Junior Sam Elliott received his 100th varsity win for wrestling after winning the Husky Invitational meet Jan. 23.

“I think it kind of represents all the hard work I’ve gone through,” Elliott said, “Not a lot of people get 100 wins. It’s really exciting for me because it’s only my junior year and I’m only halfway through the season.”

Elliott said he was excited about receiving his letter around all the people that he knows in his own gym because it is where he started his high school wrestling career.

Wrestling coach Tim Serbousek said Elliott has an opportunity to be one of the only kids to receive this many wins or maybe gain the best record for wins, when he graduates.

“We’ve only had a handful of kids that won 100 matches in their career,” Serbousek said. “He’s reached it faster than anybody I’ve ever coached, so that’s been 30 years or so. He’s well on his weight. He’s already accomplished a lot.”

Starting in second grade, Elliot said he first tried out for wrestling because of an advertisement seen on a newspaper.  He then started wrestling for the Saint Thomas Aquinas Club as a club member, and gradually eased into his high school career as a varsity athlete. Elliott said he never played for a team until he came to BVNW.

“When I was younger, I pretty much just did everything for myself,” Elliot said. “Now I’m on the team, I think more about the team…It helped me, because I only do one sport. I only wrestle. It’s good to get team aspect while being able to do it for yourself.”

According to Serbousek, underclassmen look up to what Elliot has accomplished and try to mimic what he has done. Serbousek also said Elliott is a great teammate, and serves as a leader to a certain extent.

“He’s a good practice partner,” Serbousek said. “He thinks of the team before himself.”

Selected as a varsity wrestler in his freshman year, Elliott said he committed his time and energy to practices. He said he practices every day during the season. Even on weekends, he sometimes has to sacrifice his resting time for different tournaments.

“Sunday, I pretty much have a day off, and that’s the only day I get,” Elliott said. “So I pretty much work and work and work on it.”

In his freshman year, Elliott ranked four at state competition, won regionals and the EKL championship. He then became the state champion as a sophomore last year. However, Elliott said he feels stressed, because of the label of “the wrestler”.

“It’s hard for me sometimes, because I know people look at me as a wrestler, and sometimes I don’t want to be looked as that,” Elliot said. “There can sometimes be a negative connotation with that, as in it’s a head-butt sport…”

Elliot said high expectation from peers, coaches and people pushes him to move forward, but at the same time it puts some pressure on him to reflect himself, question himself, and also consider his future either as a normal college student or a college athlete. He said he will choose whatever is the best for him.

Although he has accomplished a lot, Elliot said not everything is easy for him. He said another main difficulty is to balance the academic and athletic life, especially during his junior year.

“When I’m not practicing, I just want to sleep or lay down, but I have to do my homework and get good grades to make sure that I can go to a good college,” Elliot said. “My goal is to go to a very good school, where I can get a great education and set myself up for the future. [Wrestling] is something that I enjoy doing, but in the end, it’s not going to really be in my future unless I coach or something. It’s hard to balance everything.”

Another factor that can easily impact him while his playing, according to Elliott, is the mental game. He said things do not always work out as planned. The right mentality is the key to win, and it is the reason that he works hard even during the hardest time.

“When I’m wrestling, sometimes I defeat myself,” Elliot said. “One of the biggest barriers that I have to overcome is saying I’m not good enough for fighting through everything that’s happening.”

Recently, Elliot said he encountered a lot of difficulties with his family because of his family’s health and his grandfather’s death. Along with this stress, he has to keep his weight down and deal with his injuries. However, he said he is trying to face obstacles positively and strongly.

Serbousek also said Elliott is successful beyond the identity of a wrestler. According to Serbousek, despite obstacles in his life, Elliot continues to work hard.

“There’s a lot of things going on in his life, and all of our lives, so that’s why we wrestle,” Serbousek said. “That’s why he competes to try to adjust loads of things, so later down the road, he’s going to be able to handle situations that he’s going to come upon.”

“Sam is a great example of a role model for all of our kids,” Serbousek said. “He’s high-level in academics field…He’s definitely a kid that I point to toward younger kids to say ‘Hey, you guys need to model his behaviors and actions’.”

Elliott not only plays in school, but also outside of school. According to Elliott, he normally competes in national events during off-season time. He said he has been competing with someof the top kids from Kansas from Team Kansas against best athletes from other states in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, and Georgia.

“I really did enjoy going down with Team Kansas,” Elliott said. “I met some really good people that are similar to me, because they’re good wrestlers, and they try to balance academic life. They understand all the stress that I go through… It made me see how the bubble we’re in isn’t just the only place in the world. There’s a whole entire world out there that I want to experience.”

Elliott said in the process of competing, his coaches were always close to him. He said all his coaches, especially Coach Serbousek, have been always supportive of him for both the wrestling side and other aspects of life.

“They all push me to be the best that I can be,” Elliot said. “They really helped me to get to where I am today. They’re the ones that push me to get state title last year, and they still push me…It’s really nice to know you have people that root for you; people that want you to do good.”

Elliot said he does not want to stop at 100 wins. He said his goal is to beat the record made by Zach Robertson, who was never defeated at BVNW and keeps the record of 153 wins. He said he will keep working hard for his goal.

“It’s a tough sport and it really shapes me as a person, because it’s taught me to be a hard worker, a team player, just everything,” Elliot said. “It’s taught me to push through the hard time.”