opponents. When it comes to Malachi’s practice, his team does mock matches with certain scenarios to prepare them for if one of their matches came to it. Some scenarios would be “being up by one point or being down by one point” to simulate the pressure and prepare you to counteract that pressure.
When I interviewed Malachi’s coach about the preparation he had in place for Malachi, he told me that they’ve been doing the same things and that “they’re not looking to change things up” and that at this point they’re “just nitpicking” and that “the hay’s in the barn” and that all that’s left is to go out there and compete.
Malachi and his supporters have done all that they can to prepare him for the fight ahead and all that’s left is for Malachi to go and execute his training and discipline at state and try to come out as state champion for the second year in a row.