Britt hoping to make most of first trip
BELLVILLE — Making the trip to the Schottenstein Center for the State Wrestling Championships isn’t enough for Clear Fork’s Dalton Britt. This first timer is up to the challenge, and won’t settle for anything less than the podium. Britt (39-12) will pair up against DeSales’ (22-3) John Hiles in the Division II preliminaries of the 285-pound weight class this afternoon. Last season, Hiles grabbed All-Ohio honors with a third-place finish at 275.
“I’m ready to go. I’m not intimidated (by Hiles). I haven’t even looked at it,” said Britt.
Assistant wrestling coach Brian Lewis won’t settle for anything less than the podium either.
“He has worked hard and he deserves to be where he is at right now,” said Lewis. “For a big guy, running a mile and being a step behind everybody— he works his butt off and deserves to be where he is at. Anything less than the podium is unacceptable to him and us.”
Lewis, a graduate of Hillsdale, competed in the state meet in 1994. Head coach, and Clear Fork graduate, Brian Foust made the trip in ’84. Both coaches have been sure to give Britt any advice needed on what to expect at the state level. Being the biggest wrestler on the team, there has been times it’s been up to the coaches to give Britt a good matchup during practice.
“We changed his complete style and we changed his stance and approach. As far as picking up on it as quickly as he did, he has progressed,” said Lewis.
Britt’s performance timeline has worked out to his advantage heading in to the state meet. Instead of hitting his best matches early, he has continued to show vast improvement toward the latter part of the season.
“In wrestling, you hear people talking about peaking a lot, that we peaked at the wrong time, or we did this or whatever,” said Foust. “He definitely started to peak at our league tournament and he has been on a pretty good run ever since. I actually don’t think he has peaked yet. Hopefully, he will peak this weekend.”
A lineman for the Colts’ football team, Britt took no time off after the playoffs before jumping into wrestling. It didn’t take long for the heavyweight to transition to a wrestling mentality.
“Wrestling shape and football shape is two different things. Wrestling shape is a lot more intense. You have to be ready to wrestle for six minutes straight. Football you have breaks in between plays,” said Britt.
“He didn’t take any time off he came straight in here. ... As a new coaching staff with a new style, we like it when football players come out because they are ready to play,” said Lewis.
Foust and Lewis joke with Britt about preparing for his “first” real trip away from Bellville. Whether it be his first, or hundredth trip away from the valley, the atmosphere at state wrestling can be overwhelming at first for any newcomer.
“I’m just a little nervous. I have never been in a big arena wrestling before,” said Britt.
Nerves aside, Britt is ready to end his first trip to state with a little hardware.
