Raised in the sport of wrestling, junior Ryan Needle looks to further his accolades on the mat. Entering into the sport at a young age with the support of his father, Needle rapidly discovered his competitive nature.
"I started wrestling when I was five and my brother was 10," Needle said. "My father was a wrestler and a high school coach so he got me involved."
Shortly Needle's brother lost interest in the sport, but for Needle the sport of wrestling quickly became his passion. Traveling all over the country to attend and compete in tournaments and camps, it was not long before the Newfane, N.Y. native really began taking wrestling seriously.
"I was about 40 pounds when I started," Needle said. "I didn't know what was going on. I was just having fun and wrestling was just something to do. I would rather have gone to a tournament than to something like Six Flags when I was young I just really liked it. I got into it really quick though. I was really competitive. I ended up going to nationals my second year."
At the age of six, Needle competed in nationals at 55 pounds, which was the beginning of a career of many accomplishments.
As a seventh grader, Needle began his record setting varsity career at Newfane Senior High School.
"I was a three time New York State Champ," Needle said. "As an eighth grader, I won at 96 pounds, I took fourth as a sophomore at 125 pounds, and I got first as a junior at 130 pounds and first as a senior at 140 pounds."
Aside from being a three time state champion, Needle also set the Section VI record for total career wins with 240, as well as gaining Cadet and Junior National All-American honors for a 48-0 record during his senior year.
Coming out of high school, Needle originally attended Ohio State University. He spent two years there before he transferred to Buffalo.
"I started out at OSU for two years," Needle said. "I red shirted my first year and wrestled my second. After my freshman year, I decided to transfer here. It was not that I disliked the program, the coaches or the people or anything like that. They just over recruited around my weight. I didn't realize that when I first went there, but after two years everyone fell in around the same weight. I didn't want to have to deal with that for the next three years. I didn't want to spend my college career having to wrestle people off and knowing there was always a chance I wouldn't start."
After sending out his release to a number of schools and talking to different coaches, Needle decided that Buffalo was the best fit for him. However after arriving in Buffalo, Needle was plagued by a shoulder injury suffered in his freshman season at Ohio State.
"Last year I was coming off a dislocated shoulder from OSU," Needle said. "I rehabbed it for three months, started wrestling and dislocated it again. I rehabbed it for another three months and dislocated it again. I tried to rehab one more time to get through the season last year but it just kept coming out. So I made the decision to have the surgery in November of last year, just before the season started. I missed the whole season. It took about eight months to recover. I got the surgery in November and started wrestling live in July. It was a long process, slow and frustrating."
Coming into this year ready to once again show his skills on the mat Needle dropped from 149 pounds to 141 pounds. However, after the first two tournaments and the first dual meet against Princeton, Needle decided that 141 was not the correct weight for him.
"Wrestling at 141 was just too much," Needle said. "I thought I would get used to it and my body would adapt, but after three matches it was too tough on my body and it was mentally breaking."
Back at 149, Needle now has to battle for the spot. The challenge is worth it though.
"During the week I weigh about 155 pounds," said Needle. "At 141 sometimes I would be coming in the day of the match five or six pounds over. Now I just cut my meals down at the end of the week and the last five pounds is just water weight."
Although Needle is uncertain about what he will do after college, one thing is certain, wrestling will remain a large part of his life. Whether he advances on to the Olympic level or moves into coaching, the sport introduced to him by his father at a mere five years old will remain with him in whatever he does.
