02-08-2005, 12:49 PM
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Wrestler conquers sport, life
North's Matt Cox, who battles autism, has quickly become a state force
BILL POEHLER
Statesman Journal
February 8, 2005
Not much has come easy for Matt Cox.
Wrestling, though, appears effortless when he is on the mat.
The North Salem High School senior has been wrestling a mere three years, but his athletic ability and desire have enabled him to become one of the best wrestlers in Oregon.
“One thing that Matt has, he has an incredible desire to learn the sport,” said North Salem assistant coach Jay Kaltenbach. “He’s got this thirst.”
Cox has been ranked No. 1 at 215 pounds all year by Richard Rockwell, a high school coach who ranks Oregon wrestlers.
He has a 20-0 record with 17 pins heading into the Valley League district tournament Friday and Saturday at The Pavilion at the Oregon State Fairgrounds.
Cox has faced and conquered a tougher opponent than he ever could face on a mat: autism.
People who talk to him today would never know it, but it’s something Cox struggled with growing up.
“When I was younger, it kept me from learning social skills that were important, when to be quiet when to not make faces, and I also developed small ticks,” Cox said. “They were all on a very small scale.
“I’ll always be autistic and I have weird ways I have to learn. I consider myself a smart person, but in math I have it all the time, I totally get this and the whole class
doesn’t. Then (the teacher) throws something in that’s really easy … and I’m like, ‘What? Everyone else gets it.’”
Autism is a mental disorder that manifests itself in different ways in different people, typically showing up by the age of 3.
Cox said drugs didn’t help him. Rather it was the discipline he received from his mother, Stacey.
Cox is still in the special education program at North Salem, though he doesn’t participate in it any more.
“It’s really a difficult label, but I don’t have any problem letting anybody know because it’s not something that I struggle with any more. I have no qualms about it,” Cox said.
“It’s one of those things I struggled with and you just have to learn to cope with. If you find the right way, it’s not going to be a problem.”
Cox gets much of his toughness and athletic ability from his father, the late Matthew Dean Cox.
His father was a rugby and football player. Cox remembers his father often having broken ribs from his matches.
Cox took up football at an early age and was good enough as a sophomore to make his way onto North Salem’s varsity team.
It wasn’t until Cox’s sophomore year of high school that he finally relented to suggestions from his football coaches and took up wrestling.
“What it came down to was for the eighth-grade and ninth- grade year, they had tried to get me to come out, they were like, ‘Hey, it would be really good for you,’” he said. “I don’t even remember what drove me to do it. I did it, and I liked it.”
When Cox was a freshman, he was a hefty 260 pounds, but through diet and exercise he lost much of the fat and had trimmed down below the
215-pound weight class limit.
“His first dual meet, he weighed 225 and the weight just kept coming off and now he’s at 206,” North Salem coach Brad Edmunds said. “His is a natural shed. He hasn’t cut weight. He’s never had to.
“He works so hard, he kind of has that farm, country boy background, lives on a small piece of property and works real hard.”
Cox has found quick success on the mats.
At the Valley League district tournament his sophomore year, Cox placed fifth, with losses coming to Sprague senior Todd Granum and McKay junior Anthony Marin, both of whom went on to place in the top eight at the state tournament that year.
He was the No. 1 seed in the Valley League district tournament as a junior and beat South Albany’s Mike Keefer in the final seconds to win the Valley League district title.
Still, Cox was unranked.
“As I went through the year, I would go online to look at the rankings. Everyone always said the rankings don’t matter … but it’s so cool to see your name up there,” Cox said.
In the first round of the OSAA Class 4A state tournament, Cox was paired with No. 1 seed Joe Mannix of Canby. That is when he made the state take notice.
Cox pinned Mannix 1:54 into the first round of their match.
“The Mannix guy, he barely made it to state, he was burnt out and that was the difference, and we knew that going in,” Edmunds said.
Cox eventually made it to the state championship match where he was on the losing side of a 9-5 decision to John Bates of Oregon City.
When Cox makes it back to the state tournament — which this year also is at The Pavilion — he will be a No. 1 seed because of his finish last year.
