Photo by Scott Pontoni
Senior SOU wrestler Trevor Lofstedt has seen the ups and downs of life and continues to cope with the rollercoaster ride.

Weighing in at 133 pounds, his wide smile and soft voice combined with a puny frame makes him one of the least intimidating guys in the room, Trevor Lofstedt is a shrimp with the heart of something much larger than that.

He arrived at Southern Oregon University a prep state wrestling champion, and put Roseburg High School behind him immediately making the transition to college life look simple.

Lofstedt’s decision to become a Raider was as easy as the 22-year-old is easy-going. He chose to make the short trip to Ashland because head coach Mike Ritchey “is a goof,” he teases, and, compared to a Division-I school, “it’s more of a relaxed and laid-back setting.”

Lofstedt breezed through his first three years, relaxing Ritchey more than anyone earning All-American and Academic All-American status each season, his ultimate goal – a national championship – still within reach.

And then, with the literal blinking of an eye – everything changes.

During the summer of 2008, just months before the start of Trevor’s senior year was set to begin, he and his brother, Mitchell, who had already committed to joining SOU as a freshman in the Fall of 2008, recieved a call from their mother on their way out to work.

As Trevor recalls, “she was crying,” barely able to deliver the news that Brent Lofstedt, Trevor’s father, was in the hospital.

Brent, named the most valuable wrestler for the Raiders in 1983 when they won a national championship, had recently gone into social work, striving to become counselor as he began working with homeless teens and other youngsters with issues.

While he was working with those youngsters one day, he began feeling dizzy and was rushed to the Mercy Hospital in Roseburg. Brent had suffered a stroke, and he was “in pretty bad shape,” as Trevor’s mother would tell him.

“It was a bad sight, because you really look up to your dad,” Trevor says. “He looked horrible, and it was tough because they said he might live, but I just had a feeling.

“It was like a rollercoaster,” he says.

After two weeks on life-support, the Lofstedt’s prepared for the worst and said their good-byes to Brent. He was finally responsive with his eyes, so they asked him if that was how he wanted to live. Brent immediately put his eyes down, and “it was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” Trevor says, remembering his brother bolting out of the hospital.

A few months later, the summer still fresh in their minds, Trevor and Mitchell are thrown back out on the mats and expected to compete, the task turning out to be a whole different animal this time around.

“At the beginning of the year I was just so – I don’t know – I was just so tired from everything,” Trevor says, looking down to pause for a moment. “I don’t know – it just wasn’t the same because I knew my dad wasn’t going to be there to watch.

“It just didn’t seem worth it,” he added.

With the season and his collegiate career sliding away, though, it happened for him.

“I knew I had to get through it; I had to keep going,” he says. “It helped knowing that Mitch was right there with me, and that we could be there for each other the whole way through.”

The two remained by each others sides, all the way to the NAIA National Championships where Trevor had one more shot to reach his ultimate goal. He advanced all the way to the final, “and I had total confidence I could win,” he says.

“The guy I was going against was just one of those athletes – you know, the kind of guy that is just better than everyone else,” Trevor says, “but I wasn’t scared of him at all.”

He went on to lose the match, falling just short, but showing guts as he did consistently through the year and his entire career.

Just another year, another All-American award, and a 3.43 grade point average to land on the academic All-American squad for the forth time and propel him into the Masters program at SOU after earning a degree in journalism.

He’ll also serve as a graduate assistant under Ritchey next year, although he’s not sure what he’ll study next year, “I’m not very good at journalism,” he added.

He has another dream, though, in the form of a rock band, Catalyst, which consists of him on vocals, his brother on guitar and a couple other buddies. The quartet has written 10 original songs to date.

“A lot of people probably think it’s crazy, but it is a dream,” Trevor says.

“That’s how it is in life for me,” he adds. “I just like opportunities where I can show I can be better than what people think and prove people wrong, and that’s the opportunity that wrestling gave me.”