This George Jenkins wrestler grabbed All-American status at the summer's biggest meet

When preparation is at optimal level, there isn’t any reason one shouldn’t be confident. And that’s exactly what happened for George Jenkins wrestler Roderick Brown in the USA Wrestling’s Junior National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota in late July.

Brown manifested his confidence on one of the bigger wrestling stages in the country and earned All-American status, placing fifth thanks to a 5-3 record – a feat he had never done before as just last year at the junior nationals he advanced to the blood round. He is also just the third All-American wrestler in George Jenkins history but the first boy to do so. Only Haylee Childs, a two-time fifth place finisher and Katie Germain, a champion, were dubbed All-Americans thanks to their finishes.

Brown said his perceived shortcoming in 2023 was an inspiration to his accomplishment in 2024, though, he did feel a bit down on himself because of the result.

“It feels better. It definitely made a difference because it shows that I’ve been working hard enough to get that spot, and it’s just that I’ve been working my butt off, really,” Brown said.

While in Brown’s mind he needed to work significantly more because he felt he could have done better in last year’s junior nationals, George Jenkins head wrestling coach Gavin Osborn said Brown experienced enough positives from last year’s tournament to instill the confidence he needed through Brown’s senior season ahead of the 2024 junior nationals.

Last year he wrestled freestyle at 106 pounds and freestyle at 113, but he would go on to lose a tough match in the blood round. Following the loss, Brown was a bit down on himself because the Greco national champ was an opponent that Brown pinned in freestyle just a few days earlier.

After the result, it was Osborn who suggested to cut the weight and compete in both categories at 106 in hopes of taking care of unfinished business.

“Wrestling well in both freestyle and Greco last year gave him a great deal of confidence going into his senior season,” Osborn said. “Although the Folkstyle season ended short of the championship goal, a fifth-place finish in Kissimmee was still something to be proud of.”

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And Brown remembered a valuable lesson as his high school season went on.

“Last year taught me that I shouldn’t worry about it too much because one, my bracket is small, so it’s not really a big thing where I’m like, ‘Oh, I have to get ready to wrestle.’ It takes us (106 wrestlers) a good time to at that type of tournament, so I really don’t have to panic that much. I calm myself down more,” Brown said.”

The then-senior in his last high school season would go on to rack up a first-place finish in county, a second-place finish in regionals, a first-place finish in district and a fifth-place finish in state.

With sole focus on Greco thanks to the advice of the George Jenkins coaching staff, training ahead of these stiff battles ahead of the 2024 junior nationals comprised upper body work, including a Par terre move – a defensive move preached to the entire George Jenkins High School wrestling program used against a consecutive takedown -- that Osborn and coaches thought he was already good at.

Coaches assisted in this training with Brown nearly every day. And with the Greco wrestler committing in April to Cloud Community College in Kansas – a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference school – there was more of a linear focus towards his goal.

And in the end, he captured his goal of becoming an All-American thanks to his seminal performance at the junior nationals.

“Our staff really wanted him to realize that he has the skills and is a tremendous wrestler to get him past his own self-doubts,” Osborn said. “Staying true to the process and being consistent across the board is where he saw the most improvement to his wrestling.”

The Ledger’s All-County wrestler just returned from his graduation trip to Morocco. Now, it’s all about rigorously training to add on weight to move up to the 125 weight class in college. And he will be traveling to rural Kansas come early August.