O-R Athlete of the Week
Name: Mike Carr
School: South Fayette
Sport: Wrestling
Year: Senior
Carr’s week: Carr won his third WPIAL Class AA Wrestling Championship Saturday in front of the home crowd at South Fayette Highh School. In the process, he became the winningest wrestler in the program’s history.
Carr began the tournament as the top seed at 145 pounds. He won by 19-4 technical fall over Chris O’Sullivan of Valley in the quarterfinals and followed that up with an identical score against Darrell Bails of Burgettstown. Carr won the title with a hard-fought 1-0 decision over Kody Komara. The two have wrestled three times this season and Carr has not surrendered a bout point to the Freedom junior.
Komara chose neutral going into the third period trailing 1-0.
“I wasn’t surprised,” said Carr. “Last time I wrestled him, that’s how I got my backpoints. Every time I wrestle him, I can ride him.”
The win was the 153rd of his career, passing J.J. Walker, who finished last season as a four-time WPIAL champion.
“It’s just another record, 153 now,” said Carr.
A leg up: Carr suffered a slight tear of his meniscus in his right knee but he looked fluid on the mat. He said he is altering his style to adjust to the brace.
“I just have to prep me knee,” he said. “I have to figure out a way to get in on shots easier. I know I’m pretty good on top. I’m not worried about that. I’m not worried about getting out. It’s just focusing on the neutral position and getting ready to go.”
If Carr needs inspiration, he can turn to head coach Rick Chaussard.
“I wrestled with a torn menisucs in high school and I showed him my scar,” said Chaussard. “It’s a three-inch ralroad track because they weren’t doing arthroscopic back in 1979. I told him I wrestled with it. Every once in a while, it gets uncomfortable. The cartilage gets stuck in the joint. the more he wrestles with it, the better it gets.”
Chaussard said Carr, a University of Illinois recruit, has been going hard in practice and the tournament.
“He didn’t show any ill effects from it,” said Chaussard. “We just told him to do what feels best. His style hasn’t changed since the injury. He just has to handle the mental side. If you watch him on the mat and his mind goes away from the injured knee, he’s fine. If you watch him last week and this week, he gets on the mat, the adrenaline starts and he just forgets about it.”
Going for three again: The next step for Carr is the PIAA Class AA Southwest Region Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School. Action gets under way in the two-day event at 3 p.m., Friday for wrestlers from District 5, 6 and 7.
Quarterfinals are at 6 p.m. Friday, semifinals are at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and finals are at 5 p.m.
Carr is going for his third title and is one of five returning champions from the WPIAL. The others are Derry’s Micky Phillippi (36-2) and South Park’s state champion duo of Jake Wentzel (35-0) and Greg Bulsak (37-1). Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale (29-0) won at 106 last year.
Other two-time champions returning are Central Cambria’s Max Murin (34-1) and Huntingdon’s Collin Glorioso (33-6). Ligonier Valley’s Robert Patrick (33-2) is looking for his second title.
The top six wrestlers in each weight advance to the PIAA Championships March 10-12 at Giant Center in Hershey.
Compiled by Joe Tuscano