For the record I never really followed college wrestling. I wrestled one year in high school and found that it wasn’t for me. It is hard work, very physical, and you have to have discipline. I have to say, as a high school kid, I didn’t have the mental make up to compete. I didn’t know how one became a College Wrestling All-American. I had a vague idea how national champions were crowned. That all changed when I found out about Tariq Wilson.
There is a reason that Tariq caught my eye. We are from the same home town, Steubenville, OH. We went to the same high school, Steubenville High School (when you are in the Ohio Valley it is referred to as Big Red). We probably had some of the same teachers and coaches. Things in our home town doesn’t change very quickly. Steubenville is a town that was destroyed by the steel mills closing and there isn’t much left there. What this means, it is a very small community that closes ranks around it’s own. Frankly, if you aren’t from there or haven’t visited there you won’t understand. However, what that also means, we root for our own. We rally around the success stories of the whole area. This is what Tariq Wilson has done for me.
For those who don’t know about wrestling in the upper Ohio River Valley, it is a competitive place. There is a big high school wrestling tournament that happens every year in Wheeling WV. This tournament has 41 high schools that participates. So, you can see it is a large tournament. Tariq Wilson won this tournament all 4 years that he was at Big Red. He won 4 different weight classes (103,113, 120, &126).
Tariq Wilson built on this by entering the 2017-2018 wrestling season after red-shirting his first year in Raleigh. Wilson went 27-10 and placed third at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Tournament garnering All-American status. During the that tournament Wilson upset 5 top-seeded wrestlers and only losing to the eventual National Champion and that match went to OT.
Wilson is making his mark in more ways then one at NC State. Another kid from Big Red (Steubenville High School), Anthony Rice, has committed to NC State. I am not going to lie, this is going to get me to go to Reynolds Coliseum next wrestling season with my Block S (our high schools helmet decal not the Block S from NC State) cheering these guys on……
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