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Quest to be the best brought Rix-mcelhinney to Colorado from Maine

Bold move has paid off for Falcon senior

BY TONY CAPOBIANCO tony.capobianco@gazette.com

How far is one willing to go to be the best in their sport?

For Falcon senior Aydin Rix-mcelhinney, it meant moving to Colorado from Maine after qualifying for the state tournament and winning the All-state tournament as a freshman.

“After that year I went to Fargo as a freshman and it opened my eyes completely,” Rix-mcelhinney said. “That’s when I reinvented myself and I knew that I wasn’t getting the exposure in Maine that I could be getting.”

Rix-mcelhinney made the decision at the age of 15 to move to Colorado by himself, train at the Betterman Elite Wrestling Academy and live with coaches Joe and Deanna Betterman. He studies at the Springs Studio of Excellence while wrestling at Falcon High School.

“It was a big decision for sure, but I knew what I wanted, and I know where I want to be,” Rix-mcelhinney said. “I just knew I couldn’t gain that in Maine.”

As big as the decision was for Rix-mcelhinney, all he brought with him were clothes. Moving across the country without family was a decision that was hard for his parents to initially absorb.

“They were upset at first,” Rix-mcelhinney said. “Just the fact that I was leaving so soon, they kind of thought they had a couple more years with me before going off to college, but they knew that’s what I needed. They’ve known that wrestling is my passion and my life, and they want me to take it to the next level.”

After spending three years living here, Rix-mcelhinney said the biggest difference between living in Colorado and Maine has been the community dynamic.

“We’re very spread out for the most part and we’re all friendly but there isn’t many neighborhood settings,” Rix-mcelhinney said of his hometown in Maine. “So I think the upbringing and finding ways to entertain yourself when you’re younger plays a large role.”

All Rix-mcelhinney wants to do is become the best wrestler possible, and so far the move has paid off. He is currently 25-0 after placing first in the Cheyenne Mountain Classification Clash this past Saturday and helped Falcon win the Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament on Dec. 18.

“He’s doing so well now because he’s shooting for higher things — shooting to be an Olympic champ one day,” Betterman said. “That’s one thing we preach in our club. We want kids to reach high and everything else is going to fall below it. If you’re reaching to just be a state champ then you might fall short but if you reach to be a national champ, being a state champ is just going to happen.

He has only lost one match since arriving to Colorado: the 160-pound 4A state championship bout against Thomas Jefferson’s Isaias Estrada.

“It motivated me a lot,” Rix-mcelhinney said, “More so for the offseason because I train year-round, and I want to do things with wrestling as a career, so I used that to drive me this offseason.”

The move was made easier considering that Betterman has established a residential program to his training academy and has been doing it since 2017. There is also a familiarity between Rix-mcelhinney and the Bettermans. Deanna is also from Maine and shares the same last name as his mother (Rix), though they aren’t related.

“Aydin’s a special case because he’s known us for years since he was little,” Betterman said.

Rix-mcelhinney’s decision to move to Colorado was influenced by previously attended summer camps at Betterman Elite.

“He would not stop bugging my wife about training with us,” Betterman said, “He saw what we were doing out here and he wanted to train fulltime and train under my wife and I.”

Rix-mcelhinney also has three of his Falcon teammates (Daniel Leon, Landon Drury and Nevin Smith) living with him as part of the residential program, training at the club and taking classes at Springs Studio.

“There’s definitely a family feel,” Betterman said. “They’re all like brothers. They all hang out together, play video games, helping each other with schoolwork sometimes.”

Rix-mcelhinney got to choose Falcon as his team based on not living within the District 49 area and thus being able to freely choose a school in that district.

One of the perks of training in Colorado is training in altitude and improving cardiovascular endurance through practicing in thin air. Getting used to altitude is always the most challenging part.

“It was burning my lungs up for sure,” Rix-mcelhinney said.

Improving endurance is a focal point of his training at Betterman Elite. Every morning involves a cardio-intense workout with the purpose of expanding lung capacity.

“That is definitely a very big aspect of wrestling because if you can out-wrestle someone for a longer time then you’re guaranteed the match,” Rix-mcelhinney said.

It was a baptism by fire for Rix-mcelhinney. His first days at Betterman Elite two years ago showed how far away he was compared to where he wanted to be.

“There were kids who were just tossing me around, Rix-mcelhinney said. “I wasn’t used to that. I was used to being able to hold my own and being able to take someone down. In my first practice there I was just getting mauled. It was a learning experience, so I came back I just kept chipping away. Soon enough I was able to take those guys down. All of a sudden, those guys couldn’t beat me. So it was definitely a big jump and I see it every year as far as my technique and my mentality. It all has gotten better since then.”

Rix-mcelhinney sees college wrestling in his future and favors Wyoming and Northern Colorado as two of his top programs. After that, he also wants to wrestle in the senior level, possibly even make the Olympics. He also would like to follow in Betterman’s footsteps and wrestle for the Army WCAP.

“I’d love to, after college, go pursue that route and wrestle,” Rix-mcelhinney said.

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2022-01-12T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-12T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/283622468453313

The Gazette, Colorado Springs