WRESTLING IN ARIZONA

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

Northwest College sophomore Treyson Davila will continue his wrestling career at the four-year level, making the move to NAIA Arizona Christian University in Glendale, Arizona.

Davila will be making the move to Arizona following two years at Northwest, after competing at Kelly Walsh during his high school career.

"I came in, I was a third place finisher at state," Davila said of his reasons for going to NWC. "I didn't expect to get any crazy offers or anything. I just saw this as a place close to home, and I knew the history of the school. I was proud to be a part of it. I'm just so grateful for the coaches and my teammates. They really pushed my limits."

He said that during his time as a Trapper he has been able to grow both mentally and physically, appreciating the program for helping him get to where he is today.

"Not only did I grow as a wrestler, I grew so much as a person over these last two years, more than I ever could have thought I could grow and I'm just really grateful for that," Davila said. "I learned a lot about myself, and with wrestling I was super grateful to improve in that aspect too. I felt like when I came in the first year I was not as strong as a lot of the guys. Didn't really compete well. Over the next year, my body matured more with the weight training program that coach had us on and I just felt stronger, more confident and more skilled overall."

Over his two years at Northwest, Davila competed primarily at the 149 pound weight class before being pushed one class higher to end this past season at 157 pounds.

That transition saw him moving to the higher weight class at the district tournament and qualifying for the national tournament. There he went 3-2 and got two pins to help the Trappers to a seventh place finish. 

"Honestly at first, I was kind of nervous about the idea of jumping up, not knowing if I'd be strong enough. But, I ate full meals and I was hydrated. I just felt good at that weight class, even being a smaller wrestler at that weight class," Davila said. "A lot of guys are cutting all that weight, so I think that kind of gave me an advantage of being able to just feel good, wrestle well and then when I got out there and performed, I felt just as strong as the rest of the guys. I performed pretty well at that weight class, better than I had expected. I kept persevering and thought it was a good fit for me."

There will be plenty of connections for Davila when he heads down to Arizona. The coaching staff for the Firestorm features a former Kelly Walsh and Northwest College alumni in Jesse Hillhouse who was a two-time All-American for the Trappers and won an NCAA Division II title in 2013 for Colorado State University Pueblo.

"He actually reached out to me … That's kind of how I got on the visit in the first place," Davila said. "He's telling me how excited he is for me to be there. It'll be really cool."

Coach Jim Zeigler noted how big of an opportunity this is for Davila to take that next step and compete at a higher level.

"I'm super excited about it. I just like the connection between my two Kelly Walsh boys that both wrestled here now together down in Arizona," Zeigler said. "I'm really excited for Treyson to get out of Wyoming for a couple years. He's just had so much growth and development I think moving to that next level and living in the Phoenix area and competing there at a larger school — It's just a super opportunity for him to grow in a number of ways."

Academically, Davila said Arizona Christian is adding a number of new programs in the fall semester and his field of study will help him grow his online training business, which he has been doing while at Northwest.

"I was looking into studying exercise physiology to help with my online coaching business," Davila said. "Just helping people get stronger and bigger, and be more confident."