I’m posting this article in hopes that we can inspire the young wrestling talent in our state. Hard work pays off, and anyone is capable of reaching their goals if they put in the work and give 100%. -Mathound
Even at 11, Dru Worker has a killer instinct.
It showed earlier this month at USA Wrestling’s national championship for pre-teens. Worker, from Tinley Park, was matched against A.J. Cooper, of Cimarron, Kan., in the final match of the Greco-Roman 112-pound novice bracket.
The match lasted 19 seconds. Cooper never knew what hit him.
“I threw him, and he cried out,” Worker said. “The second time, I pinned him.”
It was over, and Worker was a national champion.
“It was exciting,” Worker said. “I didn’t really feel nervous going in. When I got there, I felt real confident.”
That confidence was built over the last two years. Worker, who has been wrestling since he was 6, had captured 12 of his previous 17 tournaments before walking into the arena at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
“It wasn’t that big a deal,” Worker said. “It was just another tournament to me.”
Worker’s father, Dean, might have been a little more nervous.
“He’s a tough kid,” Dean Worker said. “You can’t teach that mentality. I’m pretty proud of him. He started with the Orland Park Pioneers, and he liked the sport and he excelled in it.”
With the conclusion of the national meet, USA Wrestling announced its 2009 U.S. Future Olympian Rankings First Team. Dru Worker was the Novice representative at 112 pounds. Other local wrestlers on the list were Louie Hayes, of Orland Park, at 60 pounds, and 70-pounder Austin O’Connor, of Lockport.
Worker qualified for both the Greco-Roman and freestyle phases of the tournament by faring well in the Northern Plains Regional. He won the Greco-Roman phase and finished third in the freestyle.
Worker also took third in the freestyle at the national meet. He met Cooper in the third-place match. Worker subdued Cooper in 76 seconds.
“In the beginning, I threw him and he landed on his arm,” Worker said. “After that, he didn’t do much.”
Worker quickly settled on wrestling and football after briefly trying hockey at age 6. He wrestles for the Tinley Park Bulldogs and plays football for the Frankfort Falcons.
“I personally think I’m a lot better in football,” Worker said of his efforts on defense.
He wants to attend either Marist or Providence Catholic and play football and wrestle there, and then go forward. His mother, Dianalyn, noted he’d like to attend Notre Dame as well. Dean Worker would settle for his son going to a Big Ten school on scholarship.
“When you go to national tournaments you start spending money because of travel,” Dean Worker said. “But it is worth it.”
And after college?
“I want to make it to the Olympics,” Worker said.
At 11, with a national championship medal in the trophy case before you enter seventh grade, the sky can be the limit.
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