EDWARDSVILLE – Mason Taylor had an excellent senior year for Edwardsville's wrestling team that just concluded its season, though he couldn't advance to the IHSA Class 3A individual state tournament at 160 pounds due to an injury default loss at the individual sectional tournament in suburban Chicago.
Taylor fought through his injury throughout the season and contributed to the Tigers' 24-3 dual-meet record which included the Southwestern Conference title and the team title at the Class 3A Quincy Regional, as well as good showings in tournaments throughout the year.
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Taylor got interested in wrestling while he was a student at Lincoln Middle School, where his PE teacher, Chris Jordan, was also the school's wrestling coach. “My wrestling coach from middle school was my PE teacher, and he told me about wrestling,” Taylor said, “and I just got done with basketball after I was in fifth grade. I wasn't doing any sports, and my dad wanted me to keep playing sports because I had done sports my whole life.
“I didn't have anything else to do, so I just started wrestling.”
Taylor had a small idea of wrestling at the school level was like thanks to the Edwardsville High program. “I kind of knew what wrestling was because of the high school,” Taylor said, “but I had a very small idea; I hadn't seen any of it because it's still not a popular sport whatsoever.
“They used to do wrestling units in PE, but they stopped doing that, so coach Jordan a couple of videos of wrestling in PE one day at school, and it looked interesting.”
When most people think of wrestling, though, they may think of the “sports entertainment” version of wrestling that's shown by organizations like the WWE or of the classic St. Louis television staple “Wrestling at the Chase”.
When people ask about wrestling at this level, Taylor said “I really don't try to explain it to them; very few people understand it. The only way you can really understand it is if you watch it. Most people nowadays at the high school know about it and care about it because they have a much better idea of what it is because they have meets at the high school, and a lot them go to the meets.”
To be successful with a program like Edwardsville's requires much from the participants, especially many sacrifices. “The biggest sacrifice was time,” Taylor said. “Every day after school, every day during the summer, it really takes up a good chunk of your time and it takes away things like social activities, stuff like that. In the end, it's worth it.”
Taylor will not wrestle in college; he plans on attending Mississippi State to major in computer science.
But the lessons learned on the mat will serve Taylor well in years to come, he feels. “It's taught me a lot; it's taught me that life is going to be extremely hard and there's not really a whole lot you can do but face the obstacles you're given,” Taylor said, “and find ways around them and find ways to beat those obstacles.”
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