Kendyll Ferrall
Kferral1@uwyo.edu
There’s no place like home, just ask Bryce Meredith.
After an illustrious high school wrestling career that culminated with his fourth Wyoming state high school championship, making Meredith the 15th person in the tournament’s 69-year history to accomplish that feat, and a freshman year at North Carolina State that included a 15-7 record and an Academic All-American, Meredith decided it was time to come home.
Despite success on the mat and in the classroom, North Carolina never felt quite right to Meredith.
“My recruiting process was stressful because I loved the University of Wyoming and it was home, but then there was a part of me that wanted to see something new,” Meredith said. “I did go out to North Carolina State and I did like it out there, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t quite home. It kind of felt more like a camp.”
Although Meredith’s wrestling career has spanned most of his life, for the 141-pound sophomore, it wasn’t exactly love at first pin. Initially disliking the sport the first time he tried it, Meredith decided to give it another chance at the age of six and from there, the love affair took off.
“I started wrestling when I was five and did not like it,” Meredith said. “I came back at like six years old, the next year there was one of those little kid’s thing and my dad asked if I wanted to go out and wrestle again and I was like, ‘I guess I’ll go try it,’ and fell in love with it. Ever since then, it’s been a year-round thing.”
Meredith fell hard and fast for wrestling. Early on he knew he was serious about the sport, but it wasn’t until Meredith hit his teen years that he began to envision pursuing wrestling in college. Meredith’s first high school state championship solidified his goal to become a Division I athlete.
“Once you kind of hear about it being a dream, I kind of always thought about it,” Meredith said about when he knew he wanted to wrestle in college. “Probably seventh or eighth grade I was like, ‘I really want to do this,’ and then after I won state my freshmen year I knew there was no reason I shouldn’t become a Division I wrestler. I really set my bar high at that point.”
Going into his senior year at Cheyenne’s Central High School with three state championships already under his belt, Meredith was a top prospect. Visiting NC State a month before his last year at Central, Meredith verbally committed to the Wolfpack after visiting Wyoming, Appalachian State, Hofstra and Virginia. Meredith’s decision was met with mixed reviews.
“I think everyone was excited, you know, it was cool but some people were like, ‘Oh, you’re going to wish you’d stayed back, you’re going to wish you stayed close to home,’ and I was like, well I guess I have to figure that out for myself,” Meredith said.
Although he enjoyed his time on the east coast, it didn’t take long for Meredith to figure out that Raleigh, North Carolina was not where he was meant to be.
“It’s like, not everything that glitters is gold, you know. I thought that was Hollywood, I thought that was the place to be, but I realized it wasn’t,” Meredith said. “The gold mine was here, at home.”
Realizing that NC State wasn’t the right fit, Meredith’s coaches agreed to release him to the University of Wyoming. Meredith traded in his red and white singlet for a brown and gold one after signing his letter of intent just days after Wolfpack head coach Pat Popolizio released him.
“I was excited to come back and I think everyone else was too,” Meredith said. “I got all my family and my friends and the team is great here. I think we have a pretty tight team. It’s crazy, everything is just a little bit better and it makes me a lot more happy (sic).”
But Meredith’s homecoming wasn’t without its worries. Wrestling in the state where he joined an elite class of wrestlers and in a town just 45-minutes away from where he established his historic high school record means Meredith will face more pressure and scrutiny than he would be wrestling two time zones away.
“That was probably the most nervous things about coming back because now everybody knows if I’m winning or losing every weekend because I’m home and everybody can read it in the paper, be able to watch it,” Meredith said. “You got to just put that stuff behind you.”
Meredith went on to say that, “The pressure’s there, I would say, but, I hate letting people down as it is. That’s one of my biggest fears as a person and a wrestler. So, I like it. I like trying to succeed for everybody and show them that I can be better, at all times.”
So far, the pressure hasn’t seemed to faze Meredith. Making his Wyoming debut last weekend at the Cowboy Open, Meredith won an individual title in the elite bracket after recording two falls and one technical fall.
With the majority of his collegiate career ahead of him, Meredith has a lot to look forward to. Setting his sights on a national title, Meredith is aiming to become a national qualifier and one day represent Wyoming at the NCAA tournament.
But for now, Meredith is just happy to be home.
“No regrets at all,” Meredith said. “I’m very glad to be home.”
