UNI’s Wyatt Voelker ready for first Big 12 wrestling tournament

CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa enters the Big 12 Wrestling Championship with eight seeds and seven first-time competitors.

It’s an uncommon combination of youth and respected talent, and redshirt freshman Wyatt Voelker said that even though all but one Panther returns next season, the time is now to become a great team.

“We’re young, but I think that can be a really good thing and fun thing,” Voelker said. “I think this team is going to be really good for a long time and I don’t think we’re going to wait to be good, either. I think we can be good this year. I think we’re good right now. We’ve got a lot of momentum going and I think we’re going to go knock some heads off.”

Voelker is one of UNI’s seeded wrestlers who is a Big 12 Championship first-timer.

The Manchester native put intermittent doses of high-level talent and ability on display as a redshirt a season ago — winning the Grand View, Cyclone and UNI Opens — and is looking forward to competing in his first Big 12 Championship in Tulsa, Okla., this weekend after making the trip last year as a spectator.

“I think going down and getting close to the mat, being able to see the stage, getting to watch Parker (Keckeisen) win a Big 12 title — I think that’s a big deal having that experience under my belt,” Voelker said. “This year I’m going to go make my own path, take it one match at a time and try to bring home a Big 12 title.”

While Voelker hasn’t competed on the Big 12 Championship stage, it shouldn’t be much of a hurdle, as he’s experienced a lot of success on other big stages.

He won a national title at the U.S. Open Championship in Las Vegas in May at 87 kilograms, advanced to the World Championships in June with a U20 Greco-Roman title at the U.S. World Team Trials, won the U20 Pan American Greco-Roman in July and placed fifth at the U20 World Championships in Jordan in August.

“I didn’t touch legs from June 6 until almost September,” Voelker said of his first offseason. “When I started touching legs it was like, ‘oh boy.’ So, right away we were working on my defense, because I hadn’t touched legs, but I also hadn’t had guys touching my legs. My defense polished up pretty fast after Christmas break. Since Christmas break on, we’ve just been working on leg attacks.”

Ranked 24th at 197 pounds, Voelker begins the Big 12 Championship against Cal Baptist’s Eli Sheeren.

Voelker earned a 15-0 technical fall against the Lancers redshirt sophomore in a February dual.

“Go out and try to get bonus points for the team,” Voelker said of his opening matchup. “I’ve been successful in the past going out and getting to my leg attacks (and) being aggressive.”