C.P. Schlatter juggling wrestling, nursing careers
By Andrew Hipps
MINNEAPOLIS - Expectations have always been high for C.P. Schlatter. The 26-year-old Schlatter is widely considered one of the best prep wrestlers to come out of wrestling-rich Ohio in the modern era.
He won virtually everything there was to win as a high school wrestler - in all three styles of wrestling. Schlatter went 165-1 and claimed four state titles. He was a man among boys at the high school level, strong as an ox and techni- cally sound.
Schlatter was part of the No.1 recruit- ing class in the country at the University of Minnesota in 2003, a class that would help deliver a national team title in 2007 and a runner-up trophy in 2006. Injuries, though, hampered Schlatter all throughout his collegiate wrestling career at Minnesota. He tore his ACL in one knee after his redshirt season, and then tore the ACL in his other knee a few years later. Still, despite all the setbacks and adversity he faced, he finished his career with over 100 wins, claimed two Big Ten titles, earned All-American honors, and played a key role in Minnesota’s resur- gence back to the top of the college wrestling world.
Most thought Schlatter’s wrestling career was over after he graduated from Minnesota in 2008. His knees weren’t the same after a couple ACL surgeries and scopes.
He began working full-time as a regis- tered nurse (RN) in the Twin Cities. He would occasionally sneak over to the University of Minnesota to help out at his alma mater, but his busy work schedule prevented him from getting in the wrestling room more than a couple times a week.
In 2009, Jake Deitchler, a Greco- Roman Olympian in Beijing, returned to Minnesota to wrestle for the Gophers after spending time as a resident-athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Deitchler was looking for Greco-Roman training partners and Schlatter agreed to train with him. Still, Schlatter had no plans to compete again.
18 USA Wrestler
C.P. Schlatter (left) battles Glenn Garrison in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Sunkist Kids International Open. Larry Slater photo.
Later that year, Schlatter’s younger
brother, Dustin, made the U.S. World Team in freestyle before his senior sea- son of college wrestling at Minnesota. The older Schlatter traveled to Herning, Denmark to cheer on his younger brother and help out in any way he could. “I was just happy to be going and help- ing him out,” said Schlatter. “It was a great feeling to have when your brother does so well.”
Schlatter continued training with Deitchler and other top Minnesota Greco- Roman wrestlers in workouts led by Brandon Paulson and Dan Chandler, two Minnesota Greco-Roman icons. Wrestling Greco-Roman was much easier on Schlatter’s surgically-repaired knees than wrestling folkstyle or freestyle where you have to sprawl and defend leg attacks. Paulson, a World and Olympic
silver medalist in Greco-Roman, was impressed with what he saw from Schlatter.
“He had an immediate feel for Greco,” said Paulson, who won the U.S. Open three times. “I told him that he could be an Olympic champion, but that he has to love wrestling, love working out, and need it. He came back to me in July and said he was ready to train. So we sat down and went through what he needs to do.”
Schlatter does much of his Greco- Roman training at a prominent wrestling school in Minnesota called PINnacle, run by Paulson and Jared Lawrence, a 2002 NCAA champion and four-time All- American for the University of Minnesota. He’s on the mat three or four days a week and does lifting and conditioning on Continued on page 19
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