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Hernando Today

A Final Lap Around the Gym

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By TONY CASTRO SPORTS EDITOR

Hernando Today

Published: January 8, 2009

Sometime late Saturday night three Eagle seniors will compete in their home match at F.W. Springstead High School.
Scott Wern and Mitchell-transfer Jessey Lorentsen will be joined by Spring Hill's Thaddeus "Thad"  Michael Klenovich on memory lane.
The lanky 6-foot-2, 160-pound, blonde-haired Klenovich is a four-year starter for Head Coach Eric Swensen.
On Friday evening, Klenovich and company will enter the two-day, 19th annual Springstead Invitational Wrestling Tournament, sponsored by Fosters Roofing, as the top seed in his weight division.
He'll also step onto the mats as the tourney's defending champion.
He'll don his Springstead singlet with a career 95-47 won-lost slate - only five precious wins away from achieving coveted 100-win plateau - fittingly at home.
Plus, Klenovich will do so the way he's done it for 142 previous matches - behind a quietly effective demeanor.
 
Klenovich 101
 
Thad, the 17-year-old son of Martha Rivera and Tim Klenovich, is part of a wrestling lineage.
His half-brothers, Jason, Nate and Matt Booker, all wrestled for SHS.
Matt was three-time state placer, who won the state's gold medal as a junior in 2001 and finished third as a senior in 2002.
And Thad's youngest sibling, 12-year-old Jordan Rivera, who is a seventh-grader at Powell Middle School, may be the best of the litter.
Klenovich's prep mat career has gone full circle.
As a freshman, Klenovich went 15-20 overall with seven pins.
As a sophomore, Thad posted his first winning record at 21-15 and again pinned seven opponents.
That second season was highlighted by a fourth-place finish at Kiwanis and a fourth-place finish in districts. He was eliminated in regionals at Polk Community College at 0-2.
His highlight occurred at the Gulf Duals, where he went 6-0.
As a junior, he began to emerge from the shadows of his senior-dominated teammates.
Klenovich, who is a National Honor Society student, posted a personal record 38-9 campaign.
In his breakout season, Klenovich captured the Kiwanis Inv., the Springstead Inv., his first district blue ribbon besides going 7-0 at the Gulf Duals, and finished third in regions to qualify for his first-ever state championship.
He finished 1-2 at Lakeland Center as he was eliminated by Bradenton-Manatee sophomore Isaac Riley. Incidentally, Riley pinned Klenovich three times in three meetings last season.
This winter, Klenovich started right where he left off. He comes into this weekend's action winning nearly 88 percent of his matches (21-of-24).
Going into Friday's first round, the Eagle captain has medaled at Ocala-Forest (first place), Durant (sixth - where he dropped two 1-point matches), Kiwanis (second), gone 6-0 at the Gulf Duals and 4-0 in last weekend's Springstead Duals.
Interestingly, Klenovich, who was stuck by Lake Gibson sophomore David Richardson in the Kiwanis finals in 3:25, bounced back Saturday to decision Richardson, 6-5.
If that weren't all, Klenovich finally solved his old nemesis, Riley, 6-3.
Entering last weekend's action, Riley and Richardson were ranked among the top three grapplers in Class 2A.
"I went out with a game plan," explained Klenovich, "And listened to what the coaches said. I think beating Riley meant more. I've always lost to him."
Overall?
"I'm a little disappointed in the team going 3-1 but we got better," he added. "And we learned a lot. But there's a lot more important tournaments coming up."
 
On the elite path
 
Eagle assistant coach Chris Soto has seen Klenovich mature physically and develop into one of the state's elite performers on the mat.
So where does Klenovich currently stand?
"Thad took a lot of lumps as a first-year freshman but has shown a steady progression since his sophomore year," explained Coach Soto. "Once his body caught up with his technique, he began to literally take off.
"You can see his progression through his maturity and his (physical) growth," added Soto. "He's doing everything to be at the top of his game."
Soto mentioned that even after practice, Klenovich and his son, sophomore Nick Soto, regularly run 5-10 miles on their own. That kind of dedication says Coach Soto, is what separates the average Joes and Klenovich.
"Last weekend, Thad knocked off two of the ranked wrestlers in the state," pointed out Soto. "It's no fluke. He's been doing that all year. But his aim is the same - it's all about states."
Biggest improvement?
"He's improved his physical strength," replied Coach Soto. "He lived in the weight room during the summer. He could not go toe-to-toe with a physical guy like Richardson before last summer. This year, he's put the time in the weight room, too."
And his persona?
"Thad comes from a family of personalities," quipped Coach Soto. "He's always been kinda quiet. But he's well read and speaks very well. He just doesn't say much, but when he does, he doesn't waste words and his teammates listen."
Thad's next goal?
"It's all about the show (state championship)," explained Coach Soto. "Thad kinda takes a systematic approach. He doesn't get too high or too low for any one tournament. He just plugs along, doing his work - that's kinda been his focus. Winning his 100th match at home (this weekend) would be cool. Repeating as a Springstead champ as a senior is great. But winning to Thad is a bonus. His true goals lie in February at states."
 
By the Numbers: Springstead's Thad Klenovich
YEAR  W L .PCT PINS 
2005-06 15 20 .429 7
2006-07 21 15 .583 7
2007-08 38 9 .809 11
2008-09 21 3 .875 8
TOTALS 95 47 .669 33

Sports Editor Tony Castro can be reached at (352) 544-5278 or online at acastro@hernandotoday.com.

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