Tarleton wrestling team heads to nationals

BY ANDREW UTTERBACK

Podcast Producer

Tarleton’s wrestling team is headed to the National Collegiate Wrestling Championship their very first year competing.

This kind of immediate success is not something that first year sports programs often see, but head coach Grant Leeth said nationals was the goal from the very beginning.

“Right away, I knew with the talent that we brought in, [we] had high potential. My expectation from day one was we’re gonna go be the best team in the country by the end of the year,” Leeth said.

Tarleton’s wrestling team is not as established as other universities’ wrestling teams, but athletes and coaches were treated to a brand new wrestling facility.

“We have an amazing facility… It’s one of the best wrestling facilities in the country,” Leeth said.

Tarleton’s wrestling team is undefeated in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) and 3-1 in duels.

Leeth said the mindset of the team going into nationals is one of gratitude and optimism for the future of the program.

“We have an opportunity to be the first Division I wrestling program in Texas history…and we got a room full of guys that were willing to bet on themselves, bet on this brand new program and are hungry to make a name,” Leeth said.

The support from Tarleton and the community as a whole hasn’t been lost on the wrestling team.

“We’re still focusing heavily on the gratitude piece — just being grateful for the opportunity to continue to wrestle, to get a college degree, to be around amazing kids, families and parents,” Leeth said.

Despite this being their first finals appearance, the team is treating this just like any other match.

“Go in with an attitude of gratitude…but also go show the country what Texas wrestling is about and what this program’s about,” Leeth said. “And that even as a first year program, you can come up and dominate and win when you’re not supposed to. So we’re gonna remain the same… It’s still wrestling. It’s still a seven minute match. We’ve been doing it all year, we’re just in a different venue…Our expectation is to go win.”

Tarleton wrestler Austin Tischer has been wrestling for 15 years and competes in the 285-lb weight class. He currently has a record of 14-3.

Tischer said that the goal of nationals was established at the very beginning of the season. After the initial month, the team started to see success and was fully confident about reaching the goal.

Tischer’s season was not without hurdles.

“I tore my MCL and caused a fracture in my femur at the knee joint,” Tischer said. “I took about a month off, and it was difficult for me, mainly because I couldn’t do the thing that I came here to do. I came here to get an education, and Tarleton’s a great university, but the one thing that I love to do is wrestle, and I had to sit on the sidelines and watch all my friends do that.”

Tischer said he took the next month of physical therapy very seriously, working to rehab every day.

Wrestling is a sport that heavily relies on training, so his goal was to get back on the mat as soon as possible.

“You never see a wrestler rise to the occasion. What you see is them falling to their training,” Tischer said. “If they’re not training hard or they’re not training as good as the other wrestler, they’re most likely going to lose.”

Tischer is optimistic about the team’s chances in nationals and says that their ultimate goal for the next few years is going Division 1.

“We want to be the first Division I program in the state of Texas. In order to do that, we have to show up at nationals,” Tischer said.

Leeth, Tischer and the team will compete in the NCWA nationals in Shreveport, Louisiana, from March 13-15.