Don’t call him the “next big thing,” because Landon Sidun has already arrived.
Already hailed as Western Pennsylvania’s next wrestling prodigy before even making his high school debut, Sidun was the only local wrestler to advance to the Powerade finals in this year’s rendition of the star-studded annual tournament at Canon-McMillan High School. That put the WPIAL’s streak of 56 consecutive seasons with at least one Powerade champion in serious jeopardy — and in case he wasn’t already aware of the historic implications, a tournament official made sure to remind Sidun that it was “all up to him” right before the finals began.
Seems like a lot of pressure to put on a high school freshman’s shoulders, doesn’t it?
“There is zero pressure out there on that mat,” Sidun’s father, Dave, told his son before the 114-pound championship match. “There’s only opportunity.”
Taking his father’s words to heart, Sidun seized the moment and made the most of his golden opportunity at one of the toughest tournaments in the country. With his match tied in the third period against Notre Dame-Green Pond senior Ayden Smith, Norwin’s freshman phenom took Smith down and to his back, racking up five points in the bout’s final moments to secure his first Powerade title with a thrilling 6-1 win against the defending PIAA champion.
Pressure? What pressure?
“I feel like I wrestle well under pressure,” Sidun said. “I’m just out there to do my job.”
Since he began wrestling at the age of 5, Sidun has been preparing for moments like that Powerade final. A 114-pound wrecking ball with cat-like quickness, alarming strength and a never-ending gas tank, Sidun utilizes collar ties, snap-downs and other hand-fighting techniques to set up his takedowns with the calculated precision of a chess grandmaster — and once he gets a hold of your leg, it’s only a matter of time before you’re going down. Also an expert scrambler who is just as dangerous once the match hits the mat, Sidun routinely racks up points on top with an array of tilts and turns, and he has earned bonus points in 21 of his 29 wins so far this season.
Simply put, Sidun was born to excel at the sport, and he pushes his body and mind to the limit every day at practice to push the boundaries of how great he can be.
“One thing that separates him is his ability to be coached,” said Norwin coach Kyle Martin. “Even last night, we’re just working on scoring from both sides, so we put limits on him. ‘OK, no more scoring on your strong side, you’ve got to force action on the other side.’ And he just does it. And, man, does he have some explosive power that is perfect for freestyle and his Senior-level career.
“It’s kind of scary where his ceiling is, because we’re not there yet.”
Sidun spent his early years training out of the renowned Young Guns Wrestling Club in Johnstown, Pa., before his father decided to convert their spacious garage in Hutchinson, Pa., into a makeshift wrestling room. By the time he turned 8, the Siduns’ garage had transformed into Hutchy’s Hammers Wrestling Club, where a handful of young wrestlers gathered three to four times a week to sharpen their tools against each other.
The club has since grown to include about 30 members, with about two dozen attendees packing the room at any given practice — including several acclaimed wrestlers from around the WPIAL. On top of his time spent training daily at Norwin under Martin and his staff, having a built-in stable of tight-knit training partners to work with right in his garage has been instrumental to Sidun’s rapid development.
“When he started wrestling at 5 years old, I told my wife, ‘I don’t care what I have to do — he is going to be in the right places and around the right people,'” Sidun’s father said. “Landon spent a ton of time with [Young Guns Wrestling Club coaches] John and Jody Strittmatter. They were great. Coach Bill Bassett has been absolutely influential throughout Landon’s entire youth and middle school career.
“I literally wore my truck out driving back and forth to Johnstown through blizzards and snowstorms. The Strittmatters and Bo [Bassett]’s dad, Bill, have been very influential for Landon. And now, moving into high school, he has coach Martin and that entire staff.”
A 2004 Connellsville grad, Martin is in his fourth year as the Knights’ coach, though he already brought with him several years of experience as an assistant coach at the college level. On top of that, Martin has spent nearly a decade on the USA Wrestling circuit, coaching youth teams on both the national and international stage.
With his vast wrestling knowledge and advanced grasp on cutting-edge techniques combined with his USA Wrestling connections, Martin is the perfect coach to oversee Sidun’s development during his high school years. Knowing he can’t do it alone, though, Martin decided to bring Sidun’s father onto his varsity staff as an assistant this year, joining a crew that already included former NCAA champion Jarrod King, who also won two PIAA titles while wrestling at Connellsville with Martin in the early 2000s.
“There are a lot of people out there who wanted Landon at a prep school, or wonder why he didn’t end up at a prep school,” Sidun’s father said. “We’ve been contacted by prep schools and different things. For me, being Landon’s father and knowing how he ticks, he’s so connected emotionally with coaches. His relationships are huge. And he loves the coaches [at Norwin]. He loves their style of coaching.”
