NEW MARKET — Jamie Welliever knows the type of kids he wants in the Southmont wrestling program.
And four years ago, that smart and positive-minded student in his seventh-grade science class was Evan Francis.
“I had him (Welliever, the Mountie hall-of-fame wrestling coach) in class and he brought out a trophy that said Francis on it,” Evan said. “And he was like ‘I don’t know if you didn’t get the message, but I want you on the wrestling team.’”
Francis showed up to practice the next day, after the season had already started, and instantly fell in love with the sport.
Sort of.
“I had the worst time of my life, and then I never quit,” Francis said.
Growth within the physically-demanding sport took time though.
“Everybody has to go through that first year, whether you’re five years old, an eighth-grader or a freshman,” Welliever said. “Usually that first year is pretty tough and you’ve got to convince them to stick with it. There’s just so much to learn in this sport.”
Francis stuck with wrestling through eighth-grade, and into high school and his freshman season, where he began to see progress. A few junior-varsity wins here and there, and he started to gain some motivation.
Toward the end of his sophomore season, Francis had a challenge match against the varsity starter at 195 pounds, and his entire perspective started to change.
“Last season I had a wrestle-off against a senior (Jud VanCleave) and I got a take down on him,” Francis said. “And I realized like whoa I could have beaten him if I would have been working hard all season.”
Francis and Welliever both knew he was ready for varsity, it was just a matter of where in the lineup.
“He only lost like two or three JV matches last year and we talked to him and were like ‘you’re ready for varsity, but you’ve kind of got to look and wonder where you’re going to fit into this lineup,’” Welliever said. “He kind of figured that out. I didn’t tell him that hey you’re going to have to get down to 152. He just figured that out and he was ready for varsity and got it done.”
Another light bulb went off, and the pounds started shedding.
At first Francis lost 10 pounds, and then he just kept going — and through diet and time spent on the track and field team — Francis ended up at 160.
“It just happened after wrestling year, because I wasn’t the greatest and my grades weren’t really good, and nothing was going well, so I just changed my mind,” he said. “I wanted a spot in the lineup this season. I became more positive in most things, and I became more confident in myself as a person, just because I felt better about myself.”
In the end Francis cut weight down to 152 pounds for his junior season and immediately filled the spot in the Mountie varsity lineup.
The junior has struggled at times this season, but placed third at the Sagamore Conference meet a couple weeks ago, and carries a 13-8 record into the IHSAA Sectional on Saturday with the No. 2 seed at 152.
“It’s been a process this year,” Welliever said. “I’ll be honest with you when he lost the weight, he thought ‘I’m going down here and I can physically dominate,’ and not so much. You get a lot more athletic guys at the middle weight classes. Honestly with wins and losses he’s struggled a little bit, but the last two weeks his confidence is there, and win or lose he is just battling until the end. He’s going in the right direction.”
With a lot more wrestling ahead of him and a year and a half of high school left, Francis is focused on the ongoing transformation.
Next up — become a semi-state qualifier, and get into a four-year college and earn a degree in computer science.
That strong work ethic and nimble mind Welliever saw in him just four years ago continues to be the ticket to his success.
“Now I want to see that leadership stuff come out of him,” Welliever said. “Because what he is doing is a great example for everybody to see.”
Francis and the rest of the Mounties will wrestle in the Crawfordsville Sectional on Saturday morning starting at 9 a.m.
