By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



HUNTSVILLE — Experience is a great teacher. In 2007, Mortimer Jordan’s Rob Glenn reached the 5A, 189-pound championship semi-finals, where he lost to eventual champion Tripp Otis, 10-6. According to Glenn the loss let him know exactly what he needed to know to reach his goal of a state title.

“I reached the semi-finals here last year,” Glenn said. “I knew what I needed to improve on to get back here and win my own title. I knew how good I was and how good I had to be to win the title this year. When you reach state and wrestle there, you learn what you need to do to be a champion.”

On Saturday, Glenn won his state title when he whipped Fort Payne’s Dillian Hilyer, 11-4 in the 189-pound championship match.

Glenn was the aggressor from the beginning, scoring on a takedown only 24 seconds into the match. After Hilyer scored on an escape, Glenn pushed the lead to 7-1 by end of the first period with a escape, a reverse and another takedown.

Glenn lead 9-4 when he scored another takedown in the third period to push the score to 11-4 with just over a minute left.

With 37 seconds to go, the referee called for a break. As Glenn stood up, he took at look at the scoreboard. A grin came across his face.

“At the time, I was thinking to myself, no mistakes and if I didn’t do anything stupid, I’d have it,” he said. “He had been grabbing for my head and coach kept telling me not let him get the head and roll me.”

Glenn credits new Mortimer Jordan head coach Terry Tingle with much of the improvement that allowed him to reach his goal.

“Coach Tingle taught us a lot of new moves this year and he really killed us in practice the week before sectionals,” Glenn said. “And this match (the state finals) is why. It was so I could win this match. “

Glenn set a tough pace for himself since last year’s state tourney and according to the senior, it was also big factor in the way his career ended.

“My first goal this year was to get to state and then once I was here, to win state,” Glenn said. “I really drove myself since last year to make myself better. I kept pushing each day in practice to get better. I knew I had to keep pushing to get back here and have a chance to end my senior year by winning state.”

Glenn’s win made him the second Mortimer Jordan Blue Devil to win a individual state title, missing out by about 30 minutes, as teammate Brandon Brindley won the school’s first title in the 103-pound final.