According to the Davidson College wrestling schedule, Tanner Peake has about a dozen more competitions in his Wildcat wrestling career. And with a little bit of luck — to go along with the hard work this native of Flemington, N.J., has already shown — the 157-pound senior could become Davidson’s first national qualifier since 2015.

While Peake has compiled a healthy 52-32 career record as of Jan. 4, the Wildcat certainly has not enjoyed much luck when it’s come to the postseason. 

• As a true freshman in 2022-23, the two-time New Jersey state placewinner from Hunterdon Central High School set a Davidson school record of 15-4 and a second-place performance at the Southern Conference Championships and was named SoCon Freshman of the year. But he was also forced to miss a month of competition with a shoulder injury that forced him to wear a protective harness during that rookie season.

• As a sophomore, he qualified to represent Puerto Rico in the U20 World Championships but just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships with another second-place SoCon finish.

• As a junior last year, he won eight of his first 11 bouts and was ranked in the Top 20 nationally, only to suffer a neck injury at the Southern Scuffle that eventually ended his season. And to make matters worse, the NCAA denied him a medical redshirt to compete collegiately past this winter.

Thus, Peake can see and feel his college career ending day-by-day before Davidson’s Senior Night on Feb. 20 and when the Wildcats compete two hours west of their campus March 6-7 at the 2026 Southern Conference Championships in Asheville, N.C.

Yet, Peake — coming off a placement as a #12 seed at the 2026 Southern Scuffle on Jan. 4 — does not feel bitter or that the clock is running regarding his career?

“I want to make sure I don’t leave the sport with any regrets and check off every box that I can,” he said. “I don’t see any upcoming event or tournament being the end-all thing for me.

“When I first learned that I was not going to get that extra year, it hurt a lot, but at the same time I believe there was no bad situation. Either way, I knew that I had this year to achieve my college wrestling goals.”

Peake is still so focused that he chose to return to compete at 157 pounds the second semester this season after first giving 165 pounds a shot.

“He tried 165 and got a win over a ranked wrestler at the Southeast Open (in November), but after watching him wrestle a little more at 165 and (he) lost a couple matches, he came to me in December and told me he wanted to go back down to 157,” Davidson head coach Nate Carr Jr. said. 

“He got his weight down while others were eating Christmas cookies. He is really strict with his diet, took about three weeks off from competition, then we unleashed him at the Scuffle.”

That is where Peake won four of seven bouts and claimed eighth as a #12 seed in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Carr believes Peake will fulfill his college goals of qualifying for the 2026 NCAAs in Cleveland this March.

“(Tanner) has great character and has been one of our captains the last three years,” said Carr, who took over the Davidson program the year Peake was a freshman. “He is a silent soldier and just gets to work. For him, this is his last year, he wants to wrestle as hard as he can and wants no stone unturned.”

“For me, it’s the culmination of the work I’ve put in since I started this sport. I started wrestling when I was 7 years old, and got introduced to the sport by my dad,” said the 22-year-old son of Nydia and Chris Peake, a former Rutgers wrestler. “Wrestling has been my life. I understand that I’m towards the end of my college career. I don’t want any regrets.

“The injury halting my wrestling was tough, and trying to get through it each day. I went from being busy to doing nothing. That was a mental toll that I had to get over. But it allowed for a huge growth for me as a person, where I could take a step back and understand why I’m still trying to do this sport and become a better man. It also led me closer to my faith.”

Fortunately, Tanner has found success on the freestyle circuit in the off-season and hopes to compete in the 2028 LA Olympics and represent Puerto Rico, where his mother was born and raised and where his grandmother still lives.

“Since I was a little kid, my mom didn’t give me wrestling advice but would tell me to go out there and let the Puerto Rican loose,” said Tanner, who competes at 74 kilograms (163 pounds) in freestyle. “It’s going out there and being a little bit of a warrior, getting angry a little bit and competing.”

Tanner believes he showed some of that potential at the Scuffle, especially with his offense.

“Looking back at those matches, even those I lost, success came off of reattacks,” he said. “As long as I can trust my offense and know my defense is there, and know that I can try things in practice, I believe my offense will be firing (in the postseason).”

“He has to find go-to attacks,” Carr said. “When you wrestle guys who are equally defensive, you have to be able to score in those close matches. He’s got to be able to open his offense a little bit more and learn to set up better.”

Carr and Peake also believe his return to 157 makes Davidson a stronger team. And while Peake says he has not felt pressure to represent his school at the NCAAs since Scott Patrick 11 years ago, he hopes his story will put more attention on what he and his Wildcat teammates face each year.

“We don’t get much national attention, and in a way we have to work double time to get recognized,” Peake said. “Our coaches do a good job of getting us to certain tournaments like the Southern Scuffle where we do get those opportunities.

“We are trying to get those nationally-ranked wins and search them out, it’s not easy, but one of those things that makes us tough and all of a sudden you will see a Southern Conference wrestler take out a nationally-ranked guy. We are hungry and want to get those wins.”

Carr knows he wants that one special moment with Peake.

“I want to give him a hug after winning a conference championship,” Carr said.

So will many others.