Tapia heads east to wrestle at George Mason
Dominant Capital athlete weighed offers after Boise State cut program
The second time around was much simpler for Jose Tapia.
The decorated wrestler at Capital went through the recruiting process again after his original collegiate choice, Boise State, disbanded its wrestling program a week after he signed to compete for the Broncos. On Monday, Tapia signed with yet another Division I program, but he will be heading to the East Coast as he signed to wrestle for George Mason.
The Fairfax, Va., school was not a part of the initial list of schools interested in a five-time state champion and a twotime national All-American like Tapia, who opted to attend Boise State on April 11. However, when the university cut the wrestling program just a week later, it re-opened Tapia’s recruiting, and the Patriots jumped into the mix quickly.
“They called me the day after [the Boise State announcement], and I wasn’t sure at first because I had a lot of other offers,” Tapia said. “But they flew me out there and I took a visit, and I really liked the coaches and the people in general. It was just a good fit for me.’
Tapia said Embry Riddle, an NAIA school in Phoenix; Northern Idaho College, a junior college; Purdue and Ohio State were on his short list. However, he indicated
Purdue could only offer him a walk-on spot with a chance to earn a scholarship for the 2018-19 school year. George Mason is a member of the Eastern Wrestling League, which comprises of mostly Northeastern colleges and universities that are a part of conferences that do not sponsor wrestling as a sanctioned sport.
In the end, George Mason offered Tapia even more than what he got from Boise State.
“They are covering my tuition and a little bit more,” Tapia said. “That’s on top of my Pell grant that I got and the [other] scholarships. Depending on my family, I can apply for the Mason Grant, where I can get money from the school itself. It depends on my family’s financial situation, but I think I can get a little bit of money from that, too.”
It’s a welcome relief for one of the state’s most accomplished wrestlers, who went 166-4 but never lost on the mat. He lost two matches as an eighth-grader to forfeiture and two more his senior year when he failed to make weight for a tournament.
George Mason is in familiar territory for Tapia, as it’s just three hours away from Virginia Beach, Va. — the home of the National High School Coaches Association National Wrestling Championships, which he won as a freshman and sophomore.
Tapia said the campus’ close proximity to Washington, D.C., was appealing to him, as well as wide range of students who attend the campus. He pointed to its campus in South Korea and a student body that represents more than 130 countries a an example of the diverse population he will attend.
“You meet people from all different kinds of backgrounds, and that’s what I like,” Tapia said. “I love meeting people, not just from all over the United States, but from other countries.”