Senior Nick Treaster made a big decision this summer. On July 8, Treaster committed to the United States Naval Academy to continue his wrestling and academic career. His top three colleges of choice were Harvard University, Princeton University and the United States Naval Academy.

The United States Naval Academy is located in Annapolis, Md. The acceptance rate for the Naval Academy is 8.5 percent according to Prepscholar. Treaster says the Naval Academy has good academic programs and is a prestigious school.

“[All three schools] obviously have good names to them. They all also had wrestling programs I would be interested in going into for the next four to five years,” Treaster said.

Before Treaster committed to a school, he had to go through the recruiting process. For most high school athletes going through recruitment, coaches will send athletes letters and will try to get the athletes to join their team, according to NCSA Sports. Treaster talked to many people on the different teams.

“[ I went through] a lot of phone calls and texting; I mean, I went out to all the schools and checked them out got to see all the campus’ and got to feel the vibe from how the college kids interacted with me and did some Google Meets with some of the wrestlers on the teams,” Treaster said. “Just a lot of talking and everything was being sold to me.”

The Naval Academy does not offer as many programs as the typical college. The studies students can choose from mainly focus on science, technology, engineering, and math.

“I am going to be trying to major in chemistry. At the Naval Academy, they don’t offer biology otherwise I would take it, but chemistry so I can go the medical route somewhere along those lines,” Treaster said.

The Newton High School wrestling coach Tommy Edgmon has been Treaster’s coach since freshman year. Edgmon has also coached Treaster’s older brothers. Edgmon says Treaster shows great dedication and discipline when it comes to wrestling and school which allows him to be successful and reach his goals.

“I have had the pleasure of coaching all three Treaster boys and look forward to following him as he moves to the next level,” Edgmon said. “Nick is looking to make history this season by becoming the first four-time state wrestling champion in Newton History. Nick also made the world team this summer for Team USA.”

Treaster is looking forward to getting to a new level of wrestling and getting to compete with the best in the country. One of his goals is to win an NCAA title. Treaster chose the Naval Academy because he felt that after looking at other schools he deep down always knew he would end up choosing the Naval Academy.

“I originally tried to reject the idea of going to the naval academy because I wanted to do something different than my brothers and my dad as well. After going through the list of schools I kept narrowing it down to, it stayed at the top. In the end, I decided I am going to the naval academy because I felt like that was the place to be.” Treaster said.