Duke wrestling star Jacob Kasper relishes redshirt year, international competition

<p>Jacob Kasper is wrestling as a heavyweight this year after competing at 184 pounds as a sophomore in 2014-15.</p>

Jacob Kasper is wrestling as a heavyweight this year after competing at 184 pounds as a sophomore in 2014-15.

A little less than a year has passed since Jacob Kasper decided to redshirt his junior season in an attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. In that time, the Lexington, Ohio, native has faced some of the world’s best competition everywhere from Colorado to Russia.

After placing seventh at the U.S. Open in December 2015, Kasper qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 215-pound weight class. He packed up his car right away and drove 22 hours from Ohio to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

“I didn’t know where I was going to stay, what I was going to do, what I was going to eat, or anything,” Kasper said. “I was out there to train—that was basically it. I didn’t care if I had to sleep on the floor or sleep in my car. I was going to get better.”

Kasper said he found a room in a house without running water or a working kitchen as he began his training in January 2016. The Olympic Training Center accepts wrestlers who are Olympic qualifiers, national team members or training for international competition.

After competing at 184 pounds during his freshman and sophomore seasons at Duke, Kasper trained at 215 pounds to compete in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, a departure from collegiate—folkstyle—wrestling with different sets of rules.

Before the Olympic Team Trials in April, the USA wrestling squad sent individuals to compete at the Pan-American Championships in Frisco, Texas, at the end of February. But as the competition approached, a Crohn’s disease flare—that had first affected Kasper at the U.S. Open in December—threatened his ability to compete and forced him to seek help from a doctor.

Crohn’s disease affects the gastrointestinal tract and can come with abdominal pain and weight loss—troublesome symptoms for a wrestler.

“The [doctor] basically told me I couldn’t compete—I was going to have to take four weeks off,” Kasper said. “[USA Wrestling Greco head coach Matt Lindland] offered for me to compete at the [Pan-American Championship] and be the U.S. representative, so obviously I wasn’t going to sit out. I went and wrestled Pan Ams anyway—I told the doctor it would have to wait.”

At the event, the heavyweight lost to third-seeded Oscar Loango Solis 10-0 by technical fall in the quarterfinals. Loango Solis went on to earn bronze, and Kasper returned to Colorado Springs to pursue treatment for Crohn’s disease.

In April, Kasper suffered another technical fall, this time at the Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City to G’Angelo Hancock. Kasper managed a fifth-place finish but failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, ending his bid to compete on the world’s biggest stage.

“The plan was I was going to take a month off,” Kasper said. “Instead, I got home to Ohio [and] went stir crazy after about five days.”

The heavyweight returned to Durham for the summer to train and finally saw his hard work pay off when he won the Beach Nationals Championship at the end of May, defeating four opponents in one day en route to the title.

“I packed up the car at 5 a.m., drove down to the beach with a high school buddy and competed because, I figured, wrestling’s wrestling—any competition is a chance to get better,” Kasper said. “I think if there was a thumb wrestling competition, I’d compete in that too just because I love to compete.”

After his success at Carolina Beach, Kasper went on to compete at the ASICS UWW Cadet and University Nationals in Akron, Ohio. The 215-pounder did not let a first-round loss discourage him, finishing third after registering a technical fall against Spencer Wilson and avenging his early loss against the Marines’ Daniel Miller along the way.

Kasper added that he had another Crohn’s flare at that time, but said he has since recovered.

“I’ve had two Crohn’s flare ups in the past eight months, but since then I’ve been completely healthy,” he said. “My weight is back up—I’m in probably the best shape I’ve ever been.”

Kasper is also the heaviest he’s ever been, starting off the 2016-17 season in the heavyweight class after weighing in at about 230 pounds to start the fall.

The final chapter in Kasper’s time off came after he had already returned to Duke. A month before his redshirt junior season began, the wrestler was invited to join USA Wrestling in Russia for a senior tournament. Kasper lost in the round of 16 to European Champions silver medalist Ivan Yankouski 11-8, but had success in wrestling freestyle after more than a year away from the format.

Kasper traveled for 39 hours to reach Kemerovo, Russia, for the tournament and stayed for two days to weigh in and compete before flying back to Durham in time for his Monday classes.

“Any chance I get to compete, I’m going to compete,” Kasper said. “This sport is so brutal and so physically testing, you’re never going to be able to compete at 100 percent. If you only compete when you feel like you’re 100 percent, you’re never going to get to compete.”

After a whirlwind start to 2016, Duke’s lead heavyweight was razor-sharp in the team’s first event. Kasper brought home the Southeast Open title, along with senior Connor Bass, who claimed the 174-pound title to highlight a successful bout for the Blue Devils.

A 2015 NCAA championship qualifier, Kasper will look to reach the national stage again in the spring after his year away. The season will bring its fair share of challenges, as Duke’s schedule features matchups with four heavyweights ranked No. 15 or better, including No. 2 Connor Medbery of Wisconsin coming up in November. But Kasper already has one ranked win under his belt after defeating Edinboro’s Billy Miller in the Southeast Open quarterfinals.

“If you’re not going to be the best to do it, don’t do it,” Kasper said. “Every year that I’ve stepped onto campus, whether it was my true freshman year or this year, [my goal] is undefeated national champ. If you put your goal any less than that, then you’re going to sell yourself short, you’re going to sell your teammates short, you’re going to waste your coaches’ time.”

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