Cannon fire

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Photo by AMERICAN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ATHLETICS AND RECREATION Mike Cannon, the 2005 All-County wrestler of the year, takes on Pennsylvania’s Zach Shanaman in the NCAA tournament. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

From his spot of relative seclusion, Cannon could still hear the play-by-play announcer recap the scores from different matches. He heard the voice refer to this round as the ‘‘heartbreaker round,” with matches that assured the winner All-American status continually being decided in overtime.

‘‘I was just sitting there, and I realized that it was all going to come down to this,” said Cannon, The Enterprise’s 2005 All-County wrestler of the year. ‘‘I told myself that this next match would decide if I was an All-American or just another college wrestler. I told myself that my match wasn’t going to overtime. I was going to win in three periods.”

But the defining match in the sophomore’s collegiate career on March 21 did go into overtime. An escape scored by Cannon early in the second period was matched by Purdue’s Luke Manuel to tie the score at 1 in the third.

After nearly landing takedowns in the third period and again in sudden-victory overtime, Cannon circled his opponent, forced the takedown by diving in on Manuel’s legs, and established control to earn the 3-1 victory and the prestige of All-American.

In the next round, the 165-pounder defeated Jonathan Reader of Iowa State via a 7-6 decision, but lost in the round of six to Mack Lewnes of Cornell to place sixth in the nation.

‘‘After the tournament, I thought about how I got here,” Cannon said. ‘‘Growing up I always knew that I could beat anybody if I worked hard enough. I may just be a guy from Mechanicsville and a wrestler from Chopticon High School, but I had a desire to get to this point, and I worked harder than just about anybody to get here.”

It was Cannon’s work ethic that earned the 2005 SMAC, region, and state champion a spot on the American wrestling team.

‘‘I first recruited him when a friend told me that I should look at this wrestler in Southern Maryland who was a hard worker and a good student,” said American head coach Mark Cody. ‘‘Well I needed a 165-pounder and that description was enough to convince me to bring Mike in. But the fact that he ended up on the podium as a sophomore is proof of those two things.”

In the summer prior to his run through the NCAA, Cannon would wake up at dawn, spend the day working at his uncle’s business in Waldorf, and then return to American for hours spent in the weight room and on the mat.

Cannon’s work ethic not only impressed Cody, but also caught the attention of one of his 14 siblings. Sam, Cannon’s younger brother by three years, has made a name for himself as a wrestler thanks in part to a stellar work ethic, according to Chopticon head coach Dane Kramer.

‘‘We have worked together and have talked about getting to where you want to be and what you have to do to realize those goals,” said the older brother. ‘‘Everyone wants to win, but only a few can work hard enough to do that. And Sam understood that. He understood how he had to set and meet goals just to reach his overall goals.”

‘‘Michael taught me that wrestling and winning aren’t just something you do in the winter, during the season,” Sam said. ‘‘It is more like a lifestyle, and you have to commit to it year-round if you want to be one of the best.”

Sam Cannon entered his senior campaign with ambitions of not only reaching his older brother’s level, but of surpassing it by winning back-to-back conference and regional titles.

‘‘I’m one of 15 kids and the main goal is always to be better than the older brother,” Sam said. ‘‘I don’t want to say that we compete against each other, but we definitely compete with each other.”

Sam, The Enterprise’s All-County wrestler of the year, ended the season as the SMAC and 4A⁄3A South Region champion. The 135-pounder was the only wrestler to pin his opponent in the finals at each competition.

In the regional tournament, Cannon overcame a sprained ankle, sustained while practicing the week before, to win his weight division. But still handicapped by the ankle injury, Cannon was unable to realize his dream of being crowned a state champion. After dismantling his opponents in the first two rounds, Cannon fell to the eventual-state champion, Skylar Snead, by a 10-3 decision.

‘‘It was devastating for him,” Michael Cannon said. ‘‘In wrestling, you can’t blame anything on an injury, and no one remembers that you lost because of an injury. Those are two things we talked about, but he came out and gave it his all. Even with the bum ankle, he wrestled like a champion.”

Unable to finish the tournament, Cannon forfeited out of competition with an injury default and took little consolation in his sixth-place finish.

‘‘At states you are facing some really talented wrestlers, and you have to be at your best,” said the younger Cannon. ‘‘My goal wasn’t to come in second, and it wasn’t to finish in the top five. It was tough to wrestle for something that I never wanted to accomplish.”

While Sam’s senior year ended in disappointment, the two-time SMAC champion will continue to wrestle. After a summer spent training with Michael at American, Cannon will wrestle for Johnson and Wales University (R.I.) with the goal of again following in the footsteps of his brother.

‘‘What Michael has done definitely puts a desire in me to do something like that,” Sam said. ‘‘I can remember when we were young we would go with our dad to watch the NCAA Tournament every year. We would see these great wrestlers place in the top six in the county. And it was something that we never thought we could do, until he came home freshman year and said that he thought he could make it. Now look at him.”