The Stateliner junior earned a fourth-place medal at the Cadet National championships.
Brian Meyer might be onto something with this freestyle wrestling thing.
The Phillipsburg junior hadn't really figured on attending the USA Wrestling Cadet Freestyle national championships in Fargo, N.D.
But after he came away from the tournament with a fourth-place finish, Meyer was glad he did.
"I didn't really plan on going," Meyer said. "I stumbled on the (state) freestyle tournament and I thought I'd give it a shot. I had two freestyle practices before I went to states. I wanted to do freestyle rather than Greco-Roman because freestyle is mostly about being on your feet and that's where my strength is."
That showed, Meyer finished second in the state freestyle tournament at 145 pounds to Ricky Cabanillas of Bergen Catholic, and then bore down for Fargo.
"I wrestled a lot of freestyle after states and I sort of started to get a feel for it," he said. "Once I started training before Fargo I felt pretty confident going to Fargo."
Meyer said he liked the setup at the FargoDome from the beginning.
"It's pretty cool," he said. "It's run really smoothly and the competition level is what I expected - everybody is really strong."
Meyer won five straight bouts at 145 at Fargo, including a 10-6 win over Cadet Greco-Roman champion Dawon Andrews of Arizona and a 7-6 defeat of Minnesota's Devin Roberts in a quarterfinal.
"Throughout most of the tournament I was getting in on my shots and my strategy was working," he said. "I think when I am wrestling my best I can hang with anybody on my feet, and I think I am strong on defense. I really felt good about beating (Andrews); if that's not my best win ever it's up there."
Meyer's run ended in the semifinals where he fell 10-0 (a technical fall in freestyle) to eventual champion Jared Franek of North Dakota.
"He dumped me right at the start and there wasn't much wrestling," Meyer said.
But Meyer bounced back by defeating Greco-Roman runner-up Abe Assad of Illinois 10-0 in the consolations before falling 14-4 in the third-place bout to Baylor Fernandes of Illinois.
"I think the tournament made me feel more confident and showed how important it was to be in good position," Meyer said. "When I kept myself in good position I didn't get thrown. And it helped me to be mentally prepared to wrestle four or five matches in a really tough competition."
Meyer would recommnend the whole experience to anybody.
"Absolutely," he said. "A lot of what you do in freestyle transitions well to folkstyle; it definitely helps you get better. Any kid that wants to try and get better should wrestle freestyle."
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.