From The Heart; Wrestling's 2002 National Championship

The University of Minnesota won its second consecutive national wrestling title at the 2002 NCAA Championships in Albany, N.Y., but the fans clad in the Maroon and Gold will admit it wasn't easy on the heart. There were so many different occurrences that made the national meet a cardiologist's dream (or nightmare). The team race was never really in question and, yet, there were numerous instances that tested the blood pressures and pulse rates of the wrestling disciples from Gold Country. I sure do hope the paramedics were standing by with the paddles all juiced up. I was convinced the people sitting next to me could hear or feel the thumping of my heartbeats. I think Assistant Coach Joe Russell fainted at least twice during all of the excitement.

But, to a certain extent, it wasn't supposed to be that way. Instead of sitting on the edge of our seats, we were supposed to be relaxed, resting in the knowledge that the result was a foregone conclusion. Such is life at the national wrestling tournament, though. Nothing is set in stone (aside from Cael Sanderson's results). Nothing is taken for granted (aside from the sheer hatred between Minnesota and Iowa fans). Nothing is for certain.

What we thought were certainties turned out to be question marks. What we believed to be a done deal left us scratching our heads when it didn't happen. Many things, of course, did go as planned. But it was the wrenches that were thrown into the seemingly smooth-running machine that made our hearts beat just a little faster.

It was good for us, though. At the Big Ten Championships two weeks earlier, we were reclining in our seats, basking in the glow of knowing that the result was, to a certain extent, preordained. Some of us gloated at our dominance. Some of us heckled opposing fans. Such is life when you're on the top of the Big Ten in wrestling. But maybe it was in our best interests that the national tournament turned out to tug at our heartstrings and test the nerves of even the steeliest of fans.

At the NCAA meet, our hearts beat as we laughed, clapped, cheered, booed, rejoiced, remembered, jeered and, yes, even cried. There were smiles from ear to ear, frowns that would make Bozo the Clown weep, screams that made the ears ring, applause that echoed throughout the arena, tears of joy and sorrow, and expressions of appreciation, elation and adulation.

Coming into the national tournament, the national wrestling media anointed the Golden Gophers as prohibitive favorites for the NCAA team crown. They said it was Minnesota's title to lose. Some predicted half the Maroon and Gold lineup to make it to the finals. The coaching staff and wrestlers admitted that the team race would take care of itself if the Golden Gophers focused on being selfish and strived for individual honors.

"Coming in with the seeds we had, the team race wasn't that big of a deal," sophomore heavyweight Garrett Lowney said. "The coaches told us to be selfish."

In the end, they were 100 percent correct, of course. The team crown did take care of itself on the strength of some stellar individual performances. Within that journey to Minnesota's second NCAA title in school history were the heartbreaking and heartwarming stories. They are the plots that Golden Gopher fans will remember for years to come.

Those storylines begin with Minnesota's adoptive son, 125-pounder Leroy Vega. Talk about tugging at the heartstrings, the story of this senior from Portage, Ind., was a significant plot during the 2002 NCAA meet. Vega entered the national tournament with high aspirations, but aspirations that were fully reachable. He came to Albany with the dream of ending his college career as a national champion. The national wrestling media bought into it, saying "We will no longer predict against him, but instead, enjoy this senior's last ride" and "Vega represents a strong contender for the NCAA finals."

He also came to Albany with the virtual certainty of ending his career in Gold Country as only the second four-time All-American in school history. In addition, Vega came to the NCAA meet on a high after winning his first individual title at the Big Ten Championships. Add to it the fact that Vega was, far and away, the Minnesota crowd's favorite. Everyone loves cheering for the little guy. It was no different for the diminutive grappler that Minnesotans have grown to adore.

It was all set up for a storybook ending to a storybook career. The fairy tale didn't end the way we expected it to, though. It was as if Prince Charming never kissed Snow White. It was as if the shoe didn't fit Cinderella.

The unlikely happened in the second round as Vega lost in overtime to unseeded Tom Noto of Hofstra. The dream of being a national champion gone, Vega rebounded in a big way in his first consolation match, notching only his second pin of the season. But then, the unthinkable happened. Chris Rodrigues, an unknown from North Carolina, downed Vega, 3-2.

It was shocking and tearjerking; it was just not right. Vega, understandably, sprinted away sobbing. The large contingent in the Vega Fan Club followed suit with tears streaming down their faces. The entire Minnesota team was justifiably stunned. Their sparkplug, their three-time All-American was out of the tournament, his hopes and dreams left unfulfilled.

