Former Byrnes wrestler Davis has Olympic goal

By DAN ARMONAITIS – For the Herald-Journal – Original here

UNC Pembroke stduent will train for a month at U.S. Olympic Center

J.J. Davis has fond memories of when his wrestling career began.

“It started in the sixth grade, through P.E. at Beech Springs (Intermediate School in Duncan),” Davis said. “I had a lot of success with it right away, and I just loved it.”

Davis parlayed his early interest in the sport into a successful career at Byrnes High School, where he won an individual state championship and was named Mr. Wrestling in 2005. He received a scholarship to UNC Pembroke — an NCAA Division II institution — and earned All-America honors as a junior last year.

Recently, Davis was invited to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he will train for a month.

“When I first heard I got invited, I was kind of speechless,” said Davis, who will leave for Colorado on Monday. “I’m really excited about it. It’s a great opportunity for me to get better at my craft, especially since I’ll be getting to work with some of the Olympians.”

Davis hopes the training will be a major step toward achieving his own Olympic dreams.

“It could be 2012, you never know,” Davis said. “But if it’s not then, hopefully, it will be 2016. It’s definitely a goal of mine to be an Olympian one day, and I’m going to work as hard as I can to make it happen.”

Davis’ decision to redshirt this past season and retain another year of eligibility at UNC Pembroke is part of his plan for reaching his goal.

“A lot of people ask me why I would redshirt my senior year,” Davis said. “The reason is because I like wrestling, and I want to wrestle as long as possible.

“I figured that by taking a year off, it would give me an opportunity to get bigger and stronger while I kept learning about the sport.”

Davis has continued to compete, just not with his college team. A third-place finish in the 174-pound weight class at the ASICS University & Fila Cadet National Championships held in Akron, Ohio, in late April, drew the attention of U.S. Olympic scouts.

“I wrestled a style that is called Greco, which is all upper body and is very different from college style, and I did very well even though it wasn’t something that I had a lot of experience with,” Davis said. “They talked to me after my third-place match, and that’s when they invited me to (the training facility).”

Davis, whose goal for the upcoming season is to become UNC Pembroke’s first individual national champion, credits his coaches at Byrnes for helping him develop a solid work ethic.

“Coach (Russ) Howard and Coach (Eric) Hansen really made me realize my potential,” Davis said. “Because of my Byrnes experience, I really don’t know how to be lazy when it comes to wrestling.

“I’m not going to lie, though. At the time, it seemed like they were trying to kill me. But after it was said and done and I got on the mat with some of my opponents, I realized that I could last a whole lot longer than they could because of the hard work I had put in.”

Davis also played football during his first two years at Byrnes and was a part of a state championship team in 2003.

“I wasn’t too bad at football, but I had to make a choice and I chose wrestling because I thought it would get me a better ride to college,” Davis said. “I knew I wanted to get my education, and my parents kept saying, ‘We can’t pay for it,’ so I did what I had to do. They’re real proud of me.”