Eudora High wrestler Zach Herries (bottom) tries to escape the hold of an opponent from Santa Fe Trail High during a match earlier this season. Herries, who has cerebral palsy, has been wrestling for two years, has yet to win a match, but has been an inspiration to teammates and coaches.

Eudora High freshman Zach Herries waits by his walker before a freshman tournament at West Junior High. Herries has cerebral palsy and has limited movement in his lower body. He also uses hearing aids but must take them out before each match.

It’s 3:23 p.m., seven minutes until the freshman wrestling tournament begins at Southwest Junior High.

Zach Herries, in his Eudora wrestling “Expect Victory” T-Shirt, is on the mat with his feet together stretching before the first match. His teammates surround him. Bent over backwards with their hands and feet stretched out, they look like human arches.

For Zach, who wrestles at 119 pounds, such maneuvers are impossible. His walker sits just outside the ring near the Eudora bench. After the team is done stretching, Zach wrestles with teammate Andrew McLees and flips him on his back. McLees counters that move and turns Zach on his back and pins him.

It’s 3:30 now. The first match is ready to begin. Zach’s teammates jog to the Eudora bench while he crawls on his hands and knees back to his walker. He grips the bars and steps forward in the confined two-and-a-half-foot space of his walker. He returns to the Eudora bench where his teammates wait. Spectators watch his every step.

Zach suffers from a type of cerebral palsy known as spastic diplegia, a birth defect that affects the brain and nerves, hinders the development of the lower extremities and limits the use of his legs.

“I’ve had a walker for a long time,” he said. “But I want to wrestle. And I do the best I can.”

A challenge from the start

When Zach was born, part of his brain did not get the oxygen it needed. That spot is basically dead. Because of that, his parents, Richard and Kim Herries, knew early on the challenges their son would face in life.

“I remember the first time I held him in my hands,” his father said. “I remember thinking, ‘Would he get to experience the great things that sports bring?'”

Zach was 21?2 when he was given a walker and hearing aids. Although he was physically challenged, doctors said the areas around the dead spot of his brain could be retrained through rigorous rehabilitation. So Richard said he began to treat Zach like any other boy, constantly wrestling around and playing catch with him.

“We’ve never told him that he can’t do anything,” Richard said. “He shouldn’t be able to catch a baseball, but he can. He shouldn’t be able to hit a baseball, but he can.”

One of the first sports Zach played competitively was baseball. Richard coached youth baseball and basketball for 10 years and Zach played in the Unified League in Lawrence as a youngster.

Richard pitched, and Zach hit as he stood inside the walker. Richard then ran over and grabbed the walker for support as Zach ran toward first base. But Zach had trouble playing the sport because the wheels on his walker dragged through the infield dirt and often got stuck.

“All of the sudden the walker would stop and he’d take about four or five steps without the walker and then just go into a big pile,” Richard said.

Wrestling a perfect fit

The Herries family lived in Lawrence for several years and moved to Eudora three years ago. A family friend suggested that Zach go out for wrestling, and, after attending a meet to check it out, Zach showed an immediate interest.

Seeing athletes his size tumble around on the mat appealed to him. But his mother was hesitant to let him wrestle because she was afraid he could get hurt. Initially, so was his father.

“I played enough sports (to know) that it’s just going to happen and somebody’s going to get hurt at some point in time,” Richard said. “But with his upper body, there just aren’t many kids his age that are that strong. So I really didn’t think he would get hurt that bad in the upper body.”

Ten minutes before Zach’s first match in middle school, Kim was as white as a ghost. She had to leave the gym because she was afraid something bad might happen to her son. After a few minutes, she returned and watched Zach go three rounds against his opponent. He lost the match but eased some concerns in the process.

On the mat, Zach has limited mobility of his legs, which makes him an easy target for his opponents. But his biggest challenge is his hearing. By rule, Zach has to take his cochlear implant and hearing aids out before every match. So when he wrestles, he is deaf. Shouting him instructions does no good. So Eudora High wrestling coach Bill DeWitt said he communicates with Zach before his matches and uses eye contact and gestures during the bouts.

“There’s been times in practice and through the season where he’s been incredibly frustrated,” DeWitt said. “You sympathize with that, but there’s a lot of character development there, too. You just got to get up off the mat and get back out there.”

In practice, Zach wrestles with just about anyone on the team, including the managers. Richard was a little skeptical, at first, about how well Zach would be accepted. That hasn’t been a problem.

“He’s pretty funny and cool and ornery,” teammate Jessica Bowman said. “He keeps his spirits up. I definitely admire him for that because not everybody does that.”

One reason he does, according to DeWitt, is because wrestling is such a unique sport.

“The beauty of wrestling is that it is one of the few sports that a kid like Zach can have the opportunity to compete,” DeWitt said. “That’s what’s great about this sport. Anybody, boy, girl or disability, can compete.”

Winning and losing are relative terms

During his two years as a wrestler, Zach’s body has gotten stronger and has become more flexible. Last year, if he was down on his stomach, he could not get back to his knees to form his base. His waist and midsection were not strong enough. But this year, Zach has done the move several times. He has had countless treatments and doctor visits for his condition since he was born and has had surgery on his Achilles tendon to improve his mobility. Rick said the family also was considering a series of surgeries on Zach’s feet and hamstrings as well.

Back in the gym at Southwest, as Zach and his teammates wait for their names to be called for their matches, he smiles and pounds fists with EHS parents as they pass by.

An hour into the tournament, his name is called. His match is about to begin.

Zach begins the trek to the other side of the gym. He scoots down the half-court line that leads to the scorer’s table. His opponent already is checked in when Zach’s name is called a second time. He pedals faster and finally reaches the table. After reporting, he turns his walker and races back across the court. He moves faster now, bunny hopping back to the Eudora bench, where he will find out the bad news. His match has been scratched.

Because of the toll wrestling takes on his body, Zach wrestles about every other meet. He mostly wrestles freshmen but also has wrestled with the junior varsity team this year. Last season, Zach did not win a match. He has been pinned every match this year.

“I work hard and I get pinned,” he said.

With the season now more than half way finished, the Herries family is trying to get Zach into a wrestling club for the offseason. He wants to get better. He wants to continue wrestling at EHS, win or lose.

“God has given him a lot of challenges,” Richard said. “He has moments, like we all do, (where he is) questioning things. But he goes out there and tries. He’s a winner just because he goes out there on the mat.”