"It feels like a nightmare, I guess," Vega said shortly after his elimination. "I'm still waiting to wake up."

Later, he reflected on the NCAAs with the true class and maturity that all have come to expect from the third-winningest wrestler in school history. "Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not," he said. "I was prepared. But this time, things didn't fall into place for me. That's how the cards are dealt. I wasn't meant to be a four-time All-American or a national champion."

Although he wasn't meant to attain his lofty goals, Vega displayed a true measure of his worth to the Golden Gopher squad. After losing his final match, he came back in full workout gear, offering to practice with his fellow teammates as they prepared for their matches. It was vintage Leroy Vega. Regardless of his disappointing performance, he was still there for the team, helping in any way that he could.

His teammates, coaches and fans took the loss nearly as hard as Vega. It was his plight that may have done the most damage to their hearts. It truly was heartbreaking.

"Our hearts go out to poor Leroy," Head Coach J Robinson said. "It's going to be hard for him. It's hard to endure. That's the one side of athletics that people don't see - when you're that close and you lose it."

"He's a strong person inside, and he's going to use this to go on with his life," said former Golden Gopher Chad Kraft, the lone four-time All-American in school history.

Vega did and will endure. He'll put the disappointment aside and focus on his next goals. He'll put everything he has into becoming a world-class wrestler. One would be unwise to bet against him meeting that goal. Outside the sport, Vega will focus his efforts on his family and his career as a teacher/coach. True, our hearts took a beating that day in Albany, but as Vega says, "It must have happened for a reason. I truly believe that more good things will come to me for all the hard work I've put in."

"I guess his lungs hurt," junior Ryan Lewis said, referring to an odd timeout taken by Oklahoma State's Johnny Thompson during their 133-pound title match.

That mocking comment pretty much summed up what the top-ranked Lewis felt after his 5-4 loss to the Cowboy. But Robinson, in true J Robinson fashion, had more to say. "In the end, they handed the match to a guy that didn't deserve to win," he fumed. "Thompson took a timeout and he wasn't hurt. To me, I don't look at him as the national champion because he didn't win by the rules. They allowed a guy to win that doesn't have the heart to win."

Lewis, on the other hand, has the heart to win. A transfer from Division II North Dakota State, Lewis came to Minnesota in 1999-2000, his redshirt year, before serving as a backup to All-American Brett Lawrence in 2000-01. The native of Vernal, Utah knew his time would come. And when it did, he emphatically showed that he possesses the heart of a winner.

With the starting job his for the 2001-02 campaign, Lewis stormed out of the gates, winning 13 straight before suffering a groin injury. This was no routine injury, either, for Lewis didn't just pull his groin; he tore the muscle clear off the bone. It was that freak injury that would keep him out of action for well over a month. Lewis rehabbed with a vengeance and returned to the lineup at National Duals. From there, the accolades began piling up. He won 19 straight before his match versus Thompson. He earned three Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors. He won his first conference title in impressive fashion. He was named the 2001-02 Big Ten Wrestler of the Year. He was ranked and seeded number one in the nation.

Then came `The Timeout.' If it wasn't enough that fan-favorite Vega was already eliminated, the untimely timeout (Lewis was on the verge of a takedown when Thompson signaled to the official) added more disappointment to the Golden Gopher followers.

"It was definitely disappointing," Lewis said. "I set out to win and things didn't go my way. There's nothing I can do about it."

Rest assured that Lewis will be back in 2002-03 with revenge on his mind. `The Timeout' helped Thompson hand Lewis his first loss of the season. The Golden Gopher ended his season with a record of 32-1, good for fourth on Minnesota's all-time list for consecutive wins. Perhaps slightly less disappointing than losing the title is the fact that now Head Assistant Coach Marty Morgan still has bragging rights, for Morgan has streaks of 32- and 39-straight wins on the list.

All kidding aside, Lewis has his sights set on the next campaign. "I'm looking forward to next season," he said. "I'm just going to take it like a man and go on."

Those are the words of a wrestler with the heart to win.

Before you get the sense that the 2002 NCAA meet was a plethora of heartbreaking moments for the Golden Gophers, let it be known that the national tournament had its fair share of heartwarming stories for the Maroon and Gold. Although there existed several disappointing episodes, Minnesota fans are not asking others to feel sorry for the Golden Gophers. Quite the opposite, in fact. That is, for every disheartening moment, there were plenty of highs for Gold Country.

