It's been a year, but Lane Parrish is still angry.
Parrish, a sophomore wrestler at Springdale Har-Ber, has spent a year getting over his runner-up finish in the 126-pound division of the 2020 6A state wrestling tournament.
"Shouldn't have lost that," said Parrish of his loss by decision to Walker Fox of Bentonville High. "Probably (had I) just trained a little bit harder I would have had it. ... it wasn't that far away."
Parrish said he was too slow against Fox.
"I think I was more aggressive than him. I just wasn't good enough," he said.
But it's another year and Parrish is getting another shot.
This time, he goes to the mat in the 132-pound division.
Parrish enters Thursday's 6A state tournament in Little Rock after he claimed the 6A-West title in the 132-pound division on Jan. 23. His record so far this year is 30-3.
"Lane is pretty level-headed," said Wildcats wrestling coach Nika West. "He goes out and does his thing."
West has been observing Parrish's career since he was in youth wrestling.
"He understands the sport," West said. "Understands where he needs to be on the mat. He reminds me of a young man I had here several years ago by the name of Kimble Jennings. Kimble was a three-time state champion for us. They were pretty similar; their body styles are pretty similar. Lane is slightly heavier than Kimball was.
"But one thing that I like about Lane is he's very coachable. He's coachable on the mat, he's coachable on the side, and he listens, he takes critique very well."
The best advice Parrish has received from his coach?
"You can't stop in anything you do," Parrish said. "Like you can't just give up halfway, you can't do anything half-heartedly. And not just in wrestling, in anything."
It's not bad advice, especially when you're a two-sport athlete and the other sport is football.
Outside of wrestling, Parrish can be found playing defense for Har-Ber's football team. While he's wrestled since he was 6, he was coaxed into football as early as age 4 by his father.
"I'm just kind of like a physical person," Parrish said. "And that's where I can find where I can work. Do what I want to do. ... hitting someone always helps me when I'm stressed out sometimes."
Even when he wins, like at the 6A-West tournament, he's learned not to get hyped on himself.
"Because it's not state," Parrish said. "You can't make it bigger. It gets in the way of the big one."
Parrish said in his youth wrestling days, he would always be so happy when he won, that he'd get distracted from practice. And then he'd end up losing the next one and wonder why.
Since Jan. 23, his goal has been to prevent a repeat of his state final.
"For my parents, so they can be happy about it and I will too," he said. "But then I will just have to think about next year."
It just so happens that Parrish is a big Sylvester Stallone fan, including all of the Rocky movies.
What's the appeal?
"Just the fight they have in them, which usually leads to triumph, to victory," he said. "But they have to go through the grit to do it."
Does Parrish feel like Rocky Balboa after the first film, when he lost Apollo Creed in the championship match?
"Now that I think about it ... a little bit," Parrish admits.
Time will tell if Parrish's sequel hits the same high note.
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At a glance
Arkansas High School
State Boys Wrestling
Championships
WHERE At Jack Stephens Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
WHEN Class 1A-4A and 5A begins at 9:30 a.m. today … Class 6A opening rounds are slated to begin at 5 p.m.
NOTABLE Bentonville High is looking to win its fifth consecutive team title in the largest classification and has top-seeded wrestlers in six of the 14 weight classes. … Greenwood, which has three top-seeded wrestlers, will try for back-to-back titles in Class 5A. … Shiloh Christian’s Gavin Goddard is vying for his third consecutive state title along with Bentonville West’s Charles Easterling and Bentonville’s Tristan Stafford. … Bentonville’s Jake Adams will be shooting for his fourth straight title.