By Alex Frazier
Jamie Callender has one goal on his mind this year.
To that end, he quit football.
To that end, he wrestled all spring and summer.
And to that end, he lifted conscientiously.
“All the training I’ve been doing, I feel like I’m coming in in the best shape I’ve ever been,” said the Council Rock North senior. “Hopefully good things will come.”
After a disappointing sophomore year when he bowed out at the regional tournament with mono, Callender returned with a vengeance his junior year advancing all the way to the state finals before falling to Central Dauphin’s Tony Dallago by fall in 1:33.
Dallago’s gone this year, paving Callender’s way to a top podium finish, depending on where he wrestles. If he goes at 215, he will have to butt heads with defending champion Nate Gaffney of Connellsville. He may have a better chance at 189 where he is certified. But that decision won’t be made for a while.
Callender knows the road to gold won’t be all downhill.
In fact, there will be several early ascents he will have to overcome.
For the first time this year, Council Rock North will be going to the very tough Beast of the East and to follow that up, the Indians will wrestle in the PowerAde Tournament.
But all indications are that Callender will be more than prepared for the challenge this year.
He gave up football to focus on wrestling.
“I love football but I got a lot of injuries from football,” he said, “so I had enough headaches.”
Without football to worry about, he spent more of his time on the mat in the off-season.
Last spring he placed second at 189 at Junior Nationals, losing only to New Jersey’s Bill George, 5-4, in the championship finals.
Recently, he won the Super 32, a prestigious preseason tournament, in which he mauled Harrison Honeycut of Lake Norman, North Carolina, 9-2, in the 215-pound finals.
He also wrestled for Team PA and Team MAWA at the York Duals and the Disney Duals, respectively.
His only other loss of the off-season came in the Disney Duals when Pa. Class AA 189-pound champion Jon Fausey defeated him.
“Jamie’s a 190-200 pound kid that wrestles like he’s a 140-pounder,” said coach Tom Vivacqua. “He has great balance and quickness. He’s hard to score on. He’s hard to take down. He’s almost impossible to get a hold of he scrambles so well.”
As well as his wrestling went so did his weight training. He started with a trainer who put him on a different regimen than he would have been just bulking up for football.
“I got at it in the weight room a little bit,” said Callender. “I trained a lot different this year. It’s more like endurance lifts. It was not the normal lifting. It was a lot of pushups and pull-ups and you could run during your workout. It was like a wrestling match. Total body strength, I definitely got a lot stronger.”
Vivacqua also noticed this.
“He’s looking even better (than last year),” said Vivacqua. “He’s gotten so much stronger, he’s matured and he has confidence now. I’m excited for him.”
The Rock North coach will also be depending on Callender to set the tone in the wrestling room.
As of this writing, captains had not been chosen, but Callender would seem a likely choice.
“He’s a tremendous leader,” said Vivacqua. “He’s accepted that role this year and he hasn’t disappointed. From the first day of practice he’s done a great job.”
“I try to lead by example,” said Callender, “just work hard and hopefully everyone works hard too.”
Callender is still undecided about college. He pretty much has narrowed his choice to North Carolina and Drexel. His brother Jack is the starter at 197 at Drexel.
“I kind of want to go there too, but Carolina is pretty cool,” said Callender, “but it’s pretty far. I don’t know.”
If he goes to Drexel he will major in business engineering, otherwise just business.
But before he gets too far ahead of himself, he needs to focus on this season.
“My goal this year is to be a state champ, but you have to take things one step at a time,” he said. “I’m just going to go out and wrestle. I have some pretty tough tournaments before states. I have to think about them first.”
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