North Torrance High's Johnson Mai, fresh off winning a CIF State championship in the 103-pound division, captured a prestigious title in North Dakota and has a chance to win another.
Mai won eight straight matches, including defeating Wisconsin's Bobby Nachreiner in the 105-pound Junior Greco-Roman final 2-5, 3-2, 3-0 at the ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals Tuesday at the Fargo Dome in Fargo, N.D.
"I believe this is the first Fargo national title ever won by a South Bay wrestler," said Kevin Mai, Johnson's older brother, who also is a former wrestling standout and a current assistant coach at North High.
Now Mai is gunning for a second title in the tournament, which is flooded with state high school champions. Mai went 2-0 in the Junior Freestyle Division on Thursday, setting up what could be a long day of wrestling for him today. Mai could have up to six matches in the 105-pound category today if he keeps winning, with the championship match slated for Saturday.
Making Mai's first tournament title even more impressive is the fact that he was not even slated to compete in Greco-Roman, a version of wrestling he had never competed in. He was supposed to compete only in freestyle.
"I didn't train for it, but I ended up taking first place," Mai said. "One of my coaches, Ken Coburn, convinced me to do Greco-Roman. He told me I can come home with two national titles, not just one. He convinced me on Saturday night, and I
just kind of steam-rolled."The Greco-Roman style prohibits attacking the lower half of the body, which was fine with Mai, who is wrestling for Team California under the umbrella of USA Wrestling.
"Greco-Roman works toward my style," Mai said. "My style is more open, I never attack the legs anyways, so it worked out good."
Kevin Mai said he was not shocked by the outcome.
"He's a California state champion, once you are at that level, wrestling is wrestling," he said.
Johnson Mai agreed: "It was just about manning up and getting it done."
Kevin Mai said winning a title at this tournament is even more impressive than winning a CIF state title.
"Everyone here is a state champion or a state placer," he said. "It's definitely the most difficult national tournament in the United States."
Johnson Mai feels capturing a second national title is within reach.
"I think my chances are pretty good if I wrestle like I should," he said.
"No doubt I should win it."
dave.thorpe@dailybreeze.com
Source: http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_18527763?source=rss
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