Vasquez aims for third state title

Teegan Vasquez was born to be a wrestler. He was brought home from the hospital in a wrestling singlet, after all.

“My dad had a singlet for each one of us,” the Glacier junior said.

Wrestling is in his blood. His older brother and sister both wrestled at Flathead and his father was an NAIA champion in college.

“It’s what we do,” Vasquez said. “All this wrestling is just kind of what we’ve been born to do.”

When Vasquez takes the mat Friday in Billings, he’ll be one step closer to his third state championship, a first for the Glacier wrestling program (he’s also the only wrestler from Glacier to win two).

Ultimately, he hopes to finish his high school career with four state titles, a pinnacle reached by 37 other Montana wrestlers, most recently was Lewiston’s Cooper Birdwell in 2021.

But that’s getting a little ahead of things.

Vasquez, who competes at 132 pounds, has won titles at 113 and 120. He hasn’t lost a match this year, and his 21-0 record includes 18 pins, not that he’s keeping track. His career record is 57-1, the one loss from his freshman season.

“He’s been pretty dominant,” Glacier coach Ross Dankers said. “I mean, really there’s been no time in a match this year where I’ve felt like, ‘Oh no, we might lose it.’ He’s very in control and very methodical and that sort of thing.”

Methodical. That could be a word to describe him — or maybe relentless. For Vasquez, wrestling is a year-round commitment, not just a fleeting fancy for part of the year.

He’s got to keep up with the rest of the family.

“He kind of sets a tempo for work ethic in our room and his focus and his intentionality is pretty unmatched,” Dankers said. “He’s kind of a once-in-a career type athlete.”

Teegan’s father Rich won the 1994 NAIA championship at 142 pounds while he was at the University of Montana-Western. Rich was the head wrestling coach at Flathead for several years before handing the program back to Jeff Thompson in 2016.

Trae, the eldest Vasquez sibling, won two state titles at Flathead and had a 41-0 season as a sophomore. Trae is now attending Cal Poly, where naturally, he is on the wrestling team as a redshirt sophomore.

Tilynne, Teegan’s older sister, was one of, if not the best female wrestler in the state long before there was an MHSA-sanctioned girls wrestling program to speak of. She won a gold at the Pan-American Championships as a high school freshman in 2017 and was nationally ranked.

“(Teegan) … got to see all those successes over the years with his siblings and grow and learn from what they’ve gone through,” Dankers noted. “And so it’s pretty cool to see. The perspective he has is pretty outstanding and mature for his age.”

And not surprisingly, Teegan quite literally grew up on the mat.

“From a young age, I was always around wrestling, just watching it,” Vasquez said. “And I was always just a little guy running around in there. People would be like, ‘Oh, I remember you were just this tiny kid, just running around.’”

There’s not just one thing that makes Vasquez a proficient and successful wrestler. His immersion in the sport from a young age plus his natural athletic ability give him an edge.

“His knowledge of the sport kind of puts him two or three steps ahead of the rest of the competition,” Dankers said. “He’s also extremely strong. He’s physically gifted in the way he moves his feet and his foot speed. To cap it off, he has that toughness to be gritty and grind when he needs to. Really he’s kind of the total package in that way.”

The state tournament spells the end of wrestling season for most high school kids, but not Vasquez, who trains year round for national and international competitions. The high school season is simply a stepping stone.

“I still have nationals coming up,” Vasquez said. “I still have a lot of these bigger other tournaments coming up. So still getting your work in, still using this as an opportunity to get better for bigger tournaments and bigger things to come.”

By nationals he means the Fargo Junior Nationals in July, which is almost a prerequisite for those who want to wrestle in college. Both his siblings won silver there when they competed.

“A lot of colleges will ask how you did at Fargo,” Vasquez noted. “Everyone goes there. So they still ask, ‘Hey, how’d you do there? Did you place there?’”

Also in Vasquez’s sights are the World Team Trials in June, where he could earn a spot on a team to represent the U.S. at an International level.

“Our motto this year is ‘All gas, no brakes’ and that’s how he is, you know?,” Dankers said. “It just doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of August or before the season or in the spring. He’s always finding competition and finding people to work with and practice with. It takes a special human being to be able to do that for 12 months a year.”

As far as winning another state title is concerned, the pressure doesn’t really exist for Vasquez. He’s trained for this, and he’s been here before. And he has his family to support him.

In Billings, he’ll do exactly what he’s done all year long to prepare for matches: First he’ll warm up by walking and bouncing around a little bit. And then comes the pep talk.

“It’s more mental, just kind of focusing, locking in, telling myself what I’ve done, what I’ve achieved, what I’ve done to be here,” Vasquez said. “I just tell myself, I know I’m ready for this, I’ve already done this stuff.”

His brother Trae has a saying that he’s also learned to lean on.

“He just says, ‘Let it fly,” Teegan said. “He always says ‘Let it fly.’ And that just means basically lock in, wrestle your match, and just kind of wrestle open, don’t wrestle back or anything like that.”

The 2022 All-Class boys state tournament kicks off today at the Billings MetraPark, with weigh-ins starting at 8 a.m. sharp.