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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Delmar Wrestling, Dekota Harmon Records 136 Wins.

DELMAR -- Delmar senior wrestler Dakota Harmon has recorded more wins than any other Wildcat in school history, but he can still easily recall his first ever win in a blue and orange uniform.
"It was home against Wi-Hi and it was in overtime," Harmon said. "I hit a lap drop in overtime to win. I loved wrestling before high school but I knew right then it was going to stick. I really enjoyed it."
While Harmon has enjoyed his time on the mat as a Wildcat, he has made life for his opponents rather miserable. Harmon and the squad's other two seniors were honored before their final home match started against eight-mile rival Laurel -- a meet the Wildcats would win easily 57-17. But along with walking out with his parents, Harmon was also presented with a plaque from the team in recognition of breaking the schools all-time win record.
The senior and his 136 career victories is now the benchmark at Delmar, after overtaking previous record holder Darren Collins' 127 wins earlier this month.
"It's really exciting to me to have the record," Harmon said. "I know that without the workout partners I had in the past and the coaches I've had, I wouldn't be able to do it. There are a lot of good wrestlers that have been here at Delmar and set records, so I'm proud to be one of the wrestlers to have set one. It's a good feeling."
Delmar's head coach, Mark Quillin, said that Harmon, who has been on the varsity squad since his eighth grade year, has been able to be so successful on the mat because of his work ethic and personal drive.
"He started out at 119 pounds as an eighth grader," Quillen said. "Just a tiny little scrawny pencil-necked kid. But he was a tough, hard-nosed guy even back then. He really hasn't changed that much, besides his body shape. He came out for middle school wrestling and he was by far our best middle school wrestler. We have a special situation at Delmar, being able to use eighth graders, and I had an open weight class and he was really just dominating the wrestling room, so we put him on varsity."
Since joining the varsity team, Harmon has done one thing more than anything else -- win.
"He ended up winning 20-plus matches as an eighth grader. It was incredible. He just had a great year and he's steadily accumulated wins as he went along," Quillin said.. "He's gotten better and better. Really his work ethic is the most impressive thing. He's a hard nut."
Now that Harmon has surpassed the schools all-time win record, he has another goal in mind.
"I want to break 150. Thats been my goal since the beginning of the year," he said. "Ever since I got to 100 wins last year I've been aiming for 150."
But while Harmon can tell you how he recorded most of the more than 130 wins he's accumulated, don't ask him what happened in matches that he lost.
"I'm not really sure how many losses I have, I couldn't tell you that," he said with a wry smile.
"I try to forget those."

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