Kim proving his mettle in Fargo
GA’s Kim earns All-American honors
Pain coursing through his body, torn tissue in his ribs making every move difficult, Germantown Academy rising sophomore Chris Kim came to a pivotal moment during his time at nationals.
“He was having a hard time breathing,” said Patriots coach Solomon Fleckman. “Going into the third match, there was a break, and (Chris) had time to (get things checked out and stretch). I asked him if he wanted to keep moving forward or if he thought he was done.
“I looked him in the eye, and he said ‘I wanna do this.’ He started reeling off wins, three or four in a row, and come that night, he was an All-American.”
Kim overcame injury, pain and a mountainous stack of competition to claim seventh place in his 106-pound weight class, earning him All-American honors in the 16-and-under Greco-Roman division at the U.S. Marine Corps Cadet Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota this past week.
“I thought it was a really good experience,” Kim said of the tournament, which is held annually at the FargoDome and is recognized as the largest and most prestigious high school wrestling tournament
in the US. “It was pretty awesome.”
After going 4-2 in Cadet Freestyle, Kim then set his sights on his Cadet GrecoRoman competition, and he began by pinning Clayton Hill out of Louisiana in just 27 seconds.
Then came the injury, in a rough-and-tumble match against Nebraska’s Jakason
Burks. Kim lost by tech fall, 11-1, but added to that, during the match he was brought down to the mat in an awkward position and soon after knew something was wrong.
“Something felt really weird. The trainer worked on it, saw that I had tornup tissue in my ribs,” Kim said. “It hurt the whole tournament. It was killing me. (One of my opponents) put the gut wrench on me and I couldn’t even move.
“It came down to the seventh-eighth
place match, and I was considering stopping there. But I just had this mentality of not giving up. After a tough year, battling injuries, starting in December, I figured this is my last tournament of the season, and I didnt wanna end on that note.”
Kim displayed a level of ability and perseverance that is in rare supply — anywhere.
After the loss to Burks, Kim won by tech fall, 100, over Gagik Davtian of California then notched an 8-3 decision over New York’s Jacob Chenier. Next was a 10-0 tech fall victory over Alex Villar of Illinois followed by a pin of Texas’ Jordan Strmiska in 1:47. Then, Kim reeled off his fifth straight win with a 3-0 decision over Joseph Thompson of Minnesota.
Following a 12-2 tech fall loss to Georgia’s Caden McCrary, Kim closed things out with a pin, winning by fall over Noah Gochberg of Texas in 1:48.
“The toughest part (of the tournament) is the endurance,” Fleckman said. “And for Chris, you’re talking about battling through 15 matches to get his medal. That’s 15 matches across six days.”
Said Kim: “I have to give credit Coach Fleckman. He pushed me mentally. I had a really long road to wrestle back to All-American. He said ‘it’s up to you grind and fight.’ That gave me that mentality of fighting and to keep on pushing. It feels really good.”
Kim shined on the big stage, for real. An indoor football stadium with wrestling mats from corner to corner, it’s a big environment with big names, the wrestlers getting a chance to rub elbows with college coaches and Olympians.
“It can be pretty intimidating,” Kim said. “You see all the cameras. But once I went through Greco, you start to realize they’re all just wrestlers just like you.”
Kim’s success was part of a strong showing by GA. Incoming freshman Christian Colman went 2-2 in Cadet Freestyle, 120 pounds, and team captain Brandon Seidman, a rising senior for the Pats, went 2-2 in Junior Freestyle, 113 pounds.