Senior Justin Marble is a senior for the Thunder wrestling team, competing in the 184-pound wieght class. He has second-place finishes at both the Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational and CCIW Championships this season. Below is a brief interview with the senior.
Q: Why did you choose to attend and wrestle at Wheaton?
A: I first heard of Wheaton College while attending a missions conference in Portland with one of my wrestling coaches after a tournament. I was starting to look at schools at that point and knew that I wanted to wrestle in college. The problem was that there weren’t many Christian schools that had wrestling teams. My coach mentioned that Wheaton was one of the few that did have a wrestling team, so I looked in to it. Wheaton ended up just making a lot of sense.
Q: What do you enjoy most about being a student at Wheaton?
A: The relationships that I have been blessed to make and maintain at Wheaton have been the most enjoyable aspect of being a student here. Whether it’s been on the wrestling team, in the dorms/apartments/houses, in class or in the community, I have really enjoyed interacting with people here. Being a student-athlete has been such a blessing as well. It has been great being able to pursue wrestling seriously while continuing to work hard in school.
Q: What is your major and what are your plans following graduation?
A: I am an Elementary Education major and will graduate with my Illinois teaching certificate. My plans are not set in stone yet, but I’m going to look for jobs here as well as at home in Oregon. I am also interested in working for a camp for troubled boys in North Carolina. I’ve got some time to decide and I certainly intend to use it!
Q: What was the experience like with your strong performance at home this winter at Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational?
A: It was a great experience. Obviously, it would have been nice to win in the finals, but you learn just as much from defeat as you do from victory. My parents were here from Oregon, and it was good for them to see it as that was their third time seeing me compete in college.
Q: What is your favorite Wheaton wrestling memory over the past four years?
A: My favorite memory has definitely during my sophomore year when Dan Weber was the coach. There were a lot of memorable events but the one that sticks out most is our trip to Ohio to see the Wheaton football team play in the semi-finals against Mt. Union. It was disappointing loss but a worthwhile trip with plenty of good times and laughs with the wrestling team.
Q: What have you learned and can you take from working with a former Olympian like coach Gruenwald?
A: Overall, Coach Gruenwald has helped me raise the quality of my wrestling on many different levels. He has really shown me that great wrestling is a combination of many different disciplines and that you must become a master in all of them to be a great wrestler. You can’t rely on any one or the other. But wrestling aside, Coach has taught all of us on the team that in the end, wrestling is a ministry just like anything else we do in this life and that if Jesus Christ is not at the center of it, it will be meaningless. You might even attain great success, but without Christ it means nothing. Victory is fleeting, that’s why we strive for a higher purpose in our wrestling: to serve Christ.
