Franklin Regional grad Garrett Thompson making a name for himself with Ohio U wrestling

Throughout his time as a wrestler, Franklin Regional grad Garrett Thompson said he mostly had been an unknown. He never qualified for the PIAA championships in high school, and his college recruiting prospects, at least where bigger schools were concerned, were almost nonexistent.

So before this, his redshirt sophomore season at Ohio University, Thompson wrote a list of goals. Among those was “beat five ranked guys.” Wins over ranked wrestlers, he figured, were his ticket to being recognized.

With four dual matches remaining as well as the Mid-American Conference championships — and, perhaps, beyond — Thompson already has surpassed his goal. In fact, he nearly achieved it in one weekend Dec. 1-2 during the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, where he beat four wrestlers who were ranked at the time: Virginia Tech’s Connor Brady (fall), Northwestern’s Maxx Mayfield (decision), Oregon State’s Matthew Olguin (major decision) and Stanford’s Hunter Garvin (fall).

Add West Virginia’s Peyton Hall and Bucknell’s Noah Mullavey, and that makes six ranked wrestlers Thompson has vanquished. The effort has landed him at No. 11 at 165 pounds in the most recent Intermat rankings.

The MAC ranks him as the top 165-pounder in the conference.

“I definitely got my name out there, which is good,” Thompson (20-5) said. “My outlook has always been the same. I’m just going out there … no one really expected me to do anything. I’ve got nothing to lose. I like looking at it that way.”

Thompson’s journey from unknown to one of the country’s top wrestlers in his weight class has been an interesting one.

As a freshman at Franklin Regional, he wrestled at 113 pounds and was hardly menacing in stature. He made a modest jump to 120 pounds as a sophomore and then 132 as a junior.

Then, it finally happened. Thompson hit his growth spurt. By his senior year, he was up to wrestling at 152.

“I think in that summer (between junior and senior year) I grew like 5 or 6 inches and gained like 30 pounds,” he said.

But even as his frame filled out, Thompson was able to retain a lot of his “little man” skills and quickness. That, he said, gave him an advantage over many of his opponents who always had been bigger.

Meanwhile, Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe had been acquainted with Ohio U coach Joel Greenlee, and Lebe was keeping Greenlee updated on Thompson’s progress. This was during the early stages of the covid-19 pandemic, so Greenlee relied on the use of video clips to scout Thompson.

Greenlee saw something in Thompson that others didn’t — or couldn’t because of the circumstances of the pandemic — and made him an offer.

“I just thought he was such a hard worker and a pretty dang good wrestler,” said Greenlee, in his 26th season as the Bobcats’ coach. “He just got caught up in a little bit of the covid year situation, and Franklin Regional at the time had some studs.

“Those are the kind of guys we want on our team: the grinders, the guy who is going to work hard, might be a little bit of a late bloomer.”

Thompson continued to “bloom” even after he got to the Athens, Ohio, school. He spent his first two seasons wrestling at 157, going 27-16, but, Greenlee said, he might have been cutting too much weight. The move to 165 this season seems to be ideal.

Some technical adjustments helped, too. Mainly, Greenlee wanted Thompson to be more mobile on the mat. He had a tendency to stay in one place, which, Greenlee said, is a bad habit that many high school wrestlers develop.

“I think you fall into a little bit of a trap in high school,” Greenlee said. “You can go out there and stand around and take pot shots at guys because you’re better. I think in college you have to learn how to move your feet and move your opponent to set him up for your attacks.”

As much as anything technical, Thompson said Greenlee’s confidence in him helped him elevate his performance.

“One of the biggest things for me, I wasn’t super successful coming out of high school,” Thompson said, “so just having someone like coach Greenlee who believed in me from the start and just kind of reinforced how good he thinks I am and how good I can be, I think that helps a lot.”

Thompson has two years of eligibility remaining, and Greenlee said he believes his 165-pounder can be on the podium at the NCAA Tournament before he is through. Perhaps as soon as this season.

There are still some points that need to be fine-tuned. Greenlee said he continues to work with Thompson on developing his shot defense as well as his movement. On the plus side, he said Thompson is excellent when wrestling from on top and wrestles at a quicker pace than many of his opponents.

“He’s a hard match for anybody,” Greenlee said.

Thompson has a new list of goals. Well, perhaps it isn’t new. The items on it just appear to be more attainable now: a MAC title, All-American status and an NCAA championship.

“There’s never going to be an easy competition,” he said. “One thing for me was realizing I deserve to be here, and I put in the time and the effort and I think that kind of helps me relax. I worked my whole life to get to this point. Now it’s the fun part to just go out and wrestle.

“… Going out there, just letting it fly.”