Media Credit: Jordan Gomez Justin Belle gets pinned down during the University of Texas Wrestling Club match against UT-Arlington Saturday. The team lost its first home match, but Belle and others hope that the team can eventually become a school-sanctioned varsity sport.

Media Credit: Jordan Gomez A Texas wrestler grapples for position during Saturday's match against UT-Arlington.

Those expecting to shoot some Saturday afternoon hoops were met with a stunning surprise this past weekend. Dribbling into the RecSports Center, the would-be hoopsters found their usually wide-open basketball courts replaced with bleachers, a scoring table and two benches surrounding a wrestling mat.

A wrestling mat? This is Texas, after all, the only state in the union that doesn't have a NCAA Division I wrestling program.

The mat was far from fancy. Just a two-toned piece of square padding, taped together at the seams, providing the University of Texas Longhorn Wrestling Club a place to square off with its UT-Arlington counterparts.

But neither team really cared that the mat was put together with clear packing tape, or that the two scoreboards never came on, or the fact that the bleachers were far from full capacity.

None of it mattered.

After all, this is wrestling, the oldest of old sports, predating fancy uniforms and coordinated touchdown celebrations. The wrestlers had one focus, and that was wrestling.

The UT wrestling club is still in its infant stages. And hosting the meet Saturday, the club got off the ground and stood up, only to fall down after taking one step.

But, while the UT club may have not won a match against their opponents, they did make history - and at the same time exposed a little of their beloved sport to the University of Texas campus.

Got to start somewhere

The wrestling club is trying to get bigger and better. But before they can compete with established clubs, they had to start somewhere. The dual meet was not only the first hosted on UT's campus, but for many, if not all of UT's wrestling team, it was their first ever college wrestling experience.

"Excited?" a big-eyed UT wrestler leaned over to a teammate and asked.

"I'm pretty nervous," he said, stepping off the row of chairs, which served as UT's bench, and toward the center of the mat for the captains' meeting.

Ultimately the novice UT team was outmatched, with a bigger, more experienced UTA squad. On the mat, the first match told the story of the day. Before UT wrestler Isaac Gonzalez, a mechanical engineering freshman, could even get going, UTA wrestler Andrew Leddy was putting his arm into a submission, and then struggling to pin Gonzalez.

Gonzalez lost by pinfall, and though the other Texas wrestlers fought hard, and even scored points on their opponents, they all failed to capture a win.

And, though neither team had a full squad and some Texas wrestlers weren't able to compete, everyone was still excited to be a part of the first meet - a step toward becoming a strong wrestling team.

"The meet was exciting, even though I didn't wrestle," UT wrestler Grant Glenewinkel, an architectural engineering freshman, said. "Things will get better, we know what we need to improve on."

But the excitement didn't completely outweigh the loss.

"I am excited and disappointed at the same time," Joe Wickman, an exhausted pre-med senior said. "We need more quality wrestlers in order to get better. We need better competition in practice so we can get where we want to be. It was good to have this first tournament here; hopefully, there will be many more to come."

Wickman was the only UT wrestler to win a non-forfeit match all day when he won an un-scored exhibition match after he wrestled someone 20 pounds heavier during the dual meet.

"We should have a better team, and we will get better. But it felt good to win one," Wickman said. "We have 50,000 students here. We have people that can do everything you can think of. We have the talent here - I know we do. We just have to get our name out there."

While the young club tries to get better on the mat, they are trying to promote their names off the mat. But everyone involved agreed that despite the results, a 42-12 UTA victory, the meet was a good start.

"Today was a culmination of a lot of hard work and effort," UT coach Bob Moore said. "It wasn't about wins and losses today, it was about getting things started."

The first step

Moore didn't have overly high expectations for his team.

"It was disappointing the way we wrestled, but for most of our guys it was their first college tournament," Moore said. "College wrestling is hard."

Moore's disappointment in the loss was short-lived. Immediately after the final totals were tallied, Moore was swarmed with people asking him questions about the team and wanting to join his squad. While the final scorecard might have read in UTA's favor, ultimately the UT club won, with five new students wanting to join.

Not too bad of a start for a fledgling program.

"It is a good start - just the fact they are a club program," Travis Munoz said after untucking his referee shirt. "As you can see, they have their work cut out for them. But they have a good coach. They will leapfrog in the direction they need to be."

An area resident, Munoz is a fan of the sport, and a National Collegiate Wrestling Association (the governing body for collegiate club wrestling) official.

"I'm very excited, we've been waiting and wanting to see wrestling at Texas," Munoz said. "I just hope this is the start of taking wrestling to the NCAA level. I think if Texas did commit they would look for the best coaches and talent, and within two to three years be competing with the powerhouses in the Big 12."

Munoz wants to see Texas establish an NCAA wrestling program, and believes that UT is the perfect place to start growing wrestling on the college level. So while the meet represented the beginning of a wrestling history at UT, it also reminded fans of the sport how long wrestling has been neglected in this state.

"I am optimistic, also at the same time disappointed," UT-Arlington wrestling coach Jeff McCall said. "It is great to see UT start a program, but at the same time the inability for the state to have wrestling in the athletic department is disappointing. But with time it will change."

McCall knows exactly where UT is as a young club. UTA's club is in its second full year, and has seen tremendous growth.

"When we started we only had five guys on our roster," McCall said. "Now we have 19 wrestlers. There is a large demand for wrestling at the college level in Texas. It is just a matter of getting the word out and tapping that demand."

McCall is confident that if Texas is committed to tapping it's wrestling resources it could thrive on the mat.

"There is no doubt, you put a fully-funded program at UT and they will be top five in the nation in five years," McCall stated confidently, his love of wrestling and state pride welled up together. "If you want to chase the dream of a NCAA Championship as a wrestler, you have to leave the state. That's unfortunate. At least with the NCWA these kids can compete on some level."

Moore also dreams of seeing wrestling flourish in Texas, and is already seeing factors being set in motion that will make that dream happen.

"I would hope this is the beginning for bigger things," Moore said. "Really the first step happened when no one was looking."

What's next

Moore said officials in the University's Athletic Department contacted experts about the steps they would need to take to set up an NCAA wrestling program.

"They [the AD's office] have been talking about it," Moore said. "That isn't to say they are ready to start a wrestling program, but they are definitely thinking about it."

And while Moore doesn't think his club team will serve as the foundation for building a Division I program, he hopes it'll help move along the prospect of seeing NCAA wrestling at UT.

"If the athletic department sees that we become well-respected," Moore said. "If they see the student body coming to events, and they are excited. If they see that we can wrestle in Texas, and it isn't just a football, basketball, baseball school and state. Then they just might start a program."

But for now, the hard work of building a new club team into a large, powerful wrestling squad continues.

"Justin, did you pay the ref?" coach Moore asked Justin Belle, the president of UT's wrestling club.

"Yeah I did," a tired Belle answered.

Together the two finished removing the tape that held the mat together and rolled up the sections so the gym floor could be uncovered once again. It's back to hosting pick-up basketball games for the court at RecSports Center.

At least for now.

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