RCTC is ranked No. 11 in the NJCAA team rankings. What is this year's team capable of accomplishing?
Rager: This year I have a pretty good group. I have a really good national tournament team. We have guys not ranked that could very easily be in the top five at the national tournament, and that should help move us up in the rankings. There was talk about them bringing back the (NJCAA) Division III national championship. We're currently just one group for the NJCAA. It used to be that we were two different groups, but competing at the same national championship. So if they bring back Division III, I think we could win that. As far as the whole thing, I would like to be in the top five. That's kind of the goal. I think that's something we can do.
Randy Rager (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Rager: I think it's going to be a great opportunity for these guys to be in that type of setting and that type of venue. As far as our dual meet team, I think we could be a spoiler team. Down low we're really good. If we get some momentum going there's no reason we shouldn't be able to carry it through the dual meet. If they do the seeding by the rankings, I think there will be a top team that gets knocked off. I think we're good enough that we can be a spoiler.
Joe Munos, a three-time state champion, transferred to your program from a Division I wrestling program, Ohio University, and will be eligible this semester. What does he bring to your program?
Rager: Joe is a great guy. He's a little bit older, so that helps out. He's a great practice partner for our lighter weights, and they're making each other better.
Has Munos expressed interest in getting back to the Division I level?
Rager: He's definitely talked about moving on from here and continuing to wrestle. At the Division I level? He's talked about it, but I think he's more interested in a Division II or Division III type of school. I don't know if it was the grind at the Division I level or what it was. Joe is a very, very smart kid. But does he have the ambition to do the grades? Not always. So when you combine that with a Division I type atmosphere, I don't know if that's what he's looking for.
Dakota Trom (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Rager: Dakota will be ready to go at National Duals. That's been kind of the goal we've talked about. Getting his weight down hasn't been a problem. We're just going to kind of pick and choose when we're going to use him. But Nationals Duals will probably the first time we see him on the mat wearing an RCTC singlet.
Garrett Miller was an All-American for you last season at 174 pounds, but hasn't been competing lately. What's his status?
Rager: He had broken some cartilage in his wrist, so he's been out for a while. The last time he competed was at the Auggie Open. He's just a tough kid. He still goes home and does chores at the farm. He's going to wrestle at National Duals. Right now he's in a cast, but he has told me over and over that he's just going to put tape on it and wrestle. He doesn't care. He is supposed to be getting that cast off and he'll be ready to go.
Rochester hosts some top high school wrestling events, including The Clash, Minnesota Christmas Tournament, JJ Classic. How much does that benefit your program?
Rager: It helps out quite a bit. It gets athletes on our campus. It gets them into our athletic facility. A lot of kids I talk to don't even realize that it's a college they are wrestling at when they're there. It has definitely been a benefit for us. It has helped us make connections with kids that are from outside the state of Minnesota.
You have a handful of kids not from Minnesota on your roster. Do you recruit much outside the state? Or do those kids seek out the program?
Rager: Usually it's that they seek us out. A lot of it is just the connections I've made through the years. Coaches will contact me and say, 'I've got a kid who will fit in your program. I know you'll take care of him.' We have a kid named Label Lewis from South Carolina, who is down at 133 pounds. He was a two-time state champion and the OW in the big class. He's a great kid. Last year I had a kid out of Texas that was really good.
RCTC head wrestling coach Randy Rager receiving the Academic Award, given to the team with the highest GPARager: We take a lot of pride in that. That's one of our goals. I've said it over and over to people, but there are three things we tell the kids to focus. Number one: become a better person. Number two: become a better student. Number three: become a better wrestler. We focus on the academics because if you can't pass the classes you're not eligible anyway. If you're not working on the academics you're not going to have a good team.
As a competitor, you're the all-time winningest Division II wrestler. What does that record mean to you?
Rager: Not a whole lot. For me it was about durability more than anything. I always wrestled. If I was sick I wrestled. If I had a bum knee I wrestled. These days sometimes kids have a sniffle and want to sit out of practice. But the record doesn't mean a whole lot to me.
When you look back on your own competitive wrestling career, do you have any regrets?
Rager: Oh yeah. For sure. There's always that extra you could have done to make yourself better. You think about matches ... and they're usually the ones you lost that keep you up at night. There are always things you could have done. But it doesn't do a whole lot of good to dwell on them. You just try to pass on what you learned to the guys you're coaching.
You served as an assistant coach at St. Cloud State, a Division II program, prior to taking over at RCTC. How does recruiting differ from Division II to NJCAA?
Rager: Well, in the NJCAA I'm everything. Sports information director ... that's me. Head wrestling coach ... that's me. Head recruiter ... that's me. I'm a full-time instructor as well. While I was at St. Cloud State I was a grad assistant. But when I was there I was specifically coaching wrestling and recruiting. That's it. At the NJCAA level it's a lot more responsibility ... and I'm not saying that at the Division II level it's not a lot of responsibility. It's just that I think there are more resources and help at the Division II level than at the NJCAA level.
Throughout the years several NCAA Division I wrestling champions and All-Americans have come from the NJCAA. Names like T.J. Williams, Tony Davis, and Brock Lesnar immediately come to mind. Also, current UFC champions Chris Weidman, Jon Jones, and Cain Velasquez wrestled at the NJCAA level. What does that say about the talent at the NJCAA level?
Rager: A lot of people don't realize what we have going on at our level. Some people think it's actually a lesser division of wrestling ... almost like it's high school. Like I tell recruits, we all wrestle at the same tournaments. We go to the Auggie Open. We go to the St. Cloud State Open. We go down to Luther and see some Division I teams. Wrestling is wrestling. At our level you might have a Division I type kid who is working on their academics or their clearinghouse to get to that next level. Some years it's very, very talented ... and some years it's not as talented. It's kind of up and down.
This story also appears in the Jan. 3 issue of The Guillotine. The Guillotine has been covering wrestling in Minnesota since 1971. Its mission is to report and promote wrestling at all levels -- from youth and high school wrestling to college and international level wrestling. Subscribe to The Guillotine.
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