Wrestling in high school was too easy for Jason Welch.
After a few years of dominating his opponents, Welch seems somewhat relieved to have descended from being the best wrestler around to just being pretty good.
“I like the higher level and that everything is a constant challenge,” said Welch, a 157-pound true freshman. “It’s not something I had to cope with as much as something that I looked forward to.”
And Welch has reason to welcome a challenge. He had none in high school.
After winning three straight California state championships and not losing a single match throughout his junior and senior years, Welch won the Junior Dan Hodge trophy, which is awarded annually to the nation’s best high school wrestler. However, his wrestling has adjusted to the next level and at a much faster rate than average.
Unlike most wrestlers – including 14 of the 17 upperclassmen on the team – Welch hit the mats immediately upon arriving in Evanston. Welch has gone 15-5 at NU, good enough to earn him the No. 17 national ranking in his weight class.
“Jason is very mature for his age,” coach Tim Cysewski said, as to why Welch didn’t redshirt this year. “We didn’t want to hinder his progress, and he’s learning more by being in the lineup every day.”
However, the results Welch has seen are merely indicative of the potential he holds.
“I think that Jake Herbert is going to set a lot of records at Northwestern,” Cysewski said, in reference to the senior wrestler who brought an NCAA Championship to NU in 2007 and hasn’t lost a match since 2006. “And I could see Jason potentially beating those records.”
Signs that Welch could compete on the collegiate level became clear in last year’s Midlands tournament held at Welsh-Ryan Arena. In an unusual move for a high school wrestler, Welch filed a petition to compete at the prestigious event and managed to finish sixth, despite his youth. This year, in the same competition, Welch finished fifth after losing to Chris Bono, a 34-year-old ex-NCAA Champion who went on to be the eventual winner of the tournament.
“It was a little weird wrestling against him,” Welch said. “When I was growing up, I used to film his matches and watch his tapes.”
Welch’s talents aren’t limited to wrestling – he was a three-sport star in high school, earning all-league in soccer and football. As a defensive lineman, he was a captain on an undefeated football team his senior year. At only 157 pounds, Welch still managed to earn the title of Outstanding Defensive Lineman of the year, but pointed out that his wrestler’s weight would keep his talents from translating to the Division-I level.
In addition to helping the team through his wrestling, Welch recently started to help with promoting the team by starting a video blog on nusports.com. His first post was Wednesday, and Welch plans to keep posting until the end of the season.
The multi-talented Welch and the rest of the Wildcats will face Michigan State and Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan Arena this weekend.
