Klarkowski looks to engineer a strong finish
Isaac Klarkowski has always set big goals for himself.
You might say that the Green Bay Southwest senior has been shooting for the stars in doing so.
“That’s what I hope to do,” Klarkowski said. “I want to be a rocket scientist. My goal is to work for NASA.”
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Klarkowski is a pretty accomplished student-athlete.
The two-sport standout maintains a 4.0 GPA and is the running to finish as class valedictorian.
Although he can’t wait to pursue his long-term goal at Rice University, Klarkowski is aiming to engineer a strong performance at the Kohl Center in Madison to be able to step on the state podium in his last outing on the wrestling mat.
Follow Preps Agenda on Facebook
“We always tell him that if he can figure out astrophysics, he can figure out wrestling,” Green Bay United wrestling coach Ken Arbour said.
Klarkowski (29-5) advanced to the WIAA individual state wrestling tournament for a second straight year at heavyweight by recording a pin over Pulaski’s Liam Fahey in a wrestleback match for the second qualifying spot from the Division 1 sectional at Appleton North.
It was a loaded sectional with Klarkowski, Fahey and Bay Port’s Max Meeuwsen all ranked by Wisconsin Wrestling Online in the top five throughout the season.
After not placing at state last year, Klarkowski is determined not to leave the Kohl Center empty handed this time.
“I’ve been training for it all year,” Klarkowski said. “I cut out all of the sweets in my diet. I haven’t eaten any donuts, candy, frosted things at all.”
Still, that’s not the reason the Green Bay Southwest senior’s stomach was rumbling early in the season.
The 6-foot-1, 275-pounder had to make a tough decision on where he wanted to attend college. The standout lineman had interest from several college football programs, including Ivy League schools.
The decision became a little more complicated when he was invited to the University of Wisconsin by wrestling coach Chris Bono.
As tempting as it was, Klarkowski opted to accept a preferred walk-on offer from Rice, which is located in Houston. He plans to major in mechanical engineering before pursuing a master’s degree in aerospace engineering.
“I was really torn for three days after that Wisconsin visit on whether to play football at Rice or wrestle at Wisconsin,” Klarkowski said. “It was to the point where I had stomach pains.
“On one of those days where I was all nervous I saw a (video) where the Princeton Review ranked Rice No. 1 or 2 in student happiness and quality of life. I was like, that puts the nail in the coffin.”
Klarkowski built a wall for the Southwest football team, allowing only 15 pressures in 1,013 snaps in his career. He was the only player in the Fox River Classic Conference last fall to earn first-team honors on both sides of the ball and received academic all-state honors from the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.
“We support him 100 percent with football,” Arbour said. “We know that’s his No. 1 sport. We love that he comes up here every day energetic. It was good watching him follow his dreams that way.”
Klarkowski, who has over 100 career wins in wrestling, would like to add a WIAA state medal to his long list of accomplishments before setting off for Texas to set his sights on some big goals.
“Just persistence and hard work,” Klarkowski said about what it will take to place at state. “Don’t make it more than it is. It’s just a wrestling match. We wrestle every day in practice. We go hard, and I just have to go hard down there.”
