Richard Reo '17 Recruiting Profile

Unlike some, I started my wrestling career rather late.  My dad pushed me to wrestle when I was very young, around kindergarten age, but I didn’t enjoy the sport and stopped after a few practices.  When your practice partner always bites you, it becomes a bit discouraging, especially at such a young age.  I picked up the sport again in seventh grade, and it was a blast.  My middle school coach, Coach Raymond, was hilarious and knew how to make the sport fun.  Then came my Freshman year, and along with it my first patch of adversity.  I had not yet developed the work ethic that I have today, and my dad kept pushing me to attend Michigan Extreme practices before the season started.  I would attend every Sunday and Thursday, get my butt whooped, and hope that I’d never have to go back.  Then, when the season came around, I was a fourteen year old boy with two years of experience wrestling many upperclassmen who had been lifelong wrestlers.  With four losses out of five matches in my first tournament, the thought of quitting was floating around in my mind.  Following my parents encouragement, I stuck it out ending the season with a 26-21 record. I even qualified for regionals.  Now I hold the school record for career takedowns and I am the first wrestler from my school to place third in the state tournament since 1997.  The last wrestler to place third in state won it all the next year and then went on to play in the NFL, so I’m a bit superstitious and believe that I have great things awaiting me.  Now entering my senior year, with only five years of wrestling experience, I can look back and see that I have made some great progress. But I can also look forward and see that I have a long way to go in order to accomplish my goals.