‘I’m just chasing titles’: One year after season-ending surgery, Gonzaga Prep’s Noah Holman is back on the mat

Noah Holman still remembers the hit and subsequent awkward fall during that ‘normal’ Gonzaga Prep football practice 15 months ago. The pain that shot through his left wrist, followed by the relief that he didn’t hear or feel a crack.

Holman, then a sophomore standout on both the Bullpups’ football and wrestling teams, finished the football season and went through the first few months of that wrestling season before realizing the pain wasn’t going away.

“Finally, after two months of wrestling, I realized that if this was a sprain it should be feeling better by now,” Holman said. “But it was getting worse, so we got it looked at and that’s when we found out I had broken a bone in my wrist.”

And just like that, Holman’s athletic adventures were put on hold – and for quite a bit longer than expected.

“Being injured for a week is easier, because you can see a way to get back on the field,” longtime Gonzaga Prep wrestling coach Danny Pearson said. “Everything was in the doctor’s hands after the surgery last January and the hope was he would be back by summer football.

“But something in the surgery just didn’t hold right and he needed another surgery in October meaning he had to miss the entire football season this fall.”

As hard as it was for Holman to stay on the sidelines, the extra time and effort to rehab the wrist meant he was cleared for action just a week before the start of the wrestling season.

Now a junior, Holman is focused on getting back to the wrestler he was as a freshman – when he took third place at state.

That finish was supposed to be the start of great things for Holman and the Bullpups’ wrestling program. Until both hit speed bumps.

“At that point (Holman) was coming into a program that had some accomplished kids and he was going to be the next piece to help us win a state title,” Pearson said. “But sometimes life gives you lemons and Noah has been the one to turn it into lemonade.”

Gonzaga Prep was ascending to the level of a state-trophy contender after Mat Classic in 2022, with Holman and then-sophomore Josh Neiwert – who finished second in his weight class – near the top of the podium. The blows came with Holman’s injury and Neiwert transferring to Mead – where he won a State 3A title with the Panthers last season.

That move came on the heels of standout Q’veli Quintanilla’s transfer from G-Prep to University after winning a state title as a freshman in 2020 with the Bullpups. Quintanilla won two more titles with the Titans in his junior and senior seasons.

But Holman said he has no interest in becoming the next in line to leave a G-Prep program that is coming off an 1-8 Greater Spokane League finish last season.

“It’s about legacy building for me here at Prep,” Holman said. “Sure, I can go win a title somewhere else on my own, but I want to build something here that will last both with me and after me. I want to show that Gonzaga Prep can make champion wrestlers and will continue to make them.”

Even though Holman admits he’s still not at 100%, he’s making strides through physical therapy to get his strength and mobility back to a championship-caliber level with Mat Classic less than a month away in Tacoma.

He’s also pushed himself on the mat by facing the toughest competition. Prior to his injury, Holman was invited to the Walsh Ironman in Ohio – one of the most prestigious prep invitationals in the country – and Tri-State in Coeur d’Alene. Although he didn’t place in either event, he gained experience by wrestling against the best.

“I can work as much as I want in the room, but testing my mettle against other great wrestlers is huge for me,” Holman said. “Right now, I am just focused on perfecting my craft and getting my conditioning where it needs to be. I’m just chasing titles.”

This season, Holman has again not shied away from competition, wrestling again at Tri-State and earning second-place finishes at the Inland Empire Classic and Rollie Lane Invitational in Nampa, Idaho. He’s also the fourth-ranked wrestler in 4A at 157 pounds, according to Washington Wrestling Report.

“It would mean a lot to the program, but it would mean even more to Noah,” Pearson said of Holman winning a state title. “I have no doubt he would have won last year, but now his focus has to be on bouncing back from an injury and then achieving those goals.

“We tell our kids to trust the process. Our numbers have exploded this year, and having someone like Noah around not only this year but next year as well is nice because he’s one of the leaders really pulling the sled right now.”