Gannon Gremmel of Dubuque Hempstead made waves as a freshman when he made a run to the state finals at 220 pounds. He is now a three-time state place winner heading into his senior season. Training out of the Slamin’ Stangs club in Dubuque, Gremmel has also made a name for himself on the national level, winning a Fargo Cadet freestyle national title last summer, which has made himself into a highly sought after recruit. I recently had a chance to catch up with Gannon and talk about what he’s up to this off season and his future plans.
What does your summer wrestling schedule look like? What events are you planning on attending in the coming months?
My summer training has been going well. I’ve been on and off with freestyle and folkstyle. I wrestled Virginia Beach duals with NY Kong that lost in the final bout to Young Guns PA. I’ve been training hard for Disney Duals folkstyle tournament too and plan on going HWT for it. The Iowa team is pretty stacked.
You have been wrestling at the 220 pound weight class throughout high school but have started wrestling a little bit of heavyweight now. What weight do you plan on going for your senior season?
I am still undecided what weight I am going for next year but all the coaches that take time in talking to me all want to see me at HWT because I’ll be wrestling that in college. I plan on going the weight that is going to make me work harder all season also make me come in with the mindset to get better, I want to win a title where its going to have me the underdog.
You are a very accomplished wrestler and ranked very highly nationally but have yet to win that elusive state title after placing 2nd, 5th, & 2nd. What would it mean to you to win a state title your senior year?
It means a lot, I got a lot to prove to a lot of people and I plan on going the weight I have the most to prove. I go in the room not to think about winning a state title I go in to the room trying to get better and have fun. We have a lot of different people helping me in training this summer and every time we shake hands before a live go I just look at them as an enemy trying to hurt me and trying to get the best of me.
I know that your recruiting has picked up and many college coaches are trying to make there sales pitch of why you should go to there school. Do you have a time table for when you would like to make a decision on college?
I almost committed to a college at the end of last season, but I thought it out and decided I’m going to take all my official visits first. I want to see what best fits me and is the place that is going to make me a national champ is the biggest thing I’ve started to put in to consideration. Being highly ranked in the nation doesn’t mean much to me it only makes me work harder because no one wants to say they’re top 5 in the nation they want to say they’re number one. When you believe you’re the best wrestler in the nation at your weight class it makes you work even harder.
Do you maybe have a short list of schools that are leading the way at this point?
I really haven’t narrowed it down much but took some looking around at Iowa State, Iowa, UNI, and Wisconsin. I haven’t made it to any other schools that are far away until I can take an official visit.
Who have been your biggest influences in your wrestling career?
The biggest person that influenced me was my brother that recently passed in a fatal car accident. He made me succeed ever since I was a little kid. When I was a little kid he would beat me up and make me fight for everything. That’s how my parents got me in to wrestling, we loved to fight each other. It didn’t end just after wrestling practice we ruined many walls after practice. When I got the best of him… as a older brother he isn’t going to let that fly, that’s just how my dad raised us from his Golden Glove background. Just one of the days I remember me getting the last takedown and coach Haas separating us after a practice because it was a full fist fight. I finally got home all bruised up and I saw him out of the corner of my eye double leg me, no joke, into a wall and he had my head through the wall into the other room. That was a long day for us both when our parents got home and we had to explain what happened.
What wrestlers do you enjoy watching?
I really enjoy watching David Taylor because I started to have the mentality to score a lot of points and never sit on a lead or make it a boring match. I wrestle for the fans to please them and to try and break my opponent by scoring a lot of points. It is the best feeling in wrestling no matter what.
What do you like to do to get away from wrestling and relax?
I like to hang out with friends, like to fish, go kayaking, and play other sports like soccer or football.
Is there anything else you would like to say to your fans or anyone reading this?
The fans are awesome and I couldn’t do it without you guys. I love hearing from you guys!