Grant Van Horn wrestles everybody as if they're a state champion.

It is the mindset the Mexico junior explains that brought him to the point in his career that he was celebrating his 100th career high school win. Van Horn secured the milestone victory on Tuesday in the North Central Missouri Conference tournament in Moberly when he pinned Fulton’s Braydon Jolly in 45 seconds in his first match of the night.

After that, it was right back to work for Van Horn as he defeated the other four conference wrestlers in front of him to reach 104 career victories. His focus on his opponent resulted in him not being aware of his achievement until he saw his mother holding a sign in the audience.

“At first, I didn’t really know my record and then my mom started holding a sign,” Van Horn said. “The first reaction was confused and then a little bit of excitement. It was kind of relieving to know hard work pays off and to get that 100.”

In the rest of his 157-pound matches, Van Horn also defeated Hannibal’s Koen Ramage via an 8-2 decision and took care of Marshall’s Mason Evans, Kirksville’s Nikalous Jordan and Moberly’s Evan Davis in under six minutes via two pinfalls and a technical fall. 

Van Horn said his strategy for every match has been the same, like it was against every opponent on Tuesday. His mindset of “wrestle hard just like they’re state champ” helped Van Horn record his 100th win quickly against Fulton’s Jolly.

“I wrestled him last year at a Fulton quad,” Van Horn said. “I was expecting a quick shot off the whistle, but that kid was strong so I tried to wrestle out of ties and get my shot off before he did.”

Head coach Gayle Adams said he was definitely aware that Van Horn was about to reach 100 and credits assistant coaches and his former wrestlers Jake Vitale and Jordan Jones for keeping track of those special milestones for wrestlers. Adams said Vitale and Jones reached 100 wins in their career as well so they know how important it is to wrestlers.

Adams knew long before the match that Van Horn was going to reach 100 victories as he has had much confidence in him for years. His confidence in his multiple-time state medalist goes beyond even that.

“We need him to reach that range of 150-170 wins,” Adams said. “We’re definitely going to get 150 wins out of him. Anytime you get 150 wins, you know the kid is doing something right. He’s putting in extra work and he was a winner when he came into the program.”

Adams has coached many great wrestlers in his time leading the Mexico wrestling program, including former career-win record holders Vitale and Jones. That list also includes current record holder and former state champion Terrese Aaron at 178 victories and former state champion Keith Ransom, who is the most recent Bulldog to reach the milestone three years ago.

Concerning Van Horn, Adams said he has the potential to accomplish many more great things like the aforementioned wrestlers because of his approach to wrestling. No matter the opponent, Van Horn doesn’t overlook anyone.

“We’ve been talking to him about wrestling to his ability and not wrestling down to his opponents,” Adams said. “He always steps up when it’s a big-time match. The big thing now is ‘let’s wrestle to your ability every time you go out, let’s go out and score a ton of points, let’s go out and do this and let’s put it all together.’”

Van Horn said pretending every match is his hardest match helps him wrestle his hardest every time and said it is important to stay moving to reinforce defense. This didn’t pop into Van Horn’s head recently as he said this mindset traces back to when he started in third grade.

Back then, Adams was there with Van Horn as well and is the coach Van Horn credits for his winning philosophy. Adams showed up to those youth practices and has been with Van Horn every step of the way.

“He’s made a huge impact staying with the program and staying consistent,” Van Horn said.
“He tries to make the best of what he’s got and tries to preach everything that he knows to make us all better.”

Adams insists Van Horn isn’t done and has lofty aspirations for him, partly because he knows Van Horn is motivated to accomplish even more. He said Van Horn has aimed to be a state champion the past two years and has fallen to lower spots on the podium but believes this season is when he could hit his mark. That doesn’t need to be the end of Van Horn’s career either.

“Grant has a lot of upside on him, and a lot of good things are going to come from it,” Adams said. “I’ve got a lot of connections after high school for colleges so I just have to reach out to some coaches and make sure what he wants to study in college. We’re not going to sell him short. We want college to have a good outcome for him.”

Van Horn definitely isn’t overlooking this season when it comes to his future. As usual, he won’t take anyone lightly but is confident in his abilities.

“I’d love to see myself in the state finals. That’s my goal,” Van Horn said. “I’m not humble, but I am at the same time.”