When Clay junior Mike Screptock was in the fourth grade, he was given a school wrestling form to take home and show his parents.

“My dad (Mike Sr.) mentioned he wrestled in high school at Lake, so I decided to try out,” Screptock recalled. “I didn't like it. I wasn't used to going in there and practicing with other kids.”

Screptock stuck with it, however, and he began competing in tournaments and did fairly well.

“I was doing pretty good right away,” he said.

Screptock hasn't turned himself into a standout wrestler because he was gifted or just plain lucky. Hard work has always been a part of his DNA.

“I'm usually a hard worker in all the things I do,” he said. “I just push myself.”

Mike Sr., a volunteer assistant wrestling coach at Clay, said his son has always given maximum effort in everything he does.

“He has always been a hard worker, no matter what it is,” Mike Sr. said. “Whatever he puts his mind to it's always 110 percent whether it's wrestling or school work. He's one of those kids, you could ask him to do something for you and there's not going to be any question as to why he should do it. He's just going to go ahead and do it.”

Mike Screptock Jr.

Clay wrestling coach Gerry Anthony is glad for that. Anthony has had an up-close look at Screptock's work ethic for more than three years.

“He's one of the hardest workers in the (practice) room,” Anthony said. “He goes 110 percent all the time. He's missed one practice in three years, and that was because he was severely ill (stomach virus). He's a gentleman on and off the mat, just an outstanding kid.”

Mike Screptock is also a champion.

After compiling a 21-7 record as a freshman, he won City League and Division I sectional titles last year at 112 pounds but fell short in his bid to compete at the state tournament in Columbus. He lost two of three matches at the district tournament and finished with a 42-9 record.

“I got conservative in my matches,” Screptock said. “I wasn't really attacking. I guess I was sort of intimidated because I was kind of small for a 112-pounder. The kids I was going against were bigger than me, so I tried being a little quicker than them.”

Those two losses still stick with Screptock, who is off to a 15-3 start this season. He went 4-0 to win the season-opening Solon Invitational, and he went 2-2 on Dec. 10-11 at the prestigious Walsh Ironman tournament.

Screptock said size won't be a factor if he gets back to districts in 2011.

“I'm bigger and up with the rest of them this year,” said Screptock, who went 9-1 to help Clay take second place to Padua Franciscan at last weekend's 20-team Bowling Green Bobcat Duals.

Last summer Screptock competed for the Lake Erie Wrestling Club, coached by his father, at the Junior Olympics in Virginia Beach, Va. Screptock went 16-1 at 112 pounds and earned a silver medal.

“Mike is a dominator on the mat,” Anthony said. “He's really solid, one of the top 112-pounders in the state.”

Screptock, who has a 3.7 GPA, has several goals in mind this season.

“I definitely want to make it to the state tournament this year,” he said. “I just want to have fun and have a winning record. I want to place at state this year and I want to repeat as City and sectional champ.”

Screptock's work ethic and dedication to his sport have evidently trickled down the family tree. His younger brother, Richie, an eighth-grader at Fassett Middle School, has been wrestling since the first grade and is 12-0 this season after going 28-0 a year ago.

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