Former Crook County wrestler a standout at Nebraska

Tyler Berger admits that he is still getting used to this.

He is still adapting to the winter-like weather of the Great Plains, which he describes as “a different kind of cold” that makes getting to class a bit of a struggle. He is still adjusting to the independence that comes with beginning life as a college student. More important, Berger is still getting used to not being the top dog in the wrestling room.

Because after a high school career that included four individual state championships (including one at Crook County in his senior year after winning three at Hermiston to make him one of just 27 Oregon prep wrestlers ever to four-peat), Berger has landed at Nebraska, a national wrestling power. After years of dominating opponents on the mat, at Nebraska, Berger concedes, he is just trying to keep up with teammates — guys like James Green, a three-time All-American who placed third at the NCAA national championships last season and currently ranks No. 2 in the nation at 157 pounds. (Berger currently is wrestling in the 149-pound weight class.)

“It definitely plays some mind games with you on some days,” says Berger, a 2014 Crook County grad and now a redshirt freshman at Nebraska. “There’s definitely some highs and lows. I guess it’s just the grind of coming into college. You’ve got to expect that, and it’s all about attitude.”

Nearly 1,700 miles away from Lincoln, Nebraska, Boomer Fleming can relate. The former Ridgeview standout, who won two state titles for the Ravens after securing a championship at Redmond High in his sophomore year, is still getting used to the late-autumn weather of Stanford, California, where temperatures consistently top out in the 70s. He is still adapting to the heightened level of competition, to a different style of wrestling that calls for more of a strategic approach than was required of him in high school.

“It’s a total transition, going back to basics, really, critiquing every little thing because college wrestling is a lot more about scoring on opponents,” explains Fleming, a 2014 Ridgeview graduate and a redshirt freshman at Stanford. “The periods are longer (three minutes, instead of two), the conditioning is at a completely different level. You are just waiting for (opponents) to make a mistake or just pounding away and trying to create an opportunity to score.”

Like Berger, Fleming is no longer the top dog. But also like Berger, Fleming has used his new standing as motivation, as a driving force to improve even more as a wrestler. Sure, the redshirt prevents Fleming from competing with the Cardinal right away (though, competing unattached, he is 9-3 at 197 pounds in tournaments). But honestly, he says, that redshirt was necessary.

“I just feel like I needed this year to grow and mature in my wrestling style,” says Fleming, an all-state running back for Ridgeview’s state championship-winning football team in 2013. “As a redshirt, I take that responsibility to not only work my hardest in the wrestling room but also train my body for something that’s more physically demanding.”

The practices are tougher. The competition is stronger. For the first time in his career, Berger likens himself to a JV wrestler.

“Watching the varsity guys leave for a tournament, it’s kind of tough to watch,” says Berger, who is studying nutrition and health sciences at Nebraska. “Taking that back seat to varsity guys is a little different. I tell people all the time when I go back home that it was definitely a humbling experience coming out here and going from high school, where I wasn’t used to getting scored on in practice, to being lucky if I get one point in practice out here.”

But Berger remains optimistic. Why wouldn’t he be? Competing unattached in tournaments this season, he has gone 14-2 (the best record not only among all Cornhusker nonstarters but the entire roster). He is able to train with Green and under the tutelage of assistant coach Jordan Burroughs, who was a two-time national champion at Nebraska and an Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling in 2012.

Once again, Fleming can relate, because roaming the wrestling room at Stanford is a reigning Pac-12 champion, 125-pound redshirt junior Evan Silver, and two redshirt freshmen in Connor Schram (133 pounds) and Keaton Subjeck (174) who have each proven to be formidable wrestlers in their first years of collegiate competition. Added to the mix are a pair of graduated 2014 Pac-12 champs in Ryan Mango and Dan Scherer, who from time to time “hang around the wrestling room,” according to Fleming. Fleming, who plans on studying either business or computer science at Stanford, sees those accomplishments, sees his teammates winning matches, and it pushes him to step up his game even more.

“We’re all so bought into our program,” says Fleming, talking about a Stanford program that last season logged its best finish ever at the Pac-12 championships by finishing second, a program that comes off its best dual-meet record in school history, and one that is three years removed from its best finish — 11th — at nationals. “It’s inspiring. We have full belief in our capabilities. It’s a great atmosphere to be around.”

Fleming continues: “The team, the amount of work everybody’s willing to put in every single day, putting in extra time, it’s good to have around you. It just pushes me to go further and want to put in that extra work, to come into that room every day and give it my all.”

As much as they are still adapting to the more competitive collegiate level, Fleming and Berger have proven to themselves, and to coaches, that they will be forces to be reckoned with in the near future.

“When you go from high school to college, it’s a step up. You need to make another step in your wrestling,” says Nebraska coach Mark Manning, whose team took 11th at the 2014 national championships. “And I think Tyler’s really on his way. … He wants to not only be the best in the nation, he wants to be the best in the world. He sees himself like that. It drives him to improve and take his wrestling to another level.”

Manning sees a bright future in front of his standout recruit, one who anchored a Nebraska recruiting class that ranked sixth nationally according to InterMat, a wrestling website that ranks high school and collegiate wrestlers nationwide. Manning looks at Berger and sees a wrestler who could potentially take over for Green, who is expected to graduate in spring 2015. Whether the former Central Oregon wrestler realizes it or not, Manning envisions a decorated collegiate career for Berger.

Safe to say that Berger is fully on board with that sentiment.

“I’m going to be looking to win a national title,” Berger says. “I’m not looking to settle for anything less.”

And once again, Fleming can relate.

“To qualify for the national championships,” he says, “to become an All-American, that’s the ultimate goal.”

As tough as their situations may be, even though they are no longer the top dogs in their respective wrestling rooms, Fleming and Berger have adapted to the elevated competition of collegiate wrestling. And each has become, they say, completely different wrestlers.

“It’s better than I could have ever imagined,” Berger says. “Yeah, it’s been tough. But it’s been the best time of my life training out here. I’m doing what I love to do, and I’m chasing my dream. It’s going to be tough. But I love it.

“They (coaches) don’t expect us to be national champs the first day of practice,” he continues. “They expect us to be national champs over time — over one, two, three, four, five years. As long as you’re buying in and doing what they tell you, there should be no reason for me not to do that.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0307, glucas@bendbulletin.com.