North Carolina State University Athletics
A model of consistency
1/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 14, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - Garrett Cummings wasn't sure if he would ever get into the starting lineup for N.C. State's wrestling team. Now, after taking advantage of a surprise opportunity, no one can get him out of it.
Cummings, a redshirt sophomore from Bloomsburg, Pa., stepped in as the starter in the 125-pound slot when projected starter Jeremy Hartrum was unavailable for the fall semester. Cummings has been first-year coach Carter Jordan's most consistent performer so far this season.
"He's our model," Jordan said. "He is very, very diligent and hard working, with a get-after-it style of wrestling. He sets the pace for us in every match. He does exactly what we want him to do every time he goes out there.
"If every guy on the team did that, we would be very difficult to deal with."
Cummings has certainly been a tough out all season long. He won his first six matches, then went 2-2 at the Las Vegas Invitational in December against stellar competition, then rebounded with a perfect 3-0 record at the NC State Duals last weekend.
Not bad for a guy who wasn't exactly sure what his role would be coming into the season.
"There were times, especially when I was sitting out my freshman year as a redshirt, that I wondered if I would ever get to start a match at NC State," Cummings said. "There were days when I would wrestle three state champions in front of me. You never have that in high school."
Cummings was an All-State wrestler at Central Columbia High School in Bloomsburg, Pa., with a strong wrestling pedigree. His father (and high school coach) was an All-America wrestler at Bloomsburg State and his uncle, Dave Cummings, was a standout for coach Bob Guzzo at N.C. State in the mid-1980s.
But when he got to Raleigh - where he was attracted by a successful program and a warm climate - there were some more accomplished wrestlers ahead of him, including Hartrum, who was a top-ranked prep wrestler from Easton, Pa., and Jeff Breese, a two-time state champion in Pennsylvania. When Breese got hurt midway through last season, Hartrum took over the starting job.
However, with Hartrum out in the fall, Cummings blossomed, forcing Carter to readjust his lineup a little. He bumped Hartrum up to the 133-pound division and moved Breese up to 141, giving the Wolfpack a formidable trio of Pennsylvania products in the first three matches. (That will be a little different against Illinois, however, because Hartrum suffered a torn meniscus last week at the NC State Duals, and had arthroscopic surgery on Jan. 14. He is expected to return next week for meet against Nebraska.)
The next three bouts will be important gauges for Cummings, since he will face ranked opponents in each match, starting with No. 2 ranked and undefeated Kyle Ott of Illinois.
"It's just more of an opportunity for me to prove myself," Cummings said. "The worst thing that could happen to me is that I went out and gave it all I had and I lost to the second-ranked guy in the nation. I have to keep my head on straight."
That's never been a real problem for late-blooming Cummings, a standout on the mats and in the classroom. He maintains a 3.4 GPA in math and science education.
As a kid, however, Cummings developed a little more slowly than many figured for a kid who grew up in a wrestling family. But Cummings didn't wrestle competitively until he reached middle school, preferring to go to wrestling practice with his dad rather than going to weekend peewee tournaments.
"I was never one of those kids that was dragged to tournaments every weekend from when I was 3 until I was in middle school," Cummings said. "I loved wrestling and loved watching it, but I didn't really want to start competition until middle school.
"I was barely an average wrestler in middle school, but my dad did some extra work with me and all of a sudden, I really started like the competition more. Things just kind of took off. I feel like I am just now getting into my prime."
Cummings, like all wrestlers, knows he's probably never going to be a campus-wide name, no matter how successful he is on the mats. But he's having a blast being a successful contributor for the Wolfpack.
"Wrestlers are used to not getting the press that football and basketball players get,'' said Cummings, who aspires to becoming a high school teacher and wrestling coach, like his dad. "We don't expect to have our face on a cereal box or to make millions one day. The glory in the sport really comes as you step off that mat after you have won a match.
"It's the most incredible feeling, knowing that you are better than that one person in that moment. I have played other sports and the feeling of victory is twice as good in wrestling than in any other sport."
The down side, of course, is that the feeling of defeat is twice as bad. But so far this season, losing hasn't been much of a problem.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
