Readying for his senior year at Kimball Area High School, Hank Meyer, a National Honor Society member, is much more than just an accomplished wrestler. He maintains a 3.8 GPA and is also an active participant in football, baseball, and band. Hank enjoys weightlifting, competing in any sport, waterfowl hunting, turkey and pheasant hunting, carp shooting, football card collecting, and an occasional game of chess. A member of the Kimball Kruisers 4-H Club, Hank likes showing pigs at the Meeker County Fair. He has a strong interest in MMA and UFC, and he has recently been attending Start BJJ Minnesota Jujitsu. Hank hopes to become a sports medicine physician. His various injuries over the years, and the practitioners who helped him heal, have fostered an interest in this for a career.
Bursting with high aspirations this past wrestling season, Hank unfortunately incurred an injury that sidelined him from Dec. 16 to the middle of February. He was cleared to return for tournament time and was the 189# Section 4A Champion, qualifying for the state tournament for the third year in a row. At the state tournament, he earned fifth place on the podium. Although a great accomplishment, it was short of his goal, and he was determined to keep wrestling and improving. That’s when he started looking into what USA Wrestling offered.
USA Wrestling is the national governing body for the sport of wrestling in the United States and, as such, is its representative to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Simply, USA Wrestling is the central organization that coordinates amateur wrestling programs in the nation, and works to create interest and participation in these programs. USA Wrestling has more than 255,000 members. These members include athletes of all ages, coaches, officials, parents, and fans striving together to strengthen the sport. Each year, USA Wrestling charters more than 4,500 wrestling clubs and sanctions more than 2,100 local, state, regional, and national events.
Hank started competing in Greco-Roman and Freestyle competitions every weekend. He studied film religiously, to learn techniques and rules for these styles, and he also joined Pursuit Wrestling Club in Rice, to get some more practice with others wrestling these styles. At the State Greco and Freestyle tournament in Rochester on May 5, he took first at 215# in Greco-Roman and third in Freestyle. This auto-qualified him to compete at the individual National Tournament in Fargo, in Greco-Roman. But to auto-qualify for Freestyle competition, he needed to place in the top six at the Northern Plains Regional Championship on May 12 in Rochester. There, he battled wrestlers from Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota. He placed fourth, meeting his qualifying requirement for the Fargo Nationals in Freestyle as well. He then was invited to be on Minnesota’s State Team – The Storm. MN Storm is composed of some of the best wrestlers in the state at each weight. He and two other kids represented Minnesota in the National Duals at 215#. The National Duals were held in Tulsa, Okla., June 18-22. Hank traveled by coach bus with the team to Tulsa and competed in both styles with MN Storm. Teams from most of the 50 states battled each other. MN Storm Blue (Hank’s team) took fifth place in Greco-Roman, of 38 teams; and MN Storm Red (Hank’s team) captured first in their Freestyle division.
Greco-Roman and Freestyle are the two styles of wrestling utilized in the Olympics, with Greco-Roman being the most ancient form of wrestling. It allows only upper-body contact. Legs can’t be used on offense or defense. Throws are the most common offensive move, and the goal is to expose the opponent’s back to the mat. Each back exposure is 2 points, and there are 4- and 5-point moves. An 8-point threshold or a pin wins the match.
Freestyle permits lower body contact. It is a more modern discipline of wrestling, and it more closely resembles folkstyle wrestling in high school (scholastic wrestling, sometimes referred to as folkstyle wrestling, and commonly known as simply wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling at the high school and middle school levels in the United States). Throws are still incorporated into the discipline and leg-laces are a quick way to score points, as every time a wrestler is turned and his back is exposed, 2 points are scored. A 10-point threshold or a pin wins a match. Both styles have two periods, and each period is three minutes in length. There is a quick break between periods when wrestlers go to their corners with their coaches to get advice and a quick drink. Fanning is also done by fellow wrestlers and coaches; using shirts or towels to fan the wrestler to dry the sweat because officials check each wrestler’s shoulders for perspiration before they start the match again.
Fargo Nationals is the biggest wrestling event in the world. This year it was held July 13-20, at the Fargodome in Fargo, N.D. The best wrestlers from all 50 states were represented there, along with competitors from Puerto Rico and Guam. Freestyle took place Monday-Wednesday, and Greco-Roman grapplers competed on Friday-Saturday. There were 1,310 wrestlers in the junior division for Greco-Roman, and 1,816 for Freestyle. Thirty mats ran continuously each session. Only six out of 71 Minnesota wrestlers advanced to the placing rounds.
Competing in the thick of the Freestyle session, Hank lost to the #1 seed, Dreshaun Ross from Iowa (116-person bracket), by tech foul. A junior this year, Ross has already received more than 20 Division 1 offers in football and wrestling. Hank felt a bit privileged to be on the same mat as him, and he did manage to pick Ross’s ankle, which was a major accomplishment. Match #2 saw Hank win by tech foul over a competitor from Hawaii. Day 2 featured Hank besting an entrant from Washington, with a fall in the first period. He wrestled a Wisconsin challenger next, whom he defeated by tech foul in the first period of the consolations. Being a double-elimination affair, Hank’s next loss would eliminate him, and send him to the Greco-Roman round on Friday. Alas, Hank ended Day 2 with a 9-10 loss to a formidable opponent from Florida. It was a back-and-forth battle the entire match and could have gone either way. However, Hank ended his Freestyle quest with a very respectable 3-2 record.
Hank competed in the Greco-Roman side of the tournament Friday. He lost the first match, 5-8, to the #8 seed from Illinois. He got a bye and lost to a boy from Oklahoma, 11-14, ending his run in Fargo. It was a grueling week, physically and mentally.
“Hank learned a lot and is grateful for the experience, but is also ready to go home,” said mom Laura Meyer.
As Hank reflects on this incredible experience, he is most thankful for all of the sincere support he received. His dad Shawn, and his mother Laura both grew up in Barnesville, so both of their families are still in the Fargo/Moorhead area. Thus, Hank had a lot of support this week at the matches, through meals and care packages. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were part of his support team. He had great support from Kimball as well. Ben and Teddy Fox, and Ryan and Timmy Donnay made the journey to support him all week. Jonathan Hanley, a former Kimball wrestler and graduate, now living in Fargo, came to support him and took him out to breakfast one morning.
“The reason I competed at Fargo is just simply to become a better wrestler. Wrestling against the best-of-the-best from across the country in a hyper-competitive atmosphere was super beneficial for me. Also, it’s a great tool for my recruiting process, as almost every college coach from the highest level of D1 to D3 was on hand, scouting wrestlers. Although I didn’t get the All-American status I was searching for, it was an incredible experience, and it will help me in my quest to bring a state championship back to Kimball. This was my first time ever attempting Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling. I just started this summer, and it is definitely a major learning curve. I still don’t know much about either discipline, nor do I understand the rules entirely. In closing, I extend a big “thank you” to Ben Fox, for supporting me throughout all of these tournaments and always encouraging me in my trials and tribulations. He’s been a big reason for my success!” – Hank Meyer
Wrestling, in all its perceived glory, can be a very lonely sport, so the love and support of family and friends, makes it much easier to compete and to cope.