West Aurora senior 'Just a born competitor'

Josh Zinzer's hair styles have varied annually over his four years at West Aurora, from medium length to bouncy afro to shaved dome back to a regular cut.

Elsewhere he's a model of high-achieving consistency. The senior will earn his 11th varsity letter this spring - four apiece for track and wrestling, three for football.

Zinzer is a multisport throwback. He's sprinting, pinning, tackling proof that good things come in small, tightly wrapped packages.

"I think I was just born a competitor," said the confident yet soft-spoken Zinzer, all 5 feet, 4 inches and 135 pounds (maybe) of him.

"My dad (Tim) influenced me at a young age to try hard at everything I do, and it's carried through. Especially from wrestling, it made me really be competitive and basically influenced me to work just as hard at track. I started (wrestling) when I was 4 and it's just shaped the person I am today, made my personality as a hard worker who doesn't back down from anything," he said.

In athletics his approach has been amply rewarded. Same in the classroom, where influenced by his mother, Katie, a fourth-grade teacher at C.M. Bardwell Elementary School in Aurora, Zinzer owns a 4.2 grade-point average.

A nine-time state qualifier in track, Zinzer ran on all-state 1,600-meter relays as a freshman and sophomore. Last spring he earned individual all-state honors by finishing sixth in the 200 dash.

Twice he's been all-state in wrestling, sixth at 119 pounds as a sophomore and sixth again this past season at 125. Capping his career with a 43-6 record and 31 pins, Zinzer's total 143 wins trail only Nathan Martinez's 156 on the mat for the Blackhawks. Lessons taught by former wrestlers Tim Zinzer and Josh's uncle Doug - the 1983 Class AA champ at 145 pounds out of East Aurora - soaked in.

Football? West Aurora coach Roger "Buck" Drach makes a point about his three-year starting cornerback, a 2008 special-mention all-DuPage Valley Conference pick.

"My first year there (2006) he was probably one of the smallest kids that played there," Drach said. "Every team that saw him said 'we're going to throw at that guy.' Time and again he went up to knock balls down, make interceptions."

Drach said: "He's got a lot of heart. You can't weigh that."

West Aurora wrestling coach Mike DiNovo recalls that Zinzer sprained an ankle twice during his junior wrestling season, yet he missed only a handful of practices over four years.

"I think he's a humble kid and very respectful," DiNovo said. "He listens to coaching and wants to be coached. When he was a freshman I was his world history teacher - he wants to be taught.

"He doesn't show a lot of emotion, but he's certainly not a robot," DiNovo said. "He's fun to be around and he makes jokes. The guys on the team have a great deal of respect for him and are great friends with him."

Whatever sport Zinzer's playing, explosiveness is his best friend. On the track his fast-twitch quickness has translated to personal-best times of 10.7 seconds over 100 meters, 21.6 in the 200. He's part of a school-record 1,600-meter relay, 3 minutes, 20.87 seconds in the 2007 Class AA preliminaries.

"He has the fastest start I've ever seen. His reaction time out of the blocks is the fastest I've seen," said Blackhawks head boys track coach Cortney Lamb, a University of Illinois graduate who said Zinzer is planning on running for the Illini.

"In the preliminaries and the finals (of last year's Class AA 200-meter race) he was the first one out of the blocks and the first after 50 meters. It just shows you his acceleration and reaction time. That's probably his strongest asset."

He can also reel 'em in on the relay.

"He's got a big heart at the end," Lamb said. "... He doesn't like to lose."

And Zinzer wants to help others win.

"Last year I liked the individual medal," he said, "but doing it as a team just feels a lot different, a lot better. You're not the only one in the finals running, and you share it with other teammates."

He recently got a tattoo on the outside of his right calf, a flaming track shoe to symbolize his "love and dedication to track."

As far - and as long - as that hair goes, we must be patient.

"We'll see what happens this year," Zinzer said. "Maybe a mohawk or something when I get down to state."