Ryan Churella has been self proclaimed not a good athlete, but his wrestling hardware would suggest otherwise. He began the sport as a kid who had to be held back by his father Mark Churella a UM wrestling legend, from getting on the mat. His father wanted to make sure Ryan was going into wrestling for the right reasons.

In high school went from not qualifing his freshman year for the Michigan state tournament to a high school national champion. In between that tme he won state titles in Michigan.

He followed his older brother to University of Michigan program and had great success there. Becoming an All-American and NCAA Runner Up.