"(The tournament) seemed more up and down this year," Robinson said. "We lost some guys along the way, and that made it hard. It was more of a rollercoaster this year than last year."

The peaks of the rollercoaster included the All-American honors picked up by senior Chad Erikson (seventh at 141 pounds), sophomore Damion Hahn (fifth, 184 pounds), senior Owen Elzen (fourth, 197 pounds) and sophomore Garrett Lowney (fifth at heavyweight).

The interesting thing is, at nearly any other school, those finishes would be wholeheartedly celebrated. But at the University of Minnesota during the 2001-02 season, the focus was not on gaining All-America citations. Rather, the Golden Gophers wrestled the entire season with their sights set on individual goals. Each member of the starting lineup competed with the mindset of becoming an NCAA Champion. At many other schools, those are just words used to motivate. But in Gold Country, those are realistic words.

"Our theme was to push people into the finals and get champions," Robinson said. "If we did that, the team race would take care of itself, and it did. It's just a different way to get to the same place."

Unfortunately for some, the dream of reaching the NCAA finals fell short. In addition to Vega's unfortunate tournament, freshman Nate Baker (165 pounds) and sophomore Jacob Volkmann (174 pounds) fell prey to an early departure in the consolation bracket. For those who became multiple All-Americans, though, the letdown of not reaching the finals showed through.

"It was upsetting," Hahn said. "It leaves me hungry for next year." Nevertheless, the finishes by Erikson, Hahn, Elzen and Lowney gained Minnesota its second national title. That's nothing to scoff at in the world of parity that has come to collegiate wrestling.

"We wanted to do what we could to help out the guys who didn't make it as far as they wanted," Erikson said. "We didn't want to make it look like they lost the national championship for us. We're such a well-rounded team that we can lose two All-Americans and still come out with a pretty dominant victory. Just imagine if we didn't lose those guys. It'd be even more of a blowout."

"Any time you can win a national championship, everyone's elated," Robinson assured. "We set out and wanted to do this twice, and we did it."

The Golden Gophers became the first back-to-back national champions in school history since the 1940 and 1941 Minnesota football teams captured consecutive national titles. However, the hallmarks of the 2002 NCAA tournament were the stellar individual performances by two juniors - one from Idaho and the other from east central Minnesota. Jared Lawrence and Luke Becker have been roommates since their freshman years. They train together. They're best friends. And now, they're both NCAA Champions.

"We came in together four years ago, and we both had one goal," said Lawrence, the 149-pound champ. "Two years ago, he wouldn't let me be an All-American alone. This time, he wouldn't let me be a national champion alone.

Added Becker, the 157-pound champ: "We're best friends. He's my workout partner. He's what motivates me, and hopefully I do the same for him. It's just great to see him out there and get a win, then I come up after him and get a national title, too. It's great."

Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that the path to the national championship taken by these inseparable grapplers was so strikingly alike. They both won over 30 matches during the year (34 for Lawrence and 38 for Becker). They both ended with three losses on the season. Their lone losses came to wrestlers ranked higher than them. They both entered the NCAA Tournament seeded in the top three (second for Lawrence, third for Becker).

(The only marked difference between the two was that Becker won his first Big Ten title while Lawrence fell to top-ranked Mike Zadick of Iowa in a controversial championship match.)

At the NCAA Championships, they both made it to the finals in eerily similar ways. Both tallied a win by fall in their respective first round matches. Both won convincingly in the second round and quarterfinals. But it was the semifinal round similarities that proved to be exceedingly difficult on the hearts and nerves of Minnesota fans and coaches alike.

First, Lawrence tested the pulse rates of the Maroon and Gold devotees with his bout versus third-seeded JaMarr Billman of Lock Haven. Regulation ended in a tie at four and, after a scoreless overtime, Lawrence chose the down position in the tiebreaker (due to Lawrence's first period takedown for the first offensive points). Lawrence battled for much of the period to escape, and, when it looked hopeless, the Golden Gopher broke the hold of Billman with two seconds remaining to gain the coveted finals berth.

Next, Becker nearly stopped the tickers of the Minnesota faithful in his match against No. 2 Yoshi Nakamura of Pennsylvania. The wrestlers could only manage an escape each in regulation and battled to a scoreless overtime. Becker won the coin flip, chose down and escaped in eight seconds to gain his first national championship match berth. A clearly flustered Joe Russell was spotted in the bowels of the Pepsi Arena, sporting a full sweat and the look of a person who survived a near-death experience. The Minnesota fans took a much-needed breather after the tiebreaker madness. It was excruciating to watch. But, wow was it fun.

