'A very humble kid'

POST FALLS - Some kids get so caught up in trying to win a national title that it consumes them.

For Ridge Lovett, all he's got to do is put his focus on pause and take care of business.

Lovett, 9, recently won a USA Wrestling Triple Crown claiming freestyle, Greco-Roman and folkstyle national championships in the 60-pound intermediate division within a span of three months.

The Greco-Roman and freestyle titles came on consecutive days at the ASICS Kids National Championships in Orem, Utah, on June 29 and 30. His first championship of the year came in folkstyle wrestling on April 2 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

"I enjoy Greco the most," Lovett said. "You don't have to move as much and worry about your legs getting taken down."

Once Lovett found out that he'd become the first in the state to accomplish the Triple Crown, Team Real Life Ministries wrestling coordinator Dana Fultz was in shock.

"Ridge is a very humble kid," Fultz said. "I don't think he even realizes what he's done. I'm crying after each match and he goes back to being a kid."

Even at the national level, where competition is fierce, Fultz added it didn't shake Lovett's confidence.

"These kids are really good, but Ridge is going in and tearing them apart," Fultz said. "I could hardly talk on the phone after each match when I was calling my wife."

Before his matches, Lovett doesn't spend much time focusing on his next match. More like the next level of whatever PSP (PlayStation Portable) game he's playing in the stands.

"I'll play either Star Wars - Battlefront 2 or Madden '09 before matches," Lovett said. "I usually don't think too much about it before I wrestle. In the freestyle finals, I was nervous a little bit. But I just went out and wrestled and did what I was supposed to."

Lovett, who'll be a fifth grader at Seltice Elementary in the fall, finished the season with a 115-9 record and was coached by his father, Lonnie.

"He just goes into a world of his own before and after matches," Fultz said. "He'll just put the game on pause, go out and wrestle. His dad and I are nervous wrecks before matches, but he's much more relaxed. I'm amazed with how he wrestles. Last year, he was just average. I honestly don't know what happened."

Lovett gets so caught up in his video games, he doesn't pay attention to the other matches, not even if it's a potential opponent.

"Ridge doesn't scout his opponents before they wrestle," Fultz said. "Usually Lonnie and I do it. When we tried it before, Ridge followed instruction, saw his weaknesses and beat him."

Lovett is following in his father's footsteps, with Lonnie wrestling at Lakeland High and winning a state title in 1989.

That year, Lakeland also became the first team from North Idaho to win the team championship at the annual Tri-State wrestling tournament at North Idaho College.

Lovett wrestles for the Team Real Life Ministries, which was founded by Fultz in 2002. The squad practiced in the sanctuary at the Real Life Ministries until they began practicing at Post Falls High in 2009.

"Pete (Reardon, Post Falls High wrestling coach) has been amazing to us," Fultz said. "Pete has been great for helping accommodate us."

Fultz also credits the work of Marcus Banducci, Abel Delrosa and Doug McLeod with Lovett's success.

"All three of them have been very influential with Ridge," Fultz said. "Each of them has really helped him develop over the past year."

Team Real Life wrestlers have now won five national titles in the past two years. Austin Wilson won titles in freestyle and Greco in 2009. Team Real Life had 84 wrestlers compete in the spring program this year.

"We could have taken a bunch of kids to nationals," Fultz said. "Seth McLeod and Drake Foster also qualified, but opted to do to the national duals instead. The economy really put a damper on things."

Lovett will compete next in a tournament in Reno, where he placed fifth two years ago.

"It's a tough tournament," Fultz said. "Nobody has won from North Idaho that we're aware of."

Lovett remains eligible to compete in the USA wrestling program until he's a senior in high school.

"If he's good enough he could compete for a spot on the USA wrestling team," Fultz said.

When Lovett isn't on the wrestling mats, he's participating in other sports such as cross country and baseball.

"He's an athlete," Fultz said. "God has blessed him with some athletic ability. He's a heck of a runner and baseball player."

Just recently, Lovett competed in and won the annual Post Falls Duathlon and then later that day, hit a walk-off grand slam to help his team win a Little League game.

"The top three placers were all wrestlers," Lovett said of winning the Duathlon. "It was pretty cool."

Lovett attends Seltice Elementary in Post Falls.

"We stay pretty busy with Ridge's sports," Tashawn Lovett, Ridge's mom, said. "Not only his he a good athlete, he's also a straight-A student."