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PA Profile of
Jordan Oliver
By Todd Irwin,
Pennsylvania Wrestling Newsmagazine, November 2007
Most successful wrestlers will take some
time off after they've completed a season to rest up or heal the bumps, scrapes
and other assorted injuries or just get away from a tough sport or all of the
above.
Easton's two-time state champion and three-time state finalist Jordan Oliver
will take the Sunday off following the PIAA Championships. But on Monday, he's
back in the wrestling room working out.
"Every day you take a break, there's somebody out there
working and training to beat you," Oliver said.
"He's a committed athlete," Easton coach Steve Powell
said. "He's a very good worker in and out of the room.
He loves to wrestle. He can wrestle for hours. He does
well conditioning-wise. Conditioning has never been a problem for him."
Oliver got into wrestling not too long after he learned
to walk. His older brother, Josh, who was a state runner-up as a junior in 2004
and a fourth-placer as a senior the next year, coached him at home, and Jordan
credits his brother for most of his success.
"A lot of my style and some of my moves are based off
of him," Jordan Oliver said. "I just made changes in places to fit my style."
It's not a surprise to Powell that Oliver has gone
135-5 in three years - four of those losses coming his freshman year - and has
won two state titles.
"He's been a little gnat in the wrestling room ever
since Josh started wrestling for us," Powell said. "He learns real well. He can
see something and tell if it fits into his system. He's worked phenomenally
hard."
T here are those kids who are terrible when they start
wrestling at a young age and blossom into great wrestlers as they get older.
Oliver started blossoming as soon as he started wrestling somebody other than
his brother.
"I don't mean to brag," Oliver said, "but I kind of was
(an immediate success). My second, third and fourth years, I was winning Eastern
Nationals. Success has been building from there."
Oliver had won all kinds of tournaments by the time he
was a freshman, but he was wrestling at 103 weighing around 96 or 97 pounds. He
was still good enough to win 42 bouts, win the Northeast Region and make the
state finals, where he dropped a 5-0 decision to Clearfield veteran Matt Kyler.
"I was kind of surprised that I made it because I was
real underweight," Oliver said. "I had to beat a real good kid in Kyler in the
finals. I didn't have much of a gameplan. I started picking up confidence, but
it was just too late. I wanted to be Easton's first four-timer, but I fell
short."
Oliver returned to Hershey the next year bigger,
stronger and better, breezing to the title with a pin, technical fall, major
decision and a 6-2 win over Greensburg Central Catholic's Nico Cortese in the
finals to finish 48-0.
With success like that, Oliver put a target on himself
for his opponents to make a name for themselves. The pressure on him increased.
That meant more work on the mat.
"Pressure is always going to be there no matter who you
are," Oliver said. "You just have to put that off to the side and wrestle
through it. Of course whoever is wrestling me wants to beat me because they want
to knock off the top kid. I just have to train and keep focused."
Oliver rolled through the first two rounds of 2007 PIAA
Championships with a pin and a major decision before getting two tough bouts. He
earned a 5-3 win over Upper Perkiomen's former state champion Chris Sheetz in
the semis and then a 4-1 win over Indian Valley's Nic Bedelyon in the finals.
"It was pretty awesome," Oliver said, "because I
repeated. I beat Sheetz, and then I was kind of upset in the finals because I
knew I could have blown that match open."
Not only has Oliver won two state titles, he also won
the 119-pound title at the USA Wrestling Junior Freestyle Championships in
Fargo, N.D. this summer.
After going 6-0 on the first day, Oliver, ranked second
nationally, had to beat Minnesota's top-ranked Zach Sanders, California's Nikko
Triggas, who had beaten Oliver in the only two matches they had ever wrestled,
Oregon's Prescott Garner and then Washington's Brian Owen in an intense finals
bout.
"It was pretty tough," Oliver said. "I had wrestled at
cadet the year before. They say the hardest thing to do is to go from cadet to
juniors, but you have to beat the best to be the best."
Oliver will be wrestling with and against the best in college. He recently gave
a verbal commitment to Oklahoma State, which had won four straight team titles
at the NCAA Championships before finishing fifth last season. Penn State and
Ohio State were also on his short list.
"Oklahoma State was just a good surrounding and
environment for me," he said. "They have great coaches and strong academics.
Since I was younger, I always wanted to be part of it. I'm pretty pumped to
start my college career."
"He's improved every year," Powell said. "I think he's
going to improve a lot when he gets to the next level."
Before that, though, he'll start working on becoming
the fourth Easton wrestler to win three state titles and the first since Matt
Ciasulli in 2002.
"I'm pretty excited just because it's my senior year,"
Oliver said, "and I want to be a three-time state champ."
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