Mark Hall (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Minnesota got its first look at the seventh grade phenom at this year's annual Minnesota Christmas Tournament, which took place Dec. 17-18 at the UCR Regional Sports Center in Rochester.
Hall, who is ranked as the No. 1 junior high school wrestler in the country by InterMat, stole the show at an event filled with Division I prospects, state champions, and state placewinners.
Hall dominated the competition en route to winning the title at 130 pounds. His most notable victory, the one that that had state and national wrestling forums buzzing, came in the semifinals when he crushed Forest Lake junior Ben Morgan, a state champion, Junior National freestyle All-American, and nationally-ranked wrestler. After a scoreless first period, Hall put Morgan on his back early in the second period to go up 5-0 before cruising to a 10-0 shutout victory.
Mark Hall (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Apple Valley coach Jim Jackson believes that it's an intangible quality that has allowed Hall to be so successful at the high school level at such a young age.
"I think his demeanor has really helped him," said Jackson. "It's a calm confidence. Nothing rattles him. His demeanor blows me away."
Growing up in Michigan
Mark Hall grew up in Davison, Michigan, a suburb of Flint and located 50 miles north of Detroit. Davison High School became a wrestling powerhouse in Michigan under the direction of head coach Roy Hall (no relation to Mark Hall), a Davison alum and former Michigan State wrestler who took over the program in 1997. The Davison wrestling program has produced NCAA Division I champions and All-Americans, including Brent Metcalf (Iowa), Paul Donahoe (Nebraska/Edinboro), and Jon Reader (Iowa State).
"Roy (Hall) is a great coach," said Mark Hall's father, who is also named Mark. "You don't produce the people that he has without being a great coach and a great person. He'll do anything for you."
Mark Hall's love for wrestling was fostered at a young age by one of his first coaches in the Davison youth program, Chase Metcalf, older brother of two-time NCAA champion and U.S. World Team member Brent Metcalf.
Mark Hall with Chase Metcalf and Brent MetcalfChase Metcalf became much more than a youth wrestling coach to Mark Hall.
"We had practice at my house and then afterwards we would just hang out and play Xbox," said Hall. "He always took me out to eat with his family. Chase was a brother to me, or even like a second father to me. I was always hanging around him. I just loved him."
On Sept. 8, 2005, Mark Hall's world was shaken when Chase Metcalf, who had just turned 21 years old, died in an automobile accident. Some of Chase's wrestling belongings were passed onto Hall, including his Fargo (Junior Nationals) stop sign, and wrestling bag, which Hall uses to this day.
Hall, who was 8 years old at the time, took a month and a half off from wrestling. According to his father, "That was a hard time for Mark. He just couldn't get over it for a little bit."
Mark Hall"Chase pushed me one hundred and ten percent every single practice," said Hall. "Once he died, I started pushing myself even harder every single practice. It hurt to know that he wasn't there to push me anymore, so I had to it myself. It was sort of like a maturity thing. I can't have people watching out for me. I have to do things myself sometimes."
Hall continued to progress as a wrestler in Michigan. His father took him to wrestling events and wrestling camps all over the country. He was getting 250-plus matches a year. Often times he would compete in older age groups, in addition to his own age group, just for more competition. He won virtually everything there was to win as a youth wrestler, including Tulsa Nationals, Tulsa Kickoff Classic, Reno Worlds, Liberty Nationals, Border War Nationals, and Ohio Tournament of Champions.
"We always tried to get him the toughest kids to wrestle," said his father. "It doesn't matter if you win or lose. If you lose, that's a good learning tool. It makes you work harder because it shows that you're not the best out there."
Moving to Kentucky and wrestling varsity
Last year, Hall began his seventh-grade year at Davison Middle School, where he played football. In the winter, Hall moved to Union, Kentucky, located near Cincinnati, to wrestle for Ryle High School.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) prohibits seventh and eighth-graders from competing at the high school varsity level, but the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) allows it.
"Going to junior high tournaments wouldn't have benefited him," said Hall's father.
The Halls chose Ryle not only for the opportunity to compete at the high school varsity level, but also because of the workout partners and wrestling schedule.
