The final athlete we want to highlight from last year is Glacier Peak’s Connor Aney. He was also the KRKO Russell & Hill Male Student Athlete of the Month for February.
When Aney was a freshman in 2022, he finished runner-up in the 285-pound weight class at Mat Classic XXXIII. He not only returned to the podium his sophomore, junior and senior seasons, he outright claimed the 4A title each year, concluding his high school wrestling career with a 37-2 record, including 27 pins. Aney was also honored twice as an All-American at the USA Tournament, held in Fargo, North Dakota. Off the mat, Aney starred on the gridiron for the Grizzlies and received All-State and All-Wesco offensive lineman honors, and he is currently playing football at Central Washington University and majoring in special education.
In this interview, Aney discussed his wrestling journey at Glacier Peak and his excitement for playing one of his favorite sports at a local institution.
SCSC: What’s drawn you to the sport of wrestling?
Aney: My dad started a club when I was 4, Bad Draw Wrestling Club in Glacier Peak. Him and my uncle started that when I was little, and then I’m just kind of going in, rolling around on the mats. And ever since then, I just kind of fell in love with it. I took a break around middle school, just kind of got a little burnt out. But then I came back and ended up falling in love with it again. It was always in the family, so I thought I’d do it too.
SCSC: Was there a specific moment in your wrestling career where you were like, ‘I want to take this seriously. I want to build my body so that I can last into the overtime matches’?
Aney: There’s a couple moments that I have because the one that kind of set me apart was the semis freshman year, but I think the one that kind of made me realize like, ‘Dang, you’re going to have to commit to this if this is what you’re going to be doing all the time,’ was sophomore state. That finals match I was so tired after, and I just never wanted to do that again. So the past two seasons, and I ended up doing it this year, I just wanted to make sure I was in good shape as a bigger dude going into that tournament so I can go deep. But that’s when I kind of realized, ‘OK. You kind of have to step it up a little bit and do stuff on your own.’
SCSC: What specifically did coach Bryan Mossburg work with you on after your freshman year to transition you into the wrestler you were for the next three years as a state champion?
Aney: I think it’s the mentality. I don’t think many places have the mentality that he does. And he looks like a little dude, but no, he’s scary. He whooped my ass so many times. It’s a mentality. He focuses on the little things. And it’s not always technique. It’s just doing your little movements. It’s focusing on your breathing, other little stuff, just like mental work. So I think that’s where he kind of excelled me in wrestling is because he pushed me in a different way. It wasn’t all just go, go, go, you need to be conditioned. It was like, ‘Check in, tune yourself up,’ and then you’re good.
SCSC: What’s your pre-match routine?
Aney: I have a little routine. I’ll be up in the stands because we take awhile to wrestle. My first match is like three or four hours after the tournament starts, which I hate. Usually, I take a little nap or two. I’ll walk around in my street shoes. Actually, I get asked a lot at tournaments like, ‘Are you wrestling today?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ And they’re like, ‘Why you have your street shoes on?’ I just walk around in them because it’s super bad to walk around in those wrestling shoes. They’re super flat. It’s just bad for your feet. I’ll go get some fresh air, get a little bite to eat. But I usually don’t eat to where I’m full. I like being a little hungry. … My dad said, ‘Which lion hunts better: the hungry one or the full one?’ I was like, ‘Obviously the hungry one.’ So that’s where I kind of got that from. And then when they get to the 190 weight class, I go walk around, put my shoes on, go outside, just take a breath, be by myself for a little bit, clear my head, just kind of start thinking about what’s going to happen and getting prepared. And then I listen to music, do a couple sprints, and then we’re good. Walk out.
SCSC: What do you do to balance your academics and wrestling?
Aney: Honestly, I think it’s just consistency. Sometimes it’s like, ‘Dang, don’t want to wake up for school. I don’t want to do this.’ But it’s like, ‘Kind of have to.’ Because school is first, and you got to remember why you’re there: to get an education. That’s why it’s student, athlete. But I think just consistency and keep your head up, and when it gets hard, you just got to do it.
SCSC: You’ve taken this sport out of the state. What are the tournaments like Fargo like compared to the Mat Classic (state)?
Aney: Fargo is like the Super Bowl of wrestling. That is the toughest tournament. That is where everyone goes. Every match you get there is going to be a tough kid. They’re the best of the best from their state. You have to qualify for that tournament by winning. You’re taking first or second at your state-qualifier tournaments. And then there’s also a regional tournament that you could go to. If you take third or better, then you could qualify and get on the national team. So you’re not getting a nobody from Alaska. You’re getting an Alaska state champ, or else you’re getting Florida’s second place (wrestler). It’s crazy. And I think going to that tournament and just seeing everyone in one place, it’s pretty magical, to be honest, because you got kids you never thought you’d be talking to from Ohio or Kentucky. And it’s just a great time.
SCSC: You were an All-State offensive lineman. What about football helped you for wrestling or vice versa?
Aney: I think it’s the wrestling that helped me with football. Honestly, there’s some points where football, it’s not that I didn’t take it seriously, it was just when wrestling came around, I was more like about my health, go to stay on weight, this, that. I think just all the wrestling conditioning, it’s a different sport. And we do crazy stuff that I don’t think a lot of people can comprehend. … Because they just look at it like, ‘You’re beating the shit out of each other, right?’ It’s just what we do. I think that transitions really well to football because the hand fighting, that’s my favorite thing with football, and I’m pretty good at hand fighting. I think wrestling has helped with that tremendously. Especially in football games when I’m getting tired, it’s like, ‘Alright. I’ve been through way worse stuff.’ And I just snap out of it. … I think wrestling has been a huge factor in football.
SCSC: You’re going to Central Washington University to play football and study special education. Why did you choose Central?
Aney: Staying close to home was a big thing. I always wanted to stay within a couple hours, within a day, at least, so that it’s not crazy. With my grandparents kind of getting a little older, … they mean a lot to me and my family, and we’re super close with our grandparents. So I don’t want to be far away if anything happens. … And if I really miss my parents or anything, I could come home. … Also, it’s a college town. Realistically, there’s nothing going on when school’s not in. It’s a very slow-paced city. There’s everything to eat, a lot of activities to do, like fishing and hunting. So, I think it’s going to be fun. It’s my type of environment.
SCSC: And then with special education, what’s interested you in that?
Aney: Around sophomore year, I met this little kid named Cam, and he’s older than me. I thought he was like a freshman or something, and he has Williams syndrome. He loves PBJs. And he just starts sitting with us at lunch, and eventually, kind of asked me if we wanted to hang out. And so I said, ‘Sure.’ And next thing you know, two, three years later, we hang out almost everyday. He’s one of my best friends. And something about it, just being around him, he’s always the happiest person I’m around. And I think it just makes me happy knowing that he’s a very well-off person. And then on top of it, I’m his caretaker too, so I get to watch him learn and all this different stuff. It’s awesome.
SCSC: If you could look back on these past four years, what would you tell yourself as a freshman?
Aney: Put your head in the dirt and work, just get back to it. There’s a point after state where I was just kind of in my own head. I was like, ‘I don’t know if I should be doing this.’ Because I was still 14. I kind of just got exposed in front of a bunch of people by this grown dude, and now it’s funny because I’m going to go be teammates with him now. And he was just huge at the time, and I couldn’t handle it, and it was just embarrassing. So, I thought that I was done with wrestling, and then that’s what I would told myself, ‘Just work. You’ll be good.’