What a difference a year makes.
Eleven months ago, Jessika Rottier was competing for the Pulaski High School co-ed wrestling team. Now, she’s having a phenomenal first season with the University of the Cumberlands wrestling team.
The Little Suamico resident, who has a 15-2 record this season, is the No. 1-ranked female wrestler at 155 pounds in the country, according to the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association.
“I would say she’s probably the most under the radar superstar in girls wrestling,” University of the Cumberlands women’s wrestling coach Donald Stephens said. “We were pretty lucky to get her.”
Rottier didn’t become an overnight sensation. That took years of hard work and dedication.
As a sophomore at Pulaski in 2013, Rottier was told by an assistant wrestling coach she could become a great wrestler if she started competing nationwide. That year, she finished runner-up at the Cadet Nationals to qualify for the FILA Cadet Pan American Games in Colombia, where she won a silver medal. In 2014, she placed first in the Pan American Cadet Championships.
Also in 2014, Rottier finished second at 139 pounds in the USA Wrestling Junior Folkstyle Nationals. A year later, she downed the defending national champion at 159 to take home the title.
Rottier, a four-time Wisconsin women’s state freestyle champion, had hopes of advancing to the WIAA state tourney like her brother, Anthony, did in 2012 and her father, Andrew, did when he wrestled at Gillett High School.
Rottier was not able to accomplish that feat, but advanced to the WIAA sectionals as a freshman, finishing 26-13.
Collegiate success
Heading to college, Rottier was ready to make an instant impact. She decided on the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, which competes in the NAIA.
“I knew they weren’t like the best program, but I knew that with the kids we were bringing in, we could be the best,” Rottier said.
Rottier has helped Cumberlands rise to No. 4 nationally in the WCWA rankings and No. 2 in the NAIA.
It didn’t take long for Rottier to establish herself in college.
“It is surprising, but I’m not really that surprised,” said Stephens, who coached Rottier during the Pan-Am Games in 2013. “Her work ethic is off the chart, and she’s got this tenacity about her. She’s a fighter. If you’d ask her if she was a fighter, she’d tell you, ‘No. I’m afraid to fight.’ But this girl is super tough.”
Rottier, 18, has competed in six invitationals and duals in her brief career. At the Missouri Valley Open on Nov. 14, Rottier went 5-0.
“I personally think she might be one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in the college circuit right now,” Stephens said. “She has wins over Nos. 1, 2 and 3 at 143. She’s beaten the top five girls at 155. I have some of the top 170-pounders in my room and she beats those girls. She beats some of the top-ranked heavyweights. This girl’s potential is amazing.”
How dominant is Rottier right now?
“She has some struggles now and then,” Stephens said. “I’d love to see her out there blowing everybody out of the water, but I think it’s also important I see her out there getting the revenge matches.”
Rottier has been knocked off twice this season and has come back to avenge her losses on both occasions.
As the top-ranked wrestler in her weight class, Rottier has a bull’s-eye on her back every time she competes. At a recent dual, a team bumped up its No. 1-ranked wrestler at 143 pounds to face Rottier. No worries, Rottier took care of business to pull out the victory.
“Girls are coming after her, but we’re trying to get her to learn to relish that pressure,” Stephens said. “We want her to have that attitude that’s like, if you’re coming to get it, come get it, because I’ve got something for you.”
Rottier has never been concerned about rankings.
“To me, rankings, they’re not that big of a deal,” Rottier said. “It’s nice for the family back home to know, but when it really comes down to it, it’s one person putting numbers by names that other coaches approve. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Big goals on the horizon
With collegiate nationals in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Feb. 12 and 13, Rottier is working to bring home a national title.
Stephens thinks Rottier can win nationals and then make the Junior World Team in March. Rottier also has a shot to qualify for the Olympic trials and make the U.S. Olympic team in the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, he said.
Rottier is confident she knows what it will take to achieve her goal of making it to the Olympics.
“I need to keep working hard in the practice room,” Rottier said. “I have some of the top wrestlers in the nation in our practice room. I need to keep doing what I’m doing.”
If Rottier doesn’t make the 2016 Olympic team, she believes another four years down the line she should have another shot. But her mind is set for a run at as many Olympic Games as possible.
“I’m pretty determined,” Rottier said. “I think there’s a lot of skill there with the older women, but I think I’m building what it takes to win.”
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