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Summerville High School wrestler Jordan Wigger (r) has been named to the 2010 Junior Freestyle National Team.

Green Wave wrestler Jordan Wigger has been named to the prestigious Junior Freestyle National team.

Wigger, a rising junior at Summerville High School, placed third in the 105-pound weight division during the U.S. Junior National Freestyle Championships held July 19-24 in Fargo, N.D. to qualify for the designation. By placing in the Top 8 for his division at the tournament, which drew approximately 4,000 wrestlers from across the nation, Wigger also received All-American honors for the third consecutive summer.

After placing fifth in the 98-pound division last year, Wigger won four matches in his pool by technical fall and another by pin this year while only loosing one pool match. The performance advanced him into the winners’ bracket as the No. 2 seed for his pool, behind Washington’s Ruben Navejas.

Wigger defeated Holden Gagner of Montana in the third-place match while Navejas lost to Ross Spencer of Connecticut in the championship match for the division.

“It’s definitely a different experience from wrestling at local tournaments and matches,” Wigger said. “You have to be at the top of your game each time you set foot on the mat because most of the guys there are the best from their state. When a match gets tight, pretty much everyone has a move or something they can pull out of their pocket so you have to really be on your guard.”

Being named to the National team opens up opportunities for wrestlers to compete internationally, something Wigger already has experience with. The summer before his eighth-grade year, he traveled to Holland with the People to People program to face competition from other countries.

The tournament marks the second Top 3 finish of the summer for Wigger, who is off to a great start for his high-school career. In June, he won six matches while only loosing two en route to grabbing a bronze medal during the National Dual Team Wrestling Championships in Florida.

In February, he claimed the Class AAAA individual state championship for the 112-pound division. That followed a state championship for the 103 division his freshman season.

If things go his way, he has the unique opportunity to win an individual state title four straight years.

“That is one of my goals,” he said. “In order to do it, I will have to stay dedicated, in shape and healthy. Also, there is some luck involved when it comes to winning at that level.”

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.

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