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HOCKINSON — It doesn’t matter if he’s on a wrestling mat, the football field or the seat of a dragster going from zero to 100 in 10 seconds.
Cameron Loos doesn’t like to sit still.
That’s what makes the Hockinson’s junior’s story somewhat ironic. The best thing he did for his wrestling career was to sit out for a year.
After taking last season off, Loos is now the Class 2A regional championship at 220 pounds. He’ll try to become a state champion at Mat Classic, which takes place Friday and Saturday at The Tacoma Dome.
“I was mentally tired,” Loos said. “I got my mind reset. That helped so much because wrestling is really a mental sport.”
Hockinson coach Ralph Bever noticed an immediate change in Loos.
“There was a lightness about being on the mat,” he said. “I could tell he enjoyed being back wrestling.”
Loos has been wrestling and winning since age 4. His family still keeps a bracket from a preschool tournament that he won.
But as he grew, other activities began pulling his interest. A tight end on the Hockinson football team, Loos has the 6-foot-3 frame and high grade-point average to draw interest from Harvard, among others.
But drag racing was the activity that drew him back to wrestling, albeit on a circuitous route.
Loos’ father, Thomas has raced dragsters for several years. He tried to introduce his on to the sport in middle school, but Cameron was too big to fit in the cab of a junior dragster.
He took racing up avidly this past summer and became the National Hot Rod Association High School Division champion for the Northwest region.
“The connection between me and my dad, it’s special,” Loos said. “To have someone support you in everything you do, not many people have that chance.”
Wrestling is the only other sport in which Loos feels that connection. His older brothers David and Steven both wrestled, with Steven earning two top-five medals at Mat Classic.
“My freshman year, I didn’t really give one-hundred percent in everything I did,” Loss said. “I learned a couple lessons taking last year off. I grew up a little bit and found out what things mean to me. … “Every day my whole family gave me crap. They knew all along that I was special at it.”
He also learned to embrace being nervous before a match.
“I love that feeling,” he said. “I think drag racing and wrestling are the same. Before you race someone, you get nervous.”
Bever said Loos’ calm demeanor can be deceiving.
“He’s got an air of confidence without being prideful,” he said. “He has a calmness, but there’s a beast inside.”
Loos realized the value in pursuing a goal, even though it might be difficult. That made wrestling worth returning to.
“This right now will help me later in life,” Loos said. “I’ll be you there will be hundreds of times when I’ll have tough problems or decisions. I can dig deep down when I need to.”
