Check out a great story from www.uwbadgers.com on Pointer wrestler Craig Brandvold (Merrill, WI/Merrill)'s older brother Trevor and some other Badger wrestlers help out a great cause in support of Craig's battle with diabetes.

FROM UWBADGERS.com

Brandvold, wrestlers participate in Step Out to Fight Diabetes

The wrestlers walked in honor of Brandvold's brother Craig, who suffers from diabetes and is a wrestler at UW-Stevens Point

Oct. 13, 2010

MADISON, Wis. – In honor of redshirt senior Trevor Brandvold's younger brother Craig, who suffers from diabetes, members of the Wisconsin wrestling team participated and raised money for the Step Out to Fight Diabetes benefit 5K walk on Sunday.

Along with Brandvold and his family, freshman Dylan Iczkowski (Shantytown, Wis.), sophomore Jackson Hein (Wausau, Wis.), redshirt freshman John Prezzia (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and redshirt sophomore Brad Nardick (Northbrook, Ill.) raised over $1,000 toward the American Diabetes Association and celebrated their efforts with a 5K walk near the Edgewood College campus.

It was extra special for Brandvold to have his teammates help him raise money and participate in the walk because Craig is currently a sophomore wrestler for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

“It was awesome that they came out to the walk and helped raised money to support another wrestler,” Brandvold said. “It was great because the walk was on Sunday morning at 9:30, which is usually for most of the guys on the team, the only day they aren't conditioning on their own. To have them there supporting not only my brother, but myself was really amazing to see.”

Not only was Brandvold and his family happy with the Wisconsin wrestling team's turnout at the event, the Badger wrestlers were inspired by Craig's ability to not only fight diabetes but continue to wrestle at the collegiate level.

“All the people who walked who had diabetes wore red hats,” Nardick said. “It was great to see them all get honored before the walk started. We were all really happy to participate. The fact that Craig deals with diabetes every day and also goes through similar training that we do is amazing. Also the fact that he has to worry about so many other things with his body other than just recovering from a workout is really remarkable.”

Although most people would see Craig's diagnosis during his freshman year of high school as a setback, he was able to take control of the diabetes. Wrestling at 174 lbs. for the Merrill High School Bluejays, Craig finished his high school career with a 108-47 varsity record and three second team all-conference selection honors under his belt.

For Trevor, who most recently earned All-American status after placing sixth at the NCAA Division I Championships and winning the 2009 Big Ten Championship at 197 lbs., Craig is a motivator for him to keep wrestling and keep working hard.

“Watching Craig has played a huge role in my wrestling over the past few years,” Brandvold explained. “The fact that he still wrestles and he works really hard even though his body doesn't always respond correctly because of the diabetes is inspiring to me.

“The result he gets when he competes isn't always fair because his body doesn't always allow him to wrestle his best. That makes me want to make sure that I don't take being healthy for granted. I don't have to worry about the things that he does, and to not work my hardest would just be ungrateful. I want to work my hardest for him.”