Michael Pfeifer has been wrestling in Mexico for a long time.

Michael Pfeifer Signing Photo Gallery

The Missouri Military Academy cadet signed to wrestle for Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, in a ceremony on May 8 at Barnard Hall in MMA in Mexico. Pfeifer owns more than 75 career high school wins, according to head coach Levi Iman.

Pfeifer said he has wanted to wrestle in college but didn’t know until early spring that he would have a chance with Benedictine. 

“I have been wrestling for 10 years,” Pfeifer said. “This is the thing I’ve been training towards, and I expected I would have the chance but never knew for sure.”

Pfeifer said he visited multiple colleges but felt most comfortable at Benedictine. When he was offered a scholarship after meeting with the coaches face-to-face, the deal was sealed. He plans on studying chemical engineering and participating in ROTC.

“It was a nicer campus,” Pfeifer said. “The people were a lot nicer. It just felt a lot more welcoming.”

Pfeifer is the first college signee for Iman in his head coaching career. Iman remembers Pfeifer playing Mexico Optimist football 10 years ago and when he started on the mat around that time for Mexico youth wrestling and believes the college opportunity is “well-earned.”

Iman said Pfeifer’s development from then to high school is “a world of difference.” He said Pfeifer didn’t fully show his potential until his junior year at MMA because of injuries in his first two years, and he was well on his way from that point. 

“He went from a kid that was just out there rolling around and having fun on the mat to when he was taking it seriously,” Iman said. “You could really tell that he had some drive and wanted to get better. He had the potential and is reaping the rewards of it now.”

On the mat, Pfeifer improved most on his leg-riding technique, or the moments of a match when a wrestler slides a leg in when in a top position as if “riding a horse or sitting in a saddle,” Iman said.

“It’s something he always wanted to do, and really this year, he started working on the fundamentals of leg riding,” Iman said. “That helped him out a lot. He started to not just being able to go out and wrestle on the mat, but he was competing with a lot of the higher-end guys that we see.”

Pfeifer said he didn’t dedicate himself enough to the sport in youth league and middle school but was more focused in high school. He said had more face-to-face coaching in high school and then he started making big jumps in his wrestling skill.

“Coaches helped me motivate myself to be better in practice,” Pfeifer said. “That’s when I really discovered my full potential — in practices where I was working hard and doing well in early matches of the season.”

Pfeifer said he is thankful to the MMA wrestling coaching staff for helping him reach the next level and is aware he needs to rely on the knowledge of his new coaches to make another jump.

“College coaches are able to offer more and help me further my ability to wrestle way further,” Pfeifer said.