Karl Roesler has a name that public-address announcers at wrestling meets just love to mispronounce. When the Providence senior’s name is called, it invariably comes out over the loudspeakers as “Wrestler.”
Sorry to disappoint, but the German name is correctly pronounced “Race-ler.”
“In tournaments especially, announcers get a kick out of it,” Roesler said. “They always say `Wrestler.’ I hope they have fun with it.”
It’s too bad the correct pronunciation is “Race-ler.” If ever anyone looked like a wrestler, it’s Roesler. The rugged 6-foot, 189-pound senior, with tousled red hair sticking out of his ear guards, looks like he was made to wrestle.
When he gets on the mat, he shows that those looks aren’t deceiving.
Roesler will take an 18-0 record into Friday’s dual meet at Wheaton-Warrenville South. After placing fourth in Class AA at 171 pounds last year, he is considered a favorite to win the state title at 189.
Roesler’s season had a hiatus of almost a month when he broke a bone in his right hand in early December. He missed the Ironman Classic in Worthington, Ohio, and a double dual with Waubonsie Valley and Sandburg. While his teammates were wrestling, he had to spend his time running, riding a stationary bike and doing leg lifts.
He didn’t return to the mat until shortly before the Glenbard East Al Dvorak Invitational late last month. He won the championship there by pinning Waubonsie Valley’s Al Olieh in 3:39 of the final.
Roesler described the injury as “just a break. It heals pretty fast. It’s just something I’ll have to put up with. I missed two weeks of competition and then we had a week off. It was almost four weeks, but I guess I had pretty good timing. It does make you realize what you have when you compete. I had never broken any bones or anything before.
“During the matches, with the adrenaline flowing, there isn’t much pain. There were a couple of times where they had to stop the matches and attend to it, but it wasn’t too bad. There was a fear of rebreaking it and sitting out another four weeks, but everything turned out OK.”
Rosler isn’t 100 percent yet, “but there isn’t anything ice can’t cure,” he said. The hand is braced during practice; for meets, it is padded and wrapped.
Roesler is one of the keys to the Celtics’ success this season. As a senior, he is counted on for leadership by coach Keith Healy. A four-year starter with a 98-30 record coming into this season, Roesler has always been on a team with top wrestlers and he has been in the background. Now he is the someone the Celtics depend on.
“He’s the team leader,” Healy said. “He controls the wrestling room almost like an assistant coach. He’s got to lead us and maybe carry a couple of extra kids Downstate. He’s a real easygoing guy who’s a hard worker and exciting and fun to be around. He’s a good person.”
Hand injuries aside, wrestling has been more fun this season because of his weight. After playing football as a 200-pound noseguard, he had little trouble getting down to 189 pounds. In previous years he had cut more weight and had struggled to maintain it.
“Coach and I both feel it’s better to wrestle happy,” Roesler said. “That’s something I didn’t do when I was a freshman (135 pounds) and a sophomore (140). The last two years I’ve really appreciated not having to worry about my weight. When I was younger, I was smaller and felt I had to get as low as possible. It’s up to the individual. If you have the mental strength to do it, it’s good for you. I can cut the weight but on the mat, it’s a big difference. We have some people who don’t wrestle well when they are cutting weight.”
Last season the Celtics took third in the Class AA team dual competition and Roesler was fourth individually at 171 pounds. This year the Celtics started a little slowly but are improving with an eye on a return trip to Normal for the dual-meet tournament.
Individually, Roesler wants to show college coaches he can perform on a Division I level. A state championship is one way of doing that, but Roesler isn’t going to hang his season on one match.
“A state championship would really be nice, something I’d really enjoy,” said Roesler, a B student who is academically qualified for a college scholarship. “Basically, if I wrestle well, I’ll be happy.
“Last year I lost to (four-time Mt. Carmel state champion) Joe Williams in the team competition and to (St. Charles 171-pound state champion) Jevon Herman in the individual, but I was happy because I wrestled well. When you lose to less than the best competition, you let yourself down. No matter where I end up, I just hope I’ve done my best.”
