COLUMBIA, Mo. – The clock started ticking almost immediately after Porter Matecki won a wrestling state championship as a freshman.
The following year, he watched Whitfield teammate Evan Binder win his fourth state title. AJ Rallo accomplished a four-peat for the Warriors the year after that.
“Being a four-timer was always a goal of mine since I was a freshman. People talked to me about it all through high school,” Matecki said. “It’s a standard in the program to be a state champ, and having people be four-timers before me let me know what I had to do and showed me that I could achieve it.”
But early in his senior season, Matecki fractured his elbow in two places and had to miss a month-and-a-half of action.
“When I fractured my elbow, I thought that dream was over,” Matecki said.
Matecki returned to action and put together a masterful Class 3 postseason, culminating in a 5-0 decision in the 126-pound championship match and his fourth consecutive state title at the 2024 MSHSAA State Championships Saturday at Mizzou Arena.
Matecki (26-2) who won Class 3 state titles at 106, 120, and 126 his first three seasons, became the 41st four-time champion in Missouri state wrestling history. (Liberty, KC senior Gavin Linsman, a former Whitfield teammate of Matecki, became the 42nd four-time champ later Saturday night).
Opening the season with seven consecutive victories by either pin or technical fall, Matecki’s senior season began as expected. At Walsh Ironman in Ohio on Dec. 8-9, he won his first three matches before losing a pair of tough battles against nationally-ranked wrestlers.
The following weekend, he won the 126-pound championship at the prestigious Kansas City Stampede, but his 1-0 decision over Canon Acklin of Oklahoma in the title match turned out to be the last time he would wrestle for 48 days.
Matecki did not require season-ending surgery on his elbow, but lifting his arm was difficult and physical therapy was painful. He was medically cleared to resume competition in early-February, just two weeks prior to what turned out to be a dominant postseason.
“We had a conversation and he said, ‘I’m going to start wrestling like I’m in college,’ and he really put on a show,” Whitfield coach Buddy Smith said.
Matecki won three matches prior to the postseason, with two lasting less than 50 seconds. He won the District 2 tournament with a first period pin and two technical falls, and cruised into the 126-pound title match at the state tournament with two pins and a tech fall.
“He just turned it on, clicked it in,” Smith said. “He came back from a pretty bad injury and really wrestled tough.”
In the 126-pound title match, Matecki earned a takedown against Farmington junior Pressley Johnson with 46 seconds remaining in the first period and understood the significance, knowing that no wrestler had scored a takedown against him since his return from injury.
“Once I scored, I knew I had it in the bag. I just had to keep wrestling how I wrestle and it was gravy from there,” Matecki said.
Matecki won the match by 5-0 decision to become a four-time champion – the fifth Whitfield wrestler to accomplish the rare feat and third in the last three seasons.
It did not take long before Matecki zeroed in on his next endeavor.
“Now, being a four-timer, it’s just another step in the journey as I go off to college. I have a lot more goals to be done,” said Matecki, who will continue his wrestling career at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
In addition to recovering from injury, Matecki’s journey to a fourth state title required adjusting to a changing team landscape. Longtime head coach Charlie Sherertz left to become the head coach at Maryville University, and the Whitfield roster consisted of several young, unseasoned wrestlers, rather than the experienced, medal-winners the Warriors usually employ throughout their lineup.
Matecki treasured his role as a senior leader and was quick to praise the young Warriors, notably, sophomore Lucas Parietti, who placed fourth at 157 after not qualifying for the state tournament last year.
Juniors Caleb Carter (138) and Rome Tate (150) placed third and senior Adrian Harrold (285) placed fifth for Whitfield, which earned 96.5 team points and earned a third-place team trophy.
“It’s a different team. We have a lot of up-and-coming guys, but we had a lot of guys who showed out,” Matecki said.
And it was Matecki who showed the grit and perseverance necessary to become a four-time champion. He offered this advice to anyone hoping to join that exclusive club:
“You have to evolve every single year. Then, just go out and wrestle, and whatever happens, happens,” Matecki said.