School: Hatboro-Horsham
Wrestling
Favorite athlete: Pat Tillman
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Reaching and competing at Regionals my sophomore year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: “Our team’s 112 pounder headlocked and pinned our team’s heavyweight.”
Music on iPod: Rage and Techno
Future plans: Graduate from college and get a job doing something I love
Words to live by: “Do not pray for easier lives. Pray to be stronger men.” JFK
One goal before turning 30: Catch up to my brother in height
One thing people don’t know about me: “I fly airplanes.”
Nick Lynch is flying high this season.
And it’s not only because the Hatboro-Horsham senior has taken flying lessons for his senior project.
Lynch, it seems, is very quietly working his way toward a dazzling 30-win season, but he’s done it with very little fanfare.
“I think some people forgot about him locally,” Hatboro coach Glenn Kaiser said. “He hasn’t been ranked in the district at all, which is kind of good because he can sneak up on people.
“He’s just quietly winning. He has 25 wins and is probably looking at 30 wins this year, but he’s kind of been under the radar most of the season, and that’s nice.”Lynch, who wrestles at 160, boasts an impressive 25-5 record. Earlier this season, he finished third at the Wetzel Classic.
“All of his losses were to state-ranked kids in AAA and AA,” Kaiser said. “He’s just had a great season.”
Lynch is a four-year starter for the Hatters, and he has been a captain the past two years.
“His demeanor – he’s one of those silent leaders,” Kaiser said. “He leads by example.”
And he’s been quite an example to the younger wrestlers in the program.
A two-time member of the District One All-Academic team, Lynch was named to the second team All-State All-Academic squad last year. He has been eligible to join the National Honor Society but has deferred because of the time commitment.
“He’s a great student,” Kaiser said. “You can’t ask for a better kid than this kid.
“When you’re a good student like that and you’re flying planes as your senior project, you’re pretty serious business.”
The decision to go for his pilot’s license took some serious soul searching for Lynch, whose father has his license.
“I was talking with my dad about it, and he basically said, ‘You could always do pilot lessons,’” Lynch recalled. “At first I wasn’t really excited because whenever I go flying with my dad, my stomach isn’t really prepared for the flights, and I get sick.
“I finally said, ‘You know what – I’ve always wanted to do it.’ I’ve always been flying with my dad, and I’ve always wanted that opportunity to be able to fly on my own.”
An interesting thing happened – Lynch didn’t get sick.
“There’s something different between being a passenger and being a pilot,” he said. “I thought it was great. It’s fun, and I’m glad I did it.”
Lynch has completed the required 30 hours for his senior project, but – because of his time commitment to wrestling – he still needs additional flight time and must pass a written test before he will receive his solo license.
“It’s kind of hard to keep up with it with wrestling and school, but when that’s done and I have a little more time, I’ll definitely go for it,” he said. “Now I have a lot more appreciation for what my dad’s gone through to get all his licenses.
“Now we can talk about flying and be on the same page with things. It’s pretty neat.”
These days Lynch is focused on wrestling, and he is hoping to finish strong after a disappointing post-season last year.
“Right before sectionals, I cracked my head open at practice and needed to get five staples in my head,” he said of an injury during a drill at practice. “It was kind of a setback, but I still wanted to wrestle in the postseason and do my best.
“I had the whole apparatus and tried to cover it up with the headgear as much as possible, but it was kind of hard to do that.”
After qualifying for Regionals as a sophomore, Lynch only made it as far as districts.
“And I only made it to districts because a kid defaulted or got disqualified,” he said.
Lynch appears to be on course to make some noise in his final high school postseason.
“I’m really happy with my season right now,” he said. “The losses I do have are against quality kids.
“I’m taking those losses and figuring out things I need to work on, and they’re preparing me for the ultimate (postseason) when it counts the most. It’s my last chance, and I need to make up for last year.”
Lynch has been wrestling since he was in fifth grade.
“My dad, who was a football player, thought I was too small to play football, so he got me into wrestling,” he said.
Lynch admits that prior to wrestling he’d tried just about every sport that came down the pike – baseball, soccer, street hockey and even football for a brief time. He also began Tai Kwon Do classes.
“My brother was doing it, and he was real good at that,” Lynch said. “I just didn’t like it that much, so I tried wrestling instead at the Hatboro-Horsham Club.”
It wasn’t long before Lynch was competing in tournaments. He’d found his niche.
“The reason I liked it right away when I started was because the kids in the club I started with were all real nice kids,” Lynch said. “I don’t know what it is about wrestlers, but they’re people that are easy to get along with.
“You can relate, you’re doing the same thing with them, and you kind of grow closer.”
Lynch began to work on his sport in the offseason.
“He’s put in his time,” Kaiser said. “He worked out with the Gladiators, wrestling Greco and freestyle in tournaments. He’s focused strictly on wrestling his four years in high school.”
As a freshman, Lynch found himself wrestling up a weight class at 140. He was, in many ways, ‘taking one for the team.’
“We had a pretty tough senior my freshman year,” he said. “I was kind of doing the team a favor by sticking in that spot and wrestling when I could.
“I didn’t really have that successful of a season, but I think the experience was valuable.”
That’s not to say it didn’t require some getting used to - it did.
“I was undefeated the last season of middle school, and then I came to high school and wrestled varsity,” Lynch said. “It was a whole different level of wrestling. It was pretty intimidating.
“At some points, I had this thought that no one really expected me to win, so I just went out there and tried to do my best. I didn’t have that much pressure on me because I was a freshman, but still, it’s kind of nerveracking.”
Wrestling is part of Lynch’s past and present, and it will also be part of his future. He is being recruited by York, Wilkes and Elizabethtown.
“All three have my intended major, which is engineering, and they all have good programs,” Lynch said. “I definitely want to continue to wrestle in college.
“It’s kind of challenging to balance athletics and academics, but at the same time, if you don’t keep your grades you, you know you can’t compete, so it keeps you always thinking about that and staying on top of things a lot more.”
And staying on top of things is one thing Mitchell has done since he stepped onto the mats at Hatboro.
“He’s not a Matt Harkins,” Kaiser said of his headliner. “But he’s put together winning seasons the past three years and has just been solid for us.
“His family has been a great supporter of our program. You couldn’t ask for a better kid. He’s just a great kid.”
