FEATURE: 'Trashman' looking to collect as wrestling's Ragland returns from year off to qualify for first NCAA National Championships

A year removed from his last match as an Averett University wrestler, Trent Ragland found himself wondering, “What if?” from the stands of Roanoke’s Berglund Center as three Cougars and many of his peers were among those competing at the 2023 NCAA Division III National Championships. 

In his three seasons at Averett, Ragland fell short of becoming a national qualifier despite all the accolades and hype for a guy who began his career at Division I Virginia Tech before transferring to Averett.

“I was kind of iffy and on the fence, but getting to go there and be in that atmosphere and seeing some of the former guys that I’ve wrestled against like Rayshawn Dixon from Ferrum College or Brandon Williams from Greensboro College, it kind of hit me,” Ragland recalled. “‘Dang, I still have eligibility left. I could be out there with those guys competing alongside them and trying to chase down these dreams and get it done as opposed to being up here in the stands.’”

That set the motions in place for Ragland to use the eligibility that he still had to return to Averett for spring semester and look to fulfill that void on his resume. 

“When you see other people accomplish what you feel you should be accomplishing and you still have some years left on the board, you want to cash those in because you feel like someone else is taking your dream,” Averett head coach Blake Roulo said.

Even when Ragland hung up his headgear initially after the 2021-22 season after he graduated with is bachelor’s degree, there was a “twinge of regret” in his mind.

“The main reason I walked away because of family,” he explained. “I’ve got two younger brothers, so it was like ‘Let’s get through school in four years and then figure out what I’m going to do for a career.’ But there was just something about getting to wrestle here at Averett under Blake with a lot of those guys over the years. I missed it a lot more than I thought I would after I left. It didn’t feel right to leave all that opportunity there.”

When Ragland did return to the program this spring, it wasn’t easy for the heavyweight from Quinton, Virginia. No matter how talented a wrestler is, they can’t just walk through the door after nearly two years off and be the same dominant force he was in past seasons. Out of the gate, he went 4-3 in his first seven matches of the season.

“This season was definitely different, especially coming in for just the second half right at the beginning of January,” Ragland said. “There were a lot of ups and downs, especially at the beginning with trying to knock the rust off a little bit. There were definitely times where I questioned if coming back was the right move or not. I think that was just the sport. Everybody goes through those mental battles.”

Yet, like riding a bike, it all began to come back to Ragland as he progressed through the season. 

While earning regional and national rankings, Ragland won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference title at 285 to give him momentum entering the NCAA Southeast Region Championships, where he worked his way to the semifinals for a matchup against Delaware Valley University’s Logan Flynn, who was ranked No. 3 in the region. A win over Flynn would guarantee Ragland a trip to nationals. It could have been a lot of pressure for Ragland considering his past letdowns where he fell short of getting to nationals.

“Getting to the regional tournament and having that confidence that I’m going to get this done but I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself like in years past where it was do or die and I had to get it done,” Ragland stated. “In talking with Blake, he really helped me with that in taking it one match at a time and it’s just a wrestling tournament. It is what it is no matter what happens at the end of the day. I think hearing that and believing in that really helped me. There was no pressure and it was just a wrestling tournament, and I’ve done hundreds of those over the course of my career.”

It worked out for Ragland in the moment as he came through with a 12-4 major decision in the semifinals to punch his ticket.

“I specifically remember after the semifinals at regionals and coming off that mat,” Ragland recalled. “Blake asked me straight up, ‘Are you happy you came back?’”

Roulo couldn’t have been happier for Ragland.

“He needed that,” Roulo said. “He needed that just for himself to validate his own career. He comes from a historically great program, he comes from a historically great club program and he was a heck of a recruit coming out of high school. He originally wrestled at Virginia Tech, which is a top-10 program most years. Him coming here and having not qualified for nationals, it makes people wonder what’s going on. Him finally doing that was special, and the way he did it. … It was pretty dominant.”

Although Ragland lost a heart-breaker to his nemesis Dixon from Ferrum in the region finals, he had accomplished what he set out to do this season. Strangely enough, even if it hadn’t worked out, Ragland would have still been satisfied with his decision to give it one more go.

“Even if I hadn’t qualified for nationals, I think I still would have been happy that I came back,” he said. “I did miss it, as weird as that is, from time to time. I missed this team, this atmosphere and everything about Averett wrestling.”

Early in his career at Averett, Ragland earned the nickname, “The Trashman” from Roulo. It all started when former assistant coach Patrick Davis, who coached the heavyweights, would say, “All right big boys, break it down” at the end of practice.

“All of is just really liked that ‘big boy breakdown,’ so we started calling ourselves ‘BBB’ and then we thought it would be funny if each one of us had a big persona kind of like WWE,” Ragland said. “I ended up becoming ‘Big Filth’ mainly because we thought it was funny. From there, Blake turned it into ‘The Trashman’ and honestly, I kind of liked it. ‘All right Trashman, go take out the trash and be done for the day.’ I bought into it and I like it. It calms me down somewhat. When I hear that, I know that my teammates are behind me.”

“The Trashman” will make his final round in the 2024 NCAA Division III National Championships March 15-16 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he’s excited to compete this year instead of watching from the stands.

“As good as it feels to be a national qualifier, it would be a heck of a lot better to get myself on that podium,” Ragland admitted.