Steven Mocco continues busy summer by aiming for third Junior National title
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Jason Owens (USA Wrestling)
07/19/2001
Graduating from high school marks the beginning of a new era in people's lives. Some graduates like to celebrate by taking a trip to the beach with their friends. Others begin working full-time or start a part-time job to make money for college in the fall. Then there's Steven Mocco. When you come out of high school with a 216-1 wrestling record from Blair Academy in New Jersey and are considered by many to be one of the best heavyweight prospects the United States has seen in a long time, you don't spend your summer like most recent graduates. You live on the mat. That's exactly what Mocco is doing with his summer vacation. Mocco is training across the country to prepare for college wrestling and Junior tournaments, starting with next week's Asics Tiger Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D. from July 21-28. "He's training hard," said Steven's dad, Joe Mocco, two weeks before Junior Nationals. "He's training at Virginia Tech, then he'll go to Colorado Springs, then he'll go back to Virginia Tech. He loves it. His heart is in wrestling." After Junior Nationals, Mocco will travel to the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. to train for the Junior World Championships with U.S. national coach Mike Duroe. After all that, you'd think Mocco might take a breather. Actually, he's going to keep working out in preparation for his first semester at the University of Iowa, joining college wrestling's most dominant program. "When I went on my recruiting trip, I couldn't think of anywhere else I'd want to go," Mocco said. "Just from watching them work out, I learned." Mocco's decision to attend Iowa wasn't simple, though. He had a long line of visits lined up from schools drooling over the chance to have him on their team. He visited two more of college wrestling's highly successful programs, Nebraska and Oklahoma State, before canceling the rest of his trips. "I visited them after I visited Iowa," Mocco said. "I visited Oklahoma State and afterwards, I thought, 'this school is really good.' Then I visited Nebraska and it was a really good school. I just canceled all my visits and decided keep it at those three. I figured, the more schools I visited, the more schools I'd want to go to." He made his decision after a couple more visits to Iowa as a wrestler and a spectator. The energy and excitement for wrestling in Iowa was the final factor. "It became clear to me when we wrestled at the Dream Team Classic in Iowa. The place was packed. Then I went to the NCAA's to watch - it was pretty cool." Few high school students work as hard at their craft as Mocco does. He skipped his senior prom to attend a wrestling tournament. His work ethic and talent have paid off in ways other than grabbing the attention of college coaches across the country. Mocco won the National High School Coaches Association Athlete of the Year and National Wrestler of the Year Awards. He claimed the Dave Schultz award as the top scholastic wrestler in the country with at 3.8 grade point average and has been a four-time national prep champion. He was also named an Asics All-American First Team member and will be wrestling for his third consecutive Junior National title this week. Even more impressive is the fact that Mocco his two Junior National titles without allowing a single point. With his outstanding record, Mocco remains quiet and anxious to learn in the practice room. He wants to absorb as much as he can and get better as he moves toward competing on the college and senior levels. All the while, he is keeping his focus on academics too. He already knows what he wants to do as a student and after college, as he's been inspired by his brother. "Right now I'm pre-business," he said. "I'll probably go on to business school. My brother had his own business." Mocco will begin competition in Fargo next Thursday when the Junior National freestyle preliminaries start. The attention of the wrestling world will be on his broad shoulders as he attempts to close his high school career in record fashion.