After taking a year off school, postponing his junior year of high school, Junior Mat Miller returned to JC and its wrestling program for the 2009-2010 school year with a bang.  With an undefeated record of 36-0 for the season and 96 pins in his high school career, it is no wonder Miller is ranked 29th nationally in wrestling. 

P: Most wrestlers have a goal of 100 wins in their high school career; you could break 100 pins this year.  How do you feel about that?

Miller:  Well, it’s not really that big of a deal because, I mean, I’m going to be honest—I used to not be that good at wrestling.  I didn’t actually start becoming decent until sophomore year.  Freshman year I actually just got a bunch of lucky pins.  Like I’d be losing a match 8-0 and the kid would just get tired and I’d just put him to his back and pin him. 

P:  What has been the most memorable match in your high school career?

Miller:  Once I pinned Cody Allala.  That’s his real name; I looked around and was like “are these guys trying to pull a fast one on me?”  He was really good and somehow I managed to pin him.  In the first period he got the take down and I got to escape, and then in the second he got on the bottom and I kind of just pinned him.  I was very happy, since he was ranked pretty high in the nation. 

P:  What do you think has made you so successful if you said you weren’t that good until sophomore year?  What has made the difference?

Miller:  I started to take it more seriously after that.  I stopped playing every other sport like football after my freshman year because I was like, “I’m 125 pounds,”  and I realized I didn’t have a future in football. So I just stuck with wrestling all spring, all summer, all fall, all winter, and I’ve just been wrestling all year round since then.  I may try out for football next year though; I’m not really sure. 

P:  Are you going to try playing football again because you think now that you’ve gotten a handle on wrestling, you can widen your focus a little?

Miller:  Nah, I kind of just want to hit someone.

P:  What is your favorite move or favorite tactic going into a match?

Miller:  I don’t really have a favorite move, but if the kid’s not very good, I’ll just take him down and let him up. I’ll just turn the match into a practice session for me.  That’s what a majority of my matches have been this year.

P:  I’ve been to a few matches, and I can see that you tend to just play with people before you go in for them.  You say it’s for practice?

Miller:  It’s not even playing with them; it’s just that I need to get a work out.  I mean, I need to burn off all the calories I take in after I weigh in.  I’ll eat a lot, well not a lot, but like yesterday I ate McDonald’zs.  It really was a bad idea because I felt fine, but later on, I went home and looked at the calories. It was like 1000 calories just for the sandwich I had.  And then large fries and a Powerade after that.  I was very upset with myself.  But then I went to the gym and burned all those off, even though it was after a match yesterday.

P: Do you go and work out at the gym after a lot of matches?

Miller:  Yeah, I do that every match.  Unless I had an actual tough match, then I’ll go home and rest because I’ll be sore the next day.  Most matches though, I’ll just leave, go to the gym, and work out. 

P:  What did you do last year when you weren’t here at school?

Miller:  I wrestled a little bit; I did a few national tournaments.  But they were age/weight tournaments, so they were different.

P:  Do you think that for the rest of your high school career you’ll be able to keep your undefeated record?

Miller:  No, I actually don’t even plan on being undefeated by the end of this year.  I mean, I’m 29th in the nation, but I have four kids who are ranked in the top 7 nationally at the National Preps at Lehigh University on February 26. 

P:  What do you plan on doing with the rest of high school?  Do you think you’ll be competing just as hard next year in wrestling, since you said you wanted to play football also?

Miller:  Of course!  I mean this year’s a pretty big year for me, because if any college is going to look at me, this would be the year to do so. Next year, it would just look bad on my part to fall back. 

P: So you want to come in next year with a clean slate?

Miller:  I want to be in the top 10 by next year.  And the best part is, the kids above me are mostly seniors.  The only people who would be ranked ahead of me are some juniors and one particular sophomore who is kind of amazing.  So next year should be pretty good.

Allison Siegel can be reached for comment at [email protected].