Mark Hall wrestling Myron BradburyHall finished last season with a 42-3 varsity record at Ryle. He was a Kentucky state runner-up at 119 pounds, losing in the state finals to Myron Bradbury, a senior. Hall had split matches with Bradbury, an NHSCA Nationals runner-up, during the regular season, but lost the final meeting.
The Halls returned to Michigan after the wrestling season.
Last spring and summer, Hall continued to raise eyebrows with his performances. He defeated two-time California state champion and nationally-ranked Alex Cisneros at America's Cup last June.
Moving to Minnesota and wrestling for Apple Valley
In November, the Halls made another move, this time from Michigan to Minnesota to allow Mark Hall the opportunity to wrestle for the nation's No. 1 high school wrestling program, Apple Valley.
Mark Hall (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)"After I got a job in Minnesota and we decided to come to Apple Valley, we didn't even know if he would be in the lineup," said Hall's father, a former wrestler himself who finished as a state runner-up in Michigan. "But we knew that he would have all these great workout partners to practice with all year. If he didn't ever step on the mat as a varsity wrestler, he would still be so much better."
Hall's first live-go when he arrived at Apple Valley was with Destin McCauley, the nation's No. 1 recruit by InterMat.
"That was a real eye-opener for me," Hall said of wrestling McCauley. "It showed me that I have a lot of things that I need to work on."
Hall admits that he took some poundings in the Apple Valley wrestling room when he first arrived, battling nationally-ranked wrestlers like McCauley, Dakota Trom, Matt Kelliher, and Brandon Kingsley. But he knew immediately that Apple Valley is where he needs to be to accomplish his wrestling goals.
"I knew right from the get-go that as soon as I stepped on the mat with all these ranked wrestlers that I had to be here to get to where I want to be," said Hall.
Initially, the plan was for Hall to wrestle at Davison High School in Michigan when he reached ninth grade. But that plan, at least for now, has changed.
"I'm almost one hundred percent sure that we're going to stay here at Apple Valley," said his father. "You can't get better competition. You can't get better workout partners. There are so many great coaches on staff working with the kids. Plus, all the Apple Valley wrestlers and coaches are great people."
Jackson has noticed improvements in Hall even in the short time he has been at Apple Valley.
Jim Jackson talks to Mark Hall (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)If there is one thing that people need to know about Mark Hall's father, it's that he will do whatever he feels is best for his children, regardless of what other people think. He has moved his son all over the country to give him the best opportunities to succeed. He also held his son back in school to help ensure that he's ready for college when the time comes.
"I did that because I don't want my son going to college at 17 years old," said his father. "I even held my daughter back. I don't want my son 600 miles away, being 17 years old, doing stupid stuff, or being led around by older kids. I want him to be mature enough to handle it."
With success comes scrutiny. There are those who question Hall's father's motives for moving his son all over the country to wrestle or holding him back in school. These things happen everywhere. But Mark Hall's situation is magnified even more because it's happening at Apple Valley, a highly-successful program that has benefited from transfers over the years. Jackson understands the animosity toward the Apple Valley program, but it's the animosity toward individuals, like Mark Hall and his father, that really bothers him.
"People are going to do what they think is best for their son or daughter," said Jackson. "To me, there's absolutely no one in a position to judge anybody at all. It's not their right to do that. You don't have to agree with it. And you have a right to your opinion. But to pass judgment on a family is not right. That's one thing that will bother me all the time."
Mark Hall (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)"He's very humble," said Jackson. "Very hard working. Very respectful. The teachers love him. He's just a great kid."
As for his talents on the wrestling mat, they're freakish. "At the Christmas Tournament he really opened people's eyes," said Jackson. "People were like, 'Holy cow. Now what?'"
Mark Hall's story is just getting started. Jackson believes the sky is the limit for what he can accomplish in the sport. The soon-to-be 14-year-old has high goals in the sport.
"I want to be a six-time state champion," said Hall. "I want to win Fargo six or eight times, however many times I can win it. I want to be the next four-time NCAA champion. I want to wrestle in the Olympics too."
This story also appears in the Dec. 31 issue of The Guillotine. The Guillotine has been covering amateur wrestling in Minnesota since 1971. Its mission is to report and promote amateur wrestling at all levels -- from youth and high school wrestling to college and international level wrestling. Subscribe to The Guillotine.
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