"Triple Threat" Viking sidelined -- for now
During a recent practice session of the Villa Angela-St. Joseph football team, Phil Wellington was sitting in his car in the parking lot listening to music. He’d much rather have been out on the practice field with his teammates, but the senior running back and linebacker was nursing a knee injury.
An honors student and also a star wrestler for the Viking mat squad, he sustained the injury during a summer “open mat” wrestling practice session.
Wellington, who had hoped to earn a college scholarship, was a bit dismayed that he’s presently unable to play football. He’s wearing a brace on his ailing leg, but hopes to return to the gridiron before the season ends. And, certainly, he wants to be back in uniform when the Viking wrestlers take to the mats this winter. He won 33 matches last season and qualified for the state tournament at 171 pounds—the only VASJ matman to advance that far in several years.
John Pokorny, who organized a Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) wrestling program at Holy Cross School (now Our Lady of the Lake) some years back, predicts a bright future for Wellington, who used to practice with the Holy Cross matmen in the VASJ wrestling room. “He came to every practice, and along the way he fell in love with VASJ – and decided to go to school there,” Pokorny notes.
“The kid is a triple threat," Pokorny adds. "He’s in the National Honor Society. If he doesn’t win a college scholarship for football or wrestling, he’s smart enough to win an academic scholarship.”