University of Minnesota Athletics
Freshman Friday: Dalton Lunde
7/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
While many wrestlers would cite a winning tradition or a history of producing top-tier talent as the reasons they chose to wrestle for the Gophers, Dalton Lunde approached his decision from a different angle. An avid drawer, it was Minnesota's architecture program that attracted him to the school. While it shouldn't be shocking that a young man who was the valedictorian of his high school ââ'¬" Royall H.S. in Kendall, Wis. ââ'¬" would look to academics first when choosing his college path, it's also not surprising that the allure of competing in the Gopher wrestling room everyday attracted a talented young grappler to the Twin Cities. Lunde finished his redshirt season with a 13-11 record and improving results. After back-to-back fourth place finishes, which were his season's best at the time, he capped the year with a runner-up finish at the North Country Open. GopherSports.com caught up with Lunde earlier this summer to discuss his first year at Minnesota.
Now that you've been in the program for about a year, what would you say the biggest challenges and surprises are when transitioning from high school wrestling to college wrestling?
The speed and intensity of everything in college is a lot different from high school. The atmosphere is different too, because all the guys coming into college know they were the top guys in high school. The atmosphere is a lot better and it's a lot more competitive. It's a better place to be.
How would you describe what it is like to go down to the Gopher wrestling room and practice?
Every time you know you're going to have a challenge and it will be a challenging experience, so you have to work hard every time. It's like a competition every day at practice. It's going to be competitive and tough and you just have to be ready to go.
How do you assess your rookie season at Minnesota?
I feel it went okay for me. Right away I had a tough time transitioning to the college competition and style. As it went on, I got more used to it. With the competition and the wrestling room that I had, it really helped and I started to see better results. Just being around the guys in the wrestling room and seeing their success really helped me.
Your tournament finishes were improving at the end of the year ââ'¬" could you tell you were getting better or did you need those results to tell you that you were getting better?
I could tell just from matches in the practice room that things were getting better for me. I was wrestling with higher intensity. There were guys that I was struggling to take down earlier this season that I was taking down two or three times in a practice. Overall, I was noticing that I was getting better and seeing that in the wrestling room helped me.
Is there one match that stands out to you from your first season?
It was my first match at the North Country Open (against Brandon Larson from Concordia-Moorhead). He did really well at the Bison (Open) but I didn't get a chance to wrestle him there and I think he wrestled one or two of the guys on the team this year and beat them. Going into that match, I was a little nervous but I knew I could take him. I think the score was 16-4. That's when I knew things were starting to click for me and I was doing better.
What's the best part and worst part of competing in open tournaments?
The best part is that all the other redshirts are doing it with you and you've got all your buddies with you. The worst part is ââ'¬" as always ââ'¬" making weight. Sometimes they're long drives too. We don't take a big charter bus or plane.
If you have a free day in the summer, how would you spend it?
It's nice to go home and spend time with the family. It's also a good time to hang out with your friends and teammates. Being with them throughout the year, going through practices and everything else, we've gotten really close so it's fun to hang out with those guys.
What are your plans this summer?
I plan on working the J Rob camps. There are four of them that we go to: Iowa, Pennsylvania, Oregon and the one here in Minnesota. Other than that, I plan on going home for a week or two and spending some time with the family and doing some fishing and hunting.
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