The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1343401
42 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY RYAN TICE edshirt sophomore 125- pounder Jakob Camacho was regarded as a top-25 recruit nationally coming out of Danbury, Conn., and enters the 2021 postseason ranked among the top 10 nationally at his weight class by every major media outlet. In some polls, he's listed as high as No. 3. While his ascension to college wrestling's elite has been relatively quick, it wasn't a direct path. The inevitable ups and downs have been drastic. Many would look at his high school career and think college success seemed in- evitable, but it has required hours of unseen work that few would be willing to put in. And despite all that, Camacho would not have it any other way. "I'm in the process of growth in this sport," he said. "I love competing and just the act of competing drives me. I try to get better every single day as a person and as a wrestler. … I just know if you don't evolve then people catch up to you. I'm on a constant path of evolving and growing as a wrestler." A big part of that process has been grow- ing through losses. Camacho didn't taste defeat often in the prep ranks. He was a three-time Connecticut state champion before missing most of his senior year due to injury. He earned All- America honors at national tournaments and even won a pair of them. When he claimed gold at the Super 32 — one of high school wrestling's toughest tournaments — in 2017, he became the first high school wrestler from Connecticut to win a national championship since 2003, and the first pub- lic school student to ever do so. But after a successful redshirt season his first year on campus, he made his much- anticipated debut in the Wolfpack starting lineup with a loss. He rebounded with seven straight wins, prior to the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invita- tional, where he was seeded fourth and went a disappointing 1-2. Another dual victory followed, and then he traveled to the South- ern Scuffle, where he placed third the year before as a redshirting true freshman. That may be when Camacho suffered his most unexpected defeat — in the first round while leading 6-0 he got cradled and pinned. Though he won three consolation matches to reach the second day of the event, he was eliminated in the first match of day two. That dropped Camacho to 12-5 on the year, and he questioned everything. Am I getting worse? Am I even that good? He called it the lowest point of his wres- tling career, and the opposition was about to get even tougher with conference duals set to begin in the ultra-competitive ACC, which featured a pair of top-15 wrestlers nationally at his weight. Camacho leaned on his support system of coaches, teammates and friends, and added to that group a sports psychologist, whom he had met with a few times before, but now the meetings became weekly. He decided changes had to be made to flip the disappointments into triumphs. In head coach Pat Popolizio's words, he had the requisite hardware — the athleticism, strength and wrestling traits — to succeed, but not the proper software. "Pat told me a lot of people have the hardware at this level, but do you have the mentality, the fight, the spirit?" Camacho remembered. When he returned to the mat two weeks later, the software had been upgraded. "I think one of the major keys to success is failure," Camacho explained. "It's a learn- ing experience, and there was a learning curve. … As much as those tournaments did hurt — and they stung — they were prob- ably some of the most important times in my wrestling career. "They really opened my eyes to, 'Wel- come to college wrestling; you've got to do the work, live the lifestyle, do all the right things, listen to your coaches and trust the process.' … I honed in on my diet, my weight, my training and started living the lifestyle of a champion. "I had to start living the life of what I want. If my goal at the end of the day is be- coming a national champ then I need to live the lifestyle of a national champ. That's how I am going about my life now — I live the life of someone trying to evolve as a person and wrestler every day." The results showed almost immediately. He won his first two matches after the Scuf- fle, then in late January opened ACC action against former NCAA finalist Jack Mueller and lost 5-2. He won his final five regular- season matches to claim the No. 2 seed at the ACC Championships. After a win in the semifinals, Camacho got another chance at No. 2-ranked Mueller in the conference finals. Forty-four days after his only loss since the Southern Scuffle performance that made him question every- ALWAYS EVOLVING Redshirt Sophomore Wrestler Jakob Camacho Is Focused On Improvement