BY JOSH McDERMOTT

Trevor Lofstedt is a Four-Time All-American, Athletics Scholarship Recipient, and Journalism Major

Weighing in at 133 pounds, Trevor Lofstedt may be a shrimp, but he has a big and courageous heart. His wide smile, soft voice, and slight frame make him one of the least intimidating guys in the room.

A prep state wrestling champion, Trevor came to SOU from Roseburg High School. He decided to become a Raider because of Wrestling Head Coach Mike Ritchey. “He’s a goof,” Trevor teases. “And compared to an NCAA Division I school, SOU is more relaxed and laidback.” Quickly making the transition to SOU, Lofstedt breezed through his first three years, earning All-American and Academic All-American status each season, his ultimate goal—a national championship—visibly within reach.

And then, in the blink of an eye—everything changed.

It was the summer of 2008, just months before the start of Trevor’s senior year, that he and his brother, Mitchell (who had also planned to join SOU that fall), got a call from their mother. “She was crying,” Trevor remembers. She was barely able to deliver the news: their father, Brent Lofstedt, was in the hospital.

Brent had been named the most valuable wrestler for the Raiders in 1983 when they won a national championship. He had recently gone into social work, working with homeless teens and other young people with difficulties. His ultimate goal was to become a counselor.

At work one day, Brent had begun to feel dizzy. Rushed to Mercy Hospital in Roseburg, he had suffered a stroke. After two weeks on life support, the Lofstedts prepared for the worst and said their goodbyes to Brent. Able to respond only with his eyes, the family asked him if that was how he wanted to live. Brent immediately lowered his eyes. “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” Trevor said, recalling how his brother bolted out of the hospital.

A few months later, the event of the summer still fresh in their minds, Trevor and Mitchell were back on the mats and planning to compete. For Trevor, the task proved more difficult this time around.

“At the beginning of the year,” he says, “I was just so tired from everything,” Trevor says, looking down. “It just wasn’t the same knowing my dad wasn’t going to be there to watch,” he adds. “It just didn’t seem worth it.”

With the season and his collegiate career in jeopardy, Trevor pulled it together. “I knew I had to get through it, 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 brothers stayed side-by-side 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. Though he lost the match, falling just short of a win, he exhibited the same courage he had shown consistently throughout the year and his entire career.

In what would become a remarkable year, Trevor earned another All-American award and his fourth Academic All-American award with a 3.43 grade point average.

Trevor plans to enter a master’s program at SOU after earning a degree in journalism. He will also serve as a graduate assistant under Coach Ritchey next year.

“That’s how it is for me,” he adds. “I value the chance to prove people wrong, to show them that I’m better than what they think I am. That’s the opportunity wrestling has given me.”

Josh McDermott is a senior member of the SOU Men’s Basketball Team, journalism major, and an intern at the Sports Information Office.

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