O-R Athlete of the Week: Parker Jennings, Trinity
Name: Parker Jennings
Grade: Sophomore
School: Trinity
Sport: Wrestling
Jennings’ Week: One win separated Jennings from his first ever high school tournament title and one teammate. Jennings faced off against fellow Trinity wrestler Jackson Hoy in the 113-pound final at the NursePro Plus Tournament at University High School in Morgantown W.Va.
It’s a matchup that’s gone on in the Trinity wrestling room for a while and Jennings got the best of his practice partner in the final via a 4-2 decision.
“We just had a wrestle off a few weeks ago and I won a close one,” Jennings said. “Wrestling (Hoy) is a lot harder than going against some kid you don’t know, because we each know every move we’re going to throw at each other.
“We both stayed on our offense in the first period and went into the second 0-0. He chose the bottom for the second period and I let him up and got the only take down of the match right after that. It was 3-2 going into the third and he gave me an escape to try and score on me, but we both just kept on our offense to finish out the match.”
Jennings said he realized on his way home that it was his first high school tournament win.
He had two first period wins and a tech fall in his three matches leading up to the final.
“Last year when I went down there I finished sixth and they only give trophies or medals to the top four finishers, so to walk in there this time and win was pretty cool,” Jennings said. “I was pumped, because I saw how much I improved from last year to this year.”
Hot start: Jennings is 11-0 to start the year. He’s coming off a freshman season where he had a 28-22 record. He credited a summer of traveling to various wrestling events and camps for helping him improve.
Jennings went to the Fargo Nationals for the first time and camps at Pitt and Navy, where he took lessons from Cary Kolat, who coaches the Midshipmen.
His next event is the Powerade Tournament at Canon-McMillan Dec. 29-30.
He’s looking forward to testing himself against top high school wrestlers around the country.
“I’m shooting for a top three (finish) at Powerade,” Jennings said. “The way I’m going right now I feel like I can place in the top three if not have a chance to win it.”
Family of Wrestlers: Jennings knew early in life he was going to be a wrestler and he had some major influences in his life, including an Olympic golf medalist. His uncle Jake Varner won the gold medal in 96 kg freestyle wrestling at the 2012 Olympic games in London. He’s now the freestyle wrestling coach at Penn State’s Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.
Jennings’ grandfather, father, and another uncle wrestled as well.
He dabbled in other sports growing up, but put his full focus into wrestling going into high school.
“I just got going from a young age and it went from there,” Jennings said. “Growing up and hearing all the stories from them got me into it.”
Under the tree: It’s not a surprise that the top thing on Jennings’ Christmas gift list was wrestling related. He wanted a pair of new RUDIS Cary Kolat wrestling shoes.
“Those Kolat’s looked pretty good and I’m hoping to get my hands on a pair of them,” Jennings said.
Compiled by Jerin Steele