North Central College junior Nathan Fitzenreider has been named College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Wrestler of the Week for the week of Dec. 6-12.
Fitzenreider received the award for the second consecutive week after claiming the 133-pound individual title at the 48th annual North Central Invitational inside Gregory Arena on Dec. 10.
Fitzenreider eclipsed the century mark in career victories that weekend, bringing his career total to 103 after defeating Concordia-Moorhead's Jake Kostik (10-3) in the second round after a first-round bye.
Ranked first nationally, Fitzenreider improved his record to 17-1 so far this season while winning three individual championships thus far.
Congratulations on being named CCIW Wrestler of the Week recently.
What's the award mean to you and what's one honor outside of wrestling that you're proud to mention? Being named CCIW Wrestler of the Week is a great honor. It's always nice to be recognized for your accomplishments, and it makes you feel like the work you put it is making a difference. I think it is also really good to have it go to an NCC wrestler because it helps our program get noticed. Wrestling is not the most popular sport out there so I think things like this are a good way to shed light to our program and the dedication our guys have to their sport. The one thing I am most proud about outside of wrestling is academics. I am proud to say that I hold a 3.65 GPA at North Central.
You're sixth on the all-time pins list at North Central. What's your go-to pin, and just how difficult or precise does one have to be to actually record a pin? My go-to pin is a half and wrist. It's simple and something you learn as a kid, but it's effective and one of those moves that you can rely on. It's actually rather difficult to pin your opponent because you need to have complete control over them to do so. It takes a lot of technique and energy to pull it off.
One defeat this season — to a Division I wrestler: What did you take
away from that match? I took away a lot from that loss. It was early on in the season but definitely something that I learned a lot from. To be blunt about it, he put me in my place and showed me that I wasn't as good as I thought. It really gave me something else to work towards and another reason to get better.
Which teammate do you wrestle in practice? Can he keep up with you? I wrestle with a bunch of different guys. We were blessed with a lot of talent in our room and there are a ton of good workout partners for me to wrestle with everyday.
Finally, do you watch professional wrestling? And by professional, of
course we mean WWE. I used to as a little kid, but I grew out of it as I got older.