Kissimmee, Fla. — Johnathan Clohecy is ready for this moment.

How could the senior captain of The Villages High School wrestling team not be?

Everything — every practice, every workout, every move and every match — has led to his appearance today in Kissimmee, where he'll take on South Walton's Gibson Moore for the Class 1A state title at 175 pounds.

Certainly, Clohecy's journey to the elevated stage inside Silver Spurs Arena has been different than most.

It's spanned more than 1,200 miles from his hometown of Fulton, New York, enduring enough heartbreak and sacrifice along the way to cover a roundtrip there and back.

There's also been a lot of wins on his journey, too, as Clohecy enters today's state final with a perfect 55-0 record this season. No wrestler in VHS program history — which boasts two state champions, brothers Colton and Taylor Jackson in 2013 — has ever finished a season undefeated.

And that's seemingly why it's fitting to Clohecy that the next six minutes he wrestles — a trio of two-minute periods to decide a state champ — are the ones he's waited for his entire life.

"The result has never really mattered, not until you get to the last one, anyway," Clohecy said. "To me, it's always been about the way you go about getting challenged, and then how you learn to attack it and move on. That goes for wrestling, obviously, but I've learned a lot of that goes for life, too."

Like most successful grapplers, Clohecy's wrestling life began at an early age. He first started rolling around on a mat at just four years old, with the sport coursing through his blood as both his father and his uncle, VHS assistant coach Shane Bartrum, each wrestled.

Those early foundations set in motion a solid preps career in the Empire State, where Clohecy advanced to the sectional round of New York's postseason as a freshman, before finishing on the podium each of the past two years. He took fifth as a sophomore and fourth as a junior at the state tournament for Fulton High School.

"Those experiences taught me that obviously the stage is bigger," Clohecy said. "You're in an arena and not a high school gym, and that plays a big role in how you prepare yourself. The competition is also obviously on another level and it's guys you've never really seen, so you're not quite sure what they've got. It's the best of the best and that challenge should be exciting to you."

After those two heartbreaking finishes so close to the sport's mountaintop, Clohecy elected to move to Florida this past summer in pursuit of what might be best for his future as both a wrestler and an individual. It was a decision that appears equally as sacrificial as it was emotional for the senior wrestler, who lives under the legal guardianship of Bartrum, his uncle and Buffalo assistant.

When asked about the transition and leaving family behind, Clohecy merely gives a glancing blow of an answer that showcases just how loyal the 175-pounder is to his mindset of attacking the next challenge that comes his way.

"I don't have anyone else here," Clohecy said. "But I'm here and that's what matters."

It's safe to assume Joe Cummings is sure glad Clohecy is here, too.

The first-year head coach of the VHS wrestling program still remembers when he first met Clohecy, as the then-rising senior attended a summertime camp hosted by the Buffalo Stampeders youth wrestling club.

"You saw with how hard he worked and carried himself that he was not only a high-level wrestler, but he was also a high-level character kid," Cummings recalls. "You can tell right away that he was someone who took the sport seriously and had all the qualities of a good leader."

Clohecy continued to attend a few youth wrestling workout sessions throughout this past summer, before Cummings received quite the surprise as he took attendance one morning last August as a physical education teacher at VHS.

"He came walking through the doors one morning, and it was like, 'OK, that's some good news,'" Cummings said with a laugh. "You just couldn't help but be excited."

And Clohecy has given Cummings and everyone associated with the Buffalo wrestling program plenty to be excited about — on and off the mat.

In the classroom, Clohecy has pulled together a 3.6 GPA through a rigorous course load in the Engineering Academy at VHS. His future plans include majoring in biomedical engineering, with hopes to design and create prosthetic limbs for amputee athletes.

"There's athletes who've lost arms or legs, and they're just kind of shunned away from competing in sports again," said Clohecy, who has been accepted to Iowa State University. "I want to be able to build working prosthetics so they can continue their dreams of playing sports. Nobody should have to stop just because they lost a limb."

Clohecy has also been a shining representative of the Buffalo wrestling program throughout the community, as evident by his steadfast participation in the Buffalo Stampeders youth wrestling circuit.

"You can count on one hand the number of times he's missed helping out and volunteering with our youth program since he's been here, and that's three days a week," Cummings said. "The one thing I'll say about (Clohecy) is that he checks all the boxes. Everything you want out of a kid, a leader and a wrestler, he does it and he has it. When you've got the intangibles like he does, it's just so much more enjoyable to coach a kid like that."

And then, of course, there is the wrestling — and there's been plenty of good wrestling.

Clohecy has stepped on the mat 55 times this season and came away victorious in each of them. He's scored bonus points in every single bout he's wrestled, as well, tallying a total of 38 pins, 10 technical falls, three major decisions and four wins via forfeit.

"There's been plenty of moments this year where you can see a look in his opponent's eyes, where they've just got to be thinking, 'What kind of monster just stepped on the mat with me?'" Cummings said. "His style and the way he wrestles, it's just so fun to watch and coach. It's so aggressive and he pushes the pace so hard, there's plenty of moments where even you're impressed as his coach."

Those points are echoed — and often physically felt — by Clohecy's closest teammate and sparring partner, David Mooney. 

"It's almost impossible to keep up with him," the 165-pound Mooney said of Clohecy. "You have to mentally put yourself on that same level as him. If you do that, maybe you have a chance to wrestle with him … but good luck."

Mooney said there's been multiple times this season where his own preparation and focus at an event has been distracted simply because of the awe that Clohecy brings when he steps on the mat.

"Every single time he wrestles, he just amazes you," Mooney said. "He gets better every single time and he doesn't ever stay the same. No matter how successful he's been, he's still progressing and improving every time he steps out there."

The entire state of Florida has to be amazed now, too, as Clohecy roared through the Class 1A state tournament with ease through its first two days.

He opened his states run with a pin in just :29 seconds over Jefferson Senior's Angel Gonzalez on Thursday, before following with another pin — this one requiring an extra two seconds (:31) — over Mater Lakes' Darian Vargas in the quarterfinals on Friday morning.

A 13-3 major decision victory over Xavier Barnhart (St. John Neumann) in the semifinals late Friday afternoon sent Clohecy into today's state final against Moore from South Walton in the Florida Panhandle. In each match in Kissimmee thus far, Clohecy has scored a first-period takedown and set the tone en route to a convincing win.

"It's very important (to score first) because you kind of score some mental points," Clohecy explained. "And the more mental points you can score, the more broken they get, and the better you'll feel."

And feeling good about the way he approaches today's state final is how Clohecy said he can separate himself not only today for a gold medal, but in whatever match life throws at him next.

"My philosophy is always going to be doing whatever I can to make sure I have the best chance to win," Clohecy said. "It doesn't matter how you win, it's just that you win. You stay locked in and focused on whatever it is you need to do to overcome any adversity you might face — and you win."


Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment via email at cody.hills@tvcs.org.