Thomas More senior Daulton Mayer enjoys the time he’s on a wrestling mat.
The 106 men Mayer’s defeated in nearly four seasons likely took no pleasure. He’s one win away from Avery Jones’ school-record 107 from 2016-20, and he can break it at Northwestern University’s Midlands Invitational Dec. 29-30 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling,” Mayer said. “… It’s a cool accolade that kind of reflects the success I’ve had in college.”
Mayer competes in the 285-pound weight class, the heaviest of 10. According to openmat.com, he’s seventh in the NCAA Division II rankings – part of the Saints’ 25th-ranked team.
Thomas More coach Jason Russell isn’t surprised.
“He’s a very smart wrestler,” Russell said. “A lot of people see this big, strong kid who’s really good at cranking people over and pinning them.”
And Mayer (19-2) cranks – his 74 school-record career pins is one better than Jones’ 73. He started this season with 13 straight pins, and he considers it a letdown if he has to wrestle a college match’s full seven minutes.
“It kind of rubs me the wrong way if I don’t get a pin,” he said.
Weighty matters
Mayer, a 2020 Walton-Verona graduate, began his high school career at 136 pounds. He moved to 160 as a sophomore, 182 as a junior and 195 as a senior.
Bearcats coach John Roth remembered Mayer’s anticipation skills.
“(It’s) knowing where to be before you’re going to be in that spot because you realize the shot you you’re gonna do, what you’re about to do,” Roth said.
Mayer lost in the state first round as a sophomore in 2018. As a junior in 2019, he lost in the 182-pound semifinals and wondered if he would ever win a state title.
“My junior year loss, that was a big letdown ‘cause I was in the running for the title. I had a chance to win it, and losing in the semifinals was a big hit to the heart, but I think that kind gave me a chip on my shoulder my senior year.”
Mayer needed just 6 minutes, 17 seconds to win the 195-pound state title in 2020; he pinned all five opponents and took just 34 seconds to defeat Conner’s Cooper Elliston in the finals.
“It was a great way to cap off everything,” Mayer said.
Mayer planned to wrestle at 197 pounds at Thomas More; the problem was that he weighed 215 as a freshman. Instead of progressively, gradually losing weight, he would wait until the Tuesday or Wednesday before a weigh-in, which would drain his energy before a meet.
The solution: move to 285 pounds.
“I just got tired of cutting weight, and I just never learned how to do it correctly, so I was like, let’s get big,” Mayer said.
Mayer earned his 100th career win on Dec. 9 at Midway University when he pinned Midway’s Byron Pierce.
“I think that was a cool thing to achieve because people don’t have a hundred matches in college, much less a hundred wins,” Mayer said.
Accounting hatred
Mayer has been a National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-American all three seasons; he carries a 3.62 grade point average. He’d planned to study Business Management until he …
“ … Quickly realized that I hate accounting,” he said. “That was a major change.”
Mayer switched to Secondary Education after his freshman year.
“My mom (Carrie Mayer), she’s a high school social studies teacher, and my grandma (Carol Dunn) was a high school biology teacher,” Mayer said.
Mayer wants to teach history. He likes the ancient period – anywhere from around 1500 B.C. to the Fifth Century A.D. – and believes social studies involves more than memorizing names, dates and battles.
“I always try to tie it back to teaching kids to become informed and educated citizens who want to get involved,” Mayer said. “Citizen involvement is very important.”
Mayer thinks it’s important to cherish small things and enjoy college.
“It doesn’t have to be super serious,” he said. “I’m a big fan of take-a-step-back.”