Ultimate Wrestler is 13 years old

WINSTED — A Winsted middle-school student proved he can play with the big boys recently when he defeated a wrestler twice his size to take home the championship at the Rhode Island Takedown Tournament. The tournament features wrestlers in age groups up to high school competing to become the Ultimate Wrestler.Logan Smith, age 13 and 115 pounds, wrestled through several brackets in Rhode Island, defeating stronger and stronger opponents, until he reached the final round of the championship. He wrestled a 230-pound opponent to earn the title of Ultimate Wrestler.“It was really hard, but the bigger guys were slower,” Logan said of his ascent to champion status. “I just had to use my feet. But I felt really intimidated.”Logan, who just finished seventh grade at Pearson Middle School, is the son of Selectman Lisa Smith and Gilbert School wrestling coach Doug Smith, both of whom are active in local sports and recreation and have given their son inspiration to succeed in the sport. “He has more than 50 medals from around the state,” Lisa Smith said of her son, who recently won both the middle- and high-school divisions at a tournament in Simsbury and took home three medals from a tournament in Maine where he came in second place overall.Since Winsted’s K-through-eight schools haven’t had a wrestling program for many years, Logan competes as a member of the team at Northwestern Regional Middle School, which offers a cooperative program to Winsted students interested in the sport. When not competing at school, Logan wrestles with the KT Kidz Wrestling Club in South Windsor, where coach John Knapp is known for producing a number of young championship wrestlers.“It’s serious and there’s no joking around,” Logan said of his coach. “He’s really strict, but he’s a good coach.”Logan usually wrestles in the 113-to-114-pound division, but bigger matches are assuredly on the horizon as he enters the eighth grade and begins high school at The Gilbert School. He also plays soccer year-round, but according to his mom, Logan “eats, lives and breathes” wrestling. “He wants to completely dominate in high school and then go on to college to compete,” she said.Asked how he achieves success, Logan replied, “I just try my hardest, and whatever happens happens.”