Morgan Smith already conquered Canada once. This summer he intends to do it again.
The Meadowdale High School graduate has made a name for himself wrestling north of the border, and he’s about to take on the rest of the world as well when he competes for his second straight Canada Cup title this July.
Smith has created his own little wrestling fiefdom in Canada. He’s become a standout at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, where he earned All-American status as a junior this past school year by finishing fourth in his weight class at the NCAA Division-II Wrestling Championships. He won the 86-kilogram weight class at last year’s Canada Cup, an open international tournament that the Canadian national team uses as preparations for the world championships.
Now Smith is hoping to add to his Canadian haul as he’ll compete in the 97-kilogram weight class at this year’s Canada Cup on July 8 in Guelph, Ontario.
“I believe I can do it, for sure,” Smith, when reached by phone at Simon Fraser, said about his chances of repeating at the Canada Cup. “I’ve been training all summer, so if it was tomorrow I’d be ready. I’m in a different weight class; it’s a little heavier, but I think that works to my advantage because I’m faster than the heavier guys.”
The past four years have been quite the Canadian adventure for Smith. Smith was lightly recruited out of high school, where he was a one-time state champion at Meadowdale, winning the 3A title at 160 pounds as a senior in 2013. Therefore, heading across the border to Simon Fraser was one of the few options he had to wrestle at the collegiate level.
But Smith has taken well to his time in Canada.
“It’s been great. I really like it here,” Smith said. “Vancouver is a lot like Seattle, so it doesn’t feel like I’m far from home — and literally I’m not far from home as it’s only 21/2 hours away.”
Smith has steadily improved as a wrestler during his time with the Clan, too. In 2016 as a sophomore he surpassed the 40-win mark while wrestling at 184 pounds, falling just short of qualifying for nationals. Then this year he overcame a partially torn meniscus in his knee to place fourth at nationals at 197 pounds in March in Birmingham, Alabama. He was 34-7 collegiately this year.
“He redshirted as a freshman and he improved a lot that year and he hasn’t stopped since,” said Simon Fraser coach Justin Abdou, who will have a Meadowdale reunion at Simon Fraser next year in Smith, Ciaran Ball and Smith’s brother Tim. “He had a real thirst for learning about the game and being a student of the game, and he’s a hard worker. He’s gotten better every year, and next year he’ll be looking to be our first ever NCAA champion (Simon Fraser has been an NCAA school for five years).”
Therefore, this offseason has been all about preparing for that run at an NCAA title.
It began with a month of training at the Ohio Regional Training Center in Columbus, Ohio, where he had the chance to train alongside the likes of Olympic champion Kyle Snyder.
“I’d never trained with that level of wrestlers,” Smith said. “It was really good. I learned a lot, and I had more success than I expected.”
Then came a breakout performance at University Nationals on June 3-4 in Akron, Ohio. University Nationals is a freestyle event rather than a collegiate-style event, so the rules are slightly different in an effort to keep the wrestlers on their feet more. The tournament features some of the best college wrestlers from all levels.
Last year Smith competed at University Nationals and went 1-2 at 86 kilograms, failing to advance past the first day. This year Smith went 7-2 to finish fourth out 54 competitors at 97 kilograms. All of his opponents were NCAA Division-I athletes.
“I think I did really well,” Smith said. “I’m a D-II guy, so there’s a lot of people who didn’t think I could compete at that level. But I beat a guy from Air Force, a guy from Columbia, a guy from Drexel, and all of those are big-time schools.”
Next up for Smith is the Canada Cup, which features an international field, including the Cuban national team.
“I didn’t get to wrestle a Cuban last year, but they’re back this year and hopefully this year I get to wrestle a Cuban because they’re really good,” Smith said.
“Depending on the field I think he’ll be one of the favorites,” Abdou said. “I’m not sure who’s going to show up at this point, but looking at the preliminary list he should be a favorite. He’s coming off a great performance at University Nationals.”
And if he can pull it off, it will be another highlight of Smith’s Canadian wrestling adventure.
If you have an idea for a community sports story, e-mail Nick Patterson at npatterson@heraldnet.com.
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