Coach Mitch Overlie Elko High School
Pictures Courtesy of Mitch Overlie
Coaching is a Blessing
I was born in rural Montana on the Hi-line, Highway 2, in the tiny town of Chester. I was the youngest of four; Paul, Darren, Wendy, and me, born to my parents–Paul and Dorothie Overlie. They later adopted Amber, Heidi, and Lara. I married my high school sweetheart, Lissa Maatta, and we have two children, Ethan and Chloe.
There is not much to do in a small town so my life was wrapped up around sports. My first love was football, but I wrestled, played basketball, swam, played baseball, and honestly thought I would play sports professionally as an adult. Wrestling proved to be the most frustrating and captivating of the sports. I started wrestling when I was nine years old, and I have struggled ever since. The stats are as follows: 1989-AAU Freestyle Champion 88 pounds-Qualified for Nationals in Billings DNP. 1990-Freshman State Qualifier 105 1991-Sophomore 3rd at State 112 1992-Junior 3rd at State 119 1993-Senior 2nd at State 130
After my Senior year loss–I was 37-0 going into the match–the coach, I thought I would wrestle for at Northern Montana College, left. Anxiety built as March and April came and went without a single call from any school. In the middle of May, I was recruited by Scott Filius, National Champion at Northern, and Chris Faber, 2X NAIA Runner-Up. They recruited me and hired David Ray as the Head Coach. My college career mirrored my high school career. I was a Captain of my team, and I felt God started to direct me to coaching in Nevada. Here are my college accomplishments: 1994-Red shirt dislocated my Elbow 1995-National Qualifier 134 lbs 1996-NAIA All-American 6th place 126 lbs 1997-NAIA All-American 5th place 134 lbs 1998-NAIA Runner-Up 134 lbs. Team NAIA National Champions-Captain. 2018-Inducted into the MSU-Northern Hall of Fame.
Finishing my competitive career without an Individual Championship weighed on me heavily. As a believer in Jesus, we wrestled a lot with whys, self-doubt, and my identity. I struggled to see my purpose, but He gave me purpose in coaching others.
As a coach, I have tried to make the sport of wrestling valuable not because of what wrestling gives, but more about what it takes: hard work, perseverance, discipline, and mental toughness. I want my athletes to be ambassadors for the sport, to be fans of the sport, to make wrestling fun. I have been so blessed to coach many State Champions, and more importantly, successful people in all areas of life outside of sports. I have coached several different sports including, football, cross country, flag football, and all-levels of wrestling. I have been blessed to coach alongside, and supported by, some amazing men who have made me a better coach and person, in Fallon: Matt Reibsamen, Steve Heck, Paul Orong, Tommy Thomson, Tom and Tommy Diaz, Boone, Lester and Trevor DeBraga, Dan Shaw, Ryan McCormick, to name a few. In Elko: Kelly Wintermote, Luke Sellers, Derril Fry, Jonas Norman, Hans Gaul, Josh Kraintz, Bryan Heard, Tony Khoury, to name some. My family has given me the freedom and support through the good times, and the bad
Here are some of my accomplishments as a coach. Football-2021 Conference Champs-Elko Cross Country- Boys Team State Qualifiers Track- Boys Team State Champions Wrestling–3x Runner-up, a Third, 3x Regional Champion, Went on a streak of Conference Dual wins, Coached numerous State Champions from 1999-2014 in Fallon. Coached numerous State Champions in Elko from 2016-Present, 3A Northern Regional Champions, 3A State Champions 2022!
The road to the 3A State Championship started years ago– like so many wrestlers stories–in youth wrestling. Wrestling is all about family, commitment and perseverance, and many of my wrestlers have been committed to the sport for years. During the Covid year several wrestlers reached out to me and got some work done–and wrestled in Idaho and Utah. We came together as a team this summer as we wrestled at Spanish Springs in the Summer Heat Duals. We saw the potential. Most of my wrestlers play football, so they found success on the Grid-Iron. We had a great turn out with 40 + kids coming out. Elko High made space for a wrestling room which gave our team a place to practice without rolling out and rolling up mats, which in turn gave us a sense of pride. We struggled to catch up for the lost year, but our team worked hard, led by our Senior group. We talked about winning it. We set individual goals, and wrote them on the walls of our room. We talked through our fears. We believed, and we overcame!
We were thankful and grateful for the sport, our opponents, and the opportunities in front of us. We preached it was going to take everyone! To win by a two and a half point margin, it took everyone. We, of course, had a few let downs, but we had guys step up in a big way. Sophomore Camden Jensen got a couple of pins to take fourth at 106, Sophomore Christian Felix got a couple of big wins to take 4th at 160. Elliott Leaman-Senior, had a heart-breaking semi-final loss to come back and pin his way to 3rd at 138. Sophomore and First Year wrestler Andres Flores got a win at 170, Kaden Haase-Senior at 152, got a pin against Spring Creek, and unsung hero First Year wrestler-Junior, Ayden Rodriguez, (195) pins two opponents to end up 4th at State. Our best group had a tremendous four match pin streak in the semi-final to catapult us into the lead. Pins by (State Champion) Marco Romero 113; Junior (State Champion) Craig Slater at 120; Senior-Blaze Jones (State runner-up) at 126; Sophomore Cael Sellers–avenging a loss the week before at 132 (State runner-up); and Sophomore Eli Finlayson (State Runner-up) getting a fall at 182, set the stage for something special.
Spring Creek had their own group of studs that took back the lead at the end of the semi-final round. In the finals, Spring Creek had a chance. We held them off and with the help of Crandall from Virgin Valley, we were crowned the State Champions! It took everyone, all of the JVs, all of the coaches’ wisdom, all of the parents and friends’ support to get it done. The future looks bright for the Elko Wrestling.
I am so blessed to coach such a talented and hard working group. As I spoke of before, God seemed to give me purpose in coaching, and as I see what Jesus has done for me, I now find my identity in Him. I can let go of the failures and losses of the past and be more present. To God Be the Glory!
Wrestling in Nevada: Wrestling in Nevada is back! It will take us some time to catch up for the lost year. I noticed in Idaho, a state that wrestled last season, the missing year cost us the grit that only wrestling through it can provide. I was a big proponent of bringing back a Super State Champion. After this win and listening to Shane Sparks passionate plea on Flo-radio, I am not sure it is the right thing. Shane said one of the best moments of his life came from winning the Small School Division State Championship. I am not so sure we would, or could, win a State Title in a Super State with all of these specialized Academy schools. Coming from Montana, I do believe we should hold ALL of the State Competitions in one venue. State Wrestling in Montana was special. Every team would go to the Billings Metra and all of Montana’s best wrestlers and teams were on display in one place. This is great for spectators who love the sport, but in a Covid era maybe we should wait.
I think our sport would be best served to have a Dual Team State Championship by Classification. It is a great way to grow the sport. Fans can easily sit down and watch the match, and you get to see the strength of a whole team.