In terms of records and state rankings, Edwardsville's CJ Miller may not be among the elite wrestlers in the Metro East. But when it comes to showing improvement against top-notch competition, Miller is hard to beat.
The Tigers' 113-pounder is 21-14 this season and placed sixth in the Cheesehead Tournament, Jan. 6-7 in Kaukauna, Wisc.
"We were having a hard time finding a guy to wrestle at 113, and CJ made a total commitment to it," Edwardsville coach Jon Wagner said. "He works hard and eats a balanced diet, and it's really paying dividends for him.
"He struggled a little bit early on and lost some close matches, but at the Cheesehead Tournament, he wrestled way above his seed and got into the medal round. He's very strong at that weight and people have to reckon with that."
Miller was one of only three Edwardsville wrestlers to place at the tournament.
"I wrestled really hard, and I came out fighting," said Miller, who went 4-4 at the tourney. "I wasn't expected to place, so it's a pretty good feeling.
"It's one of the more prestigious tournaments around the country, with a lot of the top-ranked kids in the nation. A lot of my losses this year are to the top kids in the state because we wrestle a pretty tough schedule."
A three-year varsity veteran, Miller competed at 119 pounds as a sophomore and 112 as a junior.
"This year, 113 is the perfect weight for me," Miller said. "I was about a .500 wrestler a couple years ago and one of our seniors cut weight, so I lost my spot. Last year was about the same.
"My goal for this year is to qualify for state and possibly win the regional, and winning the (Southwestern) conference as a team would be nice, too."
Miller started wrestling in first grade in Granite City but quit midway through fourth grade because he got burned out on the sport. He moved to Edwardsville in fifth grade.
"I didn't wrestle sixth grade because I didn't like the coach, but in seventh and eighth grade I wrestled varsity for Lincoln (Middle School)," Miller said. "I played football in seventh grade and they heard I wrestled before and they wanted me to go back into it.
"I didn't want to do it at first, but they convinced me I was too small to play football. I did well in seventh and eighth grade and qualified for state, but I didn't wrestle varsity as a freshman here and I don't think I would have done that well anyway."
In the summer, Miller is a member of Team Quest, a freestyle squad coached by Pat McNamara.
"That gives me another 15 or 20 matches in the offseason, which makes a big difference," Miller said. "We have a preseason tournament, and you can see a lot of the guys you're going to wrestle in high school."
Miller isn't planning on wrestling in college.
"I've thought about it, but I'll probably focus on academics," said Miller, who hasn't made his college choice. "I'm thinking about trying to become a cop."
WRESTLING NOTES: Edwardsville finished 11th among 24 teams at the Cheesehead Tournament, missing the top 10 by one point.
"There were six nationally ranked teams there, and we didn't place ahead of any of them, but we placed ahead of some good teams," Wagner said. "It was some of the best wrestling Edwardsville High School has done in a long time."
Blake Blair (195 pounds) placed second, losing 4-3 in the finals. Heavyweight Sab Champlin, who was seeded 14th, took fifth place.
Last weekend, Edwardsville won the 16-team St. Charles West tournament. The win was the Tigers' first regular-season tournament championship in eight years. Edwardsville won with 184 points. Farmington (152), Seckman (134.5), Waynesville (130) and Rock Bridge (129) rounded out the top five.
Edwardsville won just one of seven matches in the semifinals, but bounced back to go 8-2 in the finals. The lone champion for the Tigers was Blair at 195.
The Tigers had five third-place finishers: Hayden Grammer (126), James Mosher (138), Kyle Jackson (145), Matt Kent (182) and Champlin (285).
