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Wrestling - Vanquishing the Monster: Glenn Carson Story
publication date: Mar 9, 2009
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author/source: Scott Stump
By Scott Stump - Managing Editor
E-mail: stump@allshoremedia.com
ATLANTIC CITY - The demons residing in the head of Southern senior 215-pounder Glenn Carson after two straight runner-up finishes in the state finals had grown so palpable that they had taken on a life of their own.
"It was like a monster staring in my face every time I woke up and every time I went to sleep,'' Carson said. "I was thinking I was one match away from being a state champ, and the only way to erase it was to come here today through injuries, through getting a (football) scholarship and still coming out for the wrestling team, and finish it. This was the only way to eliminate the monster that's been haunting me my whole life.''
 | | Southern senior Glenn Carson breathed a sigh of relief after finally capturing the 215-pound state title after two straight runner-up finishes. |
That's why when Carson polished off a 3-1 victory over Highland's Joey Grisko to the roar of the crowd at Boardwalk Hall at Sunday's NJSIAA Individual Championships, it was more a giant exhale than a jubilant celebration for the best male athlete in Southern school history. His Penn State football career could wait, because Sunday was all about sending some of the voices in his head packing for good.
"It was a beast of burden on me,'' he said. "It felt like 1,000 pounds on my shoulders all the time.''
And to think, the monster nearly swallowed him alive before he could even step foot in Boardwalk Hall this past weekend.
On Wednesday night of last week, Carson (23-0) was staring at the ceiling of a hospital bed, wondering if maybe it just wasn't meant to be. A paralyzing flu had ravaged his body so badly on Tuesday that he could not even dress himself and was vomiting to the point that he was taken to the hospital and given intravenous therapy. In that moment, the demons nearly finally overwhelmed him.
"I'm laying there, IV hooked up to me thinking, 'Am I going to be able to do this? Am I going to be able to compete?'' he said.
"I really felt that his chances of even competing were done, but he came
back, which was incredible,'' said his father, Glenn Carson Sr. "I'm just so proud and so happy for him.''
Carson was discharged from the hospital at 3 a.m. on Wednesday and slowly began to regain some strength before kicking off the final tournament of his life on Friday. Despite missing about half the season because of a back injury suffered during football season, he entered as the clear favorite. He also entered without really having practiced for nearly a week because of the illness and a snowstorm earlier in the week.
"I felt last year I was the best in the state, but you still have to
come here to prove it to everyone and perform,'' he said. "I feel like there's a
gap between me and my opponents, but I still have to prove it. I knew I was the best, but
I still had to prove it, and that's a lot of pressure.'' | | A second-period takedown by Glenn Carson (in black) was all it took to secure a 3-1 victory of Highland's Joey Grisko in the final at 215. |
Even the old building itself was filled with the ghosts of failures past for Carson.
"It was hard for me to even come into the Boardwalk Hall because I had
those memories,'' he said. "I was definitely more nerve-wracked
coming in because I had those bad memories bottled up in my
mind that just don't go away.''
Carson breezed into the semifinals with a pair of pins, but looking visibly tight, he had to fight off the upset bid of Delbarton's Bob Grogan, whom Carson beat with a takedown in overtime, 4-2, to reach his third straight final. Grogan is coached by Ernie Monaco of the Edge School of Wrestling in Martinsville, who also happens to have coached Brearley's Jesse Boyden, who beat Carson, 3-1, in last year's 215-pound final, so Grogan used a similar plan of attack of slowing down the match and nearly pulled it off. However, Carson was not going to be denied.
His opponent in the final, Grisko, was a wrestler whom he had already beaten 7-2 this season.
"I beat him 7-2 early in the season,
but anything can happen here in Atlantic City,'' Carson said.
"I told him that a lot of people don't get an opportunity for a second chance, let alone a third chance,'' his father said. "There were demons. It bothered him every day of his life last year.''
After a scoreless first period, Grisko escaped from bottom in the second period before Carson secured the crucial takedown with 18 seconds left in the period that ended up being the difference between finally finishing the job and a loss that he might not have been able to handle. After the final horn in the third period, he rose slowly and extended his arms upward, his body deflating now that the piano was off his back.
"It was a sigh of relief,'' he said. "I was really nervous being the top dog in the bracket, and I don't know if my heart could take another upset like that.''
Even though he still has a promising football career ahead of him, his wrestling past may have never left him alone had he not prevailed on Sunday.
"It would have haunted me even more,'' he said. "Taking second three times, that would've never gone away I think, especially for such an emotional competitor like I am. I don't think I'd ever get over that.''
A loss also may have resigned him to thinking that he would always be second best. On the football field, Southern won a school-record 10 games and reached its first sectional final ever in the fall, only to fall just short against undefeated Mainland in the South Jersey Group IV final. The wrestling team also has had numerous runner-up finishes between the Shore Conference, sectional and Group IV tournaments over the last three years.
"There were doubts,'' his father said. "He keeps thinking that, 'Maybe I'm doomed for second,' but he has more in him than that. He made it past all the obstacles he had to hurdle, and he came out a winner.''
And that is something worth remembering every time he wakes up and every time he goes to sleep.
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