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Connor Roussel started late and struggled early, but he stuck with wrestling until he got a hold on the sport so special to his family.
Roussel, a rare four-year member of the A&M Consolidated wrestling team, will compete in his final home tournament at the Tiger Invitational on Saturday. Roussel will enter the tourney and the upcoming district meet as a legitimate contender in the 130-pound class, living up to his family legacy even though he began his wrestling career as a freshman, much later than he would have liked.
"Since I was in kindergarten, my mom has been looking for wrestling clubs and asking the high schools if they were going to start clubs," Roussel said. "They ended up starting one the summer before my freshman year, but we always go to Wyoming in the summer."
Wyoming is where the wrestling roots of Roussel's family run deep. His grandfather, Louis Holland, won the AAU national championship at 174 pounds in 1951 and wrestled for the United States in the Pan American Games. An uncle won the Wyoming state championship.
Family ties to the sport meant little when Roussel joined the Consol wrestling team as a freshman.
"I think he started out at 112 pounds, and he wasn't any shorter than he is now," Consol coach Brian Wessel said. "He was a skinny guy when he got here, and he wasn't very good."
Roussel figures he lost more matches than he won as a freshman. He wasn't sure of his place in the sport, or in his family tradition.
"I kinda felt dumb when I started," Roussel said. "I felt kind of out of place, because of all my family members being great. I'd lose matches and I'd feel like I didn't belong. It was pretty hard, because I felt like I was supposed to be better."
Roussel stuck with it, working out during his summer trips to Wyoming, and slowly got better and better. Although the ability to wrestle is an acquired talent, the doggedness he needed to persevere was passed down through his family.
"My mom won't let us quit anything," Roussel said. "If we start something, we have to finish it. That's just something I grew up with."
The big payoff came last year, when Roussel won the district championship at 125 pounds.
"It was awesome," Roussel said. "My mom was there and I got to hug her and she was crying. I felt like I finally lived up to expectations a little bit."
Wessel said Roussel has a good chance to repeat as district champion and become Consol's first two-time winner there. That would earn Roussel a return trip to regionals, where last year he came within a couple of victories of qualifying for the state meet.
"Winning district is my main goal right now," Roussel said. "Going to state is another goal. I keep track of the other guys in the region that I will have to face.
"This past weekend, I faced two guys that I'm going to have to wrestle at district and lost to both of them, mainly because I was having an off day. It kind off opened my mind back up that I've got to focus on the now."
NOTES -- Weigh-ins for the invitational will be at 7 a.m., with wrestling scheduled to start at 9 a.m. in Old Tiger Gym. The final rounds should be in the late afternoon. ... Admission fees will be $3 for adults and $2 for students. ... Katy's Morton Ranch is the defending team champion and returns with a stronger team than last year, according to Wessel. San Antonio Reagan is another strong entry in the field, which will include 16-20 teams.
• Larry Bowen's e-mail address is larry.bowen@theeagle.com.
