By Cameron Deckman
Recruitment.
It is the target of many high school athletes. Some are searching for the next level in their event.
According to the NCSA college recruiting service, out of 100 student athletes, only six are likely to make it to the collegiate level. Just two of those will become NCAA Division 1 athletes.
For two Delta High School wrestlers, they would find that recruitment tends to differ from person to person.
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Jensen Boyd is a junior at Delta. Ever since he was young, he has always wanted to be a top athlete in wrestling.
“I’ve dreamed of doing it since I was a little kid,” Boyd said. “I always went to the state tournament when I was little, and I just thought it was such a cool experience watching all the kids win.”
Starting at two years old, Boyd began practicing on the mat; he was putting in the work day in and day out.
Once he got to high school, he was a top athlete in the state of Indiana. He was expected to be in contention to win state at the 106-pound weight class, and it seemed like all of those years of training were finally paying off.
However, his season did not turn out the way he planned it to be. He made it to state, and dominated all year long, but lost two matches in the final four. He would end up getting 4th place at state as a freshman.
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On the other side, senior Brayden Swain started getting serious about wrestling in middle school. He had done it before, but it really stuck with him that time.
Entering a strong high school wrestling program, Swain would have to work his way through an older, talented team.
However, a mix of poor mentality and leadership almost put an end to Swain’s early career.
“We were a top 5 team, but our team altogether, none of us got along,” Swain said. “Everybody just had a bad mentality. I thought about quitting the sport a ton of times that year.”
Even in the face of adversity, Swain pushed forward.
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In Boyd’s sophomore year, he was again supposed to be the top guy in the state.
With the possibility of getting recruited in the back of his mind, he was dead set on turning out a great season to impress college coaches.
This was the case until just a couple days before Christmas at the Carnahan Invitational in Crown Point, Ind.
Boyd was wrestling with another athlete when he was picked up from the ground. He was about to get slammed onto the mat, and instinctively put his left arm out to soften his fall.
With both feet in the air, he came crashing down onto his arm. The impact dislocated his left elbow and broke his arm.
Just like that, his season was over. He thought that it was time to sit back and relax.
However, a message from George Mason University on the first day of recruitment changed everything.
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Meanwhile, Swain was in the process of searching for a spot at the next level.
Email after email got sent out. Some with responses, some without.
His junior year saw an increase in intensity from Swain. More driven to compete, Swain no longer wanted to quit.
He made a push toward working harder. He wanted to wrestle in college; he wanted to do it so badly.
That’s when the head coach of Marian University Ancilla sent him a message. It was an offer of a lifetime.
“The coach who had signed me really just told me a bunch of stuff that I wanted to hear, and told me that I’d be going there for extremely, extremely cheap,” Swain said.
Swain committed to Marian Ancilla right before his senior season.
Finally, the weight of trying to get recruited was off his shoulders.
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For Boyd, the messages came flooding in from D1 coaches.
The Citadel, Brown University, Indiana University and Stanford University all reached out.
Prior to his junior season, Boyd was able to go on a few visits to these places. Visit after visit, he began to find things about recruitment that surprised him.
“When you think about college coaches, you think about super stern guys that are at the top of the pyramid, but really, they’re just guys that, you know, they’re likable,” Boyd said.
Boyd discovered that these coaches aren’t just here to recruit you. They are here to also build relationships and get to know you on a more personal level.
“At the end of the day, colleges don’t want you just for how good you are at your sport or whatever, they want you as a person, too,” Boyd said.
With his junior season on the way, he was looking to show these coaches that recruiting him was not a mistake.
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In Swain’s final year in high school, he thought he could just focus on wrestling. He thought that his story of recruitment was over.
However, his season would take him down a different path. One that he never expected.
He started off his year 21-5 and was ranked for his weight class in the state.
He believed that he could go to semi-state, and he could potentially make a run to the state tournament.
Then he received the news that the head coach at Marian Ancilla was quitting his job.
The uncertainty began to creep in.
When the school hired a new coach, all of those offers the previous coach gave him were off the table.
Swain decommitted from Marian Ancilla just a couple days later.
“If it’s too good to be true, or it seems too good to be true, then it [most likely] is,” Swain said.
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With the season just hitting the midway point, both boys were looking to impress potential coaches. They were both looking to finish their season strong.
However, there are two sides of the mat to this story, and one match would put these two wrestlers on completely different paths.
Just a few days after decommitting, Swain was wrestling at the team state duals at Brownsburg High School. He was in a match against a wrestler from Owen Valley High School.
During his match, he was picked up and slammed back onto the mat. He landed on his neck. Swain got up quickly, but something was off.
Boyd, who was watching from the side, initially thought Swain was okay.
“Everybody was like, ‘Oh, crap,’ but then he got up real quick,” Boyd said. “I thought he was fine because he looked fine.”
The trainer walked over to Swain and began examining him. He passed some of the initial checkpoints of a concussion, but once he started talking, something was very wrong.
He forfeited the match. He ran out to the hallway and began to cry. Not because he was sad, but because he was scared; scared of the injury he felt.
He began to go numb. It started in his fingers and spread throughout his whole body.
“[It was] like when you have a falling asleep foot,” Swain described it. “It’s kind of like the feeling I got all over [my body].”
His vision went blurry, and he was rushed to a hospital emergency room.
He suffered a cervical strain, torn ligaments in his neck and a concussion. He was likely out for the rest of the season.
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Following the 6th place finish at team state, Boyd was determined to turn things around, and so was the rest of the team.
The team won the county tournament and the sectional championship.
At regionals, Boyd and several other wrestlers moved on to the semi-state.
Around this time Swain received an email from his doctor. He was cleared to wrestle before sectionals. However, the doctors had failed to tell him.
He missed wrestling in the postseason, when he was clear to participate.
He could do nothing but sit back, rehab and message coaches.
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After regionals, Delta had five wrestlers still in the postseason; Jensen Boyd, Sam Mosier, Karson Kahalekomo, Reed Wicker and Kaid Jackson.
While they were preparing for semi-state, Swain was finally cleared to practice with his team.
All five wrestlers won, going 20-0 in their matches that Saturday and giving them the semi-state championship.
They all will head into the state championship on Friday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 21 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
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For both Boyd and Swain, they have learned that there will be setbacks in their goals. However, the key to getting through those setbacks is to focus on the good instead of the bad.
“I think throughout the whole injury process, I was just really focusing on having a good mindset about the whole thing,” Swain said.
Boyd connected with Swain because of the injury he had.
“Keep trying to get better, and especially for his injury, stay positive, because that’s the hardest thing when you’re injured is you can’t wrestle anymore,” Boyd advises.
Although his season ended prematurely, Swain said he does not regret it. He knew he was prepared for the postseason, and he is just happy with that.
He hopes to go to Indian Hills Community College in Iowa and continue wrestling in the future.
For Boyd, the focus is a little bit more on the now.
With state coming up, he is ranked second in Indiana for the 132-pound weight class. He hopes to take over the number one spot, and then go back-to-back next season.
This is what he believes will put him a little more on the recruiting map.
