The best memory of myself on the mats was in 1994, my senior year. We were wrestling number 1-ranked Minnesota in Rec Hall. I was normally a 167-pounder but weighed in at 177. It came down to the fact that we had to win two of the last three weight classes: 177, 190, and heavyweight. The coaches bumped me up to wrestle 190 for the match. It was a tight match the entire way, but I got the takedown when it was needed most and won the match. My parents were in the stands for the match. Before I could get off the mat, my dad came running down, jumped the railing, and gave me a bear hug. It was a great feeling. Then Kerry McCoy stepped out at heavyweight and beat Billy Pierce for us to knock off the number 1-ranked team.
The match even had a little added special bonus that not too many people were aware of. For my last three summers of high school, I spent 28 days of those summers training at J. Robinson’s [Minnesota wrestling coach] intensive training camps. So in a way it was kind of like a “thanks but no thanks” sort of feeling.
Another one of my favorite matches was also during my senior season. We were wrestling Michigan at Rec Hall, and I came up against a District 3 wrestler. District 3 is the south central region in Pennsylvania, my home region. We were in another pretty tight match. He rode me for most of the bout, but I managed to get a late takedown to tie the match. As we went into sudden-death overtime, it was a back-and-forth struggle with no scoring. We got into a flurry, and I ended up getting the takedown as he was sitting on the mat. I worked my way up, and he lay down flat on the mat, thinking the match was over. However, it wasn’t, and the official called the fall. Another great memory.
