Brent Metcalf showed more mettle than medal
The last couple of years, the Asics/Vaughan Junior Nationals produced enticing new stories in the high school wrestling world.
This year, it recycled an old one instead. But it was just as captivating.
And it provided a different slant to the age-old questions: Is the Junior Nationals just an event for upwardly mobile juniors in high school?
Is
it even worth it for seniors to risk their records and their legacies by putting it on the line a week or two before they step on a college campus for the first time?For Michigan’s Brent Metcalf, there were no questions.
In 2003 and 2004, all he did was win double Junior Nationals titles.
And few people noticed.
That’s because the headlines were being made by the two seniors — Ohio’s Dustin Schlatter and New York’s Troy Nickerson — sharing the stage with Metcalf at the top of the Class of 2005.
Let’s review: In 2003, Massillon Perry High graduate Schlatter dominated one of the toughest weight classes in the history of the Junior freestyle division, taking the 135-pound title and Outstanding Wrestler honors. The double title gave Schlatter, who never lost a match under the FargoDome, six titles in three years; he also won double Cadet National titles each of the previous two years.
A year ago, Nickerson, who had won three Cadet Nationals titles the previous two years, had only two matches that went the distance in winning a double Junior Nationals title at 119, becoming the first wrestler in 22 years to claim double Outstanding Wrestler awards.
Those performances for the ages vaulted both to national prominence. Schlatter would earn Asics Wrestler of the Year honors in 2004. In 2005, Nickerson won that honor and added the Wrestling International Newsmagazine Junior Dan Hodge Trophy as well.
And Metcalf? Despite winning more Junior National crowns than either during those two years, he didn’t even earn Asics First Team honors as a senior, nosed out by Schlatter at 145 pounds after the two split a pair of matches during the high school season.
What a difference, however, two years can make.
Schlatter’s singular performance in 2003 would turn out to be his final appearance in Fargo. Nickerson, too, passed up the Juniors this time around.
Everybody’s heard the list of reasons for skipping the Fargo trip: Taking a break from a long season before beginning college; working camps; being told by your college coach not to come; not having anything else to prove. You’ve undoubtedly heard others.
Meanwhile, Metcalf and many other graduated seniors did come to Fargo – making the trip pay off in the process.
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