Fans lined up wall-to-wall to see the Washington State University Wrestling Club square off against Idaho on Friday in the Student Recreation Center, an unusual sight for a club sport.

“We had an awesome turnout for fans,” Club Treasurer Zach Anderson said. “It was a lot more than I expected, and I hope that we can keep getting people to turn out like this.”

The meet was the first time Pullman played host to any club wrestling action in years, and the team takes pride in being able to attract supporters and make an impact at WSU.

“It was great, it was a lot more than anyone expected,” senior wrestler Billy Creighton said. “I’ve never seen this many people at the Rec before. It’s great for the sport of wrestling, and we’re doing something big here at Washington State trying to get it to come back.”

The fans were treated to 36-15 WSU victory as the team dominated Idaho. The meet featured nine matches, six of which were won by WSU wrestlers.

“We saw good things from both teams.” Anderson said. “We had a lot of people go out and wrestle well, which is awesome. We had some people bump up weight classes and do really well, which I think we’re really proud of.”

Creighton was one such wrestler who bumped up weight classes, and he said he was impressed with how conditioned the team looked. He was pleased to see the hard work his teammates did in practice translated onto the mat.

“We looked like we had some pretty good moves,” Creighton said. “Our kids have worked hard and it showed in the final score.”

As satisfying as the final score was, Anderson said the heart the wrestlers showed was what really stood out the most.

“They all went out there and really wrestled and showed the rest of the club that they really are serious about this and they want to continue to better our club,” Anderson said.