Jackson Hoover had many difficult days as a wrestling student-athlete at UIndy.
Some days, he had to cut weight to prepare for a meet. Other days he spent studying to ace a biology test to maintain his perfect 4.0 grade-point average. Near the end of his career, he put in hours preparing for his medical school admittance test.
When life felt difficult, Hoover looked to his friend Tabor Lock.
When Lock moved to Hoover's hometown of Edwardsburg, Michigan, in sixth grade, the two quickly became best friends. They would have frequent sleepovers, with their longest streak being an entire week.
Lock and Hoover wrestled together in high school, and eventually they both ended up on the wrestling team at UIndy. Hoover said the two were having the time of their lives. Then, in the summer of 2023, Lock died in a car accident.
After his friend's death, Hoover looked to the wall beside his mat on difficult days. A picture of Lock hung there. Hoover said looking at the picture gave him a moment of reflection to know he could push himself a little bit harder through a tough workout or test.
"A lot of people get really, really nervous for stuff, and I used to, but I think it showed me this is more of an opportunity we get … because it should be fun," Hoover said.
"It really, ultimately, helped me live in the moment more and be more grateful, instead of looking ahead to the next thing all the time, whether it's the next tournament, nationals, med school, whatever it is, to live more in the moment and be thankful for the things I have," he added.
Hoover and Lock shared an interest in helping others. Hoover majored in biology on a premed track, and Lock majored in nursing.
"He was a very kind person and loved to help others and was always more concerned about others than himself," Hoover said.
Hoover and Lock's mother have set up volunteer opportunities at local homeless shelters, an important cause for Lock. The wrestling team has made and served food at the shelter, along with cleaning up the pantry and the playground.
The loss also reaffirmed Hoover's decision to become a doctor.
"I was able to see the role that doctors play in people's lives. Because obviously, Tabor wasn't able to be saved, but in other situations, someone might be able to," he reflected. "I want to be able to give others the days, weeks, months with their family members that I wasn't able to have."
Hoover's dream to become a doctor began in high school, after he fell in love with his biology classes and worked in a local neurology office. At UIndy, his love for helping others and for science, along with his experiences as a student-athlete, assisted him on his premed track.
"You have to be a lifelong learner. In sports, you're always trying to become better and learn and take constructive criticism and also having that discipline that comes along with study habits for medical school," Hoover said. "I think wrestling … played a crucial role in preparing me for the position that I want to be."
Hoover did not let a challenging schedule deter him from setting high goals for himself. He qualified for the Division II national championships his junior and senior years, with a fifth-place finish his senior year earning him All-America honors.
"Success in one room kind of pushed me to have success in the other," he said.
"To me, to be a Division II student-athlete means to combine the best of academics and athletics in a way that allows us to be most successful."
His 4.0 GPA twice earned him the Elite 90 award, an honor given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at each NCAA championship. He has earned two-time first-team College Sports Communicators Academic All-America honors, as well as several Academic All-Great Lakes Valley Conference honors.
"I think going to a smaller school like UIndy allowed me to have a lot of opportunities that I might not have had elsewhere," he said.
One of those unique opportunities was a trip to Vietnam with one of his professors, Dean Wiseman, to check out a species of fish that was not described yet. He flew to Vietnam from Wichita, Kansas, a day after the NCAA championships in 2024.
"It was a really quick transition because I went from cutting weight and preparing for wrestling to being in a cave in a jungle in a different country," Hoover said.
"Really having a close relationship with my professor was what really propelled me to be able to do this experiment," he added.
As Hoover now begins his first year at the University of Florida medical school, he cherishes his time as a college wrestler, even through the hard days.
"UIndy really combined my love of athletics and academics in a way that I never could have thought possible," he said. "I'm just very blessed to have been able to have all these experiences there."
