“Never Satisfied.”
Those were the two words boys wrestling Head Coach Matt Storm used to describe the now-state champion in the 144lb weight class wrestler Kevin Boston.
Now the 125th individual state champion from Omaha Central, Boston finished his freshman year with lots to prove. “Kevin won seven matches as a freshman,” Storm said. “And, you know, you rattle off almost 40 wins last year and 37 this year, that kind of speaks volumes for where we’re at with developing our program.”
In that same vein, Storm reflected that “not everybody is a state champion.” It takes a true master of one’s craft to be at the top of the wrestling ladder in the state of Nebraska. “He just put in the work,” Storm said.
The championship match extended into an overtime period, with both wrestlers being tied at the end of regulation. Boston explained that at the beginning of overtime, he had thought that he already won. His opponent was awarded a point for stalling at the end of regulation. Boston talked about the psychological maturity that it takes to pull out a win in overtime. “[y]ou got to pull yourself back together in overtime. And I was just like, ‘Oh, let’s try to get a takedown.’ I got the takedown. It worked out for me. I just went in there and just empty-headed. A lot of people pressure themselves when they get in a situation. That’d be the downfall.”
“That spectacular moment, really, it came as soon as the whistle blew. That’s when it hit me. But I was just so tired and gassed. The only thing you can do is just hug your coaches. And then, you get back to the circle. You shake your opponent’s hand, their coach’s hand. But when they raise your hand, it really, it just hits you,” Boston said of the glorious moments after his victory.
“It feels amazing. Obviously, your goal is always to win it for yourself. But it feels good to make that history. The way it has been going, the records are going to keep growing for this school,” Boston said.
While it’s true that Boston put on dominant performance after dominant performance this past season, he wasn’t the favorite to win state. “Kevin took a loss in his opening match. Junior and senior year, the same kid. Looking back now, I would take more of the blame than Kevin,” Storm said. “He took that loss this year, and they immediately just knocked him down to, like, the fourth or fifth spot.”
Boston said, “Throughout high school wrestling, I’ve always been the underdog. I’ve never really been the one who’s expected to win.”
Then, Storm said, Boston beat the first-ranked wrestler in the state. Next, he beat another wrestler who was ranked number one. Whoever Boston went up against, he beat handedly. But, often, his rank wouldn’t budge. Throughout the season, Storm kept reminding him that “ranking is here for fans. It’s never really how it ends up.”
Central wrestling never prepares for a single match. Their philosophy is to keep doing what works, and to force their opponent to adjust. Boston, who has grown into his own as an attack-style wrestler, has crafted his technique to a point where he has the advantage in nearly every situation, according to Storm.
“He’s extremely tough on top to where he can kind of dictate the pace of the match … If he wants to slow it down and feel you out a little bit and then attack from there, that’s fine. Or he can come out and just get after it right away,” Storm said.
Boston, who moved back to Nebraska from Alabama at the beginning of high school, wrestled for the first time his freshman year since he was 8 years old.
“I really can’t even tell you how my first day of practice was, because I was so little. My dad put me in wrestling when I was three years old,” Boston said. “You’re like, all right, so this is what I do.”
Boston, who attended tournaments across the country as a child, said that the wrestling community has been important to him his entire life. “You’re just having fun with it. So, that’s been my process. Like, just hanging around people that I like to be around, getting better. You go through your hard times, of course,” Boston said.
Often, the “hard times” that Boston referred to aren’t known to people unfamiliar with the craft. “There are times that you want to quit – they don’t advertise that,” Boston said. “There were many birthdays I spent where I probably didn’t eat. I didn’t get to eat the cake and ice cream like the other kids. Everybody else in your household is eating this big old burger. And you’re over here eating this little salad and drinking barely any water. And it’s tough times. But, when you win, you know it was worth it. You feel good about it.”
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With most wrestlers, coaches have to encourage them to take their practice seriously. With Boston, though, Storm said the script completely flipped. “He’s the exact opposite,” Storm said. “He was extremely fun to coach, but we had to slow him down at times. I had to sit him down and tell him that [we were over-training].”
Once Storm had that conversation with Boston, the two came to a mutual understanding. Storm told Boston that they needed to “peak at the right time, which we did, and he listened. Anything I ever told him to do, nutrition-wise, weight room-wise, wrestling room-wise, he did it, and he believed it. He got to where he was because of his work ethic.”
Boston attributed much of his success to the coaching staff that he worked with throughout his four years. “Pretty much everybody in this program accomplishes the goal that they try to,” he said. “You see a lot of kids that be on a team with you from their first years, and then they grow. So, it’s a good coaching staff all around.”
After losing in the state championship last year, Boston didn’t mince words about his feelings returning to the championship mat for a final time. He knew that he didn’t want to relive the ending to his junior season.
“It was just like, all right … I can’t get the feeling like last year. After the match last year, there’s a picture of me. And I was just distraught. I was in tears. It was like a picture of my dad hugging me. And I was like, I don’t ever want to feel that way again,” Boston said. “I was just like, I’m just going to go out here and just try to win and capitalize.”
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What comes next for Boston is wrestling at the next level. “I have a couple visits to go to in the spring. I got a lot of good schools looking at me,” Boston said. “At this point now, it’s just trying to just take care of your schoolwork. And just enjoy your last year of high school.”
“This year was a really good year,” Boston reflected. “Every day, it was just fun to come to practice. So, sometimes you’re going to leave with a busted nose, busted lip. You’ve got to just prepare yourself.”
Storm talked about the impact that Boston has had on Central’s wrestling program. “He is a great role model for those guys,” Storm said. “He’s the epitome of what you want the essential wrestler to be. We’ll miss him.”
