This column was originally published in the Jan. 21, 2013 edition of The Mercury.

BUCKTOWN — It didn’t take long for Gordon Bolig to learn he wasn’t quite as good as he thought he was.

On a wrestling mat, that is.
“I came in here a little cocky as a freshman,” the now Owen J. Roberts senior admitted last week. “But I wasn’t that strong, I wasn’t that physical.”

Bolig actually won his debut that season. He also lost his last two at sectionals, so he wasn’t around long for the postseason.

But the quick exit motivated him and, instead of moping or sulking over the fact he wasn’t as good as he thought he was, Bolig chose a work regimen to help him become as good as he always wanted to be.

That meant getting into the weight room, getting into a lot of tournaments, getting a little more aggressive … or, dare he say it, getting a little nastier when he stepped on the mat.

The commitment paid off.
Last week, during the Wildcats’ 38-18 win over rival Spring-Ford in a match most feel decided the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship (despite this Saturday’s date with Upper Perkiomen), the 182-pound Bolig moved up a bracket to 195 for the first and only time this winter and put on a clinic … a 16-1 technical fall.

It was his 100th career win.
Not too bad for someone who had that less than memorable freshman season.

“I just started working harder in the offseason after my freshman year,” he explained. “It was a combination of a lot of things. I hit the weight room, wrestled a lot of freestyle.

“And wrestling everyday with (OJR assistant) Aaron Brown… I wasn’t that physical, but you go with (Brown) all the time and you learn that you have to be able to go out and be aggressive, have to be on the offensive.”

Wildcats head coach Steve DeRafelo saw the transition, the almost step-by-step improvement as Bolig grew from an average 145-pound freshman to a now very good 182-pound senior.

“The thing about him is that every year he worked on whatever areas of wrestling he had to,” DeRafelo said. “As a freshman, he wasn’t that good in all three positions. Between his freshman and sophomore years he got better on his feet, and from his sophomore year to his junior year he got better on bottom to the point no one could hold him down long.

“Now, as a senior, he’s tough on top. He works so hard on things he may not be too good at. He’s certainly one of the most improved wrestlers I’ve ever coached.”

And that says a lot.
“It does because he isn’t a natural,” DeRafelo added. “He’s put in a lot of work to get where he is right now.”

Bolig is currently among the district’s top 182-pounders, determined to return to the state tournament where he went 1-2 and came home empty-handed a year ago. He’s also currently one of only 10 wrestlers to reach 100-win mark at OJR.

“After my freshman year, getting just 14 wins, I didn’t know if I could,” Bolig said. “But getting (100) was one of my big goals, and after getting (32) as a sophomore and another (34) as a junior I felt I had a chance. I just know it feels good getting it.”

Even better knowing he worked for it … and, at last, earned it.

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Bolig, who added another five to his total over the weekend at the Escape the Rock Tournament — where he finished fourth — moved past Jonathan Dempsey and Craig Nolan on the OJR chart. He’ll likely pass Connor McCormick (108) and Scott Syrek (112) in the next couple of weeks. … Both OJR teammate Adam Moser (97) and Spring-Ford’s Sean Hennessey (97) could reach the coveted mark by the end of this week. … Upper Perkiomen’s Wolfgang McStravick is currently the active leader with 132 career wins, which place him in a tie for 25th on The Mercury area’s all-time chart.

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Two gentlemen separated by two generations certainly warrant mention this week throughout District 1, if not around the state. Last weekend, North Penn joined a short list of schools to pin down its 500th win. The mastermind behind the Knights’ success was Ed Klavon — father of former Perkiomen School head coach Tim Klavon — who started the program and, in 34 years, oversaw 318 of those wins. The now 81-year-old Klavon, recovering from an illness and stay in the hospital, still gets out to his fair share of matches, too. … Also last weekend at the conclusion of the Spartan Clash at Springfield-Montco, Phil-Mont Christian junior Richie Cerebe — one of the district’s better 152-pounders — was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. Soon after receiving the award (and reportedly without drawing any attention to himself), he presented it to Delco Christian’s Yangzi Jiang, a foreign-exchange student in his first year of wrestling. Jiang competes with just one leg.