It’s the type of match many wrestling fans don’t stick around to see or even care to pay attention to.
But as the first day of the 27th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational came to a close, Indiana’s Nate Everhart’s victory over Western State College’s Charlie Alexander wasn’t notable, didn’t impact the rankings and was hardly an upset.
For Alexander, being back on the mat is notable; as he wrestled in Las Vegas, it was just three weeks after he’d finished up playing football for Western State. The alternative could have been not wrestling at all.
Alexander became a refugee. When Oregon announced it would be dropping wrestling in July of 2007, it rattled everyone in the wrestling community, especially Oregon natives like Alexander.
When the efforts to save Oregon’s programs went ignored by a non-degree holding member of the Ducks athletic department, wrestlers like Alexander had decisions to make. Stay in Eugene and continue your education or transfer out with the hopes of still wrestling.
Coming out of Crater High, a well-known program in Central Point, Ore., Alexander was a Junior Freestyle All-American and ranked among the nation’s best prep upperweights.
He chose Oregon due to its proximity to his hometown, but was recruited by several Division I and Division II programs.
Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., was one of the early schools which made a pitch for Alexander’s services coming out of high school.
Three years after the recruiting process, Western State coach Miles Van Hee now has Alexander on his team, but not the way he’d intended.
“We never want to see a program gone and we never want to pick up a kid and be glad a program was dropped so we can get someone in,” said Van Hee. “We’re not vultures flying around, that’s not fair.
“I’m sure (Charlie) knew that and understood that because we’d recruited him,” said Van Hee. “We love having Charlie on our team, it’s a blessing for us, but we’d rather see him still be at Oregon wrestling there.”
The decision to leave Oregon could have been tougher had Alexander been further along in his studies.
“A lot of guys were going to lose a lot of credits in school, so they couldn’t transfer,” said Alexander. That was the main reason the majority of the guys stayed.”
Kyle Bounds also left Eugene and is wrestling at Michigan State. Alexander wanted to wrestle. He’d rather transfer away and wrestle than stay and not compete.
“I wanted to wrestle, so I knew I was going to have to go somewhere,” he said. “It sucked having to leave my teammates and friends.”
When asked if Alexander had anything to say about Kilkenny, he chuckled: “Probably nothing you can print.”
But arriving at Western State had its perks and its familiarity – including the opportunity for the stout Alexander to get another shot at playing football.
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