After freshman year of high school, wrestling really became important to Collin Stilson.  

“I got my butt kicked all of freshman year and I had a big shift of mindset where I didn’t want to get tossed around anymore. I received some pretty good insight on the mental side of wrestling where I had met a BVU alumni, Mike Shimp. He was an All-American from BV and a close friend to my dad, his mindset on how I viewed wrestling and it me fall in love with the grind of the sport.”

Collin is a senior Human Performance major from Battle Mountain, Colorado where he attended Battle Mountain High School. At BVU, he wrestles at 141.

In his second season of head coaching for the Beavers, Mark Rial talks about Collin’s leadership role on the team.  

“Collin’s contribution to the team is his work ethic and determination to get better every day. He is one of our leaders on the team,” Rial says.  

For the rest of the season, Coach’s expectations are for Collin to continually work to get better daily and to be a positive leader for the team. He expects him to continue to do the little things consistently. Rial believes if he does that, he’ll have a great season.  

Stilson’s dad is his biggest influence. He has always pushed him to be a better wrestler but also a better person. “He wrestled back in the day, but never pushed me into the sport, but always had my back,” Stilson adds.  

Looking towards the rest of the season, Collin is looking forward to getting better throughout the season and enjoying the time with his coaches and teammates. He says, “This could possibly be my last year wrestling, so I’m just enjoying every moment and not taking anything for granted.”

For Stilson, there are so many memories in wrestling. Some are good, some bad, but he feels as though his favorite memory is yet to come.  

BVU Wrestling’s first home Wrestling open is on Saturday, December 7th that starts at 9 AM.