Beach District Male Athlete of the Year

By Chad Capellman
July 2, 2007

Over the course of the 2006-2007 athletic season, there were many area athletes who did extraordinary things. Only one of them did enough to earn the title of Gameday Magazine Male Athlete of the Year.

Before this season, only eight wrestlers (AAA) had ever been crowned four-time state champion in the history of Virginia. Cox's Colin Dozier made it nine this season.

"I have thought about (being a four-time State Champion) ever since I started wrestling," Dozier explains after accomplishing the feat. "I have trained every day to make that happen."

From his first title as a freshman when he had to survive two double-overtime wins, to his last title where he dominated in pinning every opponent he wrestled, the 130-pounder has been nothing short of special.

"He's worked for this since he was a kid," his coach Corey Williams explains. Williams should know, he has been working with Dozier for almost a decade. The two met at what is now named the Cox Wrestling Club. "Dedication, desire, mental strength. That's what he has, and that's what it takes to do what he's done."

What he's done is compile an astounding 181-11 record as a high school wrestler. Of those 181 wins, an eye-popping 119 of those have come via the pin.

"I can't say for sure, but that has to be a record," his coach laughs. "I don't know of anybody in the history of Cox that has done that."

For Dozier, wrestling and winning have always gone hand-in-hand. After winning his first match as a middle schooler, he was hooked, and he finished that year like he does every year: by winning a state title. Dozier would later go on to win three more state titles making him the first middle school student to win four titles consecutively.
"I've coached him since he was about nine," Williams says. "He's always been pretty goal oriented even to this day."

"I've waited 12 years for my senior year and now I have a chance to do something amazing," says Dozier before the state tournament.

This season Dozier compiled a 50-4 mark, with all of his losses coming in premier tournaments. He placed 4th in nationals where he competed with the best high school seniors in the country. He has already accepted a scholarship from Michigan State, and will be lacing it up for the Spartans next year. He will be redshirted in his first season. It will be the first time in a long while, that his year will end without him winning another title.