| When I started wrestling, I was around 8 years old. My younger brother started wrestling, and I showed up at a few of his practices and thought that I should join. I wasn’t very good and I didn’t have a lot of wins, but I enjoyed it. I went to local tournaments and State for a few years. When I started to get more serious I decided I was going to wrestle at Western Regionals, in Pocatello, Idaho. I began training at Team Nevada North in Reno. |
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| I think I ended up going 0-6 at Western Regionals in 2015. My brother chose to stop wrestling, but I continued to practice and compete on my own. I wrestled until my eighth-grade year when I decided to take a break. I had a love/hate relationship with wrestling. I loved wrestling but disliked losing. I had to grow into my tall skinny self. |
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I was beginning my high school career, and I was on the fence about wanting to wrestle. A few of my friends were going out for it, so I said why not. I won a total of 4 matches that year, 2 at the first tournament and 2 at a JV tournament later in the season. I was crushed, and amazed, at how big of a transition it was from middle school. I decided to join the swim team in the spring, just to do a sport. I quickly realized that this wasn’t the sport for me. I decided to become a lifeguard as something to do in the offseason. |
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| I did a little bit of Crossfit at a local gym to gain some muscle because I was super skinny. I went from 140 pounds my freshman year, to 180 pounds my sophomore year. I originally wasn’t going to wrestle my sophomore year because of how bad I did the previous year, but I was convinced to give it another shot. I had a successful season, winning more matches and getting 2nd in the 3A state tournament. This was the turning point for my wrestling career. |
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| Covid started to shut everything down and I was bored out of my mind. I decided to quit my job as a Lifeguard and started wrestling as much as possible at Silver State Wrestling Academy with Coach Josh Nolan. I wasn’t very good when I first started, compared to everyone else in the room. They pushed me to practice harder. I decided to travel with them to tournaments to get more practice. I was just getting the hang of it when Coach Josh announced that he was accepting a new job at Compound wrestling. I remember wrestling at Western Regionals, I was 0-1 in freestyle and something just clicked. I won my first match in ages, and just kept winning. I ended up placing 4th. |
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| Coach Joey then took over at Silver State. At the time there were much smaller groups coming to practices, and so I got a lot more one-on-one time. He showed me the technique that helped me to win more matches. After Super 32, I knew that my future included wrestling. I started emailing and talking to college coaches. I knew right then that I wanted to wrestle in college. I was talking with the Cal Poly coaches, and then I went to tour the campus. I knew after my visit that I wanted to go there. The coaches and wrestlers made me feel like one of the team. I made the choice to commit to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. |
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| I’ve had a lot of success during my senior year. I won State with all pins at 220lbs. I earned All-American status at NHSCA’s in Virginia Beach placing 7th. I was invited to wrestle at Elite 8 Duals in Atlanta, GA, and I placed 4th at the US Open U20 division in Las Vegas. I also took 1st place at Western Regionals in Freestyle wrestling heavyweight. I just want to say thank you to all my coaches at Silver State Wrestling Academy and Fernley High School. And, a big thank you to my family for believing in me and making this all possible! These opportunities have made all of my dreams come true. I couldn’t have done any of this without all of you. |
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