Matt Mejia is a man of few words but many accomplishments.
Army recruiters from West Point, Md., as well as wrestling scouts from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, are talking to Mejia after the Camp Verde High School senior finished second among the Best of the Best at 138 pounds Oct. 4 in the Journeymen Classic.
“West Point … said they went over there just to watch him,” said CVHS assistant wrestling coach Mario Chagolla Sr., who saw Mejia, when he was not competing in California, go undefeated at Weekend Wars this summer. “He’s had quite a few offers from different colleges for academics — I know he’s a straight-A student — but the one that impressed him the most was West Point.”
Not from what Mejia said Sunday, Oct. 11.
“I would like to go into the Navy because I’d have more opportunity to fly,” Mejia said. “I would like to be a pilot.”
According to both Chagolla and Mejia, he was the first Arizona high school wrestler to be invited to participate in the Schenectady, N.Y., tournament.
“I wrestled five guys from back East — Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey —some state champions,” Mejia said. “As in my competition, it’s the toughest tournament I’ve ever been to.”
At least until the Super 32 preseason qualifier in Greensboro, N.C., beginning Saturday, Oct. 31. By then, Mejia expects to be nationally ranked.
“It feels good to be representing Arizona on a bigger stage,” Mejia said. “My coach who got me in these bigger tournaments said she was going to make sure I would get nationally ranked.”
That coach is Carolyn Wester, director of Wrestling Prep in San Jose, Calif., where Mejia trained in July and August.
Mejia was nominated for the Journeymen Classic by Steve Tirapelle, the 34th-year Clovis, Calif., High School head wrestling coach, after Mejia defeated his star wrestler two out of three matches at Wester’s facility.
Mejia defeated four of his opponents Oct. 4, including one by pin, to advance out of pool play into the Best of the Best championship match.
“I felt I did really well,” he said. “It gave me a perspective of where I am in the nation — pretty high.”
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Oct. 14, issue of the Camp Verde Journal.
