Bryce Meredith competes at U.S. Senior Open this week in Las Vegas

Meredith’s confidence is high, even though his experience in freestyle wrestling is low.

“This tournament is literally everything. If you don’t perform how you want to at the U.S. Open, that dictates pretty much the entire year,” Meredith said. “If you don’t place in the top eight, you don’t qualify for the (U.S.) team trials.

“So, you have to go out and wrestle in the toughest tournament in the country against multiple-time national champions and All-Americans every single match.”

Meredith is seeded 12th in the 65 kilogram weight class, which is 143 pounds. Meredith wrestled at 141 pounds in college.

Meredith’s freestyle wrestling experience isn’t vast. He got a taste of it at the end of January at the Dave Schultz Memorial Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he placed third.

Collegiate-level wrestling isn’t freestyle, and learning the nuances of freestyle has had its ups and downs for Meredith.

“I was positive and I was wrestling tough, but I completely lost my confidence,” Meredith said. “I didn’t realize how big of a loss that was until a month or two ago. Even after the Schultz, my mindset going into matches and how I felt in matches wasn’t me.

“I was too concerned about these new positions. They’re not that much different, you just have to pay attention and take your time.”

UW coach Mark Branch said Meredith “performed really well given the fact that was really his first major tournament,” at the Schultz event.

“There were some things that were his go-to moves in college that are a big no-no in freestyle,” Branch added. “He showed a lot of awareness. He did a great job of managing his style, but also staying out of dangerous positions.”

Meredith said his training for the U.S Open has gone well, and he feels he has done all he can to prepare. However, this will be only his second major competition as a post-collegiate wrestler, and he will be going against guys with a lot more experience.

Still, Meredith’s mindset is based on one thing.

“It is hard for me to wrap my head around that I can’t beat anybody,” he said. “With that attitude, you have the opportunity to beat anybody. Does it happen? Who knows. God willing, I hope it does.

“If not, this is only my first year into it, and this is a six- or seven-year plan if I want it to be.

“I look at this as a two-sided coin. On one side I’m the best in the world and I’m going to show everybody that. The other side is I’m not crap and I need to get to work.”

WWRTC makes it happen

In September of 2011, the Cowboy Wrestling Club at UW was re-branded as the Wyoming Wrestling Regional Training Center, which was part of USA Wrestling and associated with the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

The goal was to provide wrestlers and coaches a chance to train for national and international competitions such as the world championships and the Olympics. The training center provides financial assistance for domestic competitions and training camps, foreign tours and training stipends for university and senior athletes.

Current members of the UW wrestling team also are members of the WWRTC.

“Say you had an Olympic hopeful like Meredith, a lot of times their best bet was to live at the Olympic Training Center full-time,” Branch said. “The sport was suffering because not a lot of guys were choosing that.”

Branch said the WWRTC has a six-member board of directors, and it is funded through private fundraising.

Meredith said it has been invaluable to the early part of his post-collegiate wrestling career to have a place like the WWRTC to train.

“I’ve always made it very clear that I’m very successful in Wyoming because of everything that’s going on with it: the coaches, the program, the environment, family, friends – everything,” he said. “(UW) wrestling and the WWRTC allows me to be successful. I don’t have to worry about anything other than becoming the best wrestler I can.”

Others competing

Former UW wrestler Tanner Harms will compete in the open competition at 97 kilograms.

“I think he got the fever and wanted to go compete and test the waters, but freestyle is all new to him,” Branch said. “He plans (to) work toward his doctorate in engineering in the fall. He may have to postpone some things depending on what happens.”

Current members of the UW wrestling team who will compete in the Junior National Championships this week include: Chase Zollmann (65 kilograms), Logan Jensen (70), Nate Moore (74), Cole Moody (74) and Tate Samuelson (86).