For Farmingdale wrestlers Chris Ball and Anthony Scrimo, what started in Locust Valley about six or seven months ago this year ended in the middle of a corn field some 1,200 miles away. The journey this year took Ball and Scrimo to countless wrestling tournaments around Long Island and throughout New York State. It brought them into some of Nassau and Suffolk counties best wrestling clubs to train for what would become the most challenging event that any young wrestler can enter, the USA Kids National Championship Freestyle Tournament.

Despite many obstacles including the almost nonexistence of a freestyle program here in Farmingdale, Ball and Scrimo were determined and prepared to do whatever necessary to prepare themselves for the Nationals. That determination took them to clubs from Long Wood to Kings Park from basements in Huntington and Farmingdale to just about anywhere they could find a room with mats to roll on and wrestlers to train with. They reached for help whenever they could and enlisted former Farmingdale High School Varsity wrestlers, along with former coaches to help them in their quest to become two of the best young wrestlers in the country.

Waterloo, Iowa: If you're a serious wrestler between the ages of 9 and 14 years old, that's where you spend your first week in July. It's become the Mecca for thousands of young men like Scrimo and Ball who make the journey to test themselves against the best of the best from all over the country. To compete in this prestigious event is a privilege awarded to an elite group of young athletes who have, through a process that starts at the county and sectional levels, achieved a status of being among the finest wrestlers in the United States. That process then moves to a state level and then on to a regional plateau. As one could imagine, young men that move on from level to level are faced with more experienced and dedicated opponents. At the regional level, only the top three place winners qualify for the nationals.

For an entire week, Waterloo is transformed into a city of who's who in USA wrestling. Everyone from regional place winners to triple crown champions converge on this site to set the scene for what becomes a week of wrestling one does not soon forget.

Anthony Scrimo, after marching through the states and regionals this year and capturing first place titles in both events, fell short of his goal for a national championship when he suffered a pin fall in the first round. Still every bit the competitor, Scrimo came back later the first day with a pair of pin falls himself, which advanced him into the medal rounds. It was there that he captured the status of All American by defeating a young man from Wisconsin and taking home a very respectable fifth place.

Chris Ball had his dreams of becoming this country's best young freestyle wrestler -- broken but by no means shattered this year. Ball holds three consecutive New York State championships titles, and after suffering a shoulder injury in Syracuse this year he still managed to qualify for the nationals. Chris showed up at young arena ready to fight, and his first day was one that a lot of young novice division wrestlers will remember for a long time. Ball's unstoppable performance in the preliminaries was unparalleled that day and placed him right into the championship match the following day. It was there that Chris suffered his pin fall in a match he was winning up until the very last seconds of the first round. Ball returns to Farmingdale with his head held high and like his partner and best friend All-American honors. He feels very confident that he will return to Iowa next year and bring Farmingdale its first National Championship.

Both young men now look forward to their Junior High School wrestling debut this upcoming school year.