First trip to Fargo lands national title for South Park’s Fischer
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Christy Fischer could not attend the finals of the USA Wrestling Junior National Freestyle Tournament July 16 at the Fargodome on the campus of North Dakota State University.
But that didn’t stop Fischer from watching her son Joey wrestle in the 100pound final. In fact, she also got to see him wrestle in the semifinals.
“My husband Matthew attends most of Joey’s tournaments,” Christy Fischer said. “It’s too expensive to have both of us travel. Besides, I think Joey wrestles better when I’m not there.”
Joey Fischer, who recently completed his freshman year at South Park High School, was making his first trip to Fargo. He could have entered the Cadet Division, but instead moved up to the Junior Division.
“The Pennsylvania Team coaches asked me to wrestle in the Junior National Duals, which were held a few weeks earlier than the individual championships,” said Fischer, who posted a 16-0 record in his trip to Tulsa, Okla. “I competed in both freestyle and GrecoRoman and had an 8-0 record in each style.”
After such an impressive performance at the Junior National Duals, Fischer was again asked to compete at 100 pounds in the Junior Nationals.
“I could have wrestled both styles, but my coaches felt it would be better if I concentrated on freestyle, so I did not enter the GrecoRoman tournament,” Fischer said.
Fisher was one of 14 entries in the 100-pound weight class. He received a bye in the first round, then posted a 5-0 win against Oklahoma’s Eli Griffin in the quarterfinals. He advanced to the title match with an 8-1 victory against Illinois’ Guillermo Juarez in the semifinals.
“We were able to watch the semifinals and finals on Flowrestling.com,” said Christy Fischer, referring to a web site that features video and results from wrestling tournaments held all over the country. “We actually had watch parties for both.”
A group of family and friends, approximately 25 people, gathered to watch both matches, one on July 15 and the other on July 16.
“The parents of Joey’s best friend and [South Park] teammate, Craig Lingren, hosted both watch parties. It was such a thrill to watch my son win a national title.”
Fischer capped his national title with a 10-0 domination of Illinois’ Ronan Schuelke in the title match. He needed only 1:04 to complete the technical fall.
“Joey is the first wrestler in South Park history to win a national title,” Christy Fischer said. “The community support was fantastic. When Joey returned from Fargo, he was escorted down Corrigan Drive by a fire truck.”
Fischer moved up to No. 13 on Flowrestling.com’s rankings, at 106 pounds, after his performanceat Fargo.
“Winning a Junior National title is obviously the biggest accomplishment of my career,” Fischer said. “But I still have many more goals to reach.”
Fischer’s goal for the upcoming season is to win all four postseason tournaments. And reaching that goal is very possible, since he is returning in the 106pound weight class.
“I want to win sections, WPIAL, region and state titles,” said Fischer, who plans to return to the 106-pound weight class. “When you consider that many of the wrestlers who competed with me at 106 are moving up to 113, and that I have been working even harder, I really think I canreach my goal.”
Fischer posted a 35-8 record in his South Park debut. He placed second in the WPIAL and Southwest Region tournaments, losing in both title matches to Quaker Valley’s Conner Redinger. However, his season ended on a sour note after a 1-2 performance at the PIAA Class 2A tournament.
“I was happy with my performance as a freshman, but it also showed me that I have some things to work on,” said Fischer, who is attending the Young Guns wrestling camp this week.
“Wrestling over the summer has allowed me to work on those areas of weakness. I will be ready for Hershey this year. I think it will be hard for anybody to stop me this year.”