The Delaware Valley sophomore lost the 113-pound Class 3A state final on a controversial takedown at the final buzzer to finish second and secure a silver medal.
Athlete you admire: Tom Brady
Who’s your funniest teammate? Jason Henderson. He just does something to make everybody laugh.
Other than sports, what is one thing you would like to do in your lifetime? Rapping. Write songs and perform songs, see how that goes. I recorded a song before, back in November before wrestling season. I just haven’t posted it yet. I’m about to start it back up after team states.
Three people you would like to have dinner with. Rapper Pop Smoke, Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady.
What’s been the hardest thing to overcome this past year? I’ve had a bad back since last season. I hurt it at last year’s regionals and every since then it’s been bad. I have scoliosis in my back now. I have to do be specific stretched before every single tournament, every single match. I get pain before practice. It takes like 10 minutes to stretch.
What’s been the biggest area of improvement in your skill set? I think getting off bottom. I used to not be able to get out. Now I’m able to create space, get out, get my one point. My percentage of getting off bottom has improved.
Team districts are a little out of order coming up a month later than usual. Are you okay with how the season played out schedule-wise? It was pretty good. I actually like it to be honest. I enjoyed it. It was just different to me, something new. I wouldn’t mind having a super region again.
How did you get your start in wrestling? It was actually in football. One of the parents’ of a kid in wrestling said that I was aggressive in football and I’d like wrestling. At 7 years old, I tried out for wrestling and I fell in love with it.
Who’s been the most influential person on your wrestling career? Definitely the head of the Dark Knights (Wrestling Club in Stroudsburg), Gyasi Parkins. Me and Charlie Bunting (Nazareth, 5th at 113) are really good friends. We used to wrestle every single day during quarantine.
One thing you did better than a lot of people did through the process to get to states. I think it was mindset. I feel like a lot of people, because of COVID, the season was weird and they just didn’t care. I was still trying to become the best. I just tried to keep on winning matches, beat people who were ranked ahead of me and move up the ladder.
Do you think you got the respect you earned this year? It upset me and made me drive harder when I won the super region and they still had me ranked at seventh behind people who weren’t even in the state tournament. That had me a little upset and pushed my mindset even further.
What’s next? I’m going to keep working out with my club, with my school and just keep bettering myself and prepare myself for the hard tournaments next year. Work on my conditioning a lot, get stronger, bigger, maybe move up a weight class or two.
Marty Myers began his career as a sports writer at The Wayne Independent in Honesdale, where he served as sports editor and later managing editor. After 10 years there, he joined The Times-Tribune in 1994 and has spent the ensuing years reporting on high school sports, local and professional golf. An award-winning journalist, he also enjoys his duties as a copy editor for The Times-Tribune, editing stories and designing pages. A native of Williamsport, Marty resides in Clarks Summit. Reach him at mmyers@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100 x5437 or @mmyersTT.
