it was December of 2017, and Northern Iowa wrestling coaches were reading off the room assignments in Las Vegas as the Panthers were getting ready to compete the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
Two years later, Alber and Lujan are still rooming together and will be this week at the NCAA wrestling championships at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
"He's the guy I go to most often if I'm nervous or not feeling myself and he can usually get me back in shape. I was wrestling somewhere, came off the mat and found him in a back room and he asked me if I won because he had been too nervous to watch.