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100 pink wins
Friday, Feb. 5, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by JAMES A. McCRAY III
Leonardtown senior B.J. Frederick, top, notched the 100th victory of his career this past January.
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Frederick sports a now-famous pink cap and has for the last two seasons — after buying one at the same time with a friend of his last season — and that cap has been a part of Frederick's prematch and postmatch attire ever since.
This past January, that cap was with Frederick as he achieved a high-school wrestling achievement of 100 career wins.
"It's definitely an accomplishment," Frederick said. "…And it's definitely one of the better memories I have. I haven't had very many memories because of injuries and mistakes I have made. But 100 wins is definitely one of the better ones. It's something that allows me to say to people I talk to, ‘Hey, I have 100 wins.'"
Frederick picked up his century mark in wins — via fall — at the Winters Mill Falcon Invitational tournament on Jan. 2, a tournament he eventually won at the 145-pound weight class in solidifying his achievement.
"My uncle told me before going in that I would get my 100th win in that tournament," Frederick explained. "[After the 100th win] … I was trying to keep my emotions down at that time because I still had a two more matches in the tournament. But after the tournament is when I realized, ‘Wow, I got 100 wins, this is special.'"
What makes the feat that more remarkable is that the senior missed much of his sophomore year due to a torn triceps that kept him out of the lineup and off of the mats for the better part of the regular season.
The injury occurred the summer before his sophomore year and aggravated in football and again while wrestling.
"It really means a lot to me because of the fact that I missed half my sophomore season," Frederick said. "I took off from January [sophomore year], and then I finally came back."
For Frederick, now 17, overcoming the mid-career injury and still achieving 100 wins says a lot about the attitude and determination in the sport he has loved since the age of four.
"I think this shows that I can overcome adversity," he said. "Being able to go these tournaments we go to and to pick up seven or eight wins in big-sized brackets helps a lot in achieving 100 wins and gaining valuable experience."
But even with the 100-plus wins as of now in his career, Frederick has his eyes set on an even more-exclusive accomplishment, a state championship.
"I still want to achieve my goal and win states," Frederick admitted. "If I only won 50 matches and still won states, I would still feel really accomplished. Earning 100 wins is hopefully a stepping stone …"
On his chances at the state title, he added: "I like them a lot."
And for Frederick, that state title will likely allow him to collide with Old Mill's Ron Vaughters, an opponent who has tacked one of few bouts for Frederick under the ‘L' column with a 9-4 decision win in the Ray Oliver tournament on Dec. 12.
"It would be nice to have a rematch with Vaughters," he said. "That's who am I really looking forward to facing in the state tournament if it happens."
Frederick was the first of two St. Mary's County wrestlers to reach 100 wins as Chopticon senior Stephen Cannon accomplished the feat shortly after Frederick, on Jan. 5 in a tri-meet with Huntingtown at Great Mills.
