BENTONVILLE — Aaron Grigsby admits it may still take a little more time before he finally realizes the magnitude of his latest accomplishment.
The junior from Bentonville did something no other wrestler in Arkansas has ever done — earn a medal and achieve All-American status in Greco-Roman wrestling. Grigsby did so earlier this month when he finished eighth while competing in the 126-pound cadet class during the ASICS/Vaughan Junior & Cadet National Championships in Fargo, N.D.
“It just hasn’t hit me yet,” Grigsby said Friday afternoon. “I wake up every day and think ‘Wow. I really placed at Fargo.’
“I never thought I could do it. There’s a lot of other guys out there that could have done it, and I never thought I could reach that level and place there.”
The 16-year-old Grigsby had one simple goal in mind when he traveled to Fargo: win more than two matches, which was the number he won last year. He accomplished that task in the first day of action when he won three of his four matches, then won two out of the next three matches to wrap up pool play.
He also did his work in quick fashion. Every match Grigsby won never made it to the end of the first period as he scored a pin or a technical fall — what occurs when one wrestler scored a determined amount of points against his opponent.
“He dominated every match that he won,” said Steve Grigsby, Aaron’s father and Greco-Roman wrestling coach. “It looked a little scary at first when he lost his first match, but he just kept manning up. He kept looking better in each match than he did the match before.”
The 126-pound cadet class consisted of 73 participants throughout the country who had just completed their freshman or sophomore years in high school. The wrestlers were split into two pools and competed in a double-elimination style of bracket, mainly against people they had never seen before, until four remained in each pool.
Grigsby didn’t suffer his second loss until the seventh and final match of pool play against Jaden Enriquez of California, who finished third overall. Grigsby’s earlier victories proved productive. His pin and technical falls helped him earn enough points to beat out a wrestler from Kansas whose matches went the distance and had to be decided by points.
It moved Grigsby into the seventh-place match, where he lost to Marty Margolis of Maryland.
“My tie-ups were definitely working to my advantage.” Grigsby said. “They would slow kids down, then I would work what I needed to around them. And once I reached my first goal, I set my mind on reaching the second day, then placing.
“It’s nerve-wrecking at first because you’ll have kids from Pennsylvania, and you know they’re going to get Division I scholarships. You try to take what you’ve done here, build on it and try to take as much momentum as you can.”
All this took place despite a late change in his weight class. Aaron’s original plans were to compete in the 120-pound class — the same weight class he won a state title in during the high school season.
Those plans changed when Aaron had problems keeping his weight down, and a recent growth spurt didn’t help his cause. While he was wrestling with bigger boys in the circle, he was dealing with his nerves as well.
“The hardest time we had with him was keeping him hydrated,” Steve Grigsby said. “I didn’t want him sucking weight and not eating while he was up there. We wanted him to be healthy.
“He started getting a nervous stomach when he started winning some of those matches. We spent 20 minutes or more in between matches with him at trash can, throwing up. He was having a hard time keeping anything on his stomach, and we were forcing him to eat some crackers or keep some ginger ale in him.”
The All-American status allows the younger Grigsby to participate at the U.S. Olympic Training Centers. He will be able to attend camps held there and work with other All-American wrestlers, as well as current and future Olympic wrestlers.