THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September, 9, 1994 TAG: 9409070171
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 23 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, CLIPPER SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
Norman Smith and Bryant Irby had a problem.
Friends from the moment they joined the same wrestling team in seventh grade, the two had planned since their sophomore year at Indian River to go to the same college and continue their wrestling careers.
Both were looking at schools in Norfolk (Irby favored Norfolk State; Smith was leaning toward Old Dominion University), but as fate would have it, low SAT scores kept both from being academically eligible under the newest NCAA guidelines.
They looked into junior colleges, and one month ago had narrowed the field to two choices. Determined to stay together, Smith and Irby had animated discussions about which school to attend.
In the end, they solved their dilemma like all good negotiators - they flipped for it. Best 3-out-of-5.
``We were just sitting around over at Bryant's, trying to make up our minds,'' recalled Smith recently.
Irby was pulling for Garden City Community College in Kansas, which finished first in the nation last year in the NJCAA wrestling poll.
Smith, who was a state champion last year, liked Garden City, but Gloucester County (N.J.) College also looked good.
``It was only four days before we had to leave for Garden City, if that's where we decided to go,'' said Smith. ``We talked and talked but couldn't decide, and Bryant finally said `Let's flip a coin.' ''
It came down to the fifth and final toss. The coin came up tails, Smith's call, and the two settled on Gloucester.
But Smith and Irby aren't the only two area wrestlers making the trip to tiny Sewell, N.J. Two former Great Bridge wrestlers, 1994 regional champion Frank Smith and 1993 graduate Shane Darnell, are helping turn Gloucester into Chesapeake North.
According to Frank Smith, academics also played a part in his decision to attend Gloucester.
``Any of the other colleges I was interested in, I wasn't academically eligible for, so I'd have to redshirt,'' he said. ``It was important to me to wrestle right away. I really wanted to compete my freshman year.''
Indian River coach Davey Davis also thinks his former wrestlers will benefit from attending a junior college.
``They'll get a lot out of participating right away,'' he said. ``They'll have no trouble competing on that level.''
But it's not as if they're trading off a quality wrestling program to shore up their grades. The Roadrunners, under the direction of head coach Chuck Williamson, finished ninth in the NJCAA poll last season. Williamson's 255 wins in the junior college ranks places him third among active coaches, and his Gloucester teams have been nationally ranked 18 out of his 21 years.
Williamson also stresses academics, forbidding his wrestlers to schedule classes on Wednesday lest they interfere with the team's mandatory study hall.
According to Great Bridge coach Steve Martin, Williamson has the right idea.
``Once you're out of college, wrestling does nothing for you. It's not like college football, where the NFL is waiting,'' he said.
Martin first steered Darnell toward Gloucester because it was one of the better junior colleges for wrestling on the East Coast, then Frank Smith followed suit.
``Academically, junior college is the right place for them at this moment,'' Martin said.
In addition to his close friendship with Norman Smith, Irby is quite familiar with Frank Smith as well. The two competed in the same weight class (152) their senior seasons in high school, with Irby scoring victories during the regular season and in the district final.
But Frank Smith got his revenge in the regional final, knocking Irby out of the competition. Literally.
``We were on the mat, and somehow I took a foot to the side of the head,'' said Irby. ``I was out for about 20 seconds.''
Frank Smith went on to place sixth in the state. Earlier this summer, he received an invitation to the National Freestyle Wrestling Tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, where he finished fourth.
``We're real close, even though we're competitors on the mat,'' Frank Smith said of Irby. The two no longer compete in the same weight class; Irby is trying to wrestle at 142 while Frank Smith has bumped up to 158. ``We used to root against each other, because we didn't want to have to face each other again.''
Although many freshmen experience growing pains their first time away from home, these four seem to be getting along fairly well. Darnell and Frank Smith room together, and Irby and Norman Smith share an apartment in the same complex as the Great Bridge grads. Although his parents call ``almost every night,'' Irby is enjoying the freedom.
``(Being away from home) doesn't bother me at all,'' he said. ``And Gloucester is away from everything. It's not in a big city, so I can get my work done and wrestle. I won't get into trouble here.''
According to Martin, all four have the potential to start for Gloucester as freshmen. If they work hard, Martin thinks any one of them could place in, if not win, the junior college nationals.
``They'll go far if they put in the time. They can't learn much more technically . . . but in college it's a mental game, not physical. Every wrestler they face will be a state champ, so it comes down to who's tougher mind-wise.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Norman Smith, left, and Bryant Irby will attend Gloucester County
College.
by CNB