Jade and Val Rauser both signed scholarships with the Wolverines after having an incredibly impressive high school wrestling career.
Jade Rauser (125 lbs) was number-one throughout high school, literally. He went 175-0, never losing a match and was a four-time National Champ.
Val Rauser, (133) wasn’t too far behind his brother. He finished 155-0 and was a three-time State champ and runner-up.
Bringing the Rauser brothers to Utah Valley was the best decision for the team as the wrestling program was starting to progress.
“When we signed the Rausers, we were quite pleased because we knew they had a lot of potential,” said Head Coach Greg Williams. “With our program progressing, those are the kind of signings we needed to have, and they haven’t let us down.”
With an immense amount of respect for the Rauser brothers, Williams continues to have confidence in them as they keep training and working hard to do what they can for UVU.
“They are hardworking young men and they’ve continued to progress,” Williams said. “After their redshirt year, they’ve stepped on and are performing at the level we’ve expected they would. There’s no let down; they work hard all the time, and there’s still plenty of things to work on to get them where they want to go.”
Not only does their talent radiate from the mat to the stands, but their love and respect for each other radiates over any match won or lost. Sleeping in the same room their whole lives and never leaving each other’s sides, the Rauser’s have never been separated.
“Me and Jade are pretty much best friends,” V. Rauser said. “Whether we know it or not, there may be times Jade makes me mad or not like him very much, but I’ll always be there for him and I’ll always love him.”
With as much time as these twins spend together, the Rauser’s never split apart. Rather than wrestling out their frustration, they use each other as support to wrestle out a win.
“The only time we’ll only wrestle against each other is in practice, which is a big motivator, brother against brother, so there’s a lot of good competition,” J. Rauser said.
Jade was recently named the Co-Western Wrestling Conference Wrestler of the Week after an outstanding defeat against Arizona State. He leads UVU with an overall 17-5 record.
Season continues to headway for the Rauser twins as they train harder, while staying healthy, to make it to their main goal, Nationals. With the love and support from their teammates, coaches and each other, they’ll be heating up the mat with more jaw-dropping performances.
“More importantly than what they’re doing on the mat, they’re just quality young men and just great character and respectful to everybody, very humble, very unassuming and yet they’ve had a lot of success which is very impressive,” Williams said.
Rachel Anderson, assistant sports editor
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