Maverick wrestler juggles family, school with long-time wrestling career
Chip Kalina
Issue date: 3/9/10 Section: Sports
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Marrs, the oldest of four children, grew up on a farm in Oak Hill, Kan., and got plenty of practice wrestling his brothers.
"We would wrestle each other during commercials," Marrs said. "My dad always had us doing push-ups and sit-ups."
Marrs started practicing at the local wrestling club at Clay Center High School, where he developed a hunger to learn and practice. It didn't take long for him to start competing.
"I started competing when I was 8," Marrs said. "My brother Josh was 6. My brother took first at every single tournament that year, and I was placing like third and fourth. I was kind of getting beat up, but I really liked going to practice because I knew that's where I was getting better and learning things. I've always enjoyed wrestling for that reason you know, just trying to get a little better."
He continued wrestling through middle school and began seeing results throughout his high school career at Clay Center. He placed three times at the Kansas State Tournament, placing second his sophomore year, winning the state championship his junior year and placing second his senior year. He finished his senior year with a 33-2 record and a school record 27 pins while wrestling at 215 pounds.
It was at a tournament his junior year at Clay Center when he first laid eyes on his wife, Kacia.
"It was the Beloit Invitational, a really tough tournament for us, and she was a cheerleader for Minneapolis high school," Marrs said. "I saw this very beautiful girl sitting by the edge of the mat cheerleading. I was talking to my head coach and I said 'I think I'm gonna go ask her to marry me.' So I walked right up to her and said, 'Will you marry me?' She said, 'Sure, what's your name?' We started dating, and the rest is history."
After such a successful high school career, Marrs was being heavily recruited by a number of colleges, but felt UNO had the strongest program and the most genuine coach.
"I decided on UNO because coach Denney recruited me harder than anyone else," Marrs said. 'He showed me that he wanted me to be here and took an invested interest in me as person, not just a wrestler. He was also the only coach who made a home visit, which was big. He just came after me and just wanted to get to know me."
Transition from any high school to college sport can be tough, but Marrs jumped into the program early and started working hard.
"As soon as I graduated, I moved up here in the summer," Marrs said. "Ricky Frausto, who now owns CrossFit Omaha, was the strength coach at the time. He had me lifting weights and conditioning harder than I ever had before and I made some big gains."
He started his career at UNO as a redshirt freshman, wrestling unattached to a 21-3 record. He won the Daktronics, Nichols and Kaufman-Brand Opens. He also won the team's outstanding redshirt award and was named UNO wrestler of the week five times.
His second season, he wrestled at 197 pounds, finishing 35-9. We won the Kaufman-Brand, UNK and Brand Opens. He also placed in third at the NCCA North Region Tournament and went 4-0 at the NWCA National Duals to help the Mavericks finish second. He has many more awards and highlights to count, but it was during his second season that life threw him a curveball.
On April 19, 2007, Marrs and his wife were blessed with a daughter named Gracelyn.
"It has changed me a ton, it's definitely a lot more responsibility," Marrs said. "I've grown up a lot, you know. I feel like at that age, college kids don't have much responsibility and feel like it's all about them. When she was born, I had to do what I needed to and give her everything she deserves."
It can be difficult to juggle wrestling, school and a family, but Marrs has plenty of support.
"A lot of times Gracelyn comes to practice with me, which is pretty cool," Marrs said. "I have to give credit to my wife, just for her support. She has been so understanding and helpful and if it weren't for her attitude and support, none of this would work. You just do what you gotta do. I put my family first, you know. School and wrestling are still there and things I'm passionate about, I just find a way to make it happen I guess."
It has been a struggle for Marrs to juggle everything, but he credits his family and his relationship with God for his success and happiness.
"I would not have made it this far without the support of my parents and family," Marrs said. "I also have to thank all my past coaches at Clay Center and the kid's club for helping me develop and improve. The biggest support is God, you know. God has given me the ability and put me on this path. I would not still be wrestling if it wasn't for my faith. There is no way, because college wrestling and not having mom and dad to rely on all the time and ending up having a family of my own and just the pressure of being independent and responsible and growing up has been a struggle. It's a struggle for a lot of college kids, you know."
Marrs is on track to graduate this May and has plans to stick around the sport.
"I would like to coach college wrestling," Marrs said. "I'm gonna try to stick around and coach at UNO while Kacia gets her teaching degree. I plan on trying to get a graduate assistant job at a college wrestling school, get my master's and then work on getting a head-coaching job somewhere. Definitely want to have more kids, but we will probably wait till we have some income. I would have 15, but I don't think she'll go for it."
The Mavericks are hosting the 2010 NCAA National Wrestling Championships this weekend, March 12-13 at Sapp Fieldhouse. They are defending champs and eager to compete.
"We are confident, absolutely confident," Marrs said. "And I don't see why we shouldn't be. We're the best team in the nation, there's no doubt about it. You ask anybody in Division II, they'll tell you UNO is the team to beat. We are gonna dominate, we are gonna slaughter it. We qualified 10 guys; in my opinion, they are all legitimate title contenders."
Marrs made it to the championship match at last year's national championship, only to fall short and place second. He said he is excited to compete this year and give it all he's got.
"My biggest thing is I felt last year I had knee surgery on Feb. 1, and I didn't get to come back onto the mat until the week before the regional tournament," Marrs said. "I wasn't confident in my conditioning, I wasn't confident in the knee, so I kind of wrestled a little bit differently than I like to wrestle. The kid I wrestled in the finals is notorious for taking injury timeouts and it's not because he's injured, it's because he needs a break to get his wind back. And he does it every time. But for some reason that match, I wrestled the same way. I tried to protect my knee and I tried to slow the pace down. He took me down at the beginning and I didn't really push the pace till the end of the match. I just felt like I didn't leave it all out there. This year, that's my only thing. No matter what I've got going into that national tournament, whatever I got inside me, I want to leave it all there."
Leaving the UNO wrestling program and school in May, Marrs said he has cherished his time with the team.
"I love every single person on our team. I look at those guys as brothers, you know. I could care less about all the accolades. I just want to be remembered as a friend and a brother."
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