Submitted photo – Former Fortuna Husky Levi Nyberg will wrestle for the new men’s team at Cal Poly Humboldt this winter.

By Ray Hamill — After helping to lead College of the Redwoods football back to relevance over the past two seasons, former Fortuna Husky Levi Nyberg is now hoping to replicate that with Cal Poly Humboldt wrestling.

The 2021 Fortuna High graduate, who was a three-sport standout for the Huskies, spent the past two seasons playing football for head coach Jason White after the Corsairs brought the program back in 2022.

And he enjoyed immediate success with the team, which posted back-to-back winning seasons and clinched the program’s first bowl game victory in 30 years last December.

Now he’s joining the new CPH men’s wrestling team, with the program returning to the mats for the first time since the early 1990s this coming winter.

And Nyberg is excited about the challenge ahead and looking forward to playing a role in bringing another traditional local powerhouse program back, especially after his experience at CR.

“I’ve been out of wrestling for three years, so I was pretty surprised to get such a receptive response (from the CPH coaches),” he said. “It will be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I’m pretty excited about it.

“I was super happy to be a part of that CR football program, and now I get to be a part of the new Cal Poly Humboldt wrestling program. Things have worked out for me.”

Nyberg admits he considered wrestling at CR for one year but opted instead to try to join the Lumberjacks after his close friend and former Huskies teammate Micaiah Montalbin recently committed to the program.

“What got me thinking about it was Micaiah told me he was going to wrestle there,” he said.

He also admits he missed competing on the mats, something he had been doing for 12 years before graduating high school.

That three-year break, however, helped reignite his passion and love for the sport.

“I was kind of burned out on wrestling (after high school),” he said. “I had been wrestling for 12 years at that point, and I think I had always enjoyed football more. 

“But it was good that I took a break from wrestling. I stepped back and looked at it from a different perspective and I think that break will help me.

“I’ve been reminiscing and I definitely missed it, and I think if I commit myself to it I can be relatively successful.”

With a newfound hunger for the sport, Nyberg has been busy this summer getting back into wrestling shape and working out with his longtime friend.

“Me and Micaiah have been working all summer lifting weight together and really trying to get our bodies ready for the season,” he said. “And really trying to get my timing back, get my speed back and just get back into wrestling.”

So far, college life has been a great experience for Nyberg and he says he thoroughly enjoyed his time playing football at CR and being around his teammates there.

“It was great,” he said. “It was more than I could have hoped for. The coaches are amazing and I learned a lot there. It was one of the best sports teams I’ve ever been involved with. I had so much fun. Honestly it was a blast.

“It was really good to be a part of that revival and now I kind of get to have the same experience with wrestling at Cal Poly Humboldt.”

The multi-talented Nyberg also competed in track and field in high school and earned a couple of white stars in the sport, but he admits that wrestling and football have always been his favorites

He began wrestling at 6 — on his sixth birthday — and football at age 8.

“They’ve been a big part of my life growing up,” he said. “I feel like they’re two different worlds really. I love football. It’s super fun and a blast to be out there, and you get that camaraderie.

“Wrestling is a ton of fun too, and it’s super rewarding. The amount of work and perseverance you have to go through makes it one of the most rewarding things you can do.”

Nyberg enjoyed tremendous success in both sports during his time at Fortuna.

As a freshman wrestler, he competed well above his weight in the 170-pound division, making it to a league final and advancing to the NCS where he won two of four matches at the prestigious tournament.

He would continue that success as a sophomore, when he placed seventh in the NCS.

In his junior year, however, he faced adversity on the mats for the first time after breaking his collar bone just before the season began.

He would make a big comeback late in the season, winning a league title after just a few weeks on the mats and placing fifth at the NCS championships, before his senior season was cut short because of COVID.

Nyberg also acknowledges that he has benefitted from outstanding coaching at just about every step of his journey.

In addition to White and his staff at CR and their influence, Nyberg’s high school coach Steven Stockdale also has had a big influence on his development and his love for wrestling.

“Stockdale, of course, has been a huge, huge for me in wrestling,” he said. “He’s been the main influence for me on how I wrestle. He’s supported me, he’s helped me process things and he’s guided me through times when it looked tough and when you think you can’t do it.

“Stockdale’s been a huge part of developing a strong wrestling culture in Fortuna.”

Nyberg also paid tribute to his youth coaches Al Medeiros and Nick McKnight, as well as Fortuna speed and conditioning coach Jay Register.

“Jay Register really developed my athleticism, my explosiveness, quickness, speed, acceleration,” he said. “He was a huge, huge part in my development. He’s been very influential for tons of athletes in Fortuna.”

Nyberg will continue to receive some quality coaching at Cal Poly Humboldt from head coach Lennie Zalesky and his brother and assistant coach Jim Zalesky.

“I’m just going to try and be a sponge and absorb as much as I can,” he said. “I’m going to learn just tons of stuff from those guys. And that’s my goal, to learn as much as possible and do my best.”

Nyberg wants to major in History.

“I intend to get my teaching credential and I think I want to coach,” he said.