By Terry Douglass
terry.douglass@theindependent.com

Swanson scored a reversal with 22 seconds remaining in his 189-pound Class D state wrestling championships finals match to record a 6-4 victory over High Plain's Clete Vrbka in the Qwest Center. After riding out the final seconds of the match to secure the win, Swanson kneeled quietly, pressing his head to the mat for several seconds before rising up to acknowledge his supporters with a smile.

"I'm not much of a yeller and I'm not real loud," said Swanson, who finished his senior season 31-2. "I'm just as happy as everyone else, but all that celebrating, that's just not me."

Instead of running wildly around the mat celebrating his victory, Swanson calmly shook hands with both sets of coaches and even sought out Vrbka to congratulate him on a good match.

"Mike is very wonderful young man a very Godly young man with high integrity," Nebraska Christian coach Terry Elge said. "That's just Mike."

Considering Swanson's low-key personality, his response when asked about becoming the school's first state champion was almost predictable.

"It's pretty cool for our school," Swanson said. "We haven't always gotten a whole lot of publicity for our program, so maybe this will help."

Elge said Swanson had taken a very determined approach to wrestling this season.

"He's been a team leader for us all year," Elge said. "He's very dedicated. He's critiqued his own film all year and wants to improve every week and get better every day in practice. Mike just works hard and there's a tremendous difference in him from even last December until now."

Swanson said he was highly motivated after enduring a disappointing finish at last year's state meet. Needing one more victory to clinch a medal, he suffered a broken wrist and fell short of his goal.

"Last year was such a disappointment," said Swanson, who is still hampered by the injury, which has been slow to heal. "I had really worked hard that summer and was really hoping to do well, but it just kind of fell apart. This year, all the work finally paid off."

Battling a chest cold that made it difficult for him to breathe, Swanson somehow mustered up enough burst to make his late, match-winning move.

"That was just kind of a last-ditch effort and it paid off," Swanson said. "I could hardly stick with him for six minutes and I was just hoping and praying I could get it."

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