Three years following the return of Fresno State wrestling, many of the wrestlers have their sights set high for a competitive season.
The 2018-2019 season finished with the team barely over a .500 winning percentage in both overall record and conference record. The team’s record allowed it to make it to the Big 12 Conference Championship Tournament, where it finished in fifth place.
Following the Big 12 tournament, five members of the 2018-2019 roster went out to compete in the NCAA Championship.
Those five members included now redshirt sophomores Jackson Hemauer and Gary Joint, junior AJ Nevils, redshirt senior Khristian Olivas and senior Josh Hokit. Hokit will not be able to join the rest of the team until the football season has been completed.
However, several wrestlers, like redshirt Junior Greg Gaxiola, will not waste any time this season to achieve their goal of adding their names to the list of NCAA tournament-qualified Bulldogs.
“I feel like it is my time,” Gaxiola said. “I’ve wrestled people that I have beat, and they have qualified. So I feel like it is my time now.”
This confidence from Gaxiola isn’t just an individual outlier. He said that head coach Troy Steiner always tells the team that, “We want to be ranked in the top 10 in the nation.”
Fresno State is in solid positioning to reach its rankings goal. The Bulldogs received six votes from the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s (NWCA) coaches polling on Tuesday.
With some recognition from the NCWA under its belt and the kickoff for the 2019-2020 season happening on the road this Friday, Nov. 1 at the “Battle of Midway,” Steiner hopes that a full wrestling roster brings out the best Fresno State has to offer on Friday.
“This is the first time we’ve really had competition to make our lineup. We are now a full roster of 32 and before [we] weren’t,” Steiner said. “We’ve seen great energy and focus in the room because they know if they don’t do the job, there’s a guy behind him that will take his spot.”
Although the team starts the season on the road, both Steiner and Gaxiola hope that everyone comes out to the home opener to help set the attendance record against Rutgers on Friday, Nov. 15.
“We want everyone there. We want the students there in the Save Mart Center,” Steiner said. “We would like to set the attendance record, and we need all of you to do that. There is nothing more exciting than wrestling in front of your classmates and other Bulldogs.”
