By Mike Finn

Andrew Hochstrasser? That name sure sounds familiar.

That question may be heard a lot by the Boise State wrestler, who is ranked fourth nationally by WIN after finishing second at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Dec. 5-6.

            And while the native of Tooele, Utah, is listed as just a sophomore, he is not new to Division I wrestling. In fact in 2004-05, Hochstrasser held a similar ranking entering the NCAA tournament … as a true freshman.

            So what happened to the 133-pound Bronco, who finished 29-8 three years ago?

            Hochstrasser didn’t disappear.

            Instead, he was a man on a mission … literally.

            As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the young man did what many of those in the Mormon faith do after the age of 19: serve as a missionary for as much as two years in one of over 300 locations around the world.

            “(The church) teaches them that this is what we’d like you to do once you’ve reached the age of 19. We’d like you to take the initiative of teaching people about our faith,” said Jim Hochstrasser, the father of the current Boise State wrestler. “By the time they are 19, they are ready to go. They want to do it.”

            Andrew agreed.

            “I just felt like it was the right time to go,” said Andrew, who spent the 2005-06 and 2006-07 wrestling seasons in the state of Alabama on his mission. “A lot of my buddies were doing it. It was the right time to go as far as learning lessons and adapting to things you need to do. You learn a lot of stuff. You learn about yourself and about where you want to go the rest of your life.”

            Andrew also learned about patience; something that came from interrupting his varsity career with the Broncos.

            After graduating from Tooele High School as a four-time Utah state champion, Hochstrasser was too young to begin his mission. That allowed him to begin his collegiate career immediately as a 125-pounder; a career that saw him win his first two matches in the NCAA tournament — including a first-round pin against Penn’s Mason Lenhard — before losing to Michigan State’s Nick Simmons in the quarterfinals.

            One year later, Hochstrasser called Alabama his home.

            “I went around and invited people to hear a message that we had,” recalled Hochstrasser. “If they accepted, then we would teach them. If they didn’t, we would continue to invite. A lot of times, we did service and helped people out any way that we could. I went as a Spanish-speaker so I got to translate for police or doctors’ appointments and stuff like that.”

            Jim Hochstrasser said there are many misconceptions about taking on a Mormon mission, including that young adults are forced to go.

            “The emphasis is that it’s their choice and an opportunity to learn about themselves and other people,” said the elder Hochstrasser, who served a similar mission during his youth, but not until after college.

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