Hampton was just a young kid when Newburgh coach Neil Russo took him to his first wrestling tournament.
In fact, Hampton was so young that he was sitting in a car seat.
Russo's story shows how long Hampton has not only been involved in wrestling, but also as part of the Newburgh wrestling program.
And after three individual state titles and three team state titles, Hampton stands as one of the best Russo has ever competed against.
So what makes Hampton so great? Russo said it's Hampton's approach to sports. He watches high-level wrestling the same way his peers study for tests. I also enjoy my time practicing.
“Isaac enjoys wrestling and loves coming into the room. You know, he does everything we ask him to do, but probably his favorite thing is just coming in and asking someone I think it's about catching and rolling around, playing wrestling and figuring things out on your own,” Russo said. “I'd like to take credit for Isaac's success. But that's never the case. He owns what he's doing. And obviously we taught him some basics. But he's built it and I think the biggest part is his joy for the sport.”
Another thing Russo admired about Hampton was his “unwavering” personality.
“He never panics,” Russo said.
Hampton added that having a strong group of practice partners like Zach Keinonen and Gavin Rangel means he doesn't have to worry about opponents in live matches.
“I've been there, so I'm pretty comfortable with most places,” Hampton said. “There are very few positions that I'm not used to.”
Although he has always been successful on the mat, the Tigers had to travel on the road to find opponents due to COVID-19, which meant the transition from his eighth-grade season to his freshman season. Hampton said his biggest encouragement was that the transition gave him a lot of confidence. Pandemic.
“I thought, 'Wow, I can really compete with a lot of these guys,'” Hampton said. “My freshman year, I had to go out of state a lot because of COVID. So I went to wrestle some of the best fighters in the country. And I didn't know if I was doing well. Like, it's like I'm arranging things. So I feel like that was the trigger for me to realize that I could be really good at it too.”
As a member of the Class of 2024, Hampton is part of Oregon's distinguished lightweight class this year. Its members include Hampton (three-time state champion), Gage Singleton of Roseburg (three-time state champion), Jeremiah Waxmuth of Clackamas (one-time state champion) and Max Blanco of Clackamas (one-time state champion). is included. Sweet Home's Kyle Sheminski (four-time state champion) and others.
Throughout his high school career, Hampton knew that any tournament he would play in Oregon would include these opponents. He said he never missed a day in practice because of them being around him.
“It's about just continuing to train hard every week, knowing that you have to do your best every week, knowing that you have to get just as good, so being able to improve that 1% every day. It helps me, even if it's every week if I want to keep winning,'' Hampton said.
Off the mat, the group of Oregon lightweights is very friendly. We sometimes train together in the off-season.
Russo pointed out that Oregon's group of lightweights has not only been fiercely competitive with each other over the years, but it's also a group built on mutual respect where everyone lifts each other up.
Hampton will attend the Naval Academy for college and will be on the cadet wrestling team. And for Hampton, the choice to attend the Naval Academy was probably easier than any takedown he ever landed.
“Oh, Kaley Collat,” Hampton boasted about his future coach, who won two NCAA titles and was a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team. Hampton said that when he started seriously studying wrestling in his youth, Collat was someone he immediately fell in love with on video.
When Hampton was younger, he was able to go to Las Vegas for the U.S. Open Wrestling event and was able to take photos with multiple former U.S. champions. Hampton said the highlight of the trip was being able to take pictures and talk with Korat. He's a guy who's going to be a college coach in the future.
Hampton added that the Naval Academy's strong wrestling culture reminds him of Newburgh. And it helps that his former Tiger teammate, Charlie Evans, is already there.
— Nick Streng, nstreng@oregonian.com, @NikStreng
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- Women's wrestling (announced on March 11th)
