2026 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 20, 2026

Isaac Trumble

Rocket Arena

NC State

Semifinals Media Conference

Isaac Trumble (NC State) d. Taye Ghadiali (Michigan), 4-1

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the 2026 NCAA Division I wrestling championships press conference. We have tonight with us Isaac Trumble from NC State.

Isaac, I was wondering if you could reflect on the past couple days, the match tonight, and then competing for a championship tomorrow.

ISAAC TRUMBLE: I'll start with -- I'll actually go back to a year from today. A year ago today, I tore my ACL in the first match of the day against Wyatt, wrestled back with a torn ACL and bummed up knee, got fourth, and got surgery as soon as I got back to Raleigh, so I could walk down the aisle at my wedding.

I wouldn't be able to be where I am right now without my coaches and my athletic trainer really pushing me in the weight room and the trainer giving me the PT I need every day, making sure I'm in there even when I don't want to be. When I want to be on my honeymoon, they make sure they're sending me workouts, make sure I'm getting better, ready for this time right now.

Drove in on the sleeper bus. Fun time with the team. It's always a good time on the bus. Got ready to wrestle.

Got a good seed. Put myself in a good spot getting a good seed coming into the tournament. Wrestled two tough matches against a good kid, and then semifinals, wrestled the kid before when he was at Campbell. It was another tight match. Tonight I just knew I needed to stick to what I was good at.

I talked to my coach just right before I came up here, I said back when I was not very good in my freshman year here, one thing I was good at was baseline defense. That's what the match came down to, baseline defense, getting the takedown when I needed it.

Q. Isaac, can you just walk us through that crazy scramble and takedown in the last seconds of the match to what you were thinking.

ISAAC TRUMBLE: First thought that came to my mind was don't give up the takedown when I was in that bad position and continue to wrestle through it. I watched a lot of little guys on our team wrestle in tournaments, and I see them do all the dive rolls and funk rolls, and honestly I'm not a big fan of it, but I know I didn't roll there. I wasn't in the best position. I was giving up danger calls.

Then I kind of bailed at the last minute thinking I was going to give up the takedown. He was a little tired there in the third period, and he didn't recover the way I thought he would. It put me in good position to put my hips back down and start chasing the corner when I needed to.

I haven't gone back and watched it yet. I know it's probably not went on in my head. It's probably a lot different. So I am excited to go back and look at how it went.

Q. In these tight moments, these high-intensity moments, what kind of feedback are you getting from the coaches corner?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: I know, when they challenged that call, I don't know if it was us or them that challenged that call, but I looked over in my corner, and they were all fired up. They told me to be ready to go into overtime. If it came down to that, they said get my mind right and get ready to go to overtime if you need to.

My coaches were just putting good thoughts in my head. I know I had a takedown. Whether they were going to give it to me or not, I was ready to go into overtime if it came down to that point.

Q. When you do go back and watch it, that was some of the best wrestling of the whole session. That was just incredible to watch as a spectator, that scramble at the end. For you, can you just talk about the composure it takes in the biggest moments as you're navigating this tournament, how you find yourself in the finals, how you end up tomorrow night you're shooting for a national title. How do you do that?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: I don't know. I don't think I've ever really wrestled at 10:30, 11:00 at night. I've never really done that. My coach knows this, normally I go to bed at 8:00. Early going to bed, early riser.

So I went back to the hotel, ate some dinner, took a nap. When I got back here, I warmed up, got ready for the match. I realized there was still an hour and a half until I had to wrestle.

We had a massage therapist come with us. I laid down on his table, took about an hour long nap, then woke up and got ready to go. I've kind of found like a peace in just being relaxed before my matches rather than getting all fired up. I don't really listen to music before my matches. I've got one song I listen to on repeat when I warm up. Other than that, I turn it off, and it's just stuck in my head the rest of the night.

I just kind of keep that flowing through me at all times, and it kind of brings good energy into the room, and it makes my mind feel ready to wrestle when I step out on the mat.

Q. What's the song?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: Coaches know it, and my teammates absolutely hate it. It's the 50 Cent/Bee Gees remix. It's kind of terrible. I love it. I put it on repeat when we practice, and it really gets the guys fired up in a bad way, but I think it's good to put a little adversity in them.

I've just learned to love it. It just makes me feel good when I get out there ready to wrestle.

Q. What kind of numbers are we talking here? How many times does this replay?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: The whole practice. It's an hour-long practice, two-hour practice, I'll put it on repeat. About the third time it plays, it breaks guys. I've just grown to be numb to it, but when I'm warming up, it really gets me going, and I know it probably pisses the guys off around me.

Q. Is it the walk-out song tomorrow?

ISAAC TRUMBLE: It is not. I'm doing a John Cena walk-out song. I'm a big WWE fan. It's not on Spotify. It's on SoundCloud. So I didn't think they'd have it. Otherwise, I would.