South Western's Seth Janney discusses his national championship win

Seth Janney's sophomore wrestling season for South Western ended with a loss in the state finals last month, but he ended his personal season with a win in the national finals on Sunday in Virginia Beach.

Janney cruised through the 220-pound sophomore weight class at the National High School Coaches Association national championships, made up of 29 of the top wrestlers from 22 states. Janney went 5-0 with four pins. He pinned each of his first four opponents in one minute, 30 seconds or less before toppling Indiana's Evan Ellis 7-0 in the national final.

He did all of that without a true coach in his corner. Instead, he made the trip with teammate Chase Mowery and Bermudian Springs junior Brady Linebaugh. The three coached each other with Janney's father, Jon, also pitching in. Linebaugh won five matches in the 285-pound junior weight class, and Mowery won one match in the 113-pound sophomore weight class.

"It's fun," Janney said. "We all know what we like to do. It's not as good as having a regular coach, but it's fun coaching each other."

Clearly it didn't hinder Janney, as he followed a trend he set during the high school season, when he earned 32 of his 41 victories by pin.

"If I'm on top of someone, that's what I want to do. I want to pin them," Janney said. "I don't just want to win, I want to pin them. I feel like top is my best position so that's where I want to go to work at.

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"I think it's a mentality of, 'What you want to do and how bad you want to do it?'"

While he's excited to be called a national champion, Janney said there's plenty more to accomplish in the next two years. He will not compete at the Flonationals meet at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from April 2-4, which pits the top high school wrestlers against each other regardless of their grade. But he said he hopes to add that national title to his resume in future seasons. He also plans to compete at The Cadet and Junior National Championships, the national freestyle wrestling championships, in the future.

Most of all, he wants to win a PIAA gold medal.

"(National champion) is cooler to say, but I think being a PA state runner-up is probably a better accomplishment," he said.