Dennis Township’s Conner Boal Meets Wrestling Goals

The first thing seventh-grader Conner Boal sees when he wakes up in the morning is a list of his goals. The ambitions he has accomplished and those to be attained are written on a wall-mounted board in the bedroom of the 13-year-old’s Dennis Township home.
The son of Alex and Kevin Boal, Conner grew up experimenting with football and lacrosse and still competes in soccer. Until this season, the 5’6”, 126-pounder was an average wrestler with a few more wins than losses. Beginning in October, he embarked on a remarkable 27-3 campaign and a South Jersey State Championship.
“His success was not immediate,” said Kevin Boal. “Some of his friends went out for wrestling with him and that helped, but he struggled at first. He lost more than he won. He was always a good athlete and had talent, but this year the switch came on.”
Dad said his oldest son’s maturity was the key to his sudden turnaround in the sport. The mental aspects were the biggest change. “It’s all on him,” Kevin said of his son’s love of wrestling. “He doesn’t rely on anyone else for his success. He loves the competition. It’s him and the other guy.”
Upper Township Hornets coach Frank Sannino has seen the changes in Conner from last season to this year.
“I attribute it to his attitude and his preparation,” said the Petersburg resident. “The way he prepares for a match and his competition. It’s his mental state. Last year, if he was coming into a match against someone who had beaten him he was a bit timid. He didn’t have much confidence in himself. It’s off the chart this year. When we go to a big competition he wants to face the top-notch wrestlers.”
Sannino said Conner “doesn’t waste one minute at practice,” which is another change from just a year ago. “Last year he used to mess around,” said the coach. “We had to tell him to keep practicing. Not this year.”
Dad said wrestling came on strong after he and mom pulled Conner out of football.
“We wanted to find something to keep him busy in the winter,” said Kevin Boal. “He wasn’t much of a basketball player, but wrestling looked like a good fit. He actually started wrestling in Middle Township in the third grade. Last year was his first in Upper.”
Dad, a field engineer by trade, is a Pennsylvania native who grew up playing soccer and lacrosse. Mom, who grew up in Dennis, competed in field hockey and lacrosse.
“I spend a lot of time on the road but if I’m around I take him to practice,” said Kevin. “My weekends are 99 percent available, which is good. I wrestled a little, but not like him.”
Conner’s Hornet squad competes in the South Jersey Wrestling Association. The family recently traveled to Pitman where young Boal earned that South Jersey title by pinning all three opponents. He was named Outstanding Wrestler in the Intermediate Division. He qualified for the title contests by winning two matches at a preliminary meet in Egg Harbor Township.
“It was supposed to be in Toms River,” said dad. “They had four area qualifiers, including Buena, Williamstown and Washington Township.”
The Boal family, which includes Conner’s two younger sisters and a little brother, travels next to the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Regionals in Salisbury, Md., where Conner will be the top seed.
“The state matches were open to anyone, but this will be a higher level of competition,” said Kevin.
The grandson of Brad and Dolly Neilson of Dennis Township, Conner is also an outdoor lover and is mechanically inclined. “Science is the subject that interests him most,” said his father. “He’s a tinkerer. He likes fixing things, understanding how they work.”
Success does not come easy. Conner practices four nights a week at the Upper Township Community Center. The match season begins in late October and finished up last week. His diet and conditioning are also a constant focus. Mom manages the food intake.
“His mother makes sure he eats well,” said Kevin. “He’s grown. We don’t want him cutting weight for tournaments. He wrestled at 120 earlier and he’s now at 126. He put some pounds on this season. The boy eats, but we feed him a lot of organic, healthy foods. He has lots of vegetables and well-rounded meals.”
Like all good parents, Kevin and Alex monitor Conner’s diet closely.
“Our kids don’t eat a lot of crap,” Kevin said. “It’s very challenging to keep your body ready. It’s a long season. He actually wrestles year-round. He doesn’t stop. You have to make sure you are training and eating properly. It’s a lot of work.”
While it’s so far so good with the goal chart mounted on his bedroom wall, Conner, as they say, has bigger fish to fry.
“He wants to be a four-time high school state champion and wrestle in college,” said dad. “That’s his focus right now. He writes down those goals and keeps knocking them off the list.”