Submitted by David Klenk, Communications Graduate Assistant

Welcome back to another edition of Saints Spotlight. Today I’m joined by Daulton Mayer, a senior at Thomas More University, a wrestler and many other things. Thank you so much for joining us today. 

Daulton Mayer: Thank you for having me. I’m very excited to do this.

David Klenk: Starting off, what originally drew you to come to Thomas More?

DM: It was a collection of a lot of things. I had a couple of family members come to Thomas More. My grandma is an alum and so is my aunt on the other side of my family. I’d say the biggest thing was wrestling because that’s what really drew me to college in general. Especially in high school I had the idea I wanted to be a doctor, and then I had biology and hated biology. I was wondering what I wanted to do, and wrestling opened the door for me to go to college and start figuring out what I want to do. I had a lot of friends, team members already here, because Russell (Jason Russell – head wrestling coach) was very good about recruiting Northern Kentucky and lower Cincinnati guys. Russell is just a great dude so I was very excited to come here. 

DK: What are you studying here?

DM: I’m a secondary education major with a specialization in social studies. I’m going to teach high school social studies.

DK: What drew you towards that?

DM: My mom is a high school social studies teacher. She taught before she had me and my brother and took a 10-year break to stay home with us. She started teaching again as we shifted to high school. In my senior year, she moved to Walton. I had her a couple times and seeing her in a different area; seeing her be a teacher rather than a mom, the passion that she had for it inspired me. I initially didn’t come to Thomas More with the idea of being a teacher, I was in business admin at first and accounting, and switched up my mind on that pretty quick. Seeing her, thinking back to that – I’d always been told I’d be a good teacher, good leader. After experiencing a couple of classes here, I was ready to be a teacher.

DK: Speaking of leadership, what has your experience been like wrestling at Thomas More?

DM: It’s been great. I didn’t have the most success in high school and I didn’t know what to expect coming into wrestling in college. Competing with these higher end guys, it’s something like only 1% of wrestlers make it wrestling in college. It’s pretty cool being able to have the success I’ve had and then making these lifelong friendships along the way.

DK: What are some of your highlights from this past season?

DM: A lot of things, like we really came together as a team. We had a great group of freshmen come in. A lot of them stuck on throughout the year and it’s cool having everybody together throughout the year. Me, Ryan Moore, and Shay Horton especially, it was our last ride together. We’ve known each other since early middle school/elementary school, we’ve been wrestling against each other at times being at different schools, but taking in every moment together and appreciating our last ride together here at Thomas More, before we go our separate ways.

DK: What got you interested in wrestling and how long have you been in the sport?

DM: I started my third-grade year, so I’ve been at it for a while now. I went to Campell County Elementary School at Campbell Ridge and they had high school students come in and talk to us as a whole about getting involved in sports as we started to get older. One of the guys who came in for wrestling, his name was Mason Frank, he was a church friend of ours and he’s somehow related on my mom’s side through my grandma. He talked about wrestling to us and I think just putting two and two together with knowing him and not figuring out what I wanted to do yet like in terms of sports, I came home that day and said, “Hey I want to wrestle.” My dad was like, “Yeah, let’s give it a try.” I stuck with it ever since. 

DK: What’s the experience like, having an entirely male dorm, that is a majority student-athletes and knowing that you have the heart of that wrestling room just beneath those dorms, what’s that like for yourself and other wrestlers?

DM: I loved it, my freshman year especially. Just being able to have everything together, everything you need – aside from food, of course, all in one building. Especially when we had those bad snowstorms, not having to worry about getting to practice was great. I always say it’s our little trap home, because we’re able to have our own space and be with other wrestlers who also live in dorms, because a lot of our freshmen live here. 

DK: What are your aspirations and plans for the future?

DM: At the moment of debating between going straight to work or going to get my master’s. The goal is to teach and coach, and potentially move towards administration. Become an athletic director as the years progress, but that’s a lot farther in the future. 

DK: Do you have any advice for incoming freshmen or students looking into getting into wrestling?

DM: For incoming freshmen, I’d say get involved in everything you can. I understand we have a lot of athletes and it’s hard sometimes with practices and everything, but I think it pays a lot to get involved in other school things. Appreciate every moment that you’re here, because it goes quickly. It’s insane to think that I’ve been in college for four years already. Then for anybody who wants to get into wrestling, I’d say do it. It’s hard, it’s very hard but the life lessons and skills that you learn throughout it and some of your lifelong friendships come out of it.

DK: I’m sure a lot of the team is good friends with you and vice versa. Thank you so much for being a part of the community and coming on the show today. It was great to talk to you and share your experiences about wrestling and everything in between.

DM: Absolutely, thank you for having me on.