Hard work is a characteristic of a good athlete. 

Josh Gerke, Xavier High School 2017 graduate and senior at Coe College displays this work ethic. Gerke did not win a state championship in high school, but went on to wrestle at Coe College and won a national championship his senior year. He started his wrestling career with the future Saints at age seven and went on to be Xavier’s first two-time MVC champion, set a school record for falls in a season, was a multiple-time state medalist and obtained more than 150 wins.

“It felt incredible to win a national championship. I was never a state champion in high school and I continued on to college because I knew I was capable of being the best. It is a huge weight off my shoulders knowing all the hard work and sacrifices weren’t for nothing,” Gerke said.   

Xavier Head Coach Ryan Chambers has nothing but good things to say about Gerke. 

“Josh was the most dominant and natural pinner I have coached,” Chambers said. “Josh is currently second on the Xavier All Time career wins list with 158 wins and the thing that separates Josh from others is that out of those 158 wins he had 101 pins.” 

Gerke credits Xavier for much of his success.

“When I was at Xavier, we did a lot of ‘live’ wrestling, which helped because we do the same at Coe, so I was not shocked about the amount of endurance I needed in college,” Gerke said. “The similarities about the Xavier and Coe programs is that both are not very fancy with the technique we learn but rather they both focus on physicality and scoring points.”

While Gerke’s commitment to wrestling culminated in winning a national championship, his athleticism during his time at Xavier was demonstrated in multiple sports.

“I think Josh is an example of what Xavier wrestling represents. Hard work and dedication will pay off in the end. This not only applies to wrestling but more importantly in life and in school. Josh not only was a great wrestler, but an all state football player and a runner up on a 4×400 track relay team. He was special in everything he did,” Chambers said. 

There are members of the Xavier wrestling program now that looked up to Gerke when they were younger, even though they did not go to high school together.

“I looked up to Josh because he was having a lot of success in wrestling throughout his youth. We both went to the same wrestling club,” senior Ivan Thomas said. “We were on the same dual team, just different ages, so I grew up watching some of his matches knowing that he was eventually going to Xavier too. I also watched him throughout his high school career.”

Gerke has learned some valuable lessons throughout his wrestling career and wants all Xavier wrestlers to know to never give up and always work hard.

“Do not be afraid to buy completely into the program and who you want to be early on,” Gerke said. “If you are taking shortcuts or doing things you aren’t supposed to be doing, it’s going to affect who you want to be on and off the mat. The last thing you want is to look back 10 years from now and regret not giving it your all because it does go a lot faster than you think.”

Wherever life takes Gerke, he will have the mindset that he has to be the one to achieve his goals, no one will hand them to him. This aspect in life has brought him far on and off the mat. According to the Xavier wrestling program and Chambers, Gerke is a great representation of who a Xavier Saint should be. Gerke is graduating from Coe College in May this year and is planning on working at TrueNorth and possibly look into coaching.