| Wrestling is a great sport that not only gets you in the best shape of your life, but it shapes young men and women into great human beings, it builds great character and overall is a great community. I was inspired to wrestle by my Dad. I grew up always being asked if I was going to be a wrestler like my father, and without any hesitation I’d yell out yes! My pops was a great wrestler, in high school he was a State Runner-Up, and he only started his wrestling journey as a Sophomore in high school! He later ended up wrestling at the D1 level for Cal State Fullerton. So, I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I wanted to be just like my dad, and I felt as if wrestling was in my blood. I was the type of kid to play rough all the time, I was always outside getting my knees dirty, playing sports, so wrestling was a perfect fit for me. |
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| I first stepped on the mat when I was six-years old, my Dad took me to a youth wrestling practice at Cimarron High School, and I loved it! I was only practicing with the youth team at that time, then later when I was in the 6th grade I started to compete. My first year competing, I was dominating my brackets for the most part. I was always placing 1st or 2nd in the youth tournaments. At the same time that I was wrestling I also was playing football, and that was my passion ever since I was eight-years old, so those two sports were my life all throughout middle and high school. My father was also my coach all throughout middle school but when high school came about, he stopped coaching me and let the high school coaches take over. |
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| My high school wrestling experience was pretty good. I wrestled over at Shadow Ridge High School, a local high school here in Las Vegas under Coach Johnson, who was a fantastic coach. We were a solid team, and our school was known for our wrestling team. I was a 4-year Varsity Wrestler–I started my Freshman year at the 103 pound weight class. My Sophomore year I was wrestling at the 113 pound weight class, but I ended up getting surgery for a hernia that year, so my season was cut short. My Junior and Senior years didn’t really go how I’d envisioned them. I was wrestling at the 138 pound weight class my Senior year, and I had a ton of mental blocks and something happened where I lost my passion for the sport, but I still stuck with it and went through the motions. |
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| I didn’t want to quit on my team, nor did I want to disappoint anyone in my family or any of my friends. My Senior year came, and I was expecting myself to place at State, but that didn’t happen and I was crushed. The moment I got knocked out of the Regional Tournament I was feeling as if I wasted so much time, but I probably didn’t deserve to place at State now that I think about it. At the time, I was more football focused and it was my dream to play college ball then, so I let that thought limit me as a wrestler, which thinking back on it now was not that smart. After my Senior Regional Tournament, I never would have thought that I would ever be back on the mat, until I started coaching. |
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| I started coaching when I was twenty, and I was just helping out the high school program and middle school program at SLAM! Nevada. They have two great head coaches, Coach Jake and Coach Hocker who coach up the varsity kids, and Coach Rios leads the middle school wrestling team. I truly fell in love with the sport of wrestling again, when I started giving back to the community. It was such a good feeling to coach up the younger generations and see them apply it on the mat. It was also a blessing watching the other coaches do what they love to do, and I learned so much from them. This made me hungrier than ever to compete again, and when I found out UNLV had a program, I had to look more into it. I found out a few of my buddies that I wrestled with back in high school were on the team like Nathan Egbalic and Destry Toledo. They helped me get on board, and from there my college journey began. I felt like I didn’t perform the way I wanted to in high school, and now I have a new opportunity to make up for that and get what I thought I had deserved. |
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| I trained day and night for this–I’d wake up at 4:30 to either hit the weights or go for an early morning run before work. I had to be prepared because it had been six years since I’ve competed. I had no idea what to expect when I started competing, all I knew was that now I was going to leave it all out on the mat, every time I stepped on it. My first year on the UNLV Wrestling team, I instantly clicked with everyone and the coaches. The energy in the room was great, and so was the chemistry. I wrestled at the 149 and 157 pound weight classes, and I saw a lot of success. I became one of the captains which was an honor to earn. I also ended up becoming Nationally Ranked (17th) right before we had our Conference Championships, which I took 5th place at. That hurt because I felt I should have been in the Finals in that tournament. At the conclusion of the West Coast Conference Championships, we qualified 14 wrestlers for Nationals and won the Conference Title in 2020. |
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| Then we were off to Nationals, and that was such a great experience with the team. I ended up two matches away from becoming an All-American, and this year I plan on going a whole lot further! I am blessed with an abundant amount of high-quality coaches and great teammates! Coach Downing has been such a great coach to have in my corner and in the wrestling room. He’s elevated me to become a better wrestler, and not only that but helped me become a better leader as well. He pushes me and the team to maximize our potential on the mat and here on this planet. Coach Karst is also a blessing to have as a coach. He always teaches great technique, and he really pushes our limits when it comes to our mentality. Being coached by these two gentlemen has definitely been an honor, and I can’t wait to win these titles with these coaches in my corner!
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| I am also blessed with a passionate father and a very supportive family. I couldn’t be more thankful to all of them who have been in my corner. My support system, mainly being my family, has always been so amazing. They’ve seen all my ups and downs and have been with me through thick and thin. |
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