The West Fargo wrestling team burst through a bright green sign, entering their last home dual of the season and the last time the seniors would be wrestling together at home. A wave of emotions immediately hit the team from the amount of support they felt for junior wrestler Keegan Cronin, who was diagnosed and is being treated for stage three testicular cancer. The Wahpeton wrestling team and fans around the gym donned purple shirts coining the phrase “We’re in Keegan’s Korner.”
The Packers decided to hold their first “PACK the Gym Night” on Jan. 31st to promote their sport and seniors. The event included a raffle with a grand prize of $1,000, Scheels gift cards, apparel and more. Head wrestling coach Kayle Dangerud joined efforts with the wrestling parents to contact different businesses to donate and help accomplish their goal of “packing” the gym.
“We really wanted to increase our fan base and wrestling’s not a popular sport and we wanted to get more people in the gym, especially for our seniors,” Dangerud said. “It’s senior night and we thought it would be important to spend those guys off in style and have a good showing.”
Kevin Kragnes, parent of senior wrestlers Kollin and Kyle Kragnes, was heavily involved in the fundraising for the event, and he was pleased at how supportive community businesses were in donating for the event.
“I think quite a few of our wrestlers have wrestled in big venues, but they have never experienced a full crowd at West Fargo,” Kragnes said. “I think there [were] a little bit of nerves involved but I think they [were] excited and ready to show the school and the community how awesome our wrestling team is. This is a very tight knit group of senior boys and the parents are really close and I think that’s what brought the event together.”
Despite the hardships with Keegan’s health, his bad news motivated the team to push themselves harder for him, and has helped the already close-knit team become more unified. Keegan’s father, Jim Cronin, was touched by Wahpeton’s support of Keegan, as well as how caring the team has been for their family.
“I think it helps them wrestle for a purpose,” Jim said. “They’re all very close to Keegan and these senior boys treat him like he is their little brother.”
Though Keegan could not physically be at the meet, he has continually supported his teammates and his brother, senior Reed Cronin, from the hospital, by watching meets through Skype or getting text updates if there was bad reception.
“The support from your teammates is very very important, sometimes that’s all you got on the side of the mat cheering you on and pushing you,” Jim said. “They’re partners in the gym, they wrestle each other at practice; and even though Keegan couldn’t be on the mat, he was gonna be on the mat with Reed in spirit.”
Kollin was grateful for the turnout of the dual, as the team’s hard work reflected in the win. He said the crowd and the overwhelming support for Keegan raised the intensity of the team. The fact that it was his last dual made him even more driven.
“It felt good that everyone came to support Keegan, he needs it, he definitely needs to feel like he’s not fighting this alone,” Kollin said. “I felt really good, fighting for the Cronins and what they’re going through.”
The parents and wrestlers were pleased at the large crowd “PACK the Gym Night” attracted. The crowd’s encouragement helped change the atmosphere and made them even wrestle harder.
“I think they can feed off the energy, you have a lot of people watching,” Dangerud said. “It should raise your intensity level that much more and it should make them want to compete hard so I think it’s very positive for us. [However,] I would like to think that regardless of who’s in the stands that they’re ready to compete every time, so if it helped a little bit, that’s great but we want them competing hard every time they step out on the mat.”
“PACK the Gym Night” brought the seniors and senior parents together for their last home dual, and the Cronins felt blessed watching their son Reed wrestle his last dual and getting support for Keegan, including $500 from the family who won the $1,000 raffle.
“By the looks of the crowd, when we were standing watching people look at their numbers and celebrating, [I] think there were some tears and some laughter and that always makes for a good night,” Jim said.