State Wrestling Tournament Ends Just As Quickly As It Starts For Brad Bockhaus Due To Ankle Injury

It’s been a roller coaster of a wrestling season for Southampton senior Brad Bockhaus — and that trend continued last week, but, unfortunately, in a negative way.

On Thursday, February 24, just a day prior to heading up to Albany to compete in the New York State Division II Championships at MVP Arena, Bockhaus was practicing with fellow Division I and II champions and state qualifiers at Sayville High School, as Suffolk County wrestlers typically do in the week leading up to states. Practicing live situations, Bockhaus had his sparring partner in a half nelson and went to turn him on his back when his ankle got caught underneath his partner’s calf, resulting in a high-ankle sprain.

It was an unfortunate turn events for Bockhaus, who after six years of wrestling on varsity had finally become a county champion and earned his way into his first-ever state tournament. Even after the injury, which typically takes weeks to recover from, Bockhaus (189 pounds) still went upstate and tried to wrestle. But after trying to complete a move on his opponent, Zack Hill (Section VI-Royalton-Hartland/Barker), it was clear he wasn’t going to go any further. After a discussion at the edge of the mat with his head coach, Lester Ware, Bockhaus defaulted due to his injury just seven seconds into the match, and just like that, his tournament was over.

“I expected that it would hurt, but I didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was,” he said. “I knew that I probably wouldn’t be able to make it the entire tournament, but I thought I could have done really well. I definitely could have won that first match. Actually, I think I could have pinned him had I not been hurt. And then maybe won my next match or my next two matches and possibly placed.

“It was weird, walking on it was fine,” Bockhaus added. “I mean, there is still some pain, and it’s uncomfortable, but I am still able to walk on it.”

Ware called it a symmetrical beginning and end of the season for Bockhaus, who started the season by spraining his other ankle in an early-season practice, the day before East Hampton’s Sprig Gardner Tournament. Then Bockhaus said he got COVID, which caused him to miss an additional few weeks of the season.

All in all, by the time he was county champion, Bockhaus had only competed in 10 matches, going 9-1. Because of so few matches — most of the wrestlers in the 189-pound bracket at states had well over 20 wins, some with 40 — Southampton had to appeal to the Section XI wrestling committee to allow him to wrestle at counties.

“It was sort of a sad end to his season,” Ware said of Bockhaus. “He definitely would have beat that kid he had in the first round, and he had the juice to go All-State. He looked real good against the DI and DII guys when they practiced together at Sayville, looked really solid against those two kids. It’s just unfortunate.”

Ware also noted that Bockhaus was part of a class of wrestlers that he had high hopes for when they first started on varsity six years ago. Mickey Brown and Jake Kennedy, who both began their wrestling careers at Southampton before transferring to St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington, had equally upsetting state tournaments after finishing as Catholic High School Athletic Association champs. Brown didn’t even compete at states because of an injury of his own, and Kennedy lost his first round match and his ensuing wrestleback match.

Bockhaus may wrestle in a few freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments in the coming months, but he plans on attending DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, majoring in homeland security. Although Ware thinks Bockhaus could wrestle in college, and has the physique that college programs currently have a want and need for, DeSales does not have a wrestling program.

“It sucks,” the way his state tournament run ended, Bockhaus said, “but I’m pretty content with my season. Honestly, I didn’t even expect to get as far as I did. I just wanted to do the best I could. I would have been happy with second or third at counties. But I got a county title and did pretty well.”