The job wasn't done yet, though. Lawrence advanced to take on No. 4 Jared Frayer of Oklahoma while Becker was scheduled to face archrival, undefeated and top-ranked Bryan Snyder of Nebraska.

Lawrence stepped to the mat first and soon became the 11th Minnesota wrestler to capture an NCAA individual title in school history, defeating Frayer 3-1. The difference in the match was a Lawrence takedown with two seconds remaining in the first period. He added an escape in the second period and didn't allow an OU point until midway through the final period. The Minnesota contingent showered the Sandpoint, Idaho native with praise as he became the 149-pound national champion.

What more motivation did Becker need than seeing his best friend capture national gold? Clearly, he needed nothing more, for the Cambridge, Minn., made his dream come true with a stunning upset win over Snyder. Becker notched the all-important first offensive points of the bout, taking Snyder down 2:12 into the first period. Snyder took the lead with a takedown about 30 seconds later, but Becker tied it at four with two escapes. After a scoreless overtime, the wrestlers went to the tiebreaker with Becker choosing the down position. Becker quickly got to his feet with Snyder hanging on to the Golden Gopher's ankle. But the Minnesota grappler cleared his foot four seconds into the period to capture the 157-pound national crown. The cheers from the Maroon and Gold fans in the corner of the arena ringed throughout the building. Minnesota had just captured two individual national titles.

Afterwards, the NCAA Champions tried to explain what they were feeling. It again comes as little surprise that their reactions to winning the national crown were noticeably alike.

"Ever since I started wrestling I've been after this," Lawrence said. "It's been a dream I've wanted for a long time and it finally came true. My team won, my roommate won and I won. It's just the greatest feeling I know."

"It's just an amazing feeling," Becker said. "I don't even know what to say. Since I got to college, I've been waiting for this." Brett Lawrence, the 2001 All-American and older brother of Jared, added, "Those guys go through everything together. Getting titles together has to be the best feeling in the world."

It couldn't have happened any other way. Lawrence and Becker winning national titles together seemed like nothing but destiny. "It's just a great example of how friends and teammates and roommates push each other to different heights," Robinson said. "When you have other people to train with, share things that you go through with, it's a great story."

The 2002 NCAA Wrestling Championships provided many a reporter with great stories. From the sheer heartache of Vega's early exit to the ultimate elation of dual national championships for best friends to the establishment of the University of Minnesota wrestling team as more than a one-hit wonder, the NCAA tournament brought out the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

"It feels good to come back and reach the goals that we set," Robinson said. "We feel good about what it does for our program and our individuals."

"Like we said, not having a champion last year, it was going to be all individual," Becker added. "We were going to focus on it and be real selfish. We feel bad because of the early losses happened, and we feel great for the guys that accomplished what they wanted to. But our biggest deal was to focus on ourselves and take care of business."

And take care of business they did. Now Minnesota is the hunted. Although back-to-back championships does not a dynasty make, the Maroon and Gold are poised for a lengthy stay at the top of the wrestling world. They are the ones all others are aiming for. But that's just fine with them.

"I guess some people could look at it as a target," Robinson said. "But if they're after us, it must be for a reason. It validates who we are."

Golden Gopher fans lived vicariously through the wins and losses of each of the Maroon and Gold wrestlers. They screamed as they proved triumphant. They booed when necessary. They cried when the unthinkable happened. They rejoiced when dreams came true.

The followers of Minnesota wrestling gained one thing, if no other, from the 2002 NCAA Wrestling Championships - a profound appreciation of the heart.

Written by Men's Athletics Media Relations Wrestling Contact Kevin Kurtt The University of Minnesota won its second consecutive national wrestling title at the 2002 NCAA Championships in Albany, N.Y., but the fans clad in the Maroon and Gold will admit it wasn't easy on the heart. There were so many different occurrences that made the national meet a cardiologist's dream (or nightmare). The team race was never really in question and, yet, there were numerous instances that tested the blood pressures and pulse rates of the wrestling disciples from Gold Country. I sure do hope the paramedics were standing by with the paddles all juiced up. I was convinced the people sitting next to me could hear or feel the thumping of my heartbeats. I think Assistant Coach Joe Russell fainted at least twice during all of the excitement.