Hunter athlete hopes to letter in 4 sports

When he decided to add golf to his athletic regimen this fall, Chase Mecham didn't realize he was attempting something Hunter High hadn't seen in 17 years. He just wanted to try something new, not blaze a trail.

"I'm just looking for something to do," the soon-to-be-senior said of his decision to take a stab at the school's golf team. "I can't do one sport all year. I get bored."

One sport? He can't even stick to three.

If Mecham makes the golf team this fall, he'll become the first athlete in 17 years to letter in four sports at Hunter. But making the team seems like only a formality at this point for Mecham, a mostly bogey golfer who believes he's "already on the team." If that's the case, Mecham will add golf to a varsity resume that already includes wrestling, hockey and tennis.

Lettering in four sports is rare because high school sports follow three seasons: fall, winter and spring. If all goes according to plan, Mecham will compete in four sports this academic year alone, including two that overlap.

For the past two years, in fact, Mecham has found a way to play hockey and wrestle in the winter, even though the sports coincide. It's rare for coaches to accommodate such an arrangement, especially considering the physical demands associated with wrestling. But Mecham was adamant from the start that he couldn't choose between his two favorite sports.

"My heroes growing up were (hockey great) Wayne Gretzky and (famed wrestler) Cale Sanderson," Mecham said. "I told my coaches I couldn't choose, so it's a little give and take."

So Mecham, who has played hockey since he was 6 and wrestled since seventh grade, has crammed two sports into one season for the past few years. Of course, he has run into a few problems. For the past two seasons, the state hockey tournament has fallen around the same time as the state wrestling tourney. Last season, Mecham missed the first round of the hockey playoffs so he could compete in the second day of state wrestling.

"The hockey team won, so luckily I got to be at both," Mecham said.

Hockey has always been Mecham's first love. He plays twice most weeks, often gathering at West Valley's Acord Ice Center with other players from around the valley. A few years ago, he also developed an infatuation with tennis, and he began playing for Hunter once he honed his skills. He has always craved full-contact sports, but football didn't seem to make sense for the 112-pound grappler. Hockey and wrestling filled the void instead.