CNO Sports...
CNO Male Athlete of the Month
Edwards pins the competition in January
By George Starks  

February 1, 2012 

GREENVILLE - Greenville senior Jon Edwards has long been in the Wave wrestling program. 

In the month of January, Edwards went undefeated, notching an 18-0 record with seven pins, seven tech. falls and four decisions. He also finished first in the 152 pound weight class at the Troy, Woodlawn and Miami Trace invitationals. 

He recently passed his brother Dan for fifth place in takedowns in a season as a Wave grappler with 169. Daniel had 164 in 2010. Edwards also passed Jeremy DePoy for third place with 221 near falls and is currently right behind Evan Warner with a career record of 152-34. Warner has one more win but six more losses in his career. 

“Getting past my brother is big for me. Dan is the oldest and he comes in and works with me,” said Edwards. “It has always been very competitive at my house because both of my brothers wrestle and I’m the youngest. Ben is the middle brother and I have learned so much from them. I watched them when I was in junior high and learned a lot just watching them. They taught me to just be the best I could be.” 

Both Dan and Ben are wrestling at Wright State. According to Edwards, Dan comes to a lot of practices and wrestles him in practice while Ben encourages him along the way also. 

“Ben goes to a lot of my matches and keeps me on my game,” Edwards said. “We wrestle and I love the competitive spirit between us. He keeps me on my toes.” 

Edwards has suffered just one loss this season, that coming at the Holiday Tournament at Wright State University in December. 

“The kid that beat me was from Georgia and he was third at state in Georgia last year,” said Edwards. “He beat me 5-4 in a decision that day.” 

Wrestling since the age of four, Edwards got involved with the school’s program when he started to attend East elementary under Jeff Shilt. 

“I give a lot of credit to my success to coach Shilt,” said Edwards. “Jeff taught me a lot at a young age.” 

“Coach Shutts is the best,” Edwards continued. “I don’t know where I would be without him.” 

As a freshman, Edwards got to state and finished eighth. He’s not been back since but like many others, his goal is to win it all at state. 

“I was Athlete of the Week for the newspaper but to be picked over all of the athletes for the whole month is huge,” Edwards said. “I’ve worked hard and it shows the hard work has paid off for me.”