Five Eagle senior wrestlers, Destin McCauley, Matt Kelliher, Jake Waste, Steven Keogh, and Jordan Kingsley, have committed to Division I programs. All five were Junior National freestyle All-Americans in Fargo this past summer.
Destin McCauley (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)"My ultimate decision on why I chose Wisconsin was my fit in their program," said McCauley, who was named Outstanding Wrestler of the 2010 Junior National freestyle competition. "I felt like I easily got along with their whole team and their coaching staff. They already were treating me like one of their own."
McCauley, though, will defer his enrollment at Wisconsin until 2012. He will spend the 2011-12 season at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs before joining the Badgers in 2012.
"I wanted to go to the Olympic Training Center for a year because my goal is to give a run at the 2012 Olympics," said McCauley. "Going out there and focusing on freestyle mainly the whole time will give me great preparation for the Trials. While I'm there, I'll still take classes, generals, but just enough to get me going and not starting my NCAA clock. Plus, I'll be traveling overseas to train and get competitions as well."
Matt Kelliher (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)"It was a tough decision to make," said Kelliher, who will be joining brother Tom on the Badger wrestling team. "I felt that Wisconsin was the overall best fit for me for a lot of reasons. I'm very excited to be a part of the program at Wisconsin."
The Badgers are currently ranked fourth in the country by InterMat. Last season Wisconsin coach Barry Davis was named National Coach of the Year by the NWCA after guiding the Badgers to a fourth-place finish at the NCAAs. Kelliher is looking forward to wrestling for Davis, an Olympic silver medalist and the all-time winningest wrestler at Iowa.
"Barry Davis is a good, high-energy coach," said Kelliher, a two-time state champion, FloNationls champion, and Junior National freestyle runner-up. "I could tell by watching practice that he really enjoyed coaching the team and working with them."
Waste will be taking his talents to the East Coast to wrestle for Buffalo (NY), a wrestling program that competes in the Mid American Conference (MAC). He is expected to begin his college wrestling career at 174 pounds.
Jake Waste (Photo/Johnnie Johnson)Waste chose Buffalo over Minnesota and Northern Iowa, but he admits that it was not an easy decision.
"It was a great experience," said Waste of the recruiting process. "The final decision was very tough and draining, though."
Waste has won national titles in all three styles of wrestling, including a Cadet National Triple Crown in 2009, but is still looking for that elusive state title.
"I want to be the best one-time state champion to ever come out of Minnesota," said Waste.
Keogh, a five-time state medalist and 2010 state champion, committed to Minnesota.
"Minnesota has one thing on its side that most colleges don't, and that is history," said Keogh, who projects at 165 pounds in college.
Kingsley, who placed sixth in the Junior National freestyle competition at 112 pounds, will be heading to Minnesota with Keogh.
"I really like the coaching staff and team at Minnesota," said Kingsley, who begins this season ranked 19th nationally at 112 pounds by InterMat. "I also think Minnesota is a great academic school, which was also a big deciding factor. I believe they are the best school for me to achieve both my wrestling and academic goals."
So how strong will Apple Valley be this season?
"We are solid the whole way through our lineup," said McCauley. "I think we will be pretty tough to beat. Our team is always in real good condition, and we know how to push ourselves to make everyone better. That's one thing that makes us stand out."
Kelliher is quick to praise his coach, Jim Jackson.
"Coach Jackson really dedicates everything he has to his Apple Valley team and it pays off," said Kelliher. "He is a great coach to have around to push me and my teammates to work harder and become better wrestlers every day."
Kelliher feels privileged to be a part of such a strong wrestling program.
"Not many people get the opportunity to say that they wrestled for the No. 1 high school team in the country," said Kelliher. "I think it is a great opportunity for everyone on the team and with our tough schedule it should be an exciting year."
The meat of Apple Valley's schedule this season takes place from Dec. 17 to Jan. 8 when the Eagles compete in the Minnesota Christmas Tournament (Dec. 17-18 in Rochester, MN), Cheesehead (Dec. 30-31 in Kaukauna, WI), and The Clash (Jan. 7-8 in Rochester, MN).
As usual, Apple Valley, a Class AAA school, will see many of the other programs in Minnesota, including Simley (Class AA), Kasson-Mantorville (Class AA), Hastings (Class AAA), and St. Michael-Albertville (Class AAA), at the Minnesota Christmas Tournament. The Eagles will see some very strong out-of-state teams at the Cheesehead and The Clash.
The Cheeshead field has more firepower than ever this season with the addition of Blair Academy (NJ), a program that has won 30 consecutive National Prep titles and produced numerous NCAA champions and NCAA All-Americans. The Clash also added a legendary team in Brandon (FL), a program that has won 10 consecutive Florida state championships and produced over 100 state placewinners. Brandon won a national-record 459 consecutive dual meets from 1974 to 2008.
"It's great to have the schedule that we have," said Kingsley. "We really wanted to try to wrestle the best competition, and being able to wrestle Blair Academy at the Cheeshead, and Brandon at the Clash is about as good as it can get."
This story also appears in the Nov. 19 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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