Isaac Trumble Wins National Championship

NC State's No. 2 seed Isaac Trumble wins the heavyweight national championship against Iowa State's No. 1 seed Yonger Bastida. 

Inside Pack Sports coverage of NC State wrestling is dedicated to the memory of Chuck Coates.

Chuck Coates: Rest in Peace, Rest in Power

Isaac Trumble (NC State) d. Yonger Bastida (Iowa State), 5-0

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the 287 national champion, Isaac Trumble, from North Carolina State.

Isaac, when you heard that final whistle blow and realized you were the national champion, what was going through your head and your journey to get here?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: It's been a long journey to get here. Kind of been doubted my entire life, coming from Nebraska. I know that's something Antrell Taylor and I, we went to the same club growing up, same high school. Something we both felt growing up. Just being from Nebraska, we were always doubted.

I don't know what -- I haven't really soaked it in yet. But I will say it was incredible to see my teammates there, cheering me on, and coaches, my wife right next to me. I wouldn't be able to do it without her and my teammates pushing me to be where I am today. Great coaches, great training staff. They're incredible.

They call you The Punisher. When he chose down in the third period, what were you thinking there?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: I knew that was match. I knew hi to put a solid ride on to seal the match. I was kind of hoping -- not hoping, I was kind of expecting him to hop up, jump up, ready to wrestle. But I don't know if the lights or cameras got to him. He just didn't look or feel the way that he seemed in other matches.

I could tell from that first whistle he wasn't as aggressive or didn't take as many attacks as I could tell -- or that he used to. But I knew once he chose bottom, I put a solid 30-second ride on that that would seal the match.

You mentioned you're from Nebraska. I saw the Nebraska crowd even cheering you on a little bit. You gave them a little point. How cool was that to see not just the NC State crew, but also Nebraska cheering you on?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: Yeah, it's pretty incredible. I know NC State just has a lot of North Carolina fans. They don't get many fans from other states. But Nebraska, they're a good college wrestling team. And they attract fans from outside of the state.

And Nebraska always travels well. No matter what sport it is, they always travel well and they bring a good fan base. So it's incredible to see them cheering me on.

But I also think there's a group of Nebraska fans that doesn't even know I'm from Nebraska. I've been gone for about six years. They probably forget about me. But I'm glad I can finally put my mark on the map in Nebraska.

A theme tonight from a lot of the champions has been not focusing on the outcomes, the wins and losses, but they have other things that are motivating them to succeed and things they're focused on outside of wrestling. I know you have a lot going on outside of wrestling and a lot of motivating factors in your life, injury last year, you know, wife, baby on the way. Can you just speak to your motivations and how that has helped fuel you to this point?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: Yeah, I would say a big motivating factor is definitely the child on the way. I have a coach, he was a coach, Tommy Gantt, he's on coaching staff. He's a great competitor. He's in the UFC. He just signed.

But one thing he always told me and other guys on the team is he kept saying, he's like, I'm not going to lose. I'm a dad now. I'm not going to lose. I've got to go back to my kids tonight, I've got to feed my kids, I'm not going to lose to a college kid. And I kind of embraced that a little bit.

The other thing is not focusing on the outcome. Last week, I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, last week, two weeks ago, I won ACCs. And we get a medal. It's in a little case that opens and closes. I had gotten home, a week later, it's on my coffee table at the house. And my wife gets a little Zevia drink. And she pulse the metal off in the case, she puts it on the coffee table and puts her cold soda on top of it.

And I was just thinking the other day, it's crazy the amount of pressure and stress you put on your body to go and achieve those things, when not even a week later, you're using it as a coaster for your drink.

This is incredible to get. It's a great achievement for me. But within a week, it's going to be in a bag in my guest room closet, and it's just going to be a piece of memorabilia I can show my kid in the future. But it's a great achievement to get. And I've been chasing it my entire life so far.

I'm not sure how much of a scrambler you are, but in the semifinals and in the finals, you were able to get it done with some pretty insane scrambles. Just talk about that, talk about how you're able to achieve it in these big moments.

ISAAC TRUMBLE: I need to go back and watch that one. I was probably in a pretty bad position. I remember, actually, watching last night's match against Bastida and Ferrari, and I saw that little spin-around he did. And I got in that bad position. I was like, this is the last moment I have to bail, kind of thing, the same position as last night. I bailed, went for the spin around and I ended up getting it.

And I would give a lot of the credit to how I was doing this week to Nick Gwiazdowski. He's been in the room two, three times a week with me. He helps me with my technique. He goes live with me. He's got two kids. He's my landlord. He's just an incredible mentor for me. He's got a lot going on in his life, and he's willing to sacrifice his time to get on the mat with me and give back to a program that he did so much for. He's just been incredible the last three years for me.

https://youtu.be/iMUrBRKbVFk

Stay tuned for more on Trumble’s national title soon!