Undefeated Pulaski Academy freshman has lofty goals

It should be no surprise that first-time feats are fairly common occurrences at the Arkansas state high school wrestling tournament.

Arkansas has crowned two four-time state champions -- Central's Tyler Mann and Cabot's Tyler Kurz -- and there have been a handful of undefeated wrestlers since the Arkansas Activities Association sanctioned the sport in 2008.

What Arkansas hasn't had yet is a four-time undefeated state champion. Mann, now in a redshirt season at Oklahoma State, came the closest when he wrapped up his career last year at 111-1.

Pulaski Academy's Michael Crockett has a long way to go, but he can take step No. 1 toward being an undefeated four-time champion this weekend at the seventh Arkansas state high school wrestling tournament that begins at 10 a.m. today at the Jack Stephens Center.

Crockett, a freshman, is not only the No. 1 seed at 126 pounds in Class 1A-5A, but he carries a 48-0 record in a season that has included victories over state champions from Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee.

"It doesn't matter who he is going to get across from, he's just determined he's going to beat them," Pulaski Academy Coach Bruce Dickey said.

Crockett, a cousin of Mann's, said competing in tournaments through the Arkansas Wrestling Academy for the past six years had him prepared for success at the high-school level. And while becoming a four-time state champion has always been his goal, he tries not to let his status as one of the state's seven undefeated wrestlers add any unneeded pressure.

"I just want to go out there and wrestle to dominate, that's what my plan is," Crockett said. "I just want to take it one match at a time."

Crockett doesn't have to look far for advice on how to deal with the pressure of being undefeated and winning consecutive state titles.

One of Crockett's mentors for the past six years at the Arkansas Wrestling Academy, Pat Smith, was the first college freshman to be a No. 1 seed at the national tournament, and then he became the first wrestler to win four national championships.

"He said, 'You can't talk to me about being nervous about being undefeated,'" Crockett said. "He was just telling me not to think about it, just wrestle."

Smith said he wants to help Crockett handle any pressure that goes along with his pursuit of his goals, but he doesn't want to create unnecessary stress by discussing it too much.

"I've been there, I've lived it," Smith said. "But, I don't want to dwell on it. As long as I see that he's confident and looks like he's got it in check, then leave him alone and cut him loose."

That's worked pretty well for Crockett and a handful of young Pulaski Academy wrestlers so far.

The Bruins enter the Class 1A-5A tournament looking for their first team title powered by four No 1 seeds, three of whom are freshmen: Crockett, Layne Hatcher at 170 pounds and Jimmy Noel at 152 pounds. Defending state champion Nick Noel, the No. 1 seed at 138, is a junior.

Pulaski Academy has more No. 1 seeds than any other team in its class-- Central Arkansas Christian has three, while Little Rock Christian and Berryville each have two -- giving wrestlers confidence that a first state championship is possible.

"We have four guys that should win it," Hatcher said. "We need three guys to place and we have three guys that can place, depending on how good they wrestle."

Dickey cites Pulaski Academy's relative lack of depth as a reason for being a bit more cautious. The Bruins have no other wrestlers seeded in the top six other than the four No. 1s and Bradley Switzer at No. 5.

Maumelle crowned nine champions in setting a state record for team points in last year's Class 1A-5A tournament, but Dickey said CAC, Greenbrier and Little Rock Christian as the top contenders this weekend.

"I wouldn't say we can't win it," Dickey said. "But you'd have to have four state champions and your kids would have to pin their way all the way through and have a couple of others sneak in and place."

Dickey said he doesn't question the ability of his top four wrestlers, whom he said are "better than anybody else's four best kids in the entire state."

"I can emphatically state that they're good enough to wrestle in college right now," said Dickey, a former NCAA Division III wrestling coach in Michigan. "I think they'll be Division I wrestlers if they want to. But being a former college coach myself, I know without a doubt that Nick and Jimmy and Layne and Crockett can all wrestle in college right now, somewhere."

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Sports on 02/20/2015