Four-time Wyoming high-school state champion wrestler, three-time all-American and two-time NCAA finalist Bryce Meredith added to his resume by taking an endorsement from Adidas wrestling in early April.
Though Meredith has seen a great deal of success the entirety of his wrestling career, high school and all, he admits the University of Wyoming deserves a great deal of praise and credit for where he is now.
“Ultimately everything kind of goes to Wyoming and the program, just because they put me in the right position to succeed to the point of being able to get endorsement deals with companies like Adidas,” Meredith said.
Likewise, head coach Mark Branch said Meredith contributed a great deal to not only the wrestling program at the UW but the entire athletics department.
“[Bryce] did a lot of special things here,” Branch said. “He was a great ambassador for our program and just an intelligent kid, and well-spoken and really brought a lot of positive attention to our program.”
These qualities of Meredith, on top of Branch’s relationship with the company, made for an easy decision for Adidas to reach out to him.
“We’ve had a great relationship with Adidas since I came here as a head coach, I’ve had a great relationship with those folks since my days in Oklahoma State,” Branch said. “[Adidas has] evolved over the last several years of really getting behind some of these young athletes who are coming out of college and have not just been successful on the mat, but a lot of the qualities that Bryce possess: his engaging personality, he definitely has some flare to him, I guess you could say, and that’s definitely brought a lot of attention his way.”
Meredith also admitted that the whole development was kind of a whirlwind, with a lot of learning taking place during the process. Collegiate athletes are not allowed to talk to any companies, especially not big companies like Adidas, so he was entering unfamiliar territory with his endorsement deal.
“Adidas wrestling just hit me up, and then the business started right there,” Meredith said. “I didn’t approach any companies or anything like that, I was kind of just sitting back waiting for it. They called, and it kind of ended up being the best option.”
As a wrestler, there is not really a professional league in which Meredith can enter. That being said, Branch noted that Meredith is open-minded and willing to take on whatever the future may throw at him. For now, however, Meredith is focused on the Olympics and the World Championships for wrestling.
“The Olympics is what the next milestone is, and so in the years that there are not Olympics, there’s World championship, then after that, either keep going down that road or maybe going into MMA of some sort,” Meredith said.
In 2019 Meredith noted he will be competing for a World championship. Then in 2020, he will compete for a spot on the Olympic team, in hopes to medal in the Tokyo games. Though he has his sights set on some big-time accomplishments, the little boy inside of him who fell in love with the sport, and found the passion he still displays on the mat each and every match, is as giddy as ever.
“It just kind of made me feel even more like a professional athlete,” Meredith said. “Just as, like, a kid you always play video games, and you always just think ‘man, it’d be so cool to sign with Adidas, you know, or X- company’ so just to finally do it is kind of like looking back to 12-year old me, like ‘dang we actually made it, good job.’”
