Chalker’s Duncan in search of state title | News, Sports, Jobs

Staff photo / R. Michael Semple
Chalker’s Landen Duncan receives a send-off by students and faculty at Chalker High School on Thursday afternoon. Duncan will wrestle in the state meet this weekend.

Early mornings, late evenings, plenty of workouts and a lot of driving.

Chalker’s Landen Duncan doesn’t experience the average day-to-day life of a student-athlete. But, for the school’s only wrestler, the hard work may soon pay off, as Duncan and wrestlers from around Ohio are in Columbus today through Sunday competing for a state championship.

This will mark his second consecutive trip to the state tournament, as he placed fourth in the 120-pound weight class a year ago. The junior stands at 32-5 this season and is returning in the 120-pound class.

“My goal is to be the first one ever (in Chalker history) to win a state title,” Duncan said. “It would be nice to bring it back home.”

Though the state title could rest back home in Southington, most of Duncan’s practices in preparation for the event have taken place away from Chalker. Since Duncan, 16, doesn’t have teammates, his father, Bobby, drives him about an hour each way for practices, usually held at South Range High School in Beaver Township. He also occasionally heads to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson.

He’s been welcomed at both spots, he says, and his father, who is Chalker’s coach, sits back and allows the coaches at those schools to work directly with Landen.

“I let the coaches coach,” Bobby said. “I’ve never wrestled before, so I learn quite a lot. … When we go in the rooms, we let the coaches go ahead and coach him. That’s their room, so we let them do their thing.”

Landen added, “At first, it’s always awkward just to go in there. You never know if they’re going to be nice, be mean or if they’re going to help you.”

Duncan says lately, practices have centered on technique and keeping his body in state-level condition.

“We haven’t been going too hard, because we don’t want to get injured,” Duncan said. “And then just get some weight down, too. Go hard, but not too hard to injure yourself or get worn out.”

A typical day for Duncan begins at about 6:40, when he wakes up to get a quick 10-15 minute workout in. After going to school, he heads to practice. He comes home around 6 p.m. and then gets his homework done and has dinner before getting in a quick evening workout around 8:30.

It can be a lot, Duncan admits.

“It’s very challenging,” he said. “You have to have good time skills to time everything out right and keep up on your grades and studying. It’s pretty tough.”

Duncan began his wrestling career at 7 years old, in large part because of its individuality.

“In all the other sports, you need to build size,” he said. “In wrestling, you can go in a certain weight class and do well and wrestle (similarly sized) kids.”

He hopes to continue his athletic career at the collegiate level, and thinks this weekend could be a step toward those efforts. First, though, he wants to make history. His quest begins this afternoon in a 3 p.m. matchup.

“It would mean a lot for me and the community,” he said. “Just being the only wrestler and working hard every day, I think it just means a lot to me and my family.”