February 8, 2019 at 5:36 p.m.
Differing journeys lead to same location
Line Drives
Jordan Schricker and Spenser Clark will step on the mat Saturday for what could be the final time.
While both seniors — Schricker at Jay County and Clark at South Adams — hope to advance one more weekend, the path they have each taken to get to Saturday’s IHSAA semi-state meet have been nearly identical.
They placed third at 145 and 220 pounds, respectively, during the sectional meet Jan. 26. A week later at regional, Schricker had the same finish while Clark placed fourth.
Though their postseason credentials are strikingly similar, the journey to this point in their respective careers couldn’t be any more opposite.
••••••••
Schricker isn’t shy about the fact he was a troubled kid. His mother, Elizabeth Blowers, can back it up.
As an eighth grader at East Jay Middle School, Schricker would yell at teachers. He was disrespectful to others. He’d start food fights, give bus drivers the middle finger and shout profanities at them. He’d get suspended. He wouldn’t listen to teachers, school administrators or even his mom.
“I was a bad kid and I’ll admit it,” he said. “I’m still ornery, I’ll admit it.”
Blowers didn’t know what to do. With a kid bursting with energy and constantly trying to defy authority figures, she wasn’t sure how to wrangle his behavior.
She settled on an ultimatum.
“It was either be secluded at an alternative school or take his energy out on the wrestling mat,” Blowers said. “He started wrestling and has grown to love it and has been a pretty amazing kid.”
During his freshman year, he continued to get in trouble before the wrestling began. With his mother and administrators again harping on him, his mischievous ways ceased once the season got underway.
The chubby, 152-pound freshman was relegated to the junior varsity squad. The following year, JCHS wrestling coach Eric Myers told him if he wanted to earn a spot on varsity he had to cut weight down to 138 pounds. He did just that and finished with a 13-19 record, including a season-ending loss in his first sectional match.
Cutting weight that year, he said, left him exhausted. He expended so much energy getting down to 138 pounds and maintaining weight while also focusing on his school work he just didn’t have time to be around those bad influences that were leading him down a rocky path.
“Wrestling changed my life in so many different ways,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine my life without it.”
Junior season is when Schricker made the most improvement. Like this year, he was third at both sectional and regional to reach semi-state. He advanced to the ticket round before giving up a late takedown to end his year with a 25-18 record.
“I strived to keep going,” he said. “That’s where it brought me. Coming to ticket round, coming to the last two points, I was devastated. I want to come back. I want to get out of that ticket round.”
His plan was almost derailed in June. Competing in a summer tournament, he shattered three bones in his elbow. He was told recovery would take eight to 10 months.
“(Doctors) told me I wouldn’t be able to come back to wrestling,” he said. “I’d miss my senior year.
“I looked at them and said ‘You’re wrong.’”
Three months later he was cleared to compete and he did so with a brace on his right elbow.
Schricker has amassed a 34-8 record as a senior, was third in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament and got himself back to the place his junior year ended, all the while staying out of trouble.
“Just a driven, determined kid and I’m so glad that we could channel that determination toward wrestling,” Myers said. “He’s the type of person that when he gets done wrestling he’s going to be able to channel that in another direction and be a very successful person.
“He’s a kid that I love coaching.”
••••••••••
Clark spent his youth playing football and basketball. During his first three years in high school, he was on the hardwood during the winter.
He was mainly a junior varsity player until last season, during which he played in all 23 games for the varsity Starfires. They went 5-18 under first-year SAHS coach Trent Lehman.
Clark averaged nearly six points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
Heading into his senior season, he made the choice to give up basketball and start wrestling, a sport with which he was unfamiliar.
“I had conflicts with my previous winter sport,” he said. “I decided, I work pretty hard, I can succeed in wrestling. So I came out, gave it a shot.”
It came as a surprise to Jesse Gaskill, the Starfire wrestling coach.
“To switch sports your senior year doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” he said. “Man, he is one of the most disciplined kids. I know you learn a lot from wrestling about discipline, but when you come in with that already in your DNA, that’s pretty sweet.”
Gaskill had each of his wrestlers write down goals before the season started. Clark’s was to make semi-state. As a 220-pounder, he thought qualifying for state was unrealistic, because at his weight he’d be up against seasoned veterans.
One notch lower was more ideal, he said.
As expected, things didn’t go so well in his first few matches this year. But as he got more time on the mat, he started to improve. He finished fifth in the Bill Kerbel Invitational on Jan. 5 at New Haven. Two weeks later, in the ACAC tournament, he was fourth.
Then the postseason began, and he started to surprise others. He earned a regional berth. Seven days later, he met his preseason goal.
“I think most of it was putting work in on the mat and off the mat,” he said. “I lift often and just having the mindset was the thing I strive for.”
“He legitimately wants to get better,” Gaskill said. “If you put him in any sport he’s going to do that.
“He is one of the most self-motivated guys I’ve ever coached. He’s one of the most diligent guys I’ve ever coached. I just love having him around.”
••••••••••
High school sports are often considered an avenue to build character and help mold boys into men and girls into women.
Athletes learn the determination and discipline required to see success in athletics, and wrestling is the epitome of such a sport.
Wrestling saved Schricker from a troubled path. It perhaps even kept him out of jail.
Clark channeled his work ethic from the football field and the basketball court into a new sport, and he’s reached a level not many first-year wrestlers can attain.
“It means a lot to me personally,” Clark said. “To the community it kind of shows, this is my first year, it’s about the work you put in at the end of the day.”
The postseason venues for Schricker and Clark have been identical so far. Their wrestling backgrounds have not.
But the expectations Saturday are the same — wrestle each match as if it’s their last. It very well could be.
