Treyton Nilsson almost didn’t wrestle in college.

After spurning a handful of schools to go on an LDS mission, the Snake River grad was forced to postpone his mission for personal reasons.

After the fact, he didn’t aggressively contact colleges, assuming they would find him if they were interested. But most programs had used up their scholarships by that point, and Nilsson was ready to accept the fact he would be a four-time high school state champion without a college scholarship.

“I didn’t think I was going to do either (wrestle in college or go on a mission),” Nilsson said. “I just thought I was going to school. ... I was really depressed, bummed out. Then my buddy Damon helped me out.”

Snake River classmate and wrestling teammate Damon Dance committed to play football for Chadron State College (Nebraska) back in January. Nilsson said Dance put him in contact with Chadron wrestling coach Brett Hunter through one of Dance’s football coaches.

On June 22, Nilsson got an offer he wasn’t going to turn down.

Chadron State offered Nilsson a partial wrestling scholarship, and all that stood between him and officially accepting the offer was a signature on a National Letter of Intent.

Nilsson had his grandmother print out the documents before she joined the rest of the family on a camping trip at Palisades Reservoir.

Nilsson tweeted Thursday night: “Just signed my letter of intent I’m going to be an eagle!”

Chadron State, a Division II school, competes in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Nilsson helped the Panthers win their 12th state wrestling championship in February and locked up his fourth individual 3A state title by beating Shelley’s Braxton Balmforth in a 5-1 decision in the 113-pound final. He was crowned the ninth four-time 3A state champ in Idaho history and the third for Snake River.

Nilsson said other schools had expressed interest in him including Boise State, Grand Canyon University, Oklahoma City University and Montana Western. The wrestler said his contact with Boise State tapered off, and he broke off talks with the other schools because he had planned to pursue his mission. Nilsson said he plans to complete his mission at some point, but will likely finish college first.

“It could be now, it could be 10 years from now,” Nilsson said. “What I’m feeling is, once I start school, I’m not gonna wanna stop because I like to see things finish through.”

Nilsson needs to gain weight to weigh in at the lightest class available at the college level, 125 pounds. He said he’s been working out all summer and has already put on seven pounds to get up to 120.

Brett Hunter, Nilsson’s soon-to-be head coach, was hired as to lead the Eagles in 2012. He was a two-time collegiate national champion at Chadron in 2007 and ’09 and has the most wins in school history with 133. He’s one of three national champs in school history (1970-present) and Chadron’s only repeat champion.

The Eagles finished 9-8 last season and had one wrestler qualify for the NCAA championships. Chadron has fielded three All-Americans since Hunter took the reigns in 2012.

Fall term begins Aug. 24, and Nilsson said his freshman orientation is Aug. 20. He’s undecided on his major but said he may eventually pursue psychology.