Julia Stevens

Nate after winning one of his matches.

Wrestling season has come to an end, with one wrestler working his way through adversity to make it to the regional meet. This wrestler is junior Nate Fritz, whose hard work is the reason for this spotlight.

Fritz began wrestling in his eighth-grade year. He explains his inspiration for joining the team: “Jordyan got me into it, and once I did wrestling, I did every sport in eighth grade.” Throughout the years, wrestling has become more than just a way for him to do every sport; it has become a passion and one of his favorite sports.

This season has been one of growth  and a lot of change has come from it. He explains what he thinks is the biggest change from last year to this year: “Everything, I get better every year. Last year, I did not shoot a lot, but this year I am shooting, throwing legs, and scoring a lot more often.” 

The hard work he put in between the season last year and this year paid off on February 8th, when Fritz wrestled in individual districts, advancing him forward to regionals. He was able to place third,  only losing to the champion of the meet. He shares that in terms of skills, he practiced a few that he felt helped him make it to regionals. These included positions many normal people can not get out of, shooting, and defensive moves. He also shares that on top of making it to regionals, the best part of the experience of wrestling at districts was winning third place.

Going into the regional meet, Fritz was hopeful and excited about being there for a third year. When asked what his goals for the regional meet were, he responded: “I am going to try to score first and shoot first. I am also going to try to get top four, which would send me to the state meet.” 

This past Saturday, Fritz went to Martin to compete. He picked up one win but ended up losing in the consolation round to a talented wrestler from Martin. Though he was unable to make it to the state meet, his performance and determination allowed him to make it so far into the meet. 

One of Fritz’s close teammates, Jordyan Metcalf has wrestled with him ever since he started. She shares some of the ways his leadership skills were evident this season: “Nate always puts his best effort forward and always helps his teammates. He always keeps his mind in the right place.” She adds that she enjoys having him as a teammate because he is a good sport and always brings a good vibe to the wrestling room. Metcalf is proud of his accomplishments this season and is excited for their last season together next year.

Danni Fritz has had the chance to watch her brother over the past few years as he has grown into a wrestler. She explains the changes she has seen: “I have seen him get more obedient with food. He had to lose weight this year, and he is good at maintaining that weight. He has done better with training himself.” Fritz also explains that she has enjoyed getting to watch him wrestle for many reasons; the main one being that she can see his technique while he is on the mat. She shares, “You can see what he is doing, and I feel like he is smart while he is wrestling.”

Fritz has had a variety of coaches during the past few years, one of whom is Dan Claus, the new wrestling coach this year. Claus shares what he finds unique about Fritz’s wrestling technique. He says, “Nate is the type of wrestler who rises to challenges and performs better when the challenge is greater. This describes not only his performance at Individual Districts, but his entire season. The better his opponent was, the better he performed. This is a special kind of mindset that you find in high-level athletes, and Nate exhibited this throughout the season.” He adds that Fritz’s injury did not stop him from growing during the season. He saw him become more driven and determined to succeed, which is what he believes shows what an incredible athlete Fritz is. Overall, he is proud of the growth that he saw from Fritz this season and is certain he will come back next year even better.

Congratulations to Nate on an amazing wrestling season! Though he was unable to achieve his goal of going to the state meet, he still performed excellently and will have an even better season next year.