Posted 2/2/07
UW-Platteville's Scott Nicholas is a freshman wrestler from Rock City, Ill. and Dakota High School. He competes in the 197 weight class and already has 10 wins with three pins. The 29th-ranked Pioneers face 16th-ranked Loras Friday in the Williams Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.
Was it hard coming from high school and switching to the college level of play as a starter right away?
"It wasn't what I thought it would be; it was more difficult than I figured it would be. I definitely wasn't as prepared as I should have been. I started out pretty rough and now I'm starting to get used to it more as coach helps me out."
What's it like to have a previous teammate (Jesse Milks) of yours from high school here wrestling at college with you?
"It's the best. We weren't roommates last semester, but we are now and it's awesome. I love watching him wrestle. I go out of my way to watch him and I know he does the same for me and it nice. He was wrestling before I was, but we've been wrestling together forever, so we both know when to congratulate each other and when to leave each other alone. We weren't best friends in high school but now we definitely are."
You wrestle at the 197 weight class, which I've been told has a lot of experience in that class, what's it like wrestling that weight class as a freshman?
"It's been pretty rough. I started out not wrestling as well as I could have for about 2/3 of the season. After the North Central Tournament, I really started to improve my style and my wrestling that week, and hopefully I just get better from there."
Why did you choose to come to UW-Platteville?
"It's a funny story actually. I was enlisted in the Army as a senior in high school and I was supposed to ship out. I bought a motorcycle and, to make a long story short, I got into a motorcycle accident and I was given a medical discharge because of my injuries. They told me to come back in six months to a year, but who is going to sit around and wait for that long? So, Jesse's dad was my coach in high school and said we should talk to Coach Walter. Coach took care of me; he set me up and got me registered right away; I wouldn't have been in college otherwise."
Interview by Sports Information Student Assistant Heather Schaufenbil