Senior wrestler Michael Jennings at practice in February 2014.
It took awhile for Michael Jennings to find his niche with the Lawrence High wrestling program.
That is, if you consider two weeks “awhile.”
“Mike has been the leader on my team since he was a freshman,” coach Chris Lynn said. “I had never made a freshman a captain on my team before. Mike has been that person for four years.
“We were searching for leadership his first year. I had good wrestlers, but you need a different quality for leadership, and he personified that. He runs our warm-ups. We want to know how hard they want to be pushed in practice so I go to Mike. He knows what they need. It has been excellent having him as a leader.”
As if that’s not enough, he’s also one of the greatest wrestlers in LHS history.
Jennings is one of a handful of grapplers to win four Mercer County Tournament titles: winning at 130 as a freshman, 138 as a sophomore and junior and 145 this past year.
He finished second in District 17 his first three years, and just missed qualifying for states by finishing fourth in the regions the past two years.
Barring a catastrophe, he was set to become Lawrence’s all-time leading wrestler on Feb. 22. He needed to win two matches in the district tournament to surpass the record. Jennings entered the districts with 114 wins, just one behind Mark Savino’s school record of 115. He had just 21 losses.
“I’m actually pretty good friends with the whole (Savino) family,” Jennings said, adding with a laugh, “It will be a nice thing to throw at them when I see them out and I’ll bust Mark’s chops about it.”
On a more serious note, Jennings feels the record is nice but not something he craved.
“I’m not big on records,” he said. “It is a real nice thing to have but it’s not my ultimate goal. I’d rather have 50 wins and a state title than 115 wins or whatever it is.
“But it’s definitely a nice thing to have. It’s shown consistency throughout four years. It will hit me more after the season than during.”
The one thing missing from Jennings’ glittering résumé is an appearance in the state tournament in Atlantic City. He carried a 28-3 record into districts and if he got through as expected, was geared for a top three finish in Region 5 after two years of near-misses.
“You know you’re one step from Atlantic City for two years in a row—just one win,” Lynn said. “That’s hard. It’s hard enough when you do it as a sophomore and then to have it happen again last year. He’s tried everything he can to get better, he wrestles up to go against tougher wrestlers.
“I think he’s ready to make that push this year. He’s got that confidence in what he’s doing.”
Jennings admits it was disappointing to come so close. Rather than dwell negatively upon it, he has filed away different things that went wrong and how to correct them.
“I don’t think about it a lot now,” he said. “But I did take a lot away from it. Every year I learned a great lesson. They’re good losses. They’re hard to handle but good to have in the long run. I think that I’ve learned things along the way.”
Such as?
“It was a good mental thing, you learn about staying focused on what you’re doing and not worrying about outcomes,” Jennings said. “You’re just going out and wrestling as opposed to getting caught up in who you’re wrestling. It’s all about staying true to yourself and not changing what you do.”
Jennings is a lifetime wrestler, following brother Marty into the sport when he was in kindergarten. Marty is six years older so the two never worked out with each other, but the older sibling still made an impact.
“He’s been a good example,” Jennings said. “He definitely taught me a lot of things that helped me do things better than he did. He helped me learn off his mistakes that he made.”
“The second brother always gets the benefit of seeing how hard the older one works, and is able to take steps beyond that,” Lynn said. “And his dad and mom have been so supportive. Anywhere he needs to go for whatever clubs he is in, they get him there. He’s just everywhere.”
Jennings started in the Robbinsville recreation program, but quickly branched out to clubs. He began with Wrecking Crew in Mount Holly before going to Elite in Jackson and Sure Thing in Lakewood. He did club practices at Rider and Rutgers over the summer and has gone to Virginia for some major tournaments.
His years of drilling and training have paid off—not to mention, he works out with Cardinal teammate Gordon Wolf, another member of the 100-win club.
Asked what makes Jennings so good, Lynn responds with, “Technique, technique, technique. It’s like buying property—location, location, location.”
And Jennings is good at locating what he can exploit with an opponent.
“He’s thinking two steps ahead of you,” Lynn said. “He practices with Wolf and they pound each other. You can see why they’re so good because they push each other every day. You won’t see either of them slide.
“Wolf is the opposite. He does what he feels out there. Mike knows what he wants to do and he executes it perfectly. He’s a machine.”
The machine has been humming nicely this year. Jennings has also played baseball his entire life, but did not play for the Cardinals last year as he focused more intently on wrestling.
“It’s kind of up in the air this year, I might play just for fun,” he said.
Jennings points to four MCT titles and 100 wins—which he got on Jan. 18 against Steinert—as his proudest accomplishments to date. He hopes to add state place-winner to that list, and then must decide on a college.
“I’ve had conversations with some schools,” Jennings said. “I’m figuring out what division I want to be at. College wrestling is a big commitment so I want to make the right choice.”
But as long as he’s wrestling somewhere, he’s happy.
“I love it, it’s like no other sport,” he said. “There’s no one to blame but yourself if you win or lose. I love the camaraderie you get with the team and the guys. I love the hard work, I like getting into the (practice) room and working hard and going out and busting chops with the guys. It’s all great.”
Spoken like a true leader.
One of the truest Lynn has ever had.
