Spring Hill 9-year-old wins national wrestling title

By Chris Yow

Kyson Cornwall is built differently.

Sounds strange, maybe, to describe someone who has yet to hit double digits in age, but Spring Hill youth wrestling coach Jason Terillion didn’t hesitate to say it.

The nine-year-old Spring Hill resident certainly proved the description true when he took home gold in the Midget 80 Class at the AAU All-American Spring Youth Nationals earlier this month.

“He’s natural and very coachable, which makes wrestling easy for him,” Terrilion said. “Seeing the difference in him between the first two years is like night and day, and he still led our team in pins last year. He’s a pleasure to be around; I love his attitude.”

Cornwall never doubted himself at the tournament, despite going into the finals against the same wrestler who had earned a 15-8 decision over him just two weeks earlier at the state tournament and sent him to a third-place finish.

The reason for that confidence, assistant coach Kortney Brus said, is his innate ability to put the past behind him.

“Kyson works hard and leaves it all on the mat. He’s good about letting things go and getting through the match or that period and resetting his mind,” she said. “If he wasn’t good at that, he would’ve struggled in the match because that kid had beaten him before.  

“Because he has control of his mental state, he was able to get the win.”

Terillion agreed, noting that sometimes you win and sometimes you learn when it comes to wrestling — especially with young wrestlers.

“Winning isn’t everything in this sport, and to watch him the way he wrestled against a kid that beat him in state, you could tell he learned from his loss and he worked to get revenge,” he said.

Cornwall got a takedown in overtime to defeat Storm Murphy 8-6 in overtime and pinned Edward Collins before finishing the tournament with a 6-2 decision over Bode Ward.

In only his second year as a wrestler, Cornwall has compiled a 31-9 record with 19 pins to his credit.

“We are incredibly proud of this and Kyson deserves to be recognized for everything he’s done,” Terrillion said.

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