Back in the hunt

University wrestler Brian Owen never set about winning four state championships as his stated goal.

“My goal was never to lose a match,” he said.

Such lofty aspirations were laid low by a back injury following his freshman season that has left the talented 125-pounder wondering, “What if?”

But in talking with the Boise State-bound Titans senior, who has but four losses during his high school career, one senses an uncommon maturity in accepting his circumstances.

“Right now I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” said Owen, who is ranked nationally in the top four at two high school weight classes and 20th overall. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Brian’s star was on the rise prior to high school with a national Cadet wrestling title that came seven years after his older brother Tommy did the same.

He was state champion as a freshman 103-pounder, but unlike Tommy, who finished his career with three titles and a second place, Brian’s shattered lumbar vertebra worked against him.

Twice he has finished second, losing in overtime to South Kitsap’s Josiah Kipperberg as a sophomore and to Lewis and Clark’s Trevor Powell last year.

“Right after my freshman year, I hurt it in a tournament,” Brian said. “I didn’t think much about it, but at nationals three weeks later I didn’t have a very good tournament.”

He finished fourth in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

“After winning the year before, it was kind of disappointing to me,” he said.

Brian later understood when the seriousness of the injury came to light. He wrestled through the pain as a sophomore, his title loss a product of lack of conditioning because of an inability to train.

“That was one of the harder things I went through as a coach,” said U-Hi coach and Brian’s uncle, Don Owen. “I was on pins and needles the whole time he wrestled because I knew how injured he was. It was absolutely miraculous he was able to place second in state.”

Brian underwent surgery of the fifth lumbar vertebra, essentially fusing it to his hip bone a week later.

“It takes all the pressure on the back and transfers it to the (other four) vertebrae,” said Brian’s dad, John Owen, Central Valley’s coach. “He lost one-fifth of his flexibility and it’s taken two years for it to completely heal.”

That length of recovery meant that as a junior Brian was more able to condition, but still could not do things on the mat he typically could. He had to counter for takedowns rather than shoot moves in order to gain leverage underneath.

“I couldn’t use the tricks I’d used to pull out close matches,” Brian said.

Still, he reached the state finals again.

But because of the injury, Brian fell off the collegiate recruiting radar.

His stock rose again last summer after he won 24 of 26 matches in four days and finished second in the freestyle finals and third in Greco during Junior National competition in Fargo, N.D.

“I separated a rib and pulled a muscle in my back,” Brian said. “Everything else was banged up, but I had no trouble with my back at all.”

Michigan, Iowa State, North Carolina, Northern Iowa, Illinois, Cornell and Lehigh all came calling. Brian, however, chose Boise State, where his brother completed his career after starting at Minnesota and is now a restricted-earnings coach.

“It’s kind of a hometown thing,” Brian said. “Boise State is up and coming in the area and I think I want to stay home.”

But not before one final season at U-Hi. As healthy as he’s been since freshman year and stronger, the 125-pounder yet has a chance to join his older brother as a four-time state finalist.

He said that although his flexibility is down as expected, the rest of his game has returned.

Even if he doesn’t capture that second State 4A title, his uncle said that Brian’s best years lay ahead, health permitting.

“Being a state champion is not what defines him. He’s already achieved higher goals than that,” Don Owen said. “Without a doubt, if his back holds out, he’ll be a multiple (collegiate) All-American, I would guess. He’s the best wrestler I’ve ever coached, I can tell you that.”