For the second time in his wrestling career, second-year Cal Poly assistant coach Evan Wick has qualified for the Olympic Trials after an excellent performance in Forth Worth, Texas at the 2023 Senior Nationals.
At 11-years-old, Wick asked his mom what the pinnacle of the sport was. Her answer: being a national champion and winning an Olympic gold. With a fifth place finish over the weekend, Wick is one step closer to the latter.
“Every single wrestler across the entire world is battling for that Olympic gold," Wick explained. "That's what's been motivating me my my entire life. Essentially, it's on my mind every day trying to do whatever I can to work harder and increase my odds of getting that gold."
In Fort Worth, Wick described Senior Nationals as the toughest tournament to compete in with national and state champions at every turn. After losing in the quarterfinal round to the eventual national champion, Alex Dieringer, Wick won three straight to claim the fifth and final spot in the 86 kilogram (189 lbs.) division.
"I just had to keep wrestling and keep fighting and I managed to pull it off.”
His younger brother Luka, who also wrestles for Cal Poly, followed along like any proud sibling would.
“Just watching was amazing. The pride I have for him, I'm like walking around asking 'did you guys see Evan qualify? Did you go see that?”
Now, as Luka recovers from injury, he is able to reflect on having his brother as a coach.
“Coming [to Cal Poly] and having Evan as my partner and then become my coach, I think it's helped me leaps and bounds.”
As a high school state champion, four time All-American in his time at Wisconsin and Cal Poly, his time as a coach and his accomplishments as an open division wrestler, Wick’s biggest advantage is that he’s as experienced as they come.
“I think that comes in handy," Evan said. "There's a lot of young guys coming up, but I think I'm just a veteran of the sport, so that really helped me out. I think going into Olympic trials, I have the same advantage as well. ”
With all the experience, Luka believes his brother's mentality has improved since his collegiate wrestling days.
“Now that he's an open level athlete, he goes out like, 'I'm going to beat the brakes off you and if I lose, you're going to fear the time you wrestle me again.”
That experience will be needed when he gets to the Olympic Trials in April where he'll need to get past the 2020 Olympic Gold Medalist, David Taylor, in order to capture the spot at 189 pounds.
“I've been thinking about this for 15 years so I really don't think if David Taylor has been thinking about it for another five years, it really helps that much. I think. It's going to come down to who works the hardest and who's most excited to compete at the end of the day.”
His approach to Taylor is the same one he preaches to Cal Poly, if you want it bad enough, you can win.
“If you're if you're excited to compete, it doesn't matter what advantage your guy has if it's strength or speed. If you're excited, man, you're going to be able to beat that guy.”
The 2024 Olympic Trials are April 19-20 at Penn State University where he’ll look to achieve his dream of donning Team USA across his chest.
