Wrestlers don’t go through a season unscathed. It is a sport, Clint Coulter says, that tests ones will on a daily basis.
The Union High School sophomore passed more tests than most during the 2009-10 season. He won 39 of the 40 matches he wrestled. He took first place in three prestigious tournaments: the Pac Coast, the Clark County Championships, and the Mat Classic.
At that state tournament in Tacoma, Coulter shook off a significant ankle injury to complete his state championship quest. For all of those reasons, Coulter is The Columbian’s All-Region wrestler of the year.
What was your most memorable moment of the season? “Most memorable would have to be the Clark County tournament. That’s a prestigious tournament every season, for every wrestling team. We were good enough this year to take the title and I got an individual title as well, along with Dillon Thomas and two other team captains, Ricky Simon and Preston Hu. That was just a great victory for the team.”
How did you get your start in wrestling? “My dad (Cliff) wrestled in high school (for Camas), so as soon as I was born he was thinking, ‘When am I going to get him going?’ As a 4-year-old he thought it might be the time to do it. Actually, the first match I wrestled, I bit the kid. After that I think I took a month or so off until I maybe grew up a little bit. Ever since then, there was no more biting.”
MMA or WWF? “MMA, for sure. I get teased that WWF is real wrestling. MMA for sure.” He said he watches MMA pay-per-view events.
Favorite teacher? John Godinho. “At lunch we go to his classroom and get into some pretty intense chess games. Wrestlers, you wouldn’t think are thinkers, but we get after it pretty hard. Nobody ever beats (Godinho) though, rarely ever. I tied him yesterday. That was an accomplishment.”
Have you met any famous people? Before a Mariners’ game in Seattle last year, Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was eating at the same restaurant as Coulter and friends. Clint is a Red Sox fan, and recognized the slugger.
“We went up and shook his hand and wished him good luck.”
What advice would you share with young wrestlers? “Just stick it out. The nights when you feel like, ‘Man, I don’t want to go to practice. I don’t want to do this,’ those are the nights that you especially need to go. Because that’s just like in a match when you’re down and your thinking you can’t win.
“It’s all about getting the mental edge. With wrestling, obviously it’s a physical sport, but a lot of it’s mental, too.”
What’s your reaction to being selected as The Columbian’s All-Region Wrestler of the Year? “It’s an honor. I didn’t know if I was a candidate, because I had that loss at regionals, but I wrestled about the best tournament I could’ve at state. It’s just an honor.”
At the state tournament, was there one match that was particularly challenging? “In the quarterfinals, I was wrestling the guy ranked first instate. I was ahead 5-1, I believe, when I rolled my (left) ankle really bad. I heard this huge pop, For the last minute of the match, I just laid there because I couldn’t do much. But I had the lead so I won the match.
“In the semifinals (the next morning), it was still hurting bad and I couldn’t put weight on it. It was a serious tribulation to go through to get that win. I just wrestled smart, stayed in good position and didn’t try to do too much and got the victory.”
How did you treat the ankle between the quarterfinal on Friday and the Saturday semifinal and finals?
“We did this hydrotherapy. It was just ice it, let it warm up a bit, work it out (and repeat) so it didn’t get stiff. I was in the training room for hours Friday night and Saturday morning.
“I slept with it about a foot above my head with an ice pack on it.”
Had you injured that ankle before? “It was actually the first time I’ve ever done anything to it. I’ve never broken a bone, the one time I did sprain something was when I was little at Southwest Washington Wrestling Club. We were rolling up the mats, and I fell over and my wrist got rolled up in the mat. I didn’t break anything, though. Just tore some ligaments in my wrist.
“But I’ve had over 200 stitches … I was a clumsy kid.”
So pain is no stranger? “Wrestling is a perfect sport for me. I’m used to having something wrong. Never 100 percent (healthy).”
Your only loss came in the regional semifinals. What did you learn from that loss? “I learned not to let guys wrestle with me. It’s not that I had a bad day. I didn’t do anything stupid that lost me the match. It’s just that I didn’t wrestle up to what I could. I let the guy hang around and have the opportunity to beat me, and he took advantage of it.
It was actually a great thing for me to learn. You want it to happen at regionals and not at state.”
What does it mean to you to wrestle at Union High School? “It was awesome to live up to the expectations of Union being a powerhouse in just about everything. We portray a lot of class, I like to think.
