Your future, our focus
By Jack Nowlin
Casper Star-Tribune Staff Writer
Jim Ziegler grew up in Kansas and wrestled collegiately in Colorado, but it is in Wyoming where he has found a home.
Now in his 17th year as the coach at Northwest College in Powell, Ziegler has turned the Trappers into a national junior college wrestling power.
Northwest enters this weekend's National Junior College Athletic Association Wrestling Championships ranked No. 4 in the NJCAA Top 15.
Ziegler has built a program that has produced 67 All-Americans and eight national champions and has finished in the Top 10 in the final rankings 14 consecutive years, including a national championship in 2004.
And he has done so with a roster that usually contains a handful of Wyoming kids.
"Wyoming kids are our core," Ziegler said. "They may not always be the most talented kids on the team, but they teach the out-of-state kids what it's like to live in Wyoming.
"They show them how to have fun here and they give them a sense of comfort.
"The Wyoming kids have a great understanding of the core values of our program."
This year's Northwest team boasts eight in-state wrestlers: five redshirts and three -- Kelly Walsh's Jesse Hillhouse (125 pounds), Natrona County's Briston Brenton (157) and Powell's Mak Jones (197) -- who will wrestle this weekend.
Hillhouse, the 119-pound state champion in 2008, is one of just three freshmen who will compete for the Trappers in the national tournament.
"Jesse has been a pleasant surprise," Ziegler said. "He brings great energy and he's very dedicated ... He's zero-maintenance."
Brenton is also a two-time state champion, but Ziegler said the sophomore is cut from a different mold than Hillhouse.
"Briston is definitely more relaxed," Ziegler said. "We provide him with some direction, but we kind of let him do things on his own time."
Ziegler described Jones, a two-time state champion for the Panthers, as "one of the hardest workers we've ever had.
"Mak is a self-made champion. His rural Wyoming background epitomizes the strength and work ethic of our program."
In all, eight Trappers will compete in the NJCAA national tournament in Des Moines, Iowa.
Ziegler admitted that the Northwest program wasn't an immediate success.
"We developed over time as we figured out our resources," he said. "And the local wrestling community and the alumni were both big helps in us getting going.
"This is a program that we built our way by knowing what we do works."
And while Ziegler won't be able to attend this weekend's Wyoming State High School Wrestling Championships, he has found other ways to watch and evaluate the best Wyoming has to offer.
He attends the Ron Thon Invitational in Riverton in mid-February and he has former wrestlers that are now coaching around the state.
But his best resource for finding in-state talent might be on his own team.
"The current student-athletes we have on the team are my best screening process," Ziegler said. "They know the kids that are wrestling [in high school] because they've competed against them over the years."
And Ziegler has learned to trust what the Wyoming kids on his roster have to say.
"Some Wyoming kids are going to be stars here," he said. "But it's not just those guys that make a difference on our team.
"Wyoming kids give us our sense of self. They are what Wyoming wrestling is all about."
MUSTANGS ALSO IN THE MIX: Western Wyoming Community College may not be as strong nationally as Northwest, but the Mustangs will be sending four wrestlers to this weekend's NJCAA national championships.
Included in that group are three in-state athletes: Lovell's Jacob Bassett, Green River's Justin Schumacher and Rock Springs' Rodney Dollar.
Contact sports reporter Jack Nowlin at (307) 266-0528 or jack.nowlin@trib.com.
Trapper Tracker
WHAT: 2010 NJCAA National Wrestling Championships.
WHEN/WHERE: Thursday-Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.
NATIONAL POWER: Northwest College in Powell is currently ranked 4th in the NJCAA Top 15.
LOCAL FEEL: The Trappers have eight Wyoming wrestlers on their roster, including three who will compete for a national championship this weekend.
Wyoming wrestlers on the Northwest roster.
Eddie Whiting 125 RS Cowley (Rocky Mtn.)
Jesse Hillhouse 133 FR Casper (Kelly Walsh)
Jake Budd 133 RS Lander
Lincoln Driskill 141 RS Hulett
Briston Brenton 157 SO Casper (Natrona County)
Cody Brown 165 RS Casper (Natrona County)
David Dorsett 184 RS Hulette
Mak Jones 197 SO Powell