A native of Duncomb, Iowa, Teske was a four time Iowa state champion posting a high school record of 175-1 at Fort Dodge high school. Teske was a runner - up in cadet freestyle at Fargo and named the Dan Gable wrestler of the year. Teske originally began his college career wrestling for Cael Sanderson at Penn State posting a record of 6-2 during his redshirt season. Teske began his redshirt freshman season going 5-2, wrestling in a pair of duals for Penn State before transferring following the fall semester to UNI. In his first full season at Northern Iowa, Teske posted an overall record of 14-3 and was ranked as high as fifth in the nation at one point during the season.