Wyatt English
On February 10, junior Wyatt English won first place at the Nevada State Wrestling Championship in the 138-pound weight class.
“After two times coming up short in the Nevada State Championships, all his hard work paid off,” said Coach Ryan English, who is also Wyatt’s father. During the tournament, not one point was ever scored on English, which is pretty rare.
In the match against the Reno opponent in the second period, English pinned him, bringing him to the semi-finals, where he dominated against Carson City 13-o.
“I was in the toughest bracket, so I was nervous,” said English. “Anyone can lose at any time.” In the state finals, English won 3-0 against Centennial, the match for first place.
This year English did not lose a match to anyone in the state, and he said his dad being the coach definitely helped. “He motivates me every chance to help me get better,” said English.
English isn’t going to rest though, despite the victory. There is always room for improvement, and he will continue to work on his game as everyone will want to take down the state champ. “I need to work on keeping my mind right,” he said. “I can still end up losing if I’m mentally not prepared. One way is being over confident. You have to be confident when you step on the mat, but you can’t underestimate someone.”
After overcoming the voices inside his head, he also had to shut out the overwhelming crowd noise.
“There were a lot of people watching. The energy in the room was tense, and it was very loud,” said English. “It was crowded because there was a bunch of people in that small space.”
Despite all the noise and people, English blocked it out and kept it from distracting him. “Pretty much when I stepped onto the mat, all my nerves went away,” said English. “I could not hear anything. I just focused and tuned out everything else. I mean, I could hear my dad, but actually, in the match, there was no score coming out of the first period, and I typically like to score first, so I was a little--I wouldn’t say nervous--but that’s not how I wanted the match to go coming out of the first period.”
English put it all aside and continued through the competition with confidence and kept his wits about him enough to employ strategic moves with skill.
“Then second period, Centennial chose bottom, and I ended up tilting him, so it ended 2-0 coming out of the second period, so I was actually feeling really good about that,” said English. “So then, going into the third period, I chose bottom, and if you are able to get up and get away from them, then you get a point. I did end up getting away within 15 seconds of going into third period, so I was up 3-0 with a minute and 45 left, so I literally stalled and ran away the entire time because I knew, if I played it safe, I was going to win,” said English with a laugh.
Overall, English felt it was a great experience knowing all his hard work paid off.
“It was kind of an emotional roller coaster,” he said. “I mean, it was up and down but once I actually won, then I could hear everything again, and you know, relax a little bit. Actually, as soon as I walked off the mat, I gave my dad a huge hug, and I walked outside and I cried. I cried a lot. I was so happy. It was nice after coming up short twice; it felt so good.”
English looks to repeat his state journey next season but also realizes he’s now a target.
“Being a target is going to motivate me because, yeah, it’s hard to get to the top, but it’s even harder to stay there,” said English. “I’ve been in their shoes before. There was this guy my freshman year who beat me like five times, and when I was training, I would think about what he was doing to prepare and what I wasn’t. I’ve been there so I know how hard they are training.”
“After two times coming up short in the Nevada State Championships, all his hard work paid off,” said Coach Ryan English, who is also Wyatt’s father. During the tournament, not one point was ever scored on English, which is pretty rare.
In the match against the Reno opponent in the second period, English pinned him, bringing him to the semi-finals, where he dominated against Carson City 13-o.
“I was in the toughest bracket, so I was nervous,” said English. “Anyone can lose at any time.” In the state finals, English won 3-0 against Centennial, the match for first place.
This year English did not lose a match to anyone in the state, and he said his dad being the coach definitely helped. “He motivates me every chance to help me get better,” said English.
English isn’t going to rest though, despite the victory. There is always room for improvement, and he will continue to work on his game as everyone will want to take down the state champ. “I need to work on keeping my mind right,” he said. “I can still end up losing if I’m mentally not prepared. One way is being over confident. You have to be confident when you step on the mat, but you can’t underestimate someone.”
After overcoming the voices inside his head, he also had to shut out the overwhelming crowd noise.
“There were a lot of people watching. The energy in the room was tense, and it was very loud,” said English. “It was crowded because there was a bunch of people in that small space.”
Despite all the noise and people, English blocked it out and kept it from distracting him. “Pretty much when I stepped onto the mat, all my nerves went away,” said English. “I could not hear anything. I just focused and tuned out everything else. I mean, I could hear my dad, but actually, in the match, there was no score coming out of the first period, and I typically like to score first, so I was a little--I wouldn’t say nervous--but that’s not how I wanted the match to go coming out of the first period.”
English put it all aside and continued through the competition with confidence and kept his wits about him enough to employ strategic moves with skill.
“Then second period, Centennial chose bottom, and I ended up tilting him, so it ended 2-0 coming out of the second period, so I was actually feeling really good about that,” said English. “So then, going into the third period, I chose bottom, and if you are able to get up and get away from them, then you get a point. I did end up getting away within 15 seconds of going into third period, so I was up 3-0 with a minute and 45 left, so I literally stalled and ran away the entire time because I knew, if I played it safe, I was going to win,” said English with a laugh.
Overall, English felt it was a great experience knowing all his hard work paid off.
“It was kind of an emotional roller coaster,” he said. “I mean, it was up and down but once I actually won, then I could hear everything again, and you know, relax a little bit. Actually, as soon as I walked off the mat, I gave my dad a huge hug, and I walked outside and I cried. I cried a lot. I was so happy. It was nice after coming up short twice; it felt so good.”
English looks to repeat his state journey next season but also realizes he’s now a target.
“Being a target is going to motivate me because, yeah, it’s hard to get to the top, but it’s even harder to stay there,” said English. “I’ve been in their shoes before. There was this guy my freshman year who beat me like five times, and when I was training, I would think about what he was doing to prepare and what I wasn’t. I’ve been there so I know how hard they are training.”
