Dakota Stormer Finishes In Top 13, At 1 st Ever PA Junior Olympic Junior High Wrestling Tournament 13 (03/03/14)

(By Coach Lee Weber)

Dakota Stormer went down to Hempfield, PA to wrestle in the 1st ever Junior Olympic Junior High State Tournament in Pennsylvania. He represented Clarion well by going 2-2 to finish in the top 13 in the state at his weight class.

In his first match, he wrestled Zachary Laue of Somerset (Area I, 2nd seed). Dakota was down 1-0 in the 2nd period but he locked up his patented gator roll and pinned his opponent at the 3:58 mark. In his second match, Dakota lost 5-0 to Area XI, 1st seed Brian Zimmerman of North Penn. This dropped him down to the consolations.

In his 3rd match, Dakota faced Area IV, 2nd seed Shane Clark of Peters Township. Once again he locked up his gator roll and scored 4 points to jump out to a 4-1 lead, after an escape by his opponent, in the first period. His opponent scored an escape in the 2nd and Dakota did like-wise in the 3rd to end the match for the  5-2 win.

In his last match, Dakota was wrestling Area IV, 1st seed Nick Cook of Fort Cherry. In his most aggressive match of the day, Dakota was in a tight 4-2 match but, unfortunately, Dakota smacked his head on the mat after a head lock attempt and could not finish his match with one minute left and lost by injury default.

This left him one match away from being a medalist but his efforts made him realize he can wrestle with the best, even though he has only a few years of experience. He did not have any elementary experience whatsoever. He was one of the most dominant Junior High wrestlers around and we will miss him in the line-up but he has a bright future, looking forward to the Varsity level.

(Thanks to Coach Weber and congratulations to Dakota!!!!)