(By Carrie Pitzer, Knox County News) Jaxon Vinson weighed 175 pounds during the football season. Still, the Osmond/Wausa senior was adamant about wrestling at 144 this winter.
“I had to drop 35 pounds just to get to where I am,” he said on Saturday (Jan. 25). “I wore four sweatshirts, four pairs of sweatpants at every practice. I built all that up all week and used the weekend to get it all out.”
That effort and determination paid off Saturday as the 18-year-old grabbed his 100th career win, pinning Rigen Riessland of Pleasanton in a mere 38 seconds for the milestone victory.
“It feels really good to have 100. I’ve been working hard to get to this point,” said Vinson — son of Nathan and Terin Vinson.
Coached by his dad and his older brother, Patrick, Jaxon said he worked hard to drop the weight. Over Christmas, he had to lose about 35 pounds in seven days.
“I ran all day and all night,” he said. “I didn’t eat for seven days. One day I had on four sweatshirts, four sweatpants, plus coveralls and a winter coat. I ran until I passed out.”
Patrick admitted he had his doubts about his younger brother dropping so much weight.
“I didn’t think it was possible, but he kept proving me wrong. He did it every week,” Patrick said. “He’s been doing good, and I’m proud of him. But just because we’ve reached the 100th win doesn’t mean we’re done.”
With four brothers and two sisters, Jaxon started wrestling in kindergarten and has always loved it. Although wrestling is a big part of the family life, they’re actually even bigger football fans than wrestling. Last week Jaxon found out he was selected for the Northeast Nebraska All-Star football game.
“Wrestling is in my blood,” he said. “But all of us are bigger into football than wrestling. We talk about wrestling during wrestling,” Jaxon has had many goals to reach for, including school records for wins (119) and wins in the season (41). An injury early on in his career kept him off the mat for a while, which hurt his overall total. And having the Stanton invite cancelled has lowered the number of matches for him this season.
“Despite all of that, getting my 100th win has been a big goal for me,” he said. “I also wanted to break 41 wins this season. I’ll have to not only get to state but do well there to get that.”
Patrick said seeing his brother reach 100 win was on everyone’s mind Saturday, and he told his brother to enjoy the moment.
“Whether he got that one win at the beginning of the day or the end, I told him to take the moment in and enjoy it,” he said. “Not many people get to accomplish 100 wins. It only comes around once in a while, so I wanted him to just enjoy it.”
Jaxon’s parents commented, “As a parent and coach we are very proud of his accomplishments. More than anything, we are happy for him to have set a goal and accomplished it!“ Now that the 100-win milestone is reached, Jaxon said he’s hoping to qualify for state. He got beat out in the heartbreak round as a freshman and a junior. HIs sophomore year, a dislocated elbow kept him home. Jaxon said he wants to not only qualify for state but earn a medal.
"I want to make state finally, and I want a medal,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but I’m going to keep at it.”
