Pahrump wrestler Ethan Rouse signs with Wayland Baptist, plans finance career

Ethan Rouse’s path to Wayland Baptist University began long before the signature, and it started in a place he once did not expect to leave for college at all. The Pahrump Valley High School senior signed to wrestle for the Pioneers in Plainview, Texas, while studying finance, with plans to become an investment banking analyst and eventually build his own businesses.

Rouse said wrestling changed the direction of his life after a stretch that included vandalism, smoking, drinking and a freshman-year suspension. He spent time in Washington before moving to Pahrump after his grandfather’s death, and that move became the turning point. He had been thinking about work and possibly online classes instead of college, but the sport gave him structure, accountability and a reason to reset his future.

That change did not happen alone. Volunteer coach and wrestling parent Benji De Santiago pushed Rouse to try wrestling when he was a freshman at PVHS four years ago, and coaches and teammates reinforced the new direction once he arrived. Rouse also brought a wide athletic background to the mat, competing in football, soccer, track and field, basketball and swimming. He described himself as a strong swimmer before wrestling became his main focus.

His signing also reflects the strength of the Pahrump Valley wrestling program, which has built a tradition that reaches well beyond one senior. PVHS wrestling has held a Thanksgiving morning practice for 31 years, won state titles in 2005 and 2015, and captured back-to-back Academic State championships in 2022 and 2023. The Panthers finished ninth at the 2025 NIAA 3A Wrestling State Championship, then won the 2026 Class 3A Southern Regional title and sent 18 wrestlers to state, a run that shows how firmly the program is rooted in Nye County.

Wayland Baptist gives Rouse a college home with its own wrestling history. The university, founded in 1908 in Plainview, added varsity men’s and women’s wrestling in 2009 and began NAIA competition in the 2010-11 school year. Under head coach Stryder Davis, the Pioneers won the 2025 AMC/SAC Men’s Wrestling Qualifying Tournament for the first time in program history and sent Alex Pena, John Bray and Emmett Bivens to the 2025 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship, where Pena placed fourth at 149 pounds.

For Pahrump, Rouse’s signing carries the weight of more than a college decision. It is the story of a local student who moved from uncertainty and poor choices to a scholarship opportunity, a degree plan and a future that now stretches from the wrestling room in Pahrump to a finance career in Texas.