Osheroff could be Carson's Cinderella Man

What do you get when you combine someone who likes listening to the soothing strains of the blues and Bob Marley and someone who enjoys such tough-guy movies such as "Gladiator," "Cinderella Man" and "True Grit?"

A contradiction, you say?

Not quite. You get Ahron Osheroff, a Carson High School senior with a 3.8 grade point average and who is also a member of the Senators' wrestling squad. You get an easy-going, mellow guy who likes to hunt and fish on one hand, and on the other happens to enjoy nailing an opponent with a power-double (leg takedown) on the mat.

"Strive for perfection and land among the stars is my quote," Osheroff said while teammate Travis Lamborn was doing an interview following Carson's victory over Reno in a recent dual meet.

"I was just kidding," Osheroff later said of his impromptu aphorism. "I've heard the saying, 'Shoot for the moon and you'll land in the stars' or something like that. It had something to do with achieving greatness."

Ah, another contradiction. Sort of a cross between True Wit and an interest, perhaps, in how someone like boxer and working-class hero James Braddock achieved greatness when he lifted the world heavyweight championship from Max Baer, which was the crux of Cinderella Man.

First-year wrestling coach Casey Schweitzer lent his take on the 5-foot-10, 171-pound Osheroff, who will be among 13 scoring Carson grapplers competing in the Northern 4A Regional Championships tonight and tomorrow at Spanish Springs High School.

"He's a very disciplined young man," Schweitzer said of Osheroff. "He does well in school and ran cross country. He's very coachable, open-minded and eager to get even better. One measuring stick for that is that he competed at 140 pounds last year and is wrestling at 171 this year."

"Here's a saying: 'Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy," said 130-pounder Kyle Banko, referring to Osheroff's toughness. "He's real aggressive on the mat. It's tough moving up weight classes. The kids are stronger and bigger. 'Oosh' (Osheroff's nickname) is stronger too. He's doing good hanging with the bigger guys, beating them up."

Micah Whitcome, a 2005 Carson graduate and Osheroff's friend, has known Osheroff since he started wrestling in sixth grade at Eagle Valley Middle School and has seen firsthand his development.

"He was always a weight class smaller than me," said Whitcome, who started wrestling at 5. "We wrestled together and against each other our whole lives. I was a little bigger and had the edge. He'd get frustrated. But I don't know if I'd want to wrestle him now.

"Year to year - every year - he's progressed dramatically. He's gone from not even qualifying for zone in his freshman year to looking to win zone or even state this year."

Somewhere in the background one can hear Maximus - Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator - proclaim, "What we do in life echoes in eternity."

Or not.

Osheroff explained why he now wrestles in a heavier weight division - four weight classes to be precise - than last year.

"I'd have to cut 10-15 pounds to get to 140," said the 17-year-old Osheroff. "On a Monday I'd weight 150-155 and then I'd have to get down to 140 by Wednesday or Saturday."

That prospect would seem to be enough to cause Rooster Cogburn, John Wayne's one-eyed fat lawman character in True Grit, utter "Oooh" or "Aaaah," if not "Oosh."

How does a kid with no body fat drop that kind of weight?

"By running a lot and not eating calories," Osheroff said. 'I'd start by eating small portions and then smaller and smaller and smaller. If it was a Wednesday meet, I wouldn't eat at all. I'd run at the gym for 30 minutes to an hour - use the bike, treadmill or Stair Climber. And I'd layer, layer, layer - wear about 10 pounds of clothes and lose 4-5 pounds."

The strains of Red Rider's "Lunatic Fringe" - a memorable song in the coming-of-age movie "Vision Quest" (about teenage wrestler Louden Swain) - now replaces Maximus' rousing speech in the background.

"At the end of the season I was weak," Osheroff said. "My muscles were deteriorated. I was tired of being tiny. I said, 'Dude, you have to lift and eat a lot of food.' A buddy of mine who is huge said, 'I'm going to make you gain 20 pounds.' As soon as the wrestling season was over I was lifting as hard as I could."

Then Osheroff put in a summer of toil that would make the hard-working Braddock, who labored as a stevedore (when he wasn't on relief or boxing) proud.

"I worked in construction - laying pipe - last summer, when it was 100 degrees every day," Osheroff said. "I also went to a wrestling camp with the Bankos (teammates and brothers Kyle and Todd) and Robbie Bozin. Had a few tournaments. It helped a bit."

"A bit?"

Osheroff has put together a season where he has gone 33-10, placed eighth at the prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions (in which nearly 100 teams competed), placed again in the Sierra Nevada Classic, took fifth at the Clayton Valley (Calif.) Tournament and was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament in Albany (Calif.).

"He's hard-nosed and comes right at you," said junior Travis Lamborn, Carson's 160-pounder and Osheroff's friend. "The best thing about him is that he never quits."

Schweitzer said he's impressed with Osheroff's work ethic.

"He works hard day in and day out to improve his skills," said Schweitzer, who also wrestles Osheroff during practice. "He has a lot of heart. He's driven from within. We have the kids fill out goal sheets at the beginning of the year. He had some lofty goals."

Lofty, but not unrealistic.

"My first goal was to have no more than 10 losses," Osheroff said. "I have two tournaments (zone and maybe state) left. I want to keep that (no more than 10 losses). The other goals were to win zone and state. If I do that, I'll accomplish all of my goals."

Rooster Cogburn, Maximus, James Braddock - they all achieved their goals in one fashion or another. And although Osheroff's own storyline is compelling enough, Whitcome added some further suspense to his friend's ongoing drama.

"He's beaten (Galena's) Cole Dowty three times and lost to (Fallon's) Riley Orozco by one point, but there's no talk about Oosh winning state," Whitcome said. "He's an underdog to win state. The wrestling Web sites are all picking Cole or Riley to win. Oosh gets overlooked."

Although Osheroff never mentioned his underdog role, Kyle Banko and Lamborn said he is probably aware of it.

"Oosh isn't one of those guys to go out and hype himself up," Banko said. "He just goes out and does what he needs to do."

"I'm sure he is (aware of it), but he hasn't said anything to me," Lamborn said. "He doesn't worry about that kind of stuff. It just rolls off his back and he keeps going."

Maybe Osheroff just likes to bring it and not sing it.

"(Winning zone and state) means a quite a bit to me," Osheroff said. "I've been busting my butt for four years now. Some guys who have graduated (tell) me, 'You haven't even been to state yet.' Whatever. For me, this is a nice way to go."

If he wins at zone and state, Osheroff's accomplishments may or may not echo in eternity. But they would resound in the hallways of Carson High School.