Jake Herbert took a year off from school in the fall of 2007 because he had an Olympic dream. Five years later, that dream has finally come true: Herbert will be competing in London this summer.
Instead of partaking in what would have been his senior year of wrestling at Northwestern in the fall of 2007, the 2009 Communication grad and Wexford, Pa., native took an Olympic redshirt and trained for a spot on the United States’ wrestling delegation to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. He went 1-2 at the Olympic Trials, failing to qualify for Beijing, but came back to the Wildcats on a mission.
“I wrestled some of the best guys in the world (in 2008),” Herbert said. “I was right there with them, and it showed me that I was one of the top wrestlers in the world. When I’m on and wrestling my best, nobody in the country can stop me and nobody in the world can stop me.”
It was a learning experience for Herbert, both in wrestling and in life. Tim Cysewski, who was the head coach when Herbert was a student athlete and is now an associate head coach under coach Drew Pariano, said Herbert’s experiences training for Beijing helped Herbert realize what was important to him in life.
“One thing about Jake, which is unique, is that he sees the big picture,” Cysewski said. “He understands that wrestling is important, academics is important, and I think sitting out the Olympic year really emphasized that to him.”
Upon his return in 2009, Herbert had one of the best seasons ever for an NU wrestler, rolling to a 34-0 record and his second national title at 184 pounds. He won the Dan Hodge Trophy that season, given annually to the best collegiate wrestler in the nation. Despite all the college accolades, Herbert realized his dream was not complete.
Academics have also played an important role in Herbert’s career. He was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and also was named to the NWCA Academic All-American team twice.
Herbert broke onto the international scene with a silver medal at the World Championships in 2009 and the gold at the 2011 Pan-American Games. Yet he still had his eyes on the ultimate prize, a trip to London in 2012 to represent the red, white and blue.
“It gave me a lot (of confidence),” Herbert said about winning the silver medal at the 2009 World Championships. “I wasn’t even training freestyle full time. (It showed me) if I put my heart and put my soul into this and work this hard, I’ll be able to get an Olympic gold in three years.”
He raced through to the finals at the 84 kilogram division at the 2012 Olympic Trials on April 22 and faced off against his former roommate Travis Paulson. In the best-of-three format, Herbert lost the first match when he gave up a point with 11 seconds remaining in the third period. He easily won the second match against Paulson to set up a winner-take-all battle for the spot on the Olympic team.
“It doesn’t matter who he is competing against,” Cysewski said. “In his mind, he’s worked too hard, dedicated himself too long to let anybody come in front of him and beat him in any match.”
After dominating the first period 3-0, Herbert gave up a point with a minute and 41 seconds remaining in the second stanza. Paulson could not hold onto the lead as Herbert scored the winning point with 25 seconds to gain a spot in London.
“I want to say relief, but it’s not a relief, but it was kind of excitement,” Herbert said about his post-match emotions. “Now I actually get the chance to get that Olympic gold medal.”
Hebert said qualifying for the Olympics felt better than winning a national title because of the implications of becoming an Olympian, like getting a chance to represent his country. Nevertheless, Cysewski, said it was just another step in Herbert’s plan.
“His passion is wrestling,” Cysewski said. “Anything he’s put his mind to he has done. He had an idea of where he wanted to go and how he wanted to get there. He chose to come to Northwestern, and that all helped him focus on what he wanted to do and make the Olympic team.”
Since leaving NU in 2009, Herbert has switched his training regimen full-time to freestyle, but he was a volunteer assistant coach at NU for the 2010-2011 season as well. Cysewski said he saw a major change in Herbert’s maturity after Herbert left the program and became a full-time wrestler internationally.
“He’s definitely grown up,” Cysewski said. “He’s been able to tour the world because of wrestling and go to places where normal people wouldn’t have gone. It really gave him what reality really is not just in the United States but overseas, and I think that helped him kind of realize that wrestling is great, but when I get done with this sport I want to have a successful life afterwards.”
The next three months will be a grind for Herbert as he prepares for his July trip to London. He said he wants to prepare himself as well as possible in all facets of the sport to make sure he can add to the United States’ medal total at the games.
Herbert was very specific about his expectations for London when he takes the mat August 11.
“There are some people that just to become an Olympian is everything to them,” Herbert said. “If I’m just an Olympian, I’m not going to be happy. I want to be an Olympic gold medalist. If it’s a close medal race between USA and other countries, they can count on USA Wrestling to add a couple of more gold medals to their repetoire.”
