OMAHA, NE (March 12, 2010) – Tim Darling and Scott Snyder assured themselves of All-American status with two wins on Friday at the 2010 NCAA Division II Championship in Sapp Fieldhouse. (Session I recap) (Brackets and Standings)
Darling (184 pounds) followed up his morning victory with a 15-0 dominating performance to advance into the semifinal against season foe Shane Mallory of East Stroudsburg. Snyder bounced back from an opening round defeat with two of his most impressive victories of his career. Heavyweight Kevin Bolinsky saw his season draw to end with a 6-2 heartbreak in the first consolation round.
With only three in action, the Golden Bears still managed to rank in 15th place out of the 39 competing teams, with 14.5 points.
Entering the tournament with two career falls, both in his sophomore season, the 197 pound Snyder matched that total in his wrestleback matches with both occurring in the first period. After he got the three call over Shane Nolan in the evening match with three seconds remaining in the period, the typically quiet and reserved Snyder let out a yell and ran over to hug head coach Rob Fisher who was wearing a smile ear-to-ear.
“The way he won his matches is truly unbelievable,” said Fisher. “He went some seasons without any pins, to win that way to become an All-American is incredible. He achieved something that every wrestler should hope to reach, it’s a great accomplishment for him and the program.”
Wrestling in the final competition of his career regardless the tournament’s outcome, Snyder was determined not to go two and out in his senior season like he did at last year’s national tournament.
“To get two pins in a row, including over someone I lost to last week was really awesome,” said Snyder. “I’ve been working for that the past three that I’ve been here, it means a lot. The coaches have always told me I could be an All-American. At the tournament this year, I felt real positive and Darling’s attitude brought out the best in us.”
Snyder’s pin in the first wrestleback came in quick fashion, as he went to Darling’s playbook with a leg sweep and led it into three back points. After Jon Treml struggled out of the near-fall, Snyder maintained the pressure and got the pin with 50 seconds remaining in the first period.
Snyder will face off against Mitch Knapp of West Liberty on Saturday morning's third session.
Darling saved his finest performance of the day for a quarterfinal tilt against Austin Boehm who was wrestling in front of his home crowd of the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
By perfectly executing his strategy of takedowns and getting back points, Darling ended his contest with 15-0 technical fall with 50 seconds remaining in only the second period.
“Take downs and back points matched together can get you lots of points quickly,” said Darling. “It has been a game plan, but I wasn’t utilizing it really during the season. I was mostly riding my opponents since I was giving up weight and thinking that’s how I had to handle my opponents.”
Despite the weight disadvantage, Darling further proved he can hang in that bracket as he denied what looked to be a sure takedown when being lifted to Boehm’s eye line. With the crowd expecting a momentum turner, Darling muscled his way out and actually landed on top as the two stumbled out of the ring.
After those theatrics, from the up position Darling scored his third takedown and ended the match with a three-point near fall.
Boehm entered the match coming off of a 36 second fall in the opening round, while Darling struggled a little in his 6-2 victory.
“I was putting a lot of pressure on myself and I was screwed up mentally,” said Darling. “Something didn’t feel right from the first whistle, I couldn’t think straight, nothing made sense and I wrestled like an idiot. The coaches talked to me and the other guys said ‘dude, loosen up’, and that’s what I did.”
“All of us coaches’ got into his ear and told him that he had to relax,” said Fisher. “We told him that if you win, you win…if you lose, you lose.”
The win also set up the rubber match with East Stroudsburg’s Shane Mallory, who is the only person to defeat Darling. Darling avenged that loss with a 5-4 win over Mallory in the semifinal round of his championship run in regionals.
“At this point it doesn’t matter who you’re facing,” said Fisher. “To be a national champion you have to take down the person your matched against, regardless of if there’s any past history or not.”
Bolinsky has no reason to be ashamed of his two and out at nationals, between his third place finish at regionals, a season record of 13-3 and most importantly the nationals experience earned for his senior season.
The third session of wrestling will begin at 10 a.m. and the final session begins at 8 p.m.
--KU--