“I know that (wrestling coach John) Godinho has us work as a team. We’re always bonding as a team, doing activities. It’s all about being a good person. That’s what we try to portray as a team, that we’re good people as well as good wrestlers. That’s what Union is about.”
What part of your first wrestling experience as a kid got you excited about being a wrestler? “As a kindergartner, I got second at the Reno world tournament, and that really made me love it. It’s hard not to love something you’re good at and you have success at.
“One of the best coaches in the Northwest, Merle Crockett, trained me since I was 4. And my dad was a great high school wrestler, so I’ve just been blessed with all of these opportunities to go to tournaments and to be coached by these elite coaches. So it was more about taking advantage of what I was given, and having fun with it.”
Who are the coaches who most influenced you? In addition to UHS head coach John Godinho, and Southwest Washington Wrestling Club coach Merle Crockett, Coulter credits former teammate Quonah Briggs, a sixth-place state finisher at 215 pounds in 2009, for helping him become a state champion. Briggs was a volunteer assistant coach for the Titans this winter.
“He gave just as much time as any of the other coaches, without being paid, pretty much just for me. I owe a lot of my success to him. After every match we’d analyze what I needed to work on, little things he saw. Then we’d go practice and he’d beat me up. We had a good old time.”
What is one thing that someone might be surprised to learn about you? “A lot of people probably wouldn’t imagine that baseball is my first sport, that I’m even better at.”
Coulter, who plays catcher for Union, said he has been contacted by most of the Pac-10 college baseball programs.
“That’s really what I want to do in life, is play some pro ball. At least get my college paid for would be nice.”
What’s a big goal that remains for you in wrestling? “To be a three-time state champion is my main goal. And to defend my championships in the Pac Coast and Clark County (tournaments). Not just personally, but a main goal is to place at state and maybe by my senior year to win state as a team.
“We had a few (team) goals this year. Our first goal was to win Clark County. We thought we had the talent and the camaraderie as a team to take the title. Another goal was to be undefeated league and district champs. Our last goal, which we fell just short of, was to place at state. We were just a few points away. We placed fifth.”
What is a goal you have outside of wrestling? “Junior year’s coming up. That’s when you can sign a letter of intent for colleges. I don’t know where I’m going to go. It’ll be somewhere D-I, I believe, and on the West Coast. You never know I’m keeping my options open.”
No chance you’ll wrestle in college? “I think about the only way I would wrestle in college is if my baseball career was (over). Baseball you can even get paid …”
Would you consider giving MMA a try if baseball doesn’t work out? “I don’t know if my mom could handle that (laughs). … I would obviously enjoy it. I’m a pretty violent guy. But I don’t know about that. I’m pretty smart, too (3.7 GPA), so I don’t know if banging up my head is worth it. But I know I’d enjoy that.”
What’s your guilty pleasure when you’re trying to maintain weight for a wrestling match? “I have weird cravings. Sometimes I’ll want chocolate. But then, when I’m really hungry, I’ll want Gatorade. Chocolate and Gatorade. I don’t know why. The sweet gets me satisfied, and then the hydration gets me satisfied.”
Do you get nervous before a big match? “I don’t get nervous, because I’ve wrestled so much — probably over 700 matches. But I get anxious. My mouth will get dry. I’ll get thirsty. I just want to get out there and show my stuff.”
What is one thing about wrestling that most people don’t understand? “The time that goes into it. You go through a 2½ to 3-hour practice and then you have to go home and do school work. And sometimes you’ve got to wake up the next morning and run. During school, you’ve got to focus and maintain good grades. With all of that, you’ve got your life problems.
“Wrestling wears you down mentally and physically. Like Coach (Godinho) said, he’d hire about any wrestler because he’s got work ethic, and good qualities in life.”
Any hobbies? “I’m not a big video gamer. I watch my fair share of Family Guy and South Park. And, of course, ESPN.”
“I like getting on the (riding) lawn mower and sitting in the sun. You drive by the house in the summer, you’ll probably see me out there on the mower if I’m not at a baseball game.”
You don’t play football. Why not? “I played in middle school. But the potential of me getting hurt is a little too high. And I don’t think I’m good enough to play professional football. I haven’t put the time in. I don’t deserve to be a professional football player, so I don’t want to risk getting hurt and risking my other sports — even though I’d love to do it.”
Coulter said he is approaching 6 feet, 3 inches in height. His natural weight is between 195 and 200 pounds.
Are you still growing? “Hopefully not my feet. I wear a size 14 shoe. I don’t want those to get any bigger. I already can’t find shoes.”
