Grappling for glory: Tarleton State Wrestling Club competes in first tournaments

BY HELENA KNUTSON/Multimedia Journalist

Tarleton State University’s Wrestling Club kicked off its season this past week with its first-ever home tournament. This tournament gave a small preview of what's to come for the season. 

The team was split into two: the purple and white. The two teams went against each other during this tournament to see who would win their chance at traveling for out-of-town tournaments this season.

These wrestlers fought hard to secure their place on the competition team; one of them was Kaylynn Lairson, a freshman criminal justice major who was excited about how their first tournament was going.

“This is very big for us as a first-year club. We're pushing to be D1 soon, within the next two years. This is a very big event for us because we're trying to get people in getting our names out there,” Lairson said. “ The more people that come see us, the more people that support us and that's what we need. Overall as many people's eyes on us, that's our biggest goal. Right now is getting Tarleton's Wrestling Club name out there.”

Tarleton Wrestling Club had several matches going on throughout the day, with several wins and several losses. One of these wins was from Koby Kidd, a sophomore criminal justice major,

“If it feels great, everything, I've, you know, transformed the past couple months. First match fever was a thing, but I managed to get it done,” Kidd said. “You know, coming off a win is always great. It's motivation for the tournament coming up in two weeks, and I look forward to a good season.”

Kidd wasn't the only wrestler looking forward to their match for the day.

“Two matches today. How I see it is we're just here to wrestle; we're teammates at the end of the day, but yes, we want to win at the end of the day. It does not classify who you are as a person or as a wrestler. It's one match. And we're teammates. The goal is not to hurt anybody. We're here to put on a show for y'all,” Lairson said.

The tournament had a crowd of fans helping cheer on Tarleton Wrestling Club. One of these fans was Ronan Blaha, a freshman music major, who came to the tournament to cheer on his friend Kylie.

“Watching the tournament was really amazing. I was really excited to see all my friends wrestle, especially see my friend Kylie. She did amazing and the spirit of the Tarleton students here is really amazing and I think the crowd really loves to see the sport thrive. I think the program is going to do really good,” Blaha said.

Tarelton Wrestling Club competed Nov. 23 at Northern Oklahoma.