“I think his situation last year makes him not take that for granted because he went up against a No. 1 seed and whoever’s going to get him in the first match, I’m sure that their coach would try to use that for them,” Edmunds said.
Where Cox was the unknown quantity before, he is now the favorite to win the state championship.
“If I was to relax for just a moment, I could end up being the guy that I beat last year,” Cox said. “I could be that guy that gets pinned in the first round because he got too cocky and thought it was going to come straight to him. I’ve been working my butt off as if I was still the unranked guy.”
This year, Cox has been nothing short of dominant.
Of the three opponents
he has failed to pin, two
were heavyweights, including Sprague’s Delvon Frye.
“He pretty much beat us pretty good,” Sprague coach Kary Hadden said. “He did it with his quickness. He was able to figure Delvon out in that first round.
“I think coach Edmunds does a good job of getting him ready. When he wrestled Delvon, he didn’t get frustrated. He was able to figure something out and take advantage of that.”
This has been a banner school year for Cox even before he stepped on the mats.
Cox was an instrumental part of the defense on the Vikings’ football team that reached the state playoffs for the first time since 1992.
Despite missing two games with a shoulder injury, Cox was still enough of a force to be named the Valley League defensive player of the year.
Cox has been as dominant on the mat this year.
“It’s a thing that he’s got, he’s incredibly competitive,” Kaltenbach said. “There’s nobody in the state yet that he’s wrestled that scored an offensive point on him.”
Not only has his reputation as a winner brought him attention, but so has his aggressive style that produces so many pins.
“He’s not going to wait, and that’s how he’s wants to wrestle and that’s how he feels under control,” Edmunds said.
“I think when Matt is on the mat, all eyes are on him because they know that he’s going to bring an entertaining match.”
Cox is trying to become North Salem’s first state champion since Casey Horn won at 126 pounds in 1997.
“I think this year, he’s definitely going to get back to the finals,” Hadden said. “He’s the type of kid, too. I know he’ll take it one match at a time.
“I think he understands what it takes to be a champion.”
Wrestler conquers sport, life
North's Matt Cox, who battles autism, has quickly become a state force
BILL POEHLER
Statesman Journal
February 8, 2005
Not much has come easy for Matt Cox.
Wrestling, though, appears effortless when he is on the mat.
The North Salem High School senior has been wrestling a mere three years, but his athletic ability and desire have enabled him to become one of the best wrestlers in Oregon.
“One thing that Matt has, he has an incredible desire to learn the sport,” said North Salem assistant coach Jay Kaltenbach. “He’s got this thirst.”
Cox has been ranked No. 1 at 215 pounds all year by Richard Rockwell, a high school coach who ranks Oregon wrestlers.
He has a 20-0 record with 17 pins heading into the Valley League district tournament Friday and Saturday at The Pavilion at the Oregon State Fairgrounds.
Cox has faced and conquered a tougher opponent than he ever could face on a mat: autism.
People who talk to him today would never know it, but it’s something Cox struggled with growing up.
“When I was younger, it kept me from learning social skills that were important, when to be quiet when to not make faces, and I also developed small ticks,” Cox said. “They were all on a very small scale.
“I’ll always be autistic and I have weird ways I have to learn. I consider myself a smart person, but in math I have it all the time, I totally get this and the whole class
doesn’t. Then (the teacher) throws something in that’s really easy … and I’m like, ‘What? Everyone else gets it.’”
Autism is a mental disorder that manifests itself in different ways in different people, typically showing up by the age of 3.
Cox said drugs didn’t help him. Rather it was the discipline he received from his mother, Stacey.
Cox is still in the special education program at North Salem, though he doesn’t participate in it any more.
“It’s really a difficult label, but I don’t have any problem letting anybody know because it’s not something that I struggle with any more. I have no qualms about it,” Cox said.
“It’s one of those things I struggled with and you just have to learn to cope with. If you find the right way, it’s not going to be a problem.”
Cox gets much of his toughness and athletic ability from his father, the late Matthew Dean Cox.
