Jayshon Wilson Makes the Most of His Return to the Mat
Remember the name Jayshon Wilson? District 3 Wrestling fans should as the former Carlisle stand-out was a 4x PIAA State Medalist and racked up a career total of (151-18). Wilson graduated from Carlisle in 2011 leaving with three District 3 Championships and four PIAA State Medals; 8th, 7th, 8th and 3rd. His senior season Jayshon finished a career high third at the PIAA State Tournament with his only defeat coming to eventual State Champion Brian Brill (Central Mountain) in the semifinals (5-2).
Despite being one of the top recruits in the Keystone State Jayshon decided it was best for him to serve his Country and join the Marines. “I joined the Marines right out of high school because I knew college just wasn’t for me.” Wilson also knew that he wanted to eventually join the All-Marine Wrestling Team.
Joining the Marines was an experience that Wilson will treasure for a lifetime summarizing his last five years as “awesome”. During his time with the Marines Jayshon traveled to seven different countries witnessing how multiple cultures lived and trained. In October 2014 Jayshon got married to his wife Jennifer and roughly 18 months ago he joined the All-Marine Wrestling Team after learning they were looking for new members. “I actually got to train with Captain Bryce Saddoris who is a 2x World Team Member in Greco”.
Joining the All-Marine Wrestling Team Jayshon not only returned to the Sport of Wrestling but had to get reacquainted with the Greco-Roman style. When asked about his experience in Greco, Wilson stated “I wrestled it once when I went to Fargo, I believe my sophomore or junior year of high school, so not to much experience”. Wilson stated that he is close with Chance Marsteller and that his brother Johnny is the one who got him interested in Greco-Roman. Since joining the All-Marine Wrestling Team in January 2015 Jayshon competed in the May 2015 University Greco-Roman Nationals in Akron, Ohio finishing in 7th place at 70 kg.
With another year of Greco training under his belt Wilson returned to Akron over the weekend looking for redemption. Competing at 75 kg/175 lbs. Jayshon wanted to prove to himself that his Greco skills have improved. And improve he did as Wilson took third only falling once to top seed Colin Schubert in the semifinals (5-2). Going (4-1) on the day all of Wilson’s victories came by way of tech-fall picking up a point total of (36-1).
Jayshon Wilson was satisfied with his performance stating “It felt good knowing that I am getting closer to how I wrestled in high school by that I mean, winning and winning”.
Up next for the Carlisle native is heading to Dortmund, Germany and Madrid, Spain next month to compete in the German Grand Prix on July 2-3 and Spanish Grand Prix on July 9-10. Wilson will look to showcase his Greco-Roman skills on the International stage in his first overseas competition.
While discussing joining the Armed Forces and continuing his wrestling career Jayshon wanted to make it a point that the two are compatible. Wilson stated “I would like to put out there for anyone who is undecided about the military, every branch, including the Marine Corps, has a wrestling team they can join. So joining the Military doesn’t end your wrestling hopes”.