Three Bloomsburg wrestlers hit the mats at nationals this past weekend, but when the dust settled, none of them were holding any hardware. Matt Moley, Rick Schmelyun, and Nate Graham all made the trip to Omaha, Neb. to take place in the three-day tournament, where the trio combined for a 4-6 record.
The 157-pound Moley, seeded ninth, was the closest of the three to gain All-American status, knocked out of the tournament just one round shy of finishing in the top eight in his bracket. Moley began the tournament by defeating Purdue's Colton Salazar by fall in 6:31. In the next round, Moley was upset by unseeded Justin Gaethje of Northern Colorado 3-2 in the first tiebreaker and fell into the consolation bracket.
"After I lost, I felt like I just ruined my career, but I knew I could still get third and that wouldn't be a bad way to go out," Moley said.
The senior was able to bounce back from his loss, winning his next two matches. He won the first by fall over Drexel's Joseph Booth in 2:24, and then defeated Iowa's Jake Kerr by a 5-1 margin. In the ensuing match, Moley found himself paired against Boise State's Adam Hall, the second seed who was knocked into the consolation bracket during the quarterfinals. Moley got off to a fast start against Hall, earning the initial takedown as well as three near-fall points, but Hall worked his way back throughout the match, ultimately earning the 9-8 decision.
After the match, Moley said, "Then I just threw it all away [after his initial lead] - instead of keeping the pace, I tried to just hold him out and sit on my lead, which obviously didn't work."
He added, "I feel like I let a lot of people down including myself."
Overall, Moley summed up his experience by saying "I didn't wrestle to win, I wrestled not to lose. Nationals was a lot different this year. I knew it was my last chance to achieve my goal and I let the pressure get to me."
Schmelyun, seeded eleventh, was able to turn in a 4-0 decision over Hofstra's Paul Gillespie in his initial match before losing to Penn State's Dan Vallimont by a 9-0 score in the next match. Vallimont, seeded sixth, went on to wrestle well above his seed and finish second in the tournament. Dropping into the consolation bracket, Schmelyun was pinned by Minnesota's Cody Yohn in 2:52, ending his tournament. Head coach John Stutzman commented, "Rick didn't wrestle well, maybe a little bit of the pressure got to him."
Graham, in his first career appearance at nationals, lost his first match to Ohio University's Jacob Ison by a 5-2 decision. He also lost his next match to Boise State's Nate Lee by a 6-1 score. "Nate had a great EWL tournament and put himself in position to win both his matches at nationals," Stutzman said.
Recounting the trip to nationals, Stutzman admitted, "I'm more disappointed in myself than anything, and our finish really motivates me right now to get better. I'm disappointed I wasn't able to get them [Moley and Schmelyun] over the hump this last year."
The team now prepares for off-season activities, which begin Monday morning at 6:15 a.m. The team will be in the practice room four days a week getting ready for many off-season freestyle tournaments, including an Olympic qualifier.
"Wrestling Division I is a 365 day-a-year choice," Stutzman said. "That's what the best teams in the country do and that's what we strive to be."
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