PHS star eyes OSU

PALMER - One of the best wrestlers in Alaska history just joined the one of the best teams in national history.

Palmer senior Tony D'Amico, a three-time state champ and four-time Region III champion, signed a scholarship to wrestle at Oklahoma State University last week, bringing a top Alaskan star to a top national power.

The OSU Cowboys have won more NCAA national championships than any other school, and the prestige attracted D'Amico instantly.

"Their coaching is out of this world, and the wrestlers in the [wrestling] room are incredible," D'Amico said. "Everything was right about Oklahoma State."

The head coach, John Smith, is a two-time Olympic champion, and his coaching staff also boasts lofty credentials, including numerous Olympic, international and NCAA championships. In addition to the coaching, D'Amico said the view on wrestling in general by the community was another factor in his decision.

"It is such a wrestling-oriented campus. Right now they are building a new weight room and adding 20,000 seats to their arena for wrestling," D'Amico said. "It was more of a small-town atmosphere, but wrestling is very important to them."

D'Amico's coach at Palmer, Johnny Johnson, said he has officiated matches in Oklahoma before, and he knows exactly what D'Amico is in for.

"They pack 30,000 fans into an arena, and every single one of them knows exactly what is going on on the mat," Johnson said. "It's nothing for them to draw a couple thousand people to just watch the wrestle-offs during practices."

Recently, D'Amico and teammate James Wade, who is headed to Indiana on a wrestling scholarship, were named to the Wrestling USA Magazine's All-America squad, a national award honoring the very best in the sport.

It is the latest on a long list of accomplishments for D'Amico. As a freshman, he took third in the state in the 103-pound weight class, and it proved to be the only tournament in his high school career he did not win during Alaska competition.

As a sophomore, D'Amico moved up to 130 pounds, won the Region III title for the second time and then won his first state championship on top of being named the state's most outstanding wrestler.

As an encore, he did not lose a single match in the state since the end of his sophomore year, producing a two-year winning streak that included two more regional titles and two state titles in the 145- and 152-pound classes.

That kind of dominance is about to change, he said.

"In high school, I really never had any close matches where I was holding on to a one-point lead and trying to win," D'Amico said. "At OSU, I know that I'm going to be pushed constantly, because it is so competitive. It's a tough [wrestling] room."

D'Amico's scholarship covers basically all of his expenses except room and board. He is also a good student, and that helped him obtain a bigger scholarship. Johnson said grades are something NCAA coaches look at closely.

"First off, they want to know if a guy can wrestle," Johnson said. "But then, the next thing they ask about is grades. That's what set Tony apart, because they knew he is a great student and there won't be any eligibility problems."

While D'Amico is excited to join his new team, he is probably going to wait a year before he wrestles in a meet.

"I'd like to redshirt my first year," he said. "But I'm keeping my options open and seeing what the coaches want me to do."