To the Mats

It has been more than seven months since Liberty University Wrestling won the NCWA Grand National Championship and Grand National Duals Championship. This does not mean that the team does not reminisce about the national championship win, but it also does not mean they are overconfident about it either.

“You ride the wave,” Head Coach Jesse Castro said. “In other words, you take that enthusiasm, that excitement, that confidence that derives from a championship, and you lean into that and feed off of that.”

Castro said in this, he is very “cautiously optimistic” about the season. They need to take what they gained from last season and use it. Now that they have the national championship under their belts, they know what it takes to win again.

“I’m pretty pumped,” Junior Samuel Karel said. “Last year, we kinda ended on a good, high-note, so it’s like momentum carried over throughout the
summer.”

Karel said the team can use what they gained from last year as momentum for this season. They are riding high, and they hope to ride that high into and throughout this season. He said it’s about having a “don’t stop doing what got us here attitude.”

“I’m really looking forward to this season,” senior Josh McIlhenny said. “It’s my last year, so my last shot at achieving what I want to achieve in the wrestling world. I’m excited. I’m hungry and ready to go, trying to win.”

The team is hoping to win another championship, but since they have won one they can also focus on personal goals this season. They do not have the pressures of winning a national championship, but it is still their ultimate goal this season.

“It’s gonna be tough,” McIlhenny said. “We lost a lot of returners that were all-Americans and national qualifiers. We have a lot of new guys, but the focus is there. Everyone’s working hard. Everyone’s working towards one goal. Everyone’s dialed in. It’s gonna be tough, I mean it always is, but I think that we can achieve it with this team, definitely.”

Karel said things they have been relying on this offseason is hard work, team bonding and team camaraderie. They are looking at things with a fresh perspective, especially because they have lost a lot of wrestlers from last season.

Castro said the team is also thin in terms of numbers of back-ups, meaning they cannot afford any injuries. They have a decent amount of new people and are stretched thin on the roster already, so Liberty Wrestling is dealing with adversity already.

Liberty is also a few weeks removed from their annual 24 consecutive hour workout, known as the ‘Jacob’s Challenge.’ Castro said the psychological aspects of this are mental toughness and team bonding. He said throughout the workout, the team not only build that toughness and stamina mentally, but they build a bond with each other as well.

“From an event like that, it takes at least a week to recover physically, and emotionally too, actually, because it really is a test of endurance,” Castro said. “And, they certainly were tested.”

Castro said the team is recovered from it, and that they got about what the coaches expected out of the challenge. Especially toward the end of the challenge, when they were wearing mentally, the team gets even more out of the challenge.

The Jacob’s Challenge really tested the endurance of the wrestlers. However, now that they have had time to recover from the challenge, they are really looking at the road ahead to repeat. It is a chip on the shoulder that gives teams that one thing to strive for and try to take the title from Liberty.

“People didn’t really like us to begin with,” McIlhenny said.

He said the team had a target on their back, even before the championship win. He said many schools just don’t like Liberty. Since it is something that a lot of these wrestlers are used to, they can really just focus on wrestling and going out and competing.

“Our goal, of course, is a grand national championship and a national dual championship again as we did last year, to repeat to become the first team ever to win back-to-back dual national championships,” Castro said. “No team’s ever done that before, so we want to set a precedent in that.

The road to repeat begins when the season kicks off Nov. 3 at Messiah College.