Question: Why did you join the wrestling team?
Answer: It was a combination of some friends on the team wanting me to and the atmosphere of it being one on one. It’s your fault if you lose – you can’t put the blame on anybody else. It you win, it’s all your own accomplishment, and it’s a great feeling when they raise your arm. My friends thought I would be good at it and I had regretted that I hadn’t done it before.
Q: Are you surprised by your success?
A: Going into a match you hear about how this guy was a district qualifier, but I think it’s who wants it most. But I am still kind of surprised by what my record is. I’ve heard tournament time is pretty fun. I’m anxious to see how far I can go.
Q: What has been your strategy to learn the sport?
A: There are hundreds of moves and I’m not able to learn them all in my first year. So I’ve learned about 10 and tried to perfect them, and maybe that way I’ll be able to hang in and win. The working hard and weight cutting hasn’t been hard to get used to because of how hard we worked in football.
Q: Which sport is your first love?
A: Football. I know it sounds cheesy, but I can remember playing in the backyard with my friends and when it was time to play tackle that my grandpa took me to sign up. I’ve always enjoyed it. And being able to hit someone – that’s fun too.
Q: Do you have college plans?
A: I hope to go to college at a D-I school and try to play football even if I have to walk on. I want to try to play. I’ve thought about studying kinesiology because I enjoy sports and being active, and I’d like to stay connected with sports or work with athletes.
Q: Is wrestling a good feeling after a disappointing football season?
A: Football was tough losing because I was so used to being successful winning a lot of games since I was a little kid. I felt like we did everything we could and worked hard, but the results were not in our favor. So it’s nice to see some success following that, and I hope it will be a successful season in track.
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