Have you heard about the kid from Missouri who loves to read, is an accounting major, has law school aspirations, tries to spend time on the piano daily and can quote Hemingway?

How Aeoden Sinclair, a redshirt freshman who is ranked #2 at 184 pounds, still has time to wrestle is baffling. 

“I think I'm gonna be an extreme hobbyist. I almost do everything,” Sinclair said. “I get sucked into everything. I think it’s that I talk so much, and I talk to a lot of different people, and when they tell me what they're passionate about and they're really interested in, it gets me fired up about it. And I'm like, ‘Man, I want to learn more about this.’ So I think I just kind of pick up things that I think are super interesting.”

His current passion, outside of wrestling, is the piano. 

“And music in general, music theory and learning everything around music, I think, is super interesting,” he explained. “I sing a lot, so I figured I might as well probably pick up some sort of accompaniment so I'm not just random singing all the time. It’s like I’m training, so people give me a pass to sing out loud.”

He's a history buff who reads a lot — and there’s more. 

“My mind's always rolling,” Sinclair said. “I remember thinking I'm gonna come to college, I'm gonna learn to cook so fantastic that when I get married, I'm just gonna be like an expert cook. I'm gonna be able to make anything — like Michelin star (quality). And I thought that would be really cool. 

“So I think I'm just an elite hobbyist, but right now, I'm very committed to piano. I get about an hour a day in, and I take lessons once a week just to make sure I'm not really butchering any concepts. But, yeah, I like everything.”

Including wrestling. The three-time state champion from Edgerton, Wisconsin, is ranked #2 at 184 pounds after a 6-3 win over Minnesota All-America Max McEnelly and a 2-2 criteria loss to Iowa’s Angelo Ferrari. 

“I feel like rankings can change all the time,” said Sinclair, adding that he remembers the 2023 NCAAs in Tulsa when upsets were prevalent. “I was like, ‘Man, these things (rankings) don’t really mean anything.’ I feel like tournaments shake out however they shake out. 

“I try to wrestle tournaments all year round in the summer, and you never know who's going to win those things. You can kind of get an estimation, but upsets happen constantly, like you saw at the National Duals — there was upset after upset after upset. (Rankings are) not really a good metric to measure yourself. I think a better metric is you versus you, improvement on the year, improvement against opponents, things like that, not necessarily where you kind of stack up.”

Sinclair stacks up just fine in the eyes of his head coach, Brian Smith.

“Aeoden Sinclair is a different kid this year, Smith said. “Last year, he was that freshman still feeling his way around. Wanted to be a leader in the program, and was doing the right things, but it was just a tough year because we didn't wrestle him as much because we were holding him back.

“We were thinking we were going to start him. I'm glad we didn't, because he really needed the redshirt. This year, every time he steps in this room, he's just motivated to get better and helping his teammates, pushing his teammates, so he's going to be a special leader in this program. It’s just the way he acts, the way he steps on the mat with that confidence. That permeates through the room, and people get better from just being around him.”

Sinclair said the decision to attend Missouri and the Tiger Style program was “a no-brainer,” but admitted that the redshirt season wasn’t easy. 

“Speaking candidly, I feel like redshirting is super important. It's like a necessary evil,” he said. “I did not like it. I didn't like not being able to be out there competing. I think the redshirt year is the toughest year because you’re out of your norm ... it’s unusual. But I got a lot stronger. I think my body composition changed a lot physically. Mentally, I feel like I matured a lot and I’ve done a lot better handling setbacks.”

Handling emotions is another factor that Sinclair said people don’t realize is important. 

“Whether it be nerves or anxiousness, it causes your body to tighten up,” he said. “Emotional outbursts can take away from your process mindset when you're focused on the outcome so much that it ruins your week, it's ruining your sleep, it's ruining your habits that are helping you succeed.

“Like whether it be eating the right foods, doing the right things, going to bed at the right time, putting your phone down, whatever it is, I think those emotions can seep into the process, but also in the moment.

“This is gonna be cheesy, but I think Hemingway said, ‘There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.’ Look at me quoting Hemingway, isn’t that crazy? I’m not even in English class; I’m a business major.”

Sinclair’s plan of business is simultaneously earning a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting with an economics minor in three years and then getting into law school while still in college and competing. He also wants to brush up on his Spanish.

“I didn't know I wanted to be a lawyer when I came to college, but my grandpa was a lawyer, and he kind of always talked to me about it, and I looked up to him a lot. He did a lot of good for the community,” Sinclair said. “I want to help people, so I kind of thought it would be a good option.”

He believes the undergraduate accounting degree will lay a nice foundation. 

“I think that's another opportunity for me to help people,” Sinclair said. “Filing taxes, I'm just helping people save that money — the language of business. I always found business super interesting. And I feel like I'm more interested in just cool ideas and helping people do things that I think are A) going to help people, but B) like super fascinating. 

“Or it could be something completely unrelated to business, like Elon Musk and SpaceX or something like that,” he continued while laughing. 

“Everyone needs an accountant. And I hope I reach my goals. I'll be like, ‘Man, you’ve got an accountant who can wrestle, so kill two birds with one stone — bodyguard and accountant. And if all else fails, I'll just join the CIA, because if I can speak Spanish and have a J.D., how is the CIA not gonna hire me?”

Then he paused. “Yeah, in all honesty, I'm probably gonna be a wrestling coach.”

And at the very least, an extremely interesting one.