Van Buren’s Mercer ready for final chance
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Niles Mercer has been down this road before. Only now, it is his final trek.
Mercer, a graduate of Van Buren High School, is a senior on the Coe College wrestling team. He qualified for the NCAA Division III national tournament as a sophomore, but was beaten out for a spot in last year’s national tournament.
Now, Mercer is gearing up for one last run, one final push to get back to the national tournament, one last opportunity to earn All-America honors.
Mercer, who is 31-9 at 141 pounds, enters today’s Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament at Wartburg College in Waverly needing to place in the top three at his weight to advance to the NCAA Division III Championships, which are set for March 7-8 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.
For Mercer, it’s now or never.
“It’s been a pretty good season so far,” Mercer said. “I’ve had some ups and down here and there, but overall it’s been a pretty successful season.”
“Up until the last couple of weeks, Niles was putting together a pretty strong senior year,” Coe coach John Oostendorp said. “He has provided a lot of leadership for us. I feel like his best wrestling is still ahead of him heading into conference.”
Mercer graduated from Van Buren as the winningest wrestler in school history with 157 career wins. He also set numerous other school records.
But Mercer, as many wrestlers do, found the transition to the college level a difficult one.
“That first season was a difficult transition,” Mercer said. “I had a new coach and he had different philosophies. We were ranked in the nation and had one of the best programs. No matter what, I knew I had to work hard. You have to raise your level, buy into the coaches and their philosophy.”
Mercer rolled to a 16-4 record to start the year, but has suffered four losses in his last nine matches.
“I have just been fine-tuning things, breaking things down,” Mercer said. “I have been focusing more on certain aspects than others. I am focused right now on getting into the top three and qualifying for nationals.”
Mercer has had plenty of help this year from teammate Gannon Hjerleid. The two were bitter rivals in high school, but now are best friends, roommates and workout partners.
“Being a couple of southeast Iowa boys set us apart from the get-go,” Mercer said. “We always competed against each other when we were in high school. Now, we are always hanging out together on weekends and after classes. We are both dedicated and love the sport of wrestling. We push each other to be better wrestlers and better people.”
Mercer’s main competition today will come from third-ranked Matt Kelly of Wartburg and Luke Satern of Buena Vista. Mercer lost to Satern 10-5 and lost to Kelly 8-2 late in the year.
Mercer struggled for part of the year on what weight to wrestle at. He finally settled into the spot at 141.
“I’ve kind of fit right in at 141. It’s been a good weight for me this year,” Mercer said. “I’ve kind of stayed out of the rankings here lately, but I like being the underdog. I think that’s a good thing.”
Mercer is finishing work on his degree in physical education and hopes to be a police officer when he is done. And don’t be surprised if he uses a wrestling hold or two on a few criminals.
Mercer has a 100-50 career record heading into today’s conference meet. He qualified for nationals as a sophomore, but made a quit exit. He desperately wants one more shot at earning All-America honors.
“It would be great to qualify and get a chance to earn All-America honors,” Mercer said. “I would love to have that chance.”
Tags: bitter rivals, cate, champion, coach john, endor, ups