'Risk' finally rewarded: UALR wrestler faces ex-team that wouldn’t clear him

UALR’s Triston Wills (right), shown competing against Arizona State on Jan. 2, underwent brain surgery after suffering an injury before his sophomore year of high school in Kansas. He returned to the mat six months later and eventually won two state championships before signing with Oklahoma State and then transferring to UALR.
(Photo courtesy of UALR)
UALR’s Triston Wills (right), shown competing against Arizona State on Jan. 2, underwent brain surgery after suffering an injury before his sophomore year of high school in Kansas. He returned to the mat six months later and eventually won two state championships before signing with Oklahoma State and then transferring to UALR. (Photo courtesy of UALR)

Before Triston Wills could commit his future to UALR and Coach Neil Erisman last spring, he first needed a promise.

The wrestler from Derby, Kan., had achieved his childhood dream of joining Oklahoma State's vaunted wrestling program. By the end of his freshman year, Wills was in the transfer portal. His wrestling career hung in the balance, and his next move likely would be his last.

The prospect of joining the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's newly established program felt right to Wills before he committed to OSU a few years before, and it felt comfortable again in 2020.

But he couldn't pick the Trojans until he had an assurance from Erisman. He had to know that this time wouldn't be like last time.

"I will lose my job before you don't wrestle here," Erisman promised Wills.

UALR hosts Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and No. 5 Oklahoma State today at the Jack Stephens Center, with the Trojans taking the mat at 2:30 p.m. In the second of the duals, Wills will get the opportunity to compete against his former program that never gave him a chance to wrestle after refusing to medically clear him.

"My biggest comebacks have always come after my losses. I've never been afraid to lose," Wills said. "Win, lose or draw, I'm going to give them the best match I've ever had."

Cowboy at heart

Oklahoma State was never far from Wills' life, geographically or in his heart.

Growing up 120 miles away from the school's campus, Cowboys gear lined the shelves at the local Wal-Mart. Classmates wore the black and orange around the halls of Derby High School. Wills' family had season tickets for the wrestling team and traveled often to Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.

He got an even better taste for OSU's wrestling program at the Cowboy Regional Training Center.

As one of the top youth wrestlers in the region, Wills qualified to attend the facility where he and other young wrestlers trained alongside the Cowboys. Twice a week, he made the nearly two-hour trip to work with some of the top wrestlers in the nation.

On the mats inside the center, Erisman -- a former OSU wrestler and assistant coach -- spotted Wills. It's also where he caught the eye of John Smith, the Cowboys five-time national championship winning head coach.

"Everyone gets to shake his hand after practice," Wills said. "And when you're in [Smith's] presence, it's pretty incredible to talk to him and have him acknowledge you as a wrestler."

Wills had low expectations when he visited OSU as a recruit, but Smith offered him a scholarship. A visit to UALR, the new program led by Erisman, was planned for the next weekend, but Wills' plans were set.

Life-altering fall

On June 16, 2016, in a summer match in Pennsylvania, Wills fell on his head just prior to his sophomore year of high school.

The knock left him with dull pressure in his head and a lingering whiplash in his neck. He passed concussion tests for balance and memory, but the assumption remained that he was suffering from a mild concussion.

The aches persisted, and Wills just didn't seem like himself at a Fourth of Julyt gathering. Two days later, he woke up sick and was taken to a doctor.

Scans revealed the symptoms were the result of a ruptured arachnoid cyst, a rare break that released Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) onto Wills' brain. The pressure in his head was explained.

The CSF had to be addressed through immediate brain surgery. Wills' parents consulted a surgeon at the hospital in Wichita, Kan., then another in Colorado before settling on pediatric surgeon Christian Kaufman in Kansas City, Mo. Kaufman broke the fluid up through a small incision in Wills' skull.

"The night of the surgery was the worst night of my life," Bronson Wills, Triston's father, said. "I believe it took years off my life. We didn't sleep. We just stood there and watched him the whole night."

Six months after the surgery, he returned to the mat, a family decision that went against the recommendation of Wills' surgeon but offered little future risk. Wills resumed his high school wrestling career and won state championships in 2018 and 2019.

The surgery seemed in the distant past until Wills arrived on campus in Stillwater in June 2019. Team physicians informed him during a routine screening that his previous injury was a problem, and OSU would not clear him to compete.

Wills was able to work out and practice in the summer, and he assumed the program would sort the issue out before his freshman season.

"From June to August, we didn't give it a whole lot of thought," Holly Wills, Triston's mother, said.

But on the first day of the fall season in 2019, Wills was preparing for practice No. 1 when he was pulled from the mat. He never wrestled in an official dual for the team.

Over the next six months, Wills tried to build a case for a mat return. He saw four different neurosurgeons; all four cleared him to compete. The family hired a lawyer to no avail. Not even Smith, OSU's legendary coach, could sway the program's medical staff.

In January 2020, OSU turned down a final appeal. Wills saw the door close on his dream.

"I wanted the scientific reason," Wills said. "The medical explanation. They just kept saying liability. To them, I wasn't worth the risk."

Promise made

Around the same time, five hours southeast in Little Rock, Erisman heard from friends at OSU that Wills was set to enter the transfer portal. On the first day NCAA rules permitted, Erisman was on the phone with him.

It was essential for both to ensure Wills would be cleared to wrestle if he chose UALR. Erisman took the medical information Wills sent to the Trojans' medical staff and explained the situation to them.

"This kid doesn't get another shot; he doesn't get another opportunity," Erisman recalled. "Saying things look fine right now won't suffice. I need you to send an email back saying you'll clear this kid based on the knowledge you have now."

The clearance arrived from the UALR team physicians. When Erisman called Wills, he uttered the line that secured Wills' signature.

"I will lose my job before you don't wrestle here."

On the mat

The emotions may return today, but Wills already has grappled with his OSU past.

The Trojans had a pair of duals inside OSU's Gallagher-Iba Arena last Sunday but didn't compete against the Cowboys. The trip still took Wills past his old apartment on campus, and all the places he used to visit when his wrestling career was on the ropes.

"It was hard to treat it like any other event, and it was kind of tough to be back," he said. "There was a bad taste in my mouth. I got cheated a bit there and it sucked."

He won twice in the arena he always envisioned competing in, topping Oregon State's Colton Beisley and Tennessee-Chattanooga's Hunter Fortner.

Wills is 3-1 this season and riding a three-match winning streak. UALR, in only its second season of existence, is 0-3.

Holly and Bronson Wills will be in attendance at the Jack Stephens Center today, and their son will wrestle in a singlet colored by UALR's maroon and silver. It's not the picture any of them envisioned when he arrived at OSU in 2019.

"He's found a home at Little Rock where he feels comfortable," Bronson Wills said. "He matters there. I think he's where he's supposed to be."

Triston Wills
Triston Wills

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