Sidun had already won three Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling titles before he got to high school, but his real coming-out party came at the USA Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D., last summer. Competing in the 16-and-under freestyle wrestling bracket, Sidun tore through his competition at the notoriously grueling tournament like a hot knife through butter, winning six consecutive matches before trouncing his finals opponent by technical fall, 12-0, to win his first junior national title.
That performance announced Sidun’s arrival as a serious threat to win a Class 3A state title as a freshman — and ignited rumblings about his potential to join the ultra-exclusive club of four-time PIAA champions. Of course, you have to win one before you can win four, and Sidun’s first PIAA tournament is still more than a month away.
“I watch videos of it all the time,” Sidun said about the state finals. “I always watched [the finals] on TV when they come on. That’s the stuff that really sticks around here. … People wouldn’t know I was a Fargo champ, but if you’re a state champ around here, everyone knows.
“I’m just excited to get my chance to go out there and do what I can do.”
Although he has yet to compete at the WPIAL or state tournament, Sidun is widely regarded as the odds-on favorite to reach the top of the podium at both tournaments in March — and with good reason.
On top of his junior national title and Powerade title, Sidun also turned in an ultra-impressive showing while competing at 120 pounds at the vaunted Beast of the East Tournament in December. Despite taking the first and only loss of his high school career early in the tournament, Sidun battled back to win six consecutive matches the following day to secure a third-place finish, finishing 8-1 overall at the event after defeating a slew of nationally ranked foes.
“Coach Martin and I were looking at the schedule this year, and we’re like, ‘Let’s send him to the Beast,'” Sidun’s father said. “Landon is not above taking a loss. Landon takes losses. We don’t cut crazy weight. We don’t run and pick specific tournaments. Landon loses, and he’s allowed to lose freely. There are no harsh words.
“I tell Landon all the time — if you don’t take losses, you’re not wrestling anybody.”
With a record of 29-1 and a resume littered with more than a dozen nationally ranked opponents, Sidun is now ranked No. 1 in the country in his weight class by almost every major outlet. It’s extremely rare for a freshman to reach the top of the national rankings in any given weight class, but wrestlers like Sidun only come around once in a generation.
“Losses are not bad. Losses happen. They’re OK. Every single wrestler in the world has lost,” his father said. “I never wanted Landon to carry that pressure. I never told him he has to be a four-time state champ. I never told him he has to win everything. Because I knew that in order for him to love it, I can’t put that pressure on him.”
Long considered one of the premier hotbeds in the sport for producing top-notch talent, Western Pennsylvania has produced some of the greatest wrestlers the sport has ever seen — and Sidun appears to be next in line. For as long as he can remember, he has heard the comparisons to WPIAL wrestling legends like Cary Kolat and Spencer Lee, and Sidun is all too familiar with the lofty expectations that come with them. He even wrestled with Lee briefly at a Young Guns practice when he was about 7 years old, around the time Lee was finishing up his remarkable high school career at Franklin Regional.
The stories of Kolat and Lee both serve as cautionary tales for prodigious young wrestlers like Sidun. A 1992 Jefferson-Morgan grad who is now the head coach at Navy, Kolat finished his high school career as an undefeated four-time PIAA champion with a record of 137-0. However, his torturous training sessions and the immense hype and expectations that surrounded him since a young age eventually caught up to him, and although he won a pair of NCAA titles and enjoyed a decorated career on the international stage, many believe he was a victim of “over-training” and may have benefited from a less-grueling lifestyle.
As for Lee, he appeared destined to follow in Kolat’s footsteps as the next undefeated four-time PIAA champ, only to lose his final match in heartbreaking fashion on a takedown at the buzzer in the 2017 state finals after entering the match with a career record of 144-0. The 2017 Franklin Regional grad then won three NCAA championships at Iowa, only to encounter a similar fate with a devastating defeat in the NCAA semifinals last March while attempting to capture his fourth national title. All along, Lee dealt with recurring ACL injuries dating back to high school that prevented him from competing at full strength.
Like Sidun, both Kolat and Lee were small in stature, yet both were larger-than-life figures — and both are revered as two of the most intense competitors to ever step foot on the mat. Sidun’s journey is only just beginning, but so far, he appears to be cut from the same cloth.
“I think he’s earned [the right] for his name to be brought up with some great wrestlers,” Martin said. “I’ll never say he’s the next Spencer Lee or the next Cary Kolat. He’s the first Landon Sidun. He’s always going to be Landon Sidun. He has complete ownership over his journey and his story. We’re going to support him every way we can. We’re never going to put that pressure on him.
“No matter what, the wins or losses, I’m going to be super proud of that kid. … He’s going to be successful in whatever he chooses to do.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
