Cooksley named Independent's boys athlete of the year

Hadley Cooksley had a tough assignment as a freshman wrestler at Grand Island Northwest.

Cooksley was asked to wrestle against the big boys.

"I was wrestling 275 originally my freshman year," Cooksley said. "The biggest thing is they (opponents) were a lot stronger and more mature than I was. My dad told me I needed to lift more. I started going in every morning to lift before school and I ended up the year going to state."

It was the first of four trips to the state tournament for Cooksley. He finished fifth at 215 as a sophomore and third as a junior.

This past season, Cooksley was a perfect 34-0 before losing to Valentine's Matthew Spain 10-6 in the 285-pound championship match.

Cooksley also had a solid football season for the Vikings and won the Class B state shot put title this spring. For his efforts, Cooksley has been named The Independent's boys area athlete of the year.

Now Cooksley must start all over again as he heads into his career as an NCAA Division I wrestler at Nebraska. Once again, just like when he was a freshman at Northwest, he needs to get stronger.

"I'd like to put on anther 10 pounds or so," Cooksley said. "I weigh about 245 to 250 right now. My biggest thing is to get in shape and put on some good weight. Conditioning will be the hardest part.

"If I weighed about 255, that would be about ideal."

Nebraska coach Mark Manning said Cooksley will redshirt his first season at Nebraska.

"He'll get a lot stronger," Manning said. "That's where he's really going to make some gains this next year. He's going to mature and get a year older. For any guy -- it doesn't matter how big he is -- that's 18 years old, he's not physically ready for guys who are 21 or 22, whether it's football or wrestling.

"In a physical type of sport, they need that year to mature."

Cooksley certainly matured between his junior and senior years at Northwest. In football, he was named to The Independent's All-Heartland Super Squad as a defensive end and will play in the annual Shrine Bowl in July.

"I kind of had some disappointing games in football," Cooksley said. "We didn't have a great season. After state wrestling, I knew I wanted to keep wrestling. It came down to the wire."

In track, he came on strong to set the school record in the shot put at 57 feet, 11 inches before winning the Class B state title.

Cooksley struggled in the shot put until he switched to the "glide" technique as a junior. He finished fifth that year at state behind some big-time throwers like Cozad's Lucas Pinkelman, who won the state title at 63-7 1/2, and Jared Crick (60-10). The top four that year were all seniors.

"Those kids graduated, so I knew I had a good shot at winning it this year," Cooksley said. "I would have liked to have had 60 (feet), but I messed up my Achilles the first meet and had problems during the year with that."

Manning said he likes to have wrestlers at Nebraska who were multi-sport athletes in high school.

"I think wrestling helps football and vice-versa," Manning said. "I think it's good because you get a well-rounded kid. Too many times in today's society, parents think their kids need to do one sport from like 12 years on.

"Not that that's bad for everyone, but I think exposing them to multiple sports at a young age makes them better when they have to pick a sport to concentrate on at the Division I level."

Cooksley has been traveling to Lincoln every week to wrestle with club coach Ty Matthews, a former Indiana University wrestler. He said that kind of competition -- and the kind he will face in the Husker wrestling room -- will make him better.

"You definitely have to step up your game," Cooksley said. "That makes you a better wrestler with good competition in the room. The other heavyweight they have (Tucker Lane) is pretty good."

Cooksley has also wrestled with Nebraska-Kearney Division II national champion Tervel Dlagnev.

"It's really good that he seeks out someone that's going to really challenge him and push him to the next level," Manning said. "I really like that. He's a bright young man with a good work ethic. I think he'll be a good fit for our program.

"He comes to our club practices and really tries to seek out extra help and work out with some really good people around the state that will challenge him. I see that as a great mentality to have."

Manning said his desire to excel may be Cooksley's best trait.

"I think Hadley is a mature young man," Manning said. "He really wants it. He has really tried to make himself fully developed so he'll be able to be a top-notch competitor at this level.”