“Wrestling has taught me that anything can be done if you are willing to put the time and effort in,” said eighteen-year-old Emmett Kuntz, a fun-loving Freshman criminal justice major and wrestler at Bakersfield College.

Kuntz, who has been wrestling since he was eight-years-old, originally wanted to be a football player, but began to consider changing his focus to wrestling when he started high school. “I realized I was too small to be a football player,” said Kuntz, “when I was younger, my dad would tell me that I was going to be a wrestler one day, so I did.”

During his senior year at Highland High School, Kuntz entered a wrestling tournament in which he was seeded in seventh place, but managed to defeat many high ranking state wrestlers to wind up taking first. Kuntz points to that event as his best moment in wrestling.

While Kuntz appreciates that wrestling is highly rewarding, he also admits that it can be extremely demanding.

“My worst experience was breaking my ankle during a match,” said Kuntz, “I was lifting a kid off of the mat, and when I tried to bring him back down my foot caught grip and my ankle snapped.”

Kuntz also claims that the absolute worst part about wrestling is cutting weight. Kuntz doesn’t have any special tips or secrets to cutting weight, he says he mainly just tries to eat healthy and prays that the weight comes off. Which can be a bit of a challenge, since Kuntz claims his favorite thing on the planet is his mom’s cooking.

Despite the fact that Kuntz finds wrestling to be a very demanding sport, he says there’s nothing better than the feeling of having his arm raised after he’s won a match.

When Kuntz isn’t at a tournament or practicing, he spends most of his time doing schoolwork or hanging out with friends. Like a lot of students, Kuntz dislikes doing homework. “It’s one of those things that has to be done, but you never want to do it,” said Kuntz.

In his free time, Kuntz also likes to hunt and occasionally fish.

After finishing his education, Kuntz would like to go into law enforcement. He hopes to one day become a detective.