PHS Dark Horse: State Champ Cole Ford

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/08/2012 - 12:30

At 145 pounds, Cole Ford won his first state title last Saturday. He has placed in the State Tournament all four years of his high school wrestling career but this year he took the title.

Our 145lb wrestler has had a lot of ups and downs throughout his career but there has never been a time where he has stopped working hard to accomplish his goals.

“Winning has a great feeling of accomplishment,” said our state champ, Cole Ford. “It makes all the hard work and everything worth it. That being said, I believe that everyone needs to have their fair share of losses to keep them fighting and trying to be that much better.”

Under all the pressure and scrutiny, Cole performed to the best of his ability and came out on top for the Lions.

“Cole’s had a great season!” said Head Coach Loveless. “He’s wrestled really well and is wrestling as good as he ever has.”

Cole Ford has been wrestling almost constantly for as long as he can remember. He’s spent a big part of his year at two huge tournaments in Reno and Virginia.

“He’s one of the hardest working kids in the room,” said fellow teammate Devan Judd. “He sets an example for hard work and work ethic for the team. I know that if Cole is working hard, so are the rest of us.”

Cole spends the majority of his time at school down in the wrestling room working to improve not only himself but his teammates.

“Cole Ford is definitely one of, if not the hardest working kids I know. He put in extra time after every practice every day to ensure he reaches his goal,” said Mitch Brown. “He is the most deserving kid I know of the state title.”

All his hard work in the off season has really carried over into his competitive high school career with a win-loss ratio of 55-5 this year.

“Cole has only lost to really legitimate kids this year,” said Coach Loveless.

Two of his 5 losses were to the same kid who turned out to be a 3-time state champion whom he beat once. “They were really close matches,” said the Coach.

Along with being an all star wrestler, Cole Ford is an All-Academic Award winner with a 4.0 GPA.

“He always adds personality to a class, and is a joy to work with,” said Business English Teacher Mrs. Bridges.

Attributions
By Maygan Straight
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cole ford.jpg 200.95 KB