Southmoreland grad Jaden Datz finds long-awaited success with W&J wrestling
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He could’ve been impatient. Instead, Jaden Datz showed discipline.
For the former Southmoreland High School multi-sport star, who is the top winner this season for the Washington & Jefferson College wrestling team, his patience has paid off after he endured a long period of heartache and sweat.
A senior, Datz is set to graduate in the spring after a turbulent sports career at Division III W&J, interrupted periodically by injuries and covid-19.
“He’s put in a significant amount of work here,” W&J coach Tommy Prairie said. “He’s just a kid that likes to compete. A big thing with him is you get the same version every day. He comes in, works and is excited to be here.
“Every day.”
With his first full season of NCAA competition about end, Datz enters next week’s scheduled Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships among the favorites at 174 pounds.
Datz enrolled at W&J with the intent to play football after enjoying time on the gridiron as a two-way player at quarterback and safety at Southmoreland.
But his development was delayed by a torn labrum suffered that summer in an American Legion baseball game.
Datz passed on potential surgery and rehabbed the injury in time to begin workouts at midseason of his freshman year.
He also saw limited action with the W&J wrestling team.
As a sophomore, Datz broke his right hand when he got it caught between two helmets and missed the rest of the football season. He continued to work out with the wrestling team that winter.
It was then he shifted his focus fulltime to the sport, where, at Southmoreland, his four-year record was 117-43 at 170, 182 and 195 with a fifth-place finish at 170 in the PIAA championships as a senior in 2018.
Datz twice was a WPIAL runner-up.
“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “Especially during the season. I’d have a lot of friends going to Seven Springs, and they’d want me to go. I can still hear my dad (George) saying, ‘You’re not going to be good if you’re not putting in extra time.’
“I never much went to Seven Springs.”
With football out of the picture, Datz missed his junior year on the mats at W&J when the team didn’t compete because of covid-19.
It was another heartbreaking moment for Datz, who said he likely will retire from the sport at season’s end.
But it doesn’t mean he won’t remember the year — and career — he’s put together.
“My mentality made me put things into a different perspective,” said Datz, a Ruffs Dale native. “I realized very quickly to take advantage of every opportunity.”
Datz recently earned a fourth PAC Wrestler of the Week Award with a pin and two major decisions in three matches. He takes a 23-3 record into the PAC Championships, an eight-man, double-elimination bracket tournament Feb. 12 at Waynesburg’s Marisa Fieldhouse.
Seedings will be revealed Feb. 10.
“I’ve tried to enjoy every moment of it,” Datz said.
Just the same, he’s not planning on taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility provided by the NCAA to return next season following lost time during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve already completed my major (in business administration),” said Datz, 22. “Initially, I wanted to go to dental school, but I didn’t get the pre-requisites I needed. I’m trying to take it all in and enjoy it now. I know its going to be gone in a couple of months.”
Perhaps there will be regrets?
“I know guys a little older than me who would love to go back and do it again,” Datz said.
Of the PAC’s 12 member schools, just three — Thiel, Waynesburg and W&J — sponsor wrestling.
Teams will be permitted to enter two wrestlers in each of the 10 weight classes ranging from 125 to 285 pounds, and selected starters will be eligible for a seeding.
Byes will be placed randomly in brackets.
Wrestlers from the same team will be placed on opposite sides of each bracket, and backups will be placed in a bracket opposite the seeded starter.
Matches leading to the finals will be held simultaneously on three mats with the finals to take place on a central mat.
The highest point scorer in each weight class will be used from each team with place-winners receiving eight points for first, five for second, four for third and one for fourth.
Wherever Datz is placed in his bracket, he said he envisions the moment of stepping onto the mat as freezing in time.
“No matter the outcome,” he said, “I’m thankful for the rewarding finish.”