“I’m a senior,” Schricker said. “No one is stepping in my way.”
While both seniors — Schricker at Jay County and Clark at South Adams — hope to advance one more weekend, the path they have each taken to get to Saturday’s IHSAA semi-state meet have been nearly identical.
They placed third at 145 and 220 pounds, respectively, during the sectional meet Jan. 26. A week later at regional, Schricker had the same finish while Clark placed fourth.
Though their postseason credentials are strikingly similar, the journey to this point in their respective careers couldn’t be any more opposite.
••••••••
Schricker isn’t shy about the fact he was a troubled kid. His mother, Elizabeth Blowers, can back it up.
As an eighth grader at East Jay Middle School, Schricker would yell at teachers. He was disrespectful to others. He’d start food fights, give bus drivers the middle finger and shout profanities at them. He’d get suspended. He wouldn’t listen to teachers, school administrators or even his mom.
“I was a bad kid and I’ll admit it,” he said. “I’m still ornery, I’ll admit it.”
Blowers didn’t know what to do. With a kid bursting with energy and constantly trying to defy authority figures, she wasn’t sure how to wrangle his behavior.
She settled on an ultimatum.
“It was either be secluded at an alternative school or take his energy out on the wrestling mat,” Blowers said. “He started wrestling and has grown to love it and has been a pretty amazing kid.”
During his freshman year, he continued to get in trouble before the wrestling began. With his mother and administrators again harping on him, his mischievous ways ceased once the season got underway.
The chubby, 152-pound freshman was relegated to the junior varsity squad. The following year, JCHS wrestling coach Eric Myers told him if he wanted to earn a spot on varsity he had to cut weight down to 138 pounds. He did just that and finished with a 13-19 record, including a season-ending loss in his first sectional match.
Cutting weight that year, he said, left him exhausted. He expended so much energy getting down to 138 pounds and maintaining weight while also focusing on his school work he just didn’t have time to be around those bad influences that were leading him down a rocky path.
“Wrestling changed my life in so many different ways,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine my life without it.”
Junior season is when Schricker made the most improvement. Like this year, he was third at both sectional and regional to reach semi-state. He advanced to the ticket round before giving up a late takedown to end his year with a 25-18 record.
“I strived to keep going,” he said. “That’s where it brought me. Coming to ticket round, coming to the last two points, I was devastated. I want to come back. I want to get out of that ticket round.”
His plan was almost derailed in June. Competing in a summer tournament, he shattered three bones in his elbow. He was told recovery would take eight to 10 months.
“(Doctors) told me I wouldn’t be able to come back to wrestling,” he said. “I’d miss my senior year.
“I looked at them and said ‘You’re wrong.’”
Three months later he was cleared to compete and he did so with a brace on his right elbow.
Schricker has amassed a 34-8 record as a senior, was third in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament and got himself back to the place his junior year ended, all the while staying out of trouble.
“Just a driven, determined kid and I’m so glad that we could channel that determination toward wrestling,” Myers said. “He’s the type of person that when he gets done wrestling he’s going to be able to channel that in another direction and be a very successful person.
“He’s a kid that I love coaching.”
••••••••••
Clark spent his youth playing football and basketball. During his first three years in high school, he was on the hardwood during the winter.
He was mainly a junior varsity player until last season, during which he played in all 23 games for the varsity Starfires. They went 5-18 under first-year SAHS coach Trent Lehman.
Clark averaged nearly six points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
Heading into his senior season, he made the choice to give up basketball and start wrestling, a sport with which he was unfamiliar.
“I had conflicts with my previous winter sport,” he said. “I decided, I work pretty hard, I can succeed in wrestling. So I came out, gave it a shot.”
It came as a surprise to Jesse Gaskill, the Starfire wrestling coach.
“To switch sports your senior year doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” he said. “Man, he is one of the most disciplined kids. I know you learn a lot from wrestling about discipline, but when you come in with that already in your DNA, that’s pretty sweet.”
Gaskill had each of his wrestlers write down goals before the season started. Clark’s was to make semi-state. As a 220-pounder, he thought qualifying for state was unrealistic, because at his weight he’d be up against seasoned veterans.
One notch lower was more ideal, he said.
As expected, things didn’t go so well in his first few matches this year. But as he got more time on the mat, he started to improve. He finished fifth in the Bill Kerbel Invitational on Jan. 5 at New Haven. Two weeks later, in the ACAC tournament, he was fourth.
Then the postseason began, and he started to surprise others. He earned a regional berth. Seven days later, he met his preseason goal.
“I think most of it was putting work in on the mat and off the mat,” he said. “I lift often and just having the mindset was the thing I strive for.”
“He legitimately wants to get better,” Gaskill said. “If you put him in any sport he’s going to do that.
“He is one of the most self-motivated guys I’ve ever coached. He’s one of the most diligent guys I’ve ever coached. I just love having him around.”
••••••••••
High school sports are often considered an avenue to build character and help mold boys into men and girls into women.
Athletes learn the determination and discipline required to see success in athletics, and wrestling is the epitome of such a sport.
Wrestling saved Schricker from a troubled path. It perhaps even kept him out of jail.
Clark channeled his work ethic from the football field and the basketball court into a new sport, and he’s reached a level not many first-year wrestlers can attain.
“It means a lot to me personally,” Clark said. “To the community it kind of shows, this is my first year, it’s about the work you put in at the end of the day.”
The postseason venues for Schricker and Clark have been identical so far. Their wrestling backgrounds have not.
But the expectations Saturday are the same — wrestle each match as if it’s their last. It very well could be.
“I’m a senior,” Schricker said. “No one is stepping in my way.”
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