Grigsby Not Looking Ahead

Bentonville’s Aaron Grigsby has a record of 45-4 in is undefeated against in-state competition. The sophomore is seeded first in the 120-pound weight class.
Bentonville’s Aaron Grigsby has a record of 45-4 in is undefeated against in-state competition. The sophomore is seeded first in the 120-pound weight class.

— Aaron Grigsby can’t remember his first wrestling tournament as a 4-year-old, but he sure remembers losing in the state tournament a year ago.

At A Glance

Fifth Annual Arkansas State Wrestling Championships

WHEN: Today-Saturday

WHERE: Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock

ADMISSION: $8, free for children 5 and under.

NOTABLE: The 6A/7A and 1A-5A tournaments will be held at the same time beginning at 1 p.m. today. ... Saturday’s session begins at 9 a.m. with finals slated to begin at 3:30 p.m. ... Area wrestlers who earned top seeds in their respective weight classes are Ryan Flynn (113), Aaron Grigsby (120) and Jeff Bizzle of Bentonville, Nick Smith (195) of Springdale Har-Ber; Logan Evans (138) of Rogers Heritage; Nick Mulcahy (152) of Rogers High; Austin Hubble (285) of Fayetteville.

The sophomore from Bentonville admitted he probably overlooked his opponent, and it cost him a chance at a state championship. Instead, he settled for third as a freshman.

But Grisby has his eye on winning it this season, and Bentonville coach Bill Desler said Grigsby has performed well to this point. He’s 45-4 this season and undefeated against instate competition.

“He’s wrestled tough against good kids,” Desler said. “We’ve been pleased. I think he’s a lot more committed this year.”

Grigsby took off the summer prior to his freshman year, but he’s put in the time over the past year to get better, Desler said. And that’s paying dividends.

“He wrestled all last summer, freestyle and greco, and he went to camp,” Desler said. “It’s all the work he’s been putting in.”

Grigsby said his state tournament loss to Sy Nhamnhouane of Van Buren drove him to work harder and make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“I definitely kind of underestimated him,” Grigsby said. “From what happened, it always kind of sat on top of me. It pushed me to go harder.”

He’s also been on a roll lately.

Grigsby hasn’t lost since Jan. 5 in the finals of a tournament in Inola, Okla., and he’s only been pinned once this season.

Grigsby avenged his loss to Nhamnhouane earlier this season, but ran into him again in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament last weekend. Despite falling behind early, Grigsby roared back and pinned Nhamnhouane.

He also won in the finals by pinfall.

Grigsby’s father, Steve, who also serves as an assistant coach for the Tigers’ wrestling team, acknowledged he wanted to wait to start his youngest son in wrestling. But that was tough when he was watching his brother wrestle all the time.

“We were at a tournament and his brother was weighing in, and this guy was trying to fill out some brackets,” Steve Grigsby said. “I let him talk me into weighing Aaron in and letting him wrestle.”

The only memory the younger Grigsby has of that day is a medal he won.

Now, he’s hoping all that work ends with a state championship this weekend.

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