By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
Whitewater High School’s Jimmy DuVal is an athlete in every sense of the word. His wrestling coach, John Schimming – who wrestled at the collegiate level – said DuVal is a better wrestler than he was in high school.
DuVal plays football as well, and Schimming said he believes the Whippet junior could end up competing around the pigskin once he does go off to college, but as a wrestler, he’s special. On Feb. 23, DuVal competed in the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison.
“If there were any nerves, DuVal did not show it, as he wrestled a great match on his way to an opening round victory in the 182-pound state bracket,” Schimming said. “DuVal started off the match with a nice takedown to his opponent’s back to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Things started to slow down and when the dust settled, DuVal was able to secure the victory, 8-6.”
In the next round – the quarterfinal round – the junior faced an opponent he saw earlier in the season at the Mid-States Tournament. Schimming said that in the second period, DuVal found himself out of position and trailed 7-0 going into the third period. That match would end in an 8-2 defeat.
In the wrestle-back competition after his loss, Schimming said his opponent controlled him from the top position. DuVal would go on to lose his final match at state, 5-0, finishing in the top-eight.
The two opponents he lost to at state ended up placing second and fourth. Six of his nine total losses this season came to guys who finished second, third, fourth and sixth at the state tournament.
“DuVal was obviously disappointed with missing out on the podium; however, he has nothing to be ashamed of,” Schimming said. “Both of the young men who beat him at the state tournament finished 2nd and 4th. DuVal finished the season 42-9. The 42 victories place him on top of the wins list in Whitewater wrestling history.”
The 42-9 record this season gives DuVal 74 career wins to this point in his Whippet career. Schimming said that he currently sits at around 30th all-time in Whitewater High School history going into his senior year. He’s also only competed in varsity the past two seasons – not doing so his freshman year.
Schimming mentioned that it’s all about health, and if DuVal stays healthy, he should finish in the top-five all time as a Whippet. From a mathematical standpoint, it’s impossible for DuVal to reach the top spot in Whippet history, as that record – Schimming says – is 136 or 137.
So what makes DuVal as good as he is? It all goes back to him being a superior athlete.
“He has very little body fat on him,” Schimming said. “He’s a great athlete. He puts in extra time after practices as well. He started staying after practices and doing extra footwork, extra drills and extra conditioning. But, generally, he’s just a gifted athlete.”
DuVal started wrestling in the seventh grade and it didn’t take too much longer for Schimming to notice how good he could be.
“(During) freshman year (I could see it),” he said. “Even eighth grade – you could see the athletic ability on him and we knew he could be good with some hard work. Wrestling behind a couple state qualifiers as a freshman, he’s always practiced with the best guys in the room. Jimmy was a practice partner with James [who is fourth all-time in wins at Whitewater], so that was huge seeing a freshman wanting to practice with a senior who ended up with 111 wins.”
Schimming talked more about what DuVal could end up doing from an athletics perspective at the collegiate level and he said he could do whatever he wants to. He isn’t sure at this point, but both football and wrestling are possibilities.
DuVal’s head coach also talked about the big picture.
“There’s a lot more out there than just Whitewater,” Schimming said. “We’ve got to train to be the best in Wisconsin, not just Whitewater. I think this past weekend was a great experience. He beat a kid [earlier in the season] from Division 1 who took sixth at state. The guys he lost to were all high quality.”
