Tysinger rolls on for Knights
Mon. January 09, 2012 at 11:48 p.m. | By Jason Queen
North Davidson's Cody Tysinger (Photo by Jason Queen)
WELCOME | Before every match, Cody Tysinger’s brother tells him the same thing.
You cannot be beaten, he assures him.
So far, big brother’s been right.
Tysinger won four matches last week, opening Central Piedmont Conference action with two wins Thursday, then capped that off by winning the 170-pound weight class in the Takedown Cancer Classic at Dudley on Saturday. That ran his record to 27-0 on the season and, after finishing fifth in last year’s individual state championship tournament, Tysinger hopes he can keep his streak going for two more months.
That started with the two CPC wins against West Forsyth and Mount Tabor on Thursday, keeping him perfect in CPC matches for his career. “It’s basically the same for every match,” Tysinger said. “I go in thinking that I’m not going to lose. I’m about to dominate the other guy.
“I just go in there and think, ‘It’s time to go to work.’”
So far, so good. Of his 27 wins, he has 16 pins, six major decisions, one tech fall and four decisions. His opponents usually finish the match in the same fashion — looking up at the gym rafters flat on their backs.
That hasn’t always been the case. Tysinger, who just started wrestling competitively when he got to high school, lost 21 matches in his first two seasons. But he finished 45-8 overall last year, and something clicked. “About halfway through my junior year, I thought, ‘I’m a bad dude, and I’m not going to lose,’” he explained. That mentality is a necessity to become elite at wrestling, an individual sport in the purest form. “My junior year, at the beginning, I knew I was pretty good, but it just clicked.
“And my brother (North assistant Chase Tysinger), he always tells me that I’m not going to lose. And if you’ve got someone telling you that, it gets stuck in your head.”
Tysinger isn’t just beating a bunch of jobbers, either. He was named CPC upper weight wrestler of the year last season, and this year he’s won the CrossFace Classic, Blackhawk Invitational, Eden Morehead Holiday Classic, King of the Mat and Saturday’s Takedown Cancer Classic. He was named Most Outstanding Wrestler at Eden Morehead.
But, with 89 career wins to date and a locker room full of tourney titles, there is one vacant spot in his personal trophy case — a state title. Hoping to wrestle at Division II powerhouse Newberry, Tysinger would certainly cement his status with a 4-A championship.
“I keep on striving, not wanting to lose,” he added. “I want to win a state title, and go off to college. I still practice hard.
“If you go out there and get lazy on the mat, someone could outwork you and beat you. Last year I wasn’t really good in neutral, on my feet. I learned that I need to be more aggressive in neutral, and start attacking. That’s what I’ve started doing this year, and it’s helped me out a whole lot.”
Jason Queen can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 220 or jason.queen@the-dispatch.com.