By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Growing up in Alaska Cody Coonrod was always intrigued with wrestling and wanted more than anything to get onto the mat and grapple. Unfortunately, his family was unable to afford it at the time. When he was in the sixth grade, he and his mom moved to Soldotna, a small borough in Alaska with a population of 4342 people. It was here that they came across a wrestling program and the youngster got try a sport he had wanted to take part in for some time.

“I was small and was getting beat up a lot, but I really enjoyed wrestling,” Coonrod said. “The middle school sought me out and asked me to join the team, which I did, but it was really tough in the beginning. I even thought about quitting more than once, but I just pushed through.”

During those early years Coonrod noted that he was not the healthiest of eaters. On the way to practice he’d pick up some Oreos and eat them all.

“Eating all those Oreos before practice was reckless,” he said. “I still don’t follow a real strict diet, I have a sweet tooth, but I am not doing the things that I did in the past.”

Wrestling in middle school in Soldotna Coonrod came across some of the best coaches in the state who have helped him with his anxiety.

“As a seventh grader I was not the best of wrestlers and I was getting anxious a lot when I got ready for a match,” he said. “It was all my own fault; I was getting into my own head thinking too much about the match that was coming up. I have since gotten it under control, but to this day I still have to fight it off.”

As a freshman still wrestling in Alaska, Coonrod had a skin infection and couldn’t wrestle all that much. He did finish the season with a positive record with 15 wins and 9 losses. 

Following his freshman campaign, his mother made the decision to move closer to her family in Massachusetts and they left Alaska for Northbridge where Coonrod immediately get involved in wrestling in the area, although it was not what he expected.

“My first impression of wrestling in Massachusetts made me angry. In Alaska we had college style facilities and everyone in the room cared about the sport,” he said. “Eventually I came to know that Northbridge was a young program so there wasn’t the commitment to the sport that I was used to.”

Prior to taking to the mats at Northbridge the Alaskan native hooked up with Carmine Colace’s New England Gold Wrestling Club in Franklin. Here he was introduced to high quality wrestling with a group of individuals that were really focused at honing their craft. It was also here that they gave him the nickname Alaska, something that he finds really cool.

Working with New England Gold gave the new Massachusetts wrestler confidence in his ability to wrestle on the Northbridge High School team. It was at the Lowell Tournament that justified his thoughts.

“Going into that tournament I was unranked, an underdog that just wanted to do my best,” Coonrod said. “I wanted to have some good matches to prove myself and finished sixth in the tournament. It was then that I realized that I could actually do something here.”

Wrestling in the 157-pound weight class in his inaugural wrestling season in Massachusetts, Coonrod has been able to secure a total of 39 wins against 5 losses. The sophomore wasn’t looking for a specific amount of wins during his first year in Northbridge, he just wanted to go out and wrestle to the best of his ability while helping his new team win. 

“As only a sophomore he has become one of the top wrestlers in the state,” Northbridge coach Baird Lashley said. “He loves to compete and wants to wrestle the best in his weight class. Opposing coaches have been continually commenting on his competitiveness and sportsmanship. Cody is a very exciting individual to watch.”

Coonrod took a 10-8 overtime decision over the defending senior champion in the Division 2 West Tournament to grab his first Sectional Championship here in the Bay State, but firmly believes he has a lot of work still to do.

“It was really exciting winning the Sectionals, but I feel that I haven’t worked hard enough yet and I don’t believe that I’ve seen too many of the higher ranked wrestlers,” he said. 

With the Sectionals behind him the Alaskan native will head into the Division 2 State Tournament ranked fifth in his weight class. He is not looking to win the Championship here, but he does plan on working extremely hard to get ready for the tournament and hopes that he can finish somewhere in the top three. He also noted that he will not be disappointed if he doesn’t accomplish finishing that high as long as he pushes himself and gives it his all. 

During the off-season Coonrod is planning on hitting as many camps as possible that he can to get better while defending his Sectional Title to become a two-time Sectional Champion and even go onto win a State Title.