Peake Spends Summer Preparing for International Competitions

Do you remember the summer after your freshman year of college? Maybe you traveled, maybe you worked, maybe you had an internship. Davidson’s Tanner Peake (157) has had a pretty unforgettable summer. After making Puerto Rico’s U20 national team at 74 kg in April, Peake hit the ground running, making preparations to compete at the Pan-American Championships in Santiago, Chile in July. The last time we spoke with Peake, he was wrapping up the Spring semester and getting training plans together with Head Coach Nate Carr Jr and Assistant Coach Ty Eustice, training through the newly-formed Charlotte RTC. As the semester came to a close, Tanner headed home to New Jersey to train at Rider and the NJRTC, to work with some of the same guys he grew up with.

While technique is an important aspect of wrestling, staying on track with strength and conditioning goals continues to elevate the craft. Pete Shebey, a coach of Peake’s since his sophomore/junior year of high school, has worked with Tanner this summer. Morning lifts came early at around five or six in the morning, consisting of strength training with movements and techniques focused on the development of more explosiveness and improved foot movement and speed. RTC practices varied - some days Peake would head to the NJRTC for 10:00am practices led by Reece Humphrey, while other days he would go to Rider’s 11:00am practices. Peake was able to train in a variety of environments this summer, ranging from more instruction and technique at the NJRTC, while Rider’s practices were mostly self-motivated. At the end of the day, Tanner made sure to top it off with some cardio - usually sprints.

Practicing in different rooms throughout the week was another way for Tanner to get to hang out with his best friend Mikey Wilson, who wrestles for Rider (174). When reflecting on the similarities in team culture and coaching styles, Peake says that “Coach Carr is very energetic, similar to Reece - he just has a lot of energy and you can tell they both love being in the room and coaching.” Preparations continued with the NCJ Camps hosted at Davidson - which included a week of training with the coaches and the team during these youth camps. 

The journey to the Pan-American Championships in Chile began with Coach Carr traveling to New Jersey for Peake’s final practices before heading south, real south. We’ve been experiencing quite the heat wave here in the States, and if you remember from science class the southern and northern hemispheres of Earth experience the opposite climates. That’s right - it’s wintertime in Chile. This was Peake’s first time traveling internationally - since Puerto Rico is a U.S. Commonwealth, it is considered domestic travel from the continental United States. (Y’all didn’t think you’d get science, travel, and history lessons did you?) After a 10.5-hour red-eye flight, Peake was finally in Chile. A few days later, Assistant Coach Ty Eustice arrived. 

Team Puerto Rico consisted of guys from all over, mostly with Puerto Rican roots. Some were from Pennsylvania, South Dakota, or even New Jersey but moved to Puerto Rico, while others may have moved away from the island but returned to wrestle. Tanner experienced wrestling at the Chilean Olympic Training Center - being around other world team members. “There’s a lot of pride that comes with this, I’m so grateful for the opportunity. And it’s so cool to look down and be able to see the Puerto Rican flag on my singlet, knowing I’m representing this group and doing well for them, so I was happy to be able to go and bring back a medal. I’m so grateful I was able to get this opportunity to compete and do what I love.” 

Peake finished out in Santiago with a 2-1 record, defeating Peru 10-0 in the quarterfinal, then was defeated by USA’s Mitchell Mesenbrink 12-0, finally bouncing back to bronze with a 10-0 win over Colombia. When dealing with the nerves, Tanner’s mentality is “It’s just another wrestling match, I try to keep my cool.” “Not a lot of people can say they got to this point or even be a Pan-American medalist.” When Tanner reflected on his experience, his gratitude toward his family, his coaches, and Davidson was what shined the most. 

The takeaways for Peake from Pan-Ams have him ready to go for the next round of competition. He was able to see how different countries wrestle and become familiar with their different styles, while also leaning into owning his own style. 

So, what’s next for Tanner Peake? He’s headed to the U20 World Championships set to be hosted in Jordan on August 14. Coach Carr will travel as his coach, and his support system - his parents Nydia and Chris, who wrestled for Rutgers. Peake even announced a partnership with Chain Wrestling - where you can order your exclusive Peake gear. Oh yeah, and Tanner plans on staying at 157 for the SoCon regular season this year - “I’m most looking forward to going back into the conference tournament at the end of the season, I’m excited to see the team grow - with these freshmen coming in who are hard workers and the current guys who put in such hard work…I think we’re going to shock some people in the SoCon and in the NCAA this year. I’m super excited.”