Aaron Kelly '16 Recruiting Profile

I began my wrestling career in 7th grade and have just completed my 5th season.  I have been able to accomplish a lot in a relatively short period of time because of my inherent ability and strong work ethic.  As a result of hard work, I have made significant improvements from year to year, and I expect this trend to continue throughout my college career.  I have received the award for Most Valuable Wrestler on my team during my first two years of high school and expect to receive it again this year.  In addition, I have served as Team Captain for the past two years and expect to do so again in my senior year.  

In my freshman year, I came within one match of qualifying for Districts.  After the high school season, I turned my attention to club wrestling and began competing in Greco-Roman and Freestyle.  As a result of my efforts, I qualified for the 2013 Greco-Roman Nationals in Fargo, ND.  

As a sophomore, I was ranked as high as 24th in the state of Ohio according to Boro Fan, a popular wrestling website. Despite this ranking, I still managed to qualify for the State Championships as a 4th seed.  In the spring, I resumed club wrestling.  This time, I placed 2nd in Greco-Roman and 4th in Freestyle in the State tournament.  As a result, I qualified for both the Greco-Roman and Freestyle Nationals in 2014.

This year my ranking rose to 6th, and I qualified for the State Championships again, this time as a 3rd seed.  Unfortunately, I was not feeling my best during the first day of the tournament and was unable to advance.  Despite this setback, I am confident in my ability to claim a spot on the podium next year, and I fully expect to do so.  Hard work and discipline in the face of adversity have gotten me to this point and they will continue to serve me well throughout the remainder of my wrestling career.  I plan to compete  in Greco-Roman and Freestyle again this spring and expect to punch my ticket to Nationals for the 3rd straight year.

This same commitment to hard work and discipline has enabled me to achieve success academically.  I have approximately a 3.0 GPA at Rocky River High School, the 2nd ranked public school in the state of Ohio.  Although wrestling will be a very important part of my college life, academics will be at the forefront.  I am planning to major in either Business or Engineering in college, so I am looking for a school that offers both of these programs.  I would like to wrestle for a school with a highly ranked program, and I hope to place at Nationals by the time I am a senior.  I feel that this is a realistic goal, because I know that my best wrestling is yet to come.