Athlete of the Week - Gavin Gust, Dover-Eyota Wrestling

EYOTA, Minn. (KTTC) – 174 wins.

“I’ve looked at that record, and I’ve been like oh you know it’d be cool to get the record,” Gavin Gust said.

It’s a record that’s stood for a little over two decades at Dover-Eyota.

That is until Gavin Gust broke it with 175 wins.

“Filled with excitement. Went and shook the guy’s hand and I look up and everyone’s cheering, and lot of people were on their feet, so it was pretty cool to see that,” Gust said.

Head Coach Brian Lehnertz couldn’t believe it. As he saw Owen Elzen a D1 All-American set the record way back when.

“I was in high school with the kid so now to get into coaching all these years later and to have one of my athletes break this record that I didn’t think anybody would break its you can’t even put it into words,” Dover-Eyota Head Coach Brian Lehnertz said.

In some ways his career has been building towards this staring with winning his first varsity tournament as a seventh grader.

“He’s kind of got this moxy on the mat. He goes out there and wrestles no matter who it’s against and he’s got in his mind that he’s going to win every match that he wrestles,” Aaron Gust, Gavin’s Dad and Coach said.

It’s that moxy along with hard work.

“Sixth grade he was in the weight room lifting weights we never once had to wake him up, to get him up in the morning to get in the weight room at 6:30 in the morning,” Aaron Gust said.

“He trains seven days a week. So, this kid did not get it by his good looks, he earned this. He earned this,” Lehnertz said.

Gust hopes that will be his legacy left behind for younger kids at Dover-Eyota.

“Show them how hard I work so they can follow that,” Gavin Gust said.

“He’ll definitely be thought of as probably one of the best wrestlers to come out of Dover-Eyota’s program,” Aaron Gust said.

Now he’s just looking to add to it an already illustrious career.

“State champ, two-time state champ that’s the final goal,” Gavin Gust said.

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