His father was a rugby and football player. Cox remembers his father often having broken ribs from his matches.
Cox took up football at an early age and was good enough as a sophomore to make his way onto North Salem’s varsity team.
It wasn’t until Cox’s sophomore year of high school that he finally relented to suggestions from his football coaches and took up wrestling.
“What it came down to was for the eighth-grade and ninth- grade year, they had tried to get me to come out, they were like, ‘Hey, it would be really good for you,’” he said. “I don’t even remember what drove me to do it. I did it, and I liked it.”
When Cox was a freshman, he was a hefty 260 pounds, but through diet and exercise he lost much of the fat and had trimmed down below the
215-pound weight class limit.
“His first dual meet, he weighed 225 and the weight just kept coming off and now he’s at 206,” North Salem coach Brad Edmunds said. “His is a natural shed. He hasn’t cut weight. He’s never had to.
“He works so hard, he kind of has that farm, country boy background, lives on a small piece of property and works real hard.”
Cox has found quick success on the mats.
At the Valley League district tournament his sophomore year, Cox placed fifth, with losses coming to Sprague senior Todd Granum and McKay junior Anthony Marin, both of whom went on to place in the top eight at the state tournament that year.
He was the No. 1 seed in the Valley League district tournament as a junior and beat South Albany’s Mike Keefer in the final seconds to win the Valley League district title.
Still, Cox was unranked.
“As I went through the year, I would go online to look at the rankings. Everyone always said the rankings don’t matter … but it’s so cool to see your name up there,” Cox said.
In the first round of the OSAA Class 4A state tournament, Cox was paired with No. 1 seed Joe Mannix of Canby. That is when he made the state take notice.
Cox pinned Mannix 1:54 into the first round of their match.
“The Mannix guy, he barely made it to state, he was burnt out and that was the difference, and we knew that going in,” Edmunds said.
Cox eventually made it to the state championship match where he was on the losing side of a 9-5 decision to John Bates of Oregon City.
When Cox makes it back to the state tournament — which this year also is at The Pavilion — he will be a No. 1 seed because of his finish last year.
“I think his situation last year makes him not take that for granted because he went up against a No. 1 seed and whoever’s going to get him in the first match, I’m sure that their coach would try to use that for them,” Edmunds said.
Where Cox was the unknown quantity before, he is now the favorite to win the state championship.
“If I was to relax for just a moment, I could end up being the guy that I beat last year,” Cox said. “I could be that guy that gets pinned in the first round because he got too cocky and thought it was going to come straight to him. I’ve been working my butt off as if I was still the unranked guy.”
This year, Cox has been nothing short of dominant.
Of the three opponents
he has failed to pin, two
were heavyweights, including Sprague’s Delvon Frye.
“He pretty much beat us pretty good,” Sprague coach Kary Hadden said. “He did it with his quickness. He was able to figure Delvon out in that first round.
“I think coach Edmunds does a good job of getting him ready. When he wrestled Delvon, he didn’t get frustrated. He was able to figure something out and take advantage of that.”
This has been a banner school year for Cox even before he stepped on the mats.
Cox was an instrumental part of the defense on the Vikings’ football team that reached the state playoffs for the first time since 1992.
Despite missing two games with a shoulder injury, Cox was still enough of a force to be named the Valley League defensive player of the year.
Cox has been as dominant on the mat this year.
“It’s a thing that he’s got, he’s incredibly competitive,” Kaltenbach said. “There’s nobody in the state yet that he’s wrestled that scored an offensive point on him.”
Not only has his reputation as a winner brought him attention, but so has his aggressive style that produces so many pins.
“He’s not going to wait, and that’s how he’s wants to wrestle and that’s how he feels under control,” Edmunds said.
“I think when Matt is on the mat, all eyes are on him because they know that he’s going to bring an entertaining match.”
Cox is trying to become North Salem’s first state champion since Casey Horn won at 126 pounds in 1997.
“I think this year, he’s definitely going to get back to the finals,” Hadden said. “He’s the type of kid, too. I know he’ll take it one match at a time.
“I think he understands what it takes to be a champion.”