If you want to be a 100-win wrestler, it starts on day one of your freshman year.
With the average public school wrestler seeing 33 matches during the regular season, a 100-win wrestler needs to win 25 of those matches a season, winning 75 percent of the time in order to reach his career milestone. So to say that a wrestler needs to hit the ground running his freshman year is an understatement.
But that is exactly what Mt. Hebron’s Drew Vickers has done, tackling 29 wins his freshman year and cruising to his 100th career win early in his senior season.
“Getting the 100th win definitely feels good. You don’t even realize because it come up on you so fast and the team has really helped me,” Vickers said, claiming the win at the District V Duals on Saturday. “The guys push me in practice, and my coach has been a big part.
“One-hundred wins is a big milestone and it is what a lot of wrestlers aren’t fortunate enough to attain. It just feels good to get the 100th win right now in this tournament.”
Vickers’s 100th win came in the clutch, helping his Viking teammates win a criteria-victory over the Chesapeake Cougars in the weekend tournament.
“Drew has been great for our team. From freshman year till now he has been huge,” Mt. Hebron coach Todd DeCrispino said. “He just stepped in right from the first match winning 29 matches as a freshman.
“He is a point-winner for our team and has been a team captain for two years, so he is definitely a team leader. He has the on-the-mat presence, the on-the-mat respect, and the team is always behind he 100 percent. He has always led by example.”
The 100-win career has seen highs and lows. Vickers has been working hard on the mat and undoubtedly earned the respect of his competitors, but one thing Vickers has not been able to do is take top honors in a post-season tournament.
“Last year it was tough because there were two kids in county that were in the region,” Vickers said of his third-place finish in Howard County. “This year I have gotten better and I don’t have as much competition in the county besides Nathan Kraisser, who is just the best kid in Maryland, so I am just going to have to wrestle tough.”
Vickers has finished third in the county in his sophomore and junior year, a step above his fourth-place finish in his freshman year, and has visited the state tournament once.
Now that the 100th win is under his belt, Vickers’s next goal is to be a state place-winner in this year’s MPSSAA State Tournament, which could bring with it the title of Mt. Hebron’s highest winning wrestler (121 wins).
“There is one other goal other than placing in states, which is my ultimate goal,” Vickers admitted. “The record at Mt. Hebron for most wins is 121. That would be kind of cool to surpass that if I get the opportunity. It is going to come down to heart and how bad I want it.”
“He is a great kid and I couldn’t ask for a better wrestler,” DeCrispino said. “He is a model student, a model athlete and just a good hearted person, and when you see someone like that, you can only wish them success.”
