Being an accomplished wrester and only entering his sophomore year at John Carroll, the Patriots’ George Weber has the eyes of the entire wrestling community upon him in the 2010-2011 season.
Just a year ago, he was an MIAA champion, a state-placer and National Preps All-American, and this year ha s a chance to help lead the Pats to an MIAA team title.
“It holds you to a hire standard, so I have to set an example for the guys and prepare for when the seniors leave,” Weber said of his quickly found high school success. “It’s an honor and something I want to take control of. I can lead people in the right direction and have the room be at the pace we need it to be.
In John Carroll’s best season, the Pats were a 22-2 dual meet team and crowned conference champs in now senior Mathew Miller, sophomores Weber and Scott Strapelli, and graduate Stephen St. Clair, with Miller and Strappelli winning state titles.
Returning for another shot at big post-seasons, Strapelli and National Prep All-Americans Miller and Weber are the dominant trio of the John Carroll lineup, but the consistency throughout the rest of the team is what should make for another MIAA dominating year.
Weber’s performance in the MIAA finals was nothing short of dominant, pinning his opponent in just 48 seconds, and his third-place finish in the MIS could have been a championship finals appearance if not for now University of Maryland wrester Jenkins Monzey.
“It lets me know that I can compete high at the national level and it made me work harder over the summer,” Weber said of his sixth-place finish at last year’s National Preps. “Now the goal is to win at states and National Preps.”
In his off-season work, Weber can be found traveling up and down the East Coast and across the country in search of the nation’s top talent, and says his time during those months is for practice and improvement.
“There isn’t really a lot of pressure in the off-season, it just gives me and idea of where I am with other wrestlers and what I need to work on,” Weber explained. “I was on a great team for Cary Kolat, an Olympian and three-time NCAA chmap, so he was a lot of help. And all of the partners in [the practice room] are now state champs and national qualifiers, so the skill to practice with was great.”
Going 50-8 in his freshman year, Weber has a chance to get his 100th win this year, which he says would be a pretty big achievement for him, and help on his way to an MIS and National Prep title.
“It would be big and a pretty good achievement, but I want to win states and win National Preps with at least a top four placement at Beast of the East,” Weber said, adding to his wish-list that he wanted to be ranked nationally in the top 15 for his weightclass.
And in order to be ranked nationally, he has to prove to everyone that he deserves it, so wrestling in the open tournaments and National Preps was one of Weber’s beigest reasons to take to John Carroll.
“It is a good experience because you get to compete against the best kids. That’s why I chose to come to John Carroll, because public schools don’t go to those national tournaments.”
Weber would have attended Bel Air High School with the Harford County Schools districting.
And both Weber and John Carroll have seen the improvement with the wrestler-school relationship, with Weber pushing his team in practice and the wrestling partners continuing to keep him at his highest level.
“I try to go as hard a s possible in practice so that the hard work is already done by the time I get to the match,” Weber said. “I try to tire myself out in practice, and, even when I am with inexperienced wrestlers, I just have to work on things to keep me at my best.
“We just have to work harder in practice, focus on all the little things like technique, getting stronger and faster. Then we can do well this season.”
