West Virginia University's Michael Baldwin, left, and Parkersburg High School/WVU commit Dominic Way qualified last Saturday at the U23 Greco-Roman World Team Trials at 77kg and 72 kg, respectively, and will represent the United States next week at the U23 Pan-American Championships in Lima, Peru. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg High School rising senior Dominic Way is off to Lima, Peru, as part of Team USA for the U23 Pan-American Championships, which get underway Thursday.

Way, who competed last Saturday at the U23 Greco-Roman World Team Trials at SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio, won his 72 kg weight class to punch his ticket.

Generally, Way would’ve competed at the U20 event for his normal age group, but things didn’t quite work out that way.

“I didn’t get to go to the U20 trials, which was, I could’ve, kind of, you know, been a little upset about, and I was,” admitted the two-time state champion.

Father Chris Way, who is going to be in Peru as a coach and part of the Team USA delegation, explained how things transpired.

“We were with his sister Cali in Los Angeles for her national tournament for acro and tumbling,” said his dad. “We traditionally go every year in Las Vegas, but the dates were exactly the same.

“We talked about it and we’re just like ‘alright, we’ll just skip this year. You still got two more years. You’re at the very bottom of your age group,’ so we knew there was a shot that he could possibly make that U20 national team, but we didn’t really know.”

Way was originally slotted as the No. 2 seed at 72 kg for the U23, but ended up being top-seeded after the initial No. 1 moved up to 77 kg, which was won by West Virginia University’s Michael Baldwin.

“Really, what made us go, is we were just kind of looking to compete,” admitted the Big Red. “I love to compete and just giving myself another opportunity to compete was kind of just the goal. We didn’t really have a whole lot of expectations going into it.

“Going into it, you know I expected to win, just because you know you have to think that going into any competition, and you know it just happened. I know, obviously, I’m 17 and wrestling the U23 division. It’s, a little, you don’t think you’re going to win, but I mean I never had a doubt going into it and I’m excited.”

When asked how his Spanish skills were, Way said he took two years of it in school, but didn’t remember a whole lot.

This also will mark the first time the Big Red has flown internationally.

“It really didn’t change the plan at all,” Way said of being bumped up following the pre-seeds. “I still had the same expectation and same goals, same plans to go out there and win it regardless of who was in the bracket.

“In Michael’s case, he’s a great competitor, too, and he wrestled his butt off. For West Virginia wrestling to have two guys going to compete and wrestle for Team USA is really, really special.”

Way said he met his future Mountaineer teammate Baldwin during his recruiting visit.

“He’s a great guy,” added the Big Red. “I’ve been up there a few times and I’ve trained with him, but I just met him less than a year ago.”

The Pan-American Championships will have 17 countries represented and bracket assignments will be known once all the competitors have their weigh-ins.

“We didn’t really know these guys. These guys are U23. They are all in college,” admitted his father. “Didn’t know them so we just took it one match at a time and he wrestled great. That was the best Greco tournament he’s ever wrestled and he wrestled a lot last year and this spring, and he just continued to get better every single match. Even throughout the tournament he was wrestling better and I think with that he started just gaining more confidence.

“He’d been practicing really hard Greco-wise, which we typically don’t get many Greco practices in during the spring. He’s learned how to practice it. Stephen (Myers) and Kayden (McDonald) have learned how to practice with him and Finnegan Meade has been able to come down from Point Pleasant and he’s got a real nice Greco background. He’s a really good partner for Dom. He’s a little smaller, but he still works that technique.”

The elder Way, who is an assistant mat coach for head man Matt Littleton as well as the PHS athletics director, noted this upcoming week is the yearly family vacation to Hilton Head.

“I’m going to go with the family. He’s going to stay back,” his dad said of the current plan. “He’s going to drive to Morgantown and stay with Michael Baldwin, and they are going to practice for four days. Then him and Michael are going to fly out of Pittsburgh to meet the team in Houston, which will go directly to Lima, Peru. I’m going to fly out of Hilton Head, same day, and meet them in Peru.

“Super excited. I’m excited about it. Each athlete gets one personal coach to go with them, so I get to actually go and be matside and coach and kind of be part of the USA delegation, which is going to be just a really cool experience as well. I’m looking forward to all aspects of it, being Team USA and all the stuff they get to do and just being part of the delegation and coaching Dom will be really cool.”

Despite having to go watch his sister compete with Fairmont State University and missing out on the U20 event, the Big Red wrestler was more than pumped with how things worked out.

“It was really exciting, of course,” admitted Way. “I’ve kind of been hunting down, trying to be on top and win a national title my whole high school career and to finally get one, you know, I’ve finished national runner-up, I’ve finished All-American plenty of times, but I haven’t got on top of the podium at a national tournament in high school.

“It was really satisfying to finally get that. It wasn’t the one I was really expecting to get, but it ended up happening, so hopefully here in a month, a little over a month, we can go get two more in Fargo, North Dakota, in my own age group.”

While it’s hard to judge the prospects of Way’s chances in Peru, betting against him might not be the best idea.

“My expectations are always the same. I always expect to win no matter where I’m at,” he said. “You know I might be a little bit delusional about it, but I kind of have to be if I want to, you know, you have to be a little delusional if you want to go out there and win, regardless of who I got to wrestle. We just kind of joked about it that I might have to wrestle some dude that has kids watching him. We’ve joked about stuff like that.

“I trust in my training and my abilities. I think I work just as hard as anybody, and the age, I mean obviously it’s a factor, but I think I have proven that I can overcome it. Regardless of what happens, however the turnout ends up next week, I’ll be happy just to have the opportunity to compete for the United States and represent such a great country. Not only the country, but represent West Virginia and the city of Parkersburg, and just all in that feels great.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com