How former Hempfield wrestler Jarod Verkleeren found success at Penn State in spite of Type 1 diabetes

Penn State wrestler Jarod Verkleeren won’t motion to the crowd to make noise. He doesn’t flex after a victory. And you won’t often find him yelling into the stands — all for good reason.

The 149-pound wrestler was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 4.

If Verkleeren gets too excited, if that adrenaline starts flowing, his blood sugar will actually spike — which could make him tired, give him blurry eyesight or cause numbness in his feet. (To make matters more complicated, moderate exercise causes blood sugar to drop, which leads to fatigue and affects eyesight.) So, if he doesn’t control his emotions, he will suffer. Physically.

“That’s a challenge going into matches at times,” Verkleeren said Tuesday in the hallway of Lorenzo Wrestling Complex, “but everyone has different adversity. Everyone has it. It’s just how you deal with it and adapt to what you need to do.”

So far, Verkleeren has dealt with it as adeptly as could be hoped. He has wrestled to a 12-2 overall record this season for the No. 2 Nittany Lions, while chalking up a 3-2 dual record and gaining more confidence as this season has worn on.

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson acknowledged he wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Verkleeren and his Type 1 diabetes, which — according to the American Diabetes Association — impacts about 1.25 million Americans. To Sanderson’s knowledge, he has never coached another diabetic wrestler — at least one who requires insulin shots as often as Verkleeren.

“There just haven’t really been any studies or samples to learn from,” Sanderson said, pointing out the rarity of wrestling with diabetes. “So we’ve tried to figure things out as we go.”

Former Nebraska wrestler Travis Pascoe, a four-time NCAA qualifier until 2005, was a Type 1 diabetic, but those instances aren’t often heard of at the Division I level. Wrestling is an especially tricky sport to prepare for with diabetes, so participants are few since weight management and diet are such important elements to success.

“Obviously, it makes it more difficult cutting weight and doing that,” Verkleeren said. “So just doing the right things, eating the right food, giving the right insulin, not letting adrenaline right before matches spike my blood sugar. … I think I’m doing better with it.”

Verkleeren has been open about his fight with diabetes for years. In January 2016, after winning the Escape the Rock tournament in high school, he told FloWrestling just how “super hard” it was to succeed with the auto-immune disease, where his pancreas no longer produces insulin.

“I can train hard all week and have a good practice all day,” he told FloWrestling, “but the day of the tournament, if my numbers are messed up, it’s going to affect my wrestling.”

Teammate Vincenzo Joseph, a two-time national champion, grew up going to a lot of the same tournaments as Verkleeren. Both wrestlers are from Western Pennsylvania, after all, and are just two years apart.

Every now and then, Joseph said, teammates can tell when his blood sugar is a little high or a little low. But Verkleeren has never complained and has never used diabetes as an excuse.

“Jarod’s a really tough guy,” said Joseph, a Central Catholic graduate. “He has to deal a lot with that, and it just shows you how tough he is, dealing with the grind of a college wrestling season in the Big Ten and dealing with diabetes. So hats off to him for that.”

Verkleeren has a long fight ahead, on and off the mat. Routine is important, as are constant blood-sugar checks. According to one academic paper, which polled four college wrestlers with Type 1 diabetes, it wasn’t uncommon for those student-athletes to test their blood sugar as many as 25 times on competition day.

But, despite the extra care required, Verkleeren isn’t about to call it quits. He will still perform jumping jacks before his bout, working up a quick sweat, and he will just try to live in the moment. He can’t afford to approach it any other way.

“I just try to stay in my head and be present in the match,” Verkleeren said. “Adrenaline spikes my blood sugar, and that’s going to cause a lot of fatigue to my body, and I wouldn’t be wrestling the same as I was. So controlling that is important to me.”

Added Sanderson: “We believe, and I think Jarod believes, that if you’re focused and you’re disciplined enough and you believe in yourself and you’re willing to pay the price, you can do anything. And we have high hopes for him.”