YOUNG CHAMPIONS Daton Fix on a roll
by Gary Abbott USA Wrestling is deep into its spring international season on all levels, and one of the most prominent athletes so far this year has been a curly-haired fireball from Oklahoma who wrestles with inten- sity and always seems to be smiling. Daton Fix, a 2015 UWW Cadet World
bronze medalist, continues to improve and is making a big splash moving up to the UWW Junior age level. In April and May of 2016, Fix won three big events and showed that he is looking for even bigger things in the next stage of his career. This is a kid with a lot of confi- dence, a willingness to work hard at practice, and the ability to put points up on the scoreboard. His first big performance came at the
UWW Junior Nationals in Las Vegas in April, where he won a title for the second straight year. In the championship match, he defeated Gavin Teasdale of Pennsylvania, falling behind early but pulling out a 6-5 win with a strong sec- ond period. Both were on the 2015 UWW Cadet World Team, Teasdale at 50 kg and Fix at 54 kg. “Today I wrestled some tough oppo-
nents, a couple of college kids and a tough high school kid. I went out there,
got to my shots and kept to my offense,” said Fix. Fix is down to his best weight class,
after competing up in weight during the high school season. He is now testing himself against guys his own size. “Wrestling up taught me a lot. I had to
finish my shots better because those guys were a lot bigger. It actually helped me to wrestle bigger guys. My own size guys are a little bit quicker, but it’s just wrestling,” he said. The win allowed him to become one of
the four UWW Junior champions to wres- tle against Iran at the Beat the Streets Gala in Times Square on May 19, the first time age-group international athletes had that opportunity. Because he is the lightest of the Juniors, Fix was tabbed to wrestle the first match for the U.S. Junior team. “It will be amazing to wrestle in front of
all those people. I will be the first Junior athlete to wrestle in the Main Event which is something that nobody else will be able to say,” he said beforehand. “I have to be offense. In the finals in the tournament in Vegas, I kind of held back a little bit. I like to go out there and score
Continued on page 31
Daton Fix controls Austin Gomez in the UWW Junior World Team Trials finals series in Irving, Texas. Jim Thrall photo.
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