The Treaster way: Newton wrestler chasing Kansas high school history with state title
Pressure is only what one allows it to be and to Nick Treaster, he doesn’t allow himself to feel it very much when he is on a wrestling mat.
It doesn’t matter that he’s the youngest of three brothers trying to make his way in a family of Kansas wrestling royalty. His father, Matt, was the third wrestler in Kansas high school history to win four individual state titles. His oldest brother, Logan, was a state champion; his other brother, Grant, was a two-time state champion.
No pressure, right?
It’s a testament to his training, which began at the age of three and has only intensified in the years since. It’s the reason why Nick is able to perform so calmly under what might feel like pressure to others.
And it’s what has allowed Nick Treaster, a junior at Newton, to become a three-time state wrestling champion following last weekend’s Class 5A 113-pound title at Hartman Arena.
“As soon as the whistle blows, all of the pressure, the nerves just kind of get brushed to the side,” Nick Treaster said. “I know that I can win every match that I wrestle, it doesn’t matter who steps on the line in front of me. I know I’m one of the best in the country and I have what it takes to beat anybody.”
‘Wrestling is in the blood for them’
When Nick Treaster was three, he was so in love with wrestling that he would wear a singlet underneath his clothes when he would go to watch his older brothers compete in tournaments.
“I don’t even know where we got a singlet that small,” laughed Matt Treaster, his father.
Why did Nick wear it?
“I have no idea, I was three,” Nick deadpanned.
What was clear was being a wrestler was all that Nick wanted to be for as long as he can remember. And being the youngest of three brothers actually played to his advantage during his developmental years.
“I was the third of four boys and having older brothers is such a huge asset, I don’t think people realize just how big it is,” said Matt Treaster, who won four titles at Beloit from 1981-84 before an All-American career at the Naval Academy. “The youngest ones just have an advantage of being around it so much when they grow up and then they get advice from their older brothers. It’s been a huge advantage for Nick to have two older brothers to grow up with.”
He learned the dedication required to become a state champion from Logan, then saw firsthand how a state champion operates on a day-to-day basis in the practice room with Grant his freshman year of high school.
“He was by far the most conditioned one in the room and he worked so hard every day, I would just try to match that same kind of energy as soon as I walked in the room,” Nick said. “Ever since then, I’ve always tried to be the hardest worker in the room. Being better than your brothers is something that’s always a motivating factor, but they showed me the hard work it takes to be a champion.”
Another benefit is that by the time Nick was ready to take the leap to elite wrestling around the country, his father was better prepared to help him take that leap after coaching his two older brothers.
“You learn how little you really know when you try to teach a 5-year-old how to wrestle,” Matt said. “It’s a lot more difficult than you would think. Poor Logan, he was the experimental one. I made every mistake you can make as a father trying to teach him, but then it got easier. Once you go through it, you learn the pitfalls and the good and the bad. I think each kid got a little bit better version of me as a dad.”
But the one message that never changed from the father to his sons was if you want to be great at wrestling, you’ve got to put in the extra time, work and effort to be great. There are no shortcuts to success in the sport.
“It takes a lot of hours where it’s just you and another guy in the practice room, something that a lot of people aren’t willing to do,” Logan Treaster said. “In my family, that’s the expectation.”
Since each brother was separated by about three years, which usually translated to around a 15-pound weight difference, they rarely practiced against each other growing up. Instead, they watched one another and learned from each other by talking about the intricacies of their sport.
Nick has also thrived this season with a pair of elite wrestlers at Newton close to him in weight, as Lucas Kaufman (106) and A.B. Stokes (120) also reached the state finals this season.
It hasn’t been a surprise for Newton coach Tommy Edgmon to see all three Treaster brothers win state titles.
“It’s pretty clear their dad taught them the right way at a young age,” Edgmon said. “When you talk about wrestling being in the blood, it’s in the blood for them.”
Chasing history the Treaster way
The questions, given his family and the success he had on the USA Wrestling circuit, were inevitably going to come to Nick Treaster when he entered high school.
“Are you going to be a four-timer?” someone would ask the 14-year-old.
“I’ve got to win one title first,” he would reply, his answer never changing.
He didn’t put himself in position to join the rarefied territory of four-timer status by being obsessed about it. The Treaster way has always been one period, one match, one tournament at a time. It’s worked out pretty well for a family with 10 state championship rings.
“I’ve always viewed it as climbing the ladder,” Nick said. “Logan won one state title, so I wanted to match that. Grant won two, so I wanted to match that. This year I wanted to jump both of them. Now I have a chance to match my dad. It all came down to being focused on winning one title at a time.”
When discussing the specifics of what makes Nick so talented on the mat, the family seems to agree that he is the best blend of the three brothers. Logan excelled with his technique, while Grant was fluid in his style; Nick has picked up the best of both of his brothers. He doesn’t overpower his opponents, rather picks them apart so well that he has become one of the best 113-pound high school wrestlers in the country, backed up by his 108-4 record at Newton.
His dominance was on full display at the latest state tournament, where Nick earned two pins and a technical fall to reach the finals, then delivered a clinical performance in a 4-1 decision over Goddard’s Levi Glover to win his third straight 5A title.
“It was a weird feeling when I walked into the arena this year, everything felt smaller than what I had remembered,” Nick said.
He certainly wrestled like it and Edgmon believes that his USA Wrestling experience gives him an advantage when Nick competes at the high school level.
“He’s used to going against nationally-ranked kids,” Edgmon said. “So when you break it down to just going against one class of Kansas kids, then there’s just not as much pressure for him.”
But just because Nick didn’t feel the nerves didn’t mean his father felt the same way.
“My mom didn’t tell me this until years later after I stopped competing, but I guess my father would get so nervous that he would leave the gym when I wrestled and now I understand why,” Matt Treaster said. “There’s no comparison (to the nerves as a parent and a competitor).”
And now Nick has the chance to make Kansas high school wrestling history by completing the first father-son four-peat, potentially joining his father on the exclusive list of four-timers that includes just 38 names.
“We won’t talk about it,” Matt said. “It doesn’t really ever come up in the house. I think we all know it’s the elephant in the room, but he’s done a really good job handling it. He keeps himself pretty well-grounded and I think he takes things one thing at a time and that’s the best way to deal with it.”
Just because he’s on the brink of history, don’t expect Nick to change his mentality of “one match at a time.”
It’s the Treaster way.
“Pressure is a funny thing in our family,” Logan said. “I think we all think of situations with pressure more like opportunities. Nobody is going to give you anything. You have the opportunity to go be successful and you’ve got to go out there and get the win. It doesn’t matter what outside expectations are. As long as you wrestle your best, at the end of the day you’re going to have a family that loves you and has your back.”
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