Beachwood Patch Whiz Kid of the Week Alec Jacober

Age: 18

School:

Accomplishment: He is a three-time conference champion in wrestling in the Chagrin Valley Conference.

Key to Awesomeness: Alec Jacober is all by himself when he’s on the mat. It’s just how he likes it.

Jacober has been the top wrestler at the Chagrin Valley Conference the last three consecutive years, taking the championship by beating out wrestlers from 15 other schools in the tournament-style competition. He also made it to states this year and last year, placing third and fourth, respectively.

“In other sports you can depend on your teammates, but in wrestling you can’t rely on anyone else,” he said about what he likes about the sport. “It’s a really cool aspect of it.”

Jacober has been wrestling since the first grade, when he joined a youth program in Beachwood with some friends.

“We thought it was like pro wrestling,” he said. “We’d seen it on TV and thought, ‘Oh that would be cool.’ ”

He realized it wasn’t the same as the fakery he watched on TV by the first practice, but was hooked nonetheless. Although he stuck with it year after year because it was fun, it wasn’t until he was on a club team in his early teens that he realized he was getting better. By eighth grade, he took fourth in a state tournament.

“You put in hard work and win big matches and win big tournaments, that’s the best part,” he said.

Jacober will attend West Virginia University in the fall and hopes to become a pharmacist.