Wrestling: White counting on reward for sacrificing mom’s cooking

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Niles, 1/7/11--Mike White, of Maine South, (top), wrestling against Colton Kelly, of Notre Dame, during the 195 lbs match. | Vincent D. Johnson~for Sun-Times Media.

Updated: March 3, 2012 8:39AM

Mike White comes from a family who loves food.

That’s why it was so hard for him to give up eating his mother’s cooking.

The Maine South senior reminded himself he wanted to wrestle at a lower weight this season after competing at 215 pounds as a junior.

Along with changing his diet, White ran countless miles after the football season ended. The day the Hawks lost to Stevenson in the playoffs, White put in his first mile. The next day he ran in the morning and again that night.

“I was very disciplined,” said White, who dropped nearly 20 pounds from his playing weight in football. “Not eating food from my mom wasn’t easy. I even packed my own lunch.

“I try not to let things distract me, but my family tempted me with food that I couldn’t have. Sundays were super, super hard.”

For now, wrestling is more important than that veal parmesan, and White’s reward is to wrestle at the state meet in two weeks.

It all starts Saturday at the Class 3A Niles West Regional. The qualifiers move on to wrestle at the Glenbard North Sectional on Feb. 11.

“I’ve got to get into my comfort zone when I’m out there,” said the 195-pounder, who carries a record of 29-6. “I need to wrestle my style and control the match.”

White took second at the CSL tournament Jan. 21, losing a 4-1 decision to Glenbrook South’s JJ BaMaung in the final at 195 pounds. White had beaten BaMaung earlier in the season.

One of his best matches of the season was actually a loss, to Homewood-Flossmoor’s Donnie Bell in triple overtime at Homewood-Flossmoor’s invitational in late December.

“I wrestled really well in that match,” White said. “I had good position, and I was strong. I lost, but I kept my head high. You only truly lose if you don’t learn anything from it. The hard part is not making the same mistake again.

“Losses aren’t the worst thing in the world.”

White never wrestled before high school. A football player growing up, he played for the Park Ridge Falcons and then for the Hawks. But a Maine South football coach suggested White’s freshman year he give wrestling a go in the winter.

“I’ve stuck with it ever since,” said White, who played football all four years of high school. “Now, it’s a sport I do because I love it, not because someone asked me to do it.”

While White had wrestled with friends, it was nothing like the real thing.

“It took me some time to get used to the physicality of it and how in shape you have to be,” he said. “There’s a mental toughness that goes into this sport.”

Craig Fallico loves what White brings to the wrestling room.

“He’s a tremendously unselfish and focused leader,” the Maine South coach said. “A great goal-setter.”