Varsity - The Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics

Varsity - September 20, 2012

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planted at an early age, just by virtue of the com- petition that he was facing, particularly when he got involved in the Dominator Series. As an eighth grader, he took on all-comers in a 13-state tour that featured 13 tournaments; 12 of which he won. Jeff Thielke's truck has over 300,000 miles on it thanks to all the travel all these years "First it was me and my dad,'' he said. "Once my stepmom and stepbrothers joined the family, it was all of us packed into the car. We grew closer and learned to love one another even more.'' Thielke's only loss as a high school wrestler came during his sophomore year to Hartland Ar- rowhead's Jake Sueflohn; it was a loss that he avenged in the state finals; a loss that he learned from. "It motivated me a lot because until then I had never really faced any adversity,'' said Thielke, only the second Division 1 wrestler in state his- tory to win four titles. "It kept me really humble and kept me working hard and striving for more. I definitely needed that and I wouldn't change it for the world.'' The plan is for Thielke to wrestle two years for the Badgers. He would then use the next two years to train for the 2016 Olympics before returning to the UW to complete his eligibility. For now, Davis is planning on wrestling Thielke at 133 and Tyler Graff, an Olympic freestyle hopeful, at 141. "They will be good training partners,'' Davis said. That, too, will take time and patience. "I still have a lot more work to do before I'll be able to start competing and help push him,'' Thielke said of Graff, a senior, who's returning to the Badgers after his Olympic redshirt year. "I really can't help him as much as I'd like to right now.'' Even the growing pains, it would seem, are part of the Thielke plan, an ambitious seven-year plan that accounts for everything but wrestling burn- out. Is there any chance of that? "I've definitely thought of it before, but I don't see it ever happening,'' Thielke said. "I don't see myself doing anything else. This is what I do. This is what I love. Almost everything I do in a day is based around what I have to and want to do for my sport. I love it too much and it has become too much a part of me for that (burnout) to ever hap- pen.'' 43

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