The life of a college student is a hectic and busy time. Many students can barely handle the pressures of class, friends, campus organizations and a social life. Imagine trying to do that as an NCAA athlete as well. For many students on campus here at UW-Platteville, this balancing act is a big part of their lives.

One athlete in particular who works hard to balance school and athletics is junior wrestler Ryan Higgins. Higgins, who is the Pioneers’ starter at 149 pounds, works hard to balance school, the wrestling team and the life of a normal college student.

Ryan Higgins
Junior 149-pounder

“I wanted to wrestle in college and knew I wanted to go into engineering, so I decided on UW-P over several other schools,” Higgins said.

The decision to come here was a combination of a good wrestling program plus a good student to teacher ratio, Higgins said.

Higgins said the key for him was learning how to balance school work and participating in a varsity sport. “The hardest things for me are making weight and managing my time during the season,” Higgins said. “It sometimes is like having a 20-hour-a-week job. When you come home from practice you don’t want to do anything.”

“Athletes do more balancing than others,” head coach Chris Walter said.

“It is a struggle for many students. It’s not like high school with an 8:30 - 3 schedule,” Walter said.

Higgins said he does a lot of his homework during the day, and tries to get all of his work done before practice because when he is done with practice he just wants to relax.

It also helps that UW-P professors are willing to work with student athletes. “Teachers here understand us and our schedules and interests, so if I need to take a test early or late they try and work with you. With smaller class sizes and student-to-teacher ratios it’s easier to be flexible,” Higgins said.

Higgins’ schedule is much like many students. He said on a given class day he wakes up at eight o’clock and gets ready and then attends class from nine until 10 a.m. He then takes an hour break and studies before his class that runs from eleven a.m. until noon. From there he takes a break for lunch and more studying before another class from one p.m. until two. From there he studies until he has to get ready for practice at four p.m. After practice at six he gets dinner and goes home to relax, study, and get ready for another busy day.

“The thing that is great about Ryan is that at the beginning of this season, he wasn’t the starter but he had a good attitude and with hard work throughout the season he is going back to Nationals,” Walter said.

Higgins and teammate Jesse Milks both qualified for the National Championships that will take place on March 7-8 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This is a return trip from last year for both wrestlers.

“I know I need to wrestle my best and working hard in practice will prepare me,” Milks said, “I need to wrestle my best against the best in the country and I want to win the national title.”

Milks won the conference title at 157 pounds while Higgins finished second but he was awarded the sportsmanship award for the UW-P team. The award was based on nominations from coaches throughout the WIAC conference.

“At this point you want to win some hardware,” Walter said. “One hundred and sixty athletes go to nationals and 80 are All-Americans, we want both guys to be All-Americans.”

Over the next two weeks, both wrestlers will be preparing along with several teammates who are still training with them as they prepare for the biggest tournament of their careers.

Higgins summed it up when he said, “I want to win a national title this year or next year, and I am going to get there through hard work.”