Did You Wrestle in College?

[moodybooty]

I’ve been hearing more and more career stories as the season gets rolling, and it made me wonder about the community here.

Did you wrestle in college? What was it like for you, both the wrestling and the lifestyle?

I tried to walk-on to the NCAA team, quickly discovered meal points and boxed wine, then joined the club team by the end of my first semester. Didn’t compete too much, but was happy to fall in love with the sport in a new way!

[Ohio Elite]

1 hour ago, moodybooty said:

I’ve been hearing more and more career stories as the season gets rolling, and it made me wonder about the community here.

Did you wrestle in college? What was it like for you, both the wrestling and the lifestyle?

I tried to walk-on to the NCAA team, quickly discovered meal points and boxed wine, then joined the club team by the end of my first semester. Didn’t compete too much, but was happy to fall in love with the sport in a new way!

Wasn't near good enough to wrestle in college. I now live vicariously through other great wrestlers.

[nick]

I wrestled at a now-defunct NAIA school and was below average wrestler

I had a great time though! We were a Hard Knocks kinda program (alot of D1 got kicked out because of drugs transfers) and the school was throwing money at athletics (we had two wrestling houses and the country's ugliest football field)

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

I was a high school JV superstar.

[Gus]

No D1 offers for me. Wanted to study mechanical engineering so did not want to go D2/D3/NAIA route which were the only schools that recruited me. No club wrestling team at my college but that would have been fun. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

Nope. Not in college. Not in high school. Not in junior high. Not in grade school. Come to think of it, I never wrestled.

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

2 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Nope. Not in college. Not in high school. Not in junior high. Not in grade school. Come to think of it, I never wrestled.

How did you become such a fan of the sport then?

[Wrestleknownothing]

3 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

How did you become such a fan of the sport then?

Through my nephews. They were pretty good and it sucked me in. I like watching someone who is better at something than I will ever be at anything. And they qualified on that front. I also have a niece who is a ballerina who I follow closely, though she is getting close to retirement age.

[ionel]

Intermurals, did have small school offer but went with the 4 yr full ride academic.  Thought about walk-on but prob wouldn't have a left arm now cause was never beating Lee Roy.  Did beat John when in grad school ... in golf.  

[ionel]

4 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Through my nephews. They were pretty good and it sucked me in. I like watching someone who is better at something than I will ever be at anything. And they qualified on that front. I also have a niece who is a ballerina who I follow closely, though she is getting close to retirement age.

So that is you over on the ballerina forum. 

[Ohio Elite]

12 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

How did you become such a fan of the sport then?

He's not. He's a volleyball guy.

[Gus]

6 minutes ago, ionel said:

Intermurals, did have small school offer but went with the 4 yr full ride academic.  Thought about walk-on but prob wouldn't have a left arm now cause was never beating Lee Roy.  Did beat John when in grad school ... in golf.  

Beating a Smith in anything should be considered an athletic achievement. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

17 minutes ago, ionel said:

So that is you over on the ballerina forum. 

It is amazing how much better her arabesque has become through statistical analysis

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

20 minutes ago, ionel said:

So that is you over on the ballerina forum. 

Balletknownoth

ing

[Wrestleknownothing]

18 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Balletknownoth

ing

Balletknowitall

[Tom formerly Tofurky]

No

[TNwrestling]

Wrestled at small college in MidTN. 

 

That post of the pins spiking in 2006 make a ton of sense. That was my first year in college and can tell you just how many lights are on each of the ceilings of the gyms around here. 

 

I wasn't good. 

[Jim L]

Yes. DIII and it was a huge part of my college experience. I got better every year and ended up being pretty good DIII guy but nowhere close to where I wanted to be.

After I was done there was a hole in my life that I struggled to fill. I competed in Judo and BJJ for many years and that helped but it was never quite the same as competing in collegiate wresting

Edited November 9, 2023 by Jim L

[11986]

was undefeated in college, in the two years I wrestled intramurals I went 4-0. 

[Leg rider]

I was an invited walk-on on a D1 college wrestling team, my whole time was spent as a back up. I recognized early on that I was skilled enough to be a good workout partner for the guys that started, and ocasionally got a win against a starter in practice, but I was not athletic enough to be the guy.

[Wrestleknownothing]

28 minutes ago, 11986 said:

was undefeated in college, in the two years I wrestled intramurals I went 4-0. 

Why did you stop? You were only 156 matches away from immortality.

[nhs67]

I wrestled in college.  Ended up being okay at it I guess.

[11986]

42 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Why did you stop? You were only 156 matches away from immortality.

unfortunately, I did not hang 'em up for good off that win streak. Wrestled in an open tournament at age 34, didn't go so well.  

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

Was a fair to middling wrestler on a top 10 D2 team.  It was late 80s to early 90s and we actually had D1 national qualifiers.  I beat d1 starters and lost to d3 backups lol.  I'm not sure if the difference in talent between divisions was as pronounced back then.  I wrestled some Greco, made a decent account of myself against some highly ranked guys.

Came out of retirement at an open when I was 33.  Took 2nd out of 20 ish.  Beat some college guys, lost 4-0 to a pretty decent post-collegian.  Was whole body sore for over a week AND got staph!

[GreenandGold]

I wrestled at a school starting their first year transition to D1 (wrestling and volleyball were exempt from 5 year time out to only 2 years). Probably around 0.500, started a couple years, it hurts to bend over and tie my shoes now, wouldn't change a thing.