The final curtain came down on the scholastic wrestling season back in March. That hasn't stopped Mount Vernon’s Brock Blankenhorn, however, who has kept right on fighting. After stops in Iowa, West Virginia, Indiana and Virginia, Blankenhorn has topped it off at the AAU National Team Duals in Orlando, Florida, and a visit to Walt Disney World on Saturday and Sunday, June 27-28.
The National Team Duals, often referred to as the Disney Duals, hosts teams from all over the country, including the team from Adams Central High School in Monroe, Indiana, which Brock found his way onto. In fact, the Disney Duals weren’t even on Blankenhorn’s radar until the 106-pounder impressed Adams Central Jets’ coach Tony Currie with his performance in a recent tournament in Indiana.
Currie was missing a 106-pounder and a 113-pounder in his lineup. So Blankenhorn, along with his friend and sparring partner, 113-pound Dave Thacker from River Valley, were asked to step in and fill those two spots.
Blankenhorn went 6-2 in his individual matches over the weekend. That put him third in his weight class and helped his team to advance to the silver bracket, which they won. For his performance, Blankenhorn won a bronze All-American medal. The Jets went 6-5 as a team, doing well in the preliminary bracket and winding up winning the silver bracket.
Blankenhorn may have only just completed his freshman year, but he is long on experience. That includes coming back from the loss of his final season of middle school wrestling, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and having to recover from shoulder surgery, during that time.
“I've been wrestling since I was in kindergarten,” Blankenhorn said. “I came all the way through the Mount Vernon program. The competition level going out of state to a national tournament is just phenomenal. You get to experience the types of wrestling from all different states and all the kids that come to these tournaments are very good wrestlers. It really shows the kind of program that Mount Vernon has. We do really well around the state, but it shows we can compete against other wrestlers around the nation and do well, also.”
Blankenhorn’s best performance over the weekend came in a really close match with Jeff Bailey, a state placer from Indiana’s Team Gladiator, although he lost that match.
“It came down to the final two minutes,” Blankenhorn said. “I was down by five points, early in the first period. I ended up battling back and he only took the decision by two points, 9-7.”
With this past weekend’s performance, Blankenhorn has now made a good showing in two of the toughest tournaments in the country.
“What's nice is that Brock has been putting in a lot of time this summer,” Mount Vernon coach Nate Cornell said. “He also wrestled in Virginia Beach a month ago in the toughest dual tournament in the country. He got into a total of eight matches. In fact, besides Florida and Virginia, he's wrestled in West Virginia, Michigan and Iowa. So, as far as this season goes, this is the last stop on Brock's nationwide tour. I'm sure he'll add to that in years to come, but that's a pretty impressive run right there.”
With all his experience, he still has three years to wrestle for the Yellow Jackets.
“He has been a big part of our dual meets,” Cornell said. “Being 106 pounds, he was our starter and he lights a fire for us. We usually start off getting points because Brock is a reliable match-winner for us. it's nice to start off with that and then have his teammates carry it on from there.”
