By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

For Minnesota State-Mankato, a half a second meant a half a team point at the NCAA Div. II national tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 14-15.

            Near the end of the 165-pound championship match in the U.S. Cellular Center, Mankato’s Andy Pickar was leading Mercyhurst’s Hudson Harrison, 6-2, and about to win his first individual championship. But in the last ten seconds, Pickar secured another takedown and suddenly had Harrison on his back and the official started counting back points.

            Unfortunately for Pickar and his Mankato teammates, the official only motioned once with his right arm before he swung both arms to declare the bout was over. Pickar was indeed Mankato’s second individual champion, but the Mavericks knew their chance at a team title was in jeopardy by a tick of the matside clock.

            “It was less than a tick,” said Pickar, noting that the official was actually about to count a second time before waving his arms. “It was close. I just didn’t get it.”

            The University of Nebraska-Kearney did … and especially senior heavyweight Tervel Dlagnev, who captured his second Div. II title with 4-1 victory over Central Oklahoma’s Dustin Finn in the final. The four-point difference between first and second place in that bout also raised Kearney’s team total to 108.5 points; one-half more points than Mankato, which settled for second place with 108 points.

            “One of the things that we thought of were bonus points,” said Kearney coach Marc Bauer, who found himself counting every point in the tournament and knew what was happening when Pickar did not get the major decision. “It took some pressure off Tervel. He knew the situation. Earlier in the day, I said, ‘It looks like it may come down to you.’ He said, ‘That’s what I want.’ ”

            “I trained for situations like that and am totally comfortable with it,” said Dlagnev, who ended his season with a 38-0 record. “I have no fear; I’m never scared of it.”

            Overall, Bauer’s team won two titles and six more All-American honors among the nine wrestlers who qualified for the national tournament.

            “It was a team effort,” Bauer said. “Even the young man (184-pound Paul Sutton) who did not place for us. He won a match, which was the difference.”

            Actually, the difference in determining the team race came down to events that happened earlier in the day when Mankato held a 66.5-57.5 margin over Kearney before the start of the semifinal round. It looked the Mavericks were still in good shape after advancing three wrestlers — Nick Smith (125), Jason Rhoten (157) and Pickar — to the finals, compared to just two Lopers — Brett Allgood (133) and Dlagnev — who qualified for championship bouts.

            Of those five wrestlers, all but Smith won championships, but the outcome in the wrestlebacks did more to help Kearney’s cause. After those semifinals, Kearney went 8-2 while Mankato won just two of eight bouts in consolations.

            Kearney’s semifinal losers Jeff Rutledge (141) and Kamarudeen Useman (174) came back to finish third as did teammates Ryan Etherton (149) and Joe Ellenberger (157), who lost second- and first-round matches, but came back to win all their consolation bouts.

            “Quite honestly, after a rough start this morning, it kind of felt like our hopes were dashed,” Bauer said. “We didn’t think we could recover and then we stormed back. All the guys got together and rallied. We had some huge overtime matches. There were some matches that we came back and won. All that effort paid off.

            On the Mankato side, Maverick coach Jim Makovsky saw semifinal losers John Putman (133) and heavyweight Brady Wilson also fall short in consolations.

            Wilson, who helped Mankato win the NWCA National Duals championship in January with a last-second victory, won his first wrestleback, but settled for fourth place when he lost 4-3 to North Central’s Cy Wainwright in the consolation final. Putnam, meanwhile, lost both of his consolation bouts to finish sixth, the same place afforded 141-pound Travis Elg, who lost in the first round but came back to win three wrestlebacks before losing two.

            “I can’t fault their effort at all, but in the back of your mind, you wonder if they were complacent,” admitted Makovsky, who thought before the tournament his team needed at least 114 points to win the championship. “There were a million chances where we could have won matches. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

            Pickar, who wrestled for North Dakota State before transferring to Mankato after the Bison chose to compete in Div. I, couldn’t help but show his disappointment even after winning his first championship.

            According to Pickar, his coach did not put any more pressure on him or Rhoten, who defeated two-time defending champion Antonio Guerra, 3-2, for the 157-pound title.

            “He put the focus on us, but the fact that we are seniors we knew what was going on,” Pickar said. “We didn’t necessarily put pressure on ourselves, but we wanted it.”

            Kearney, meanwhile, got its first individual title from another senior, Brett Allgood, who lost in the first round of the 2007 tournament, but came back to beat Indianapolis’ Shane Perkey, 5-3, in the 133-pound final. Because of personal problems, Allgood was unable to compete until the end of the regular season and entered the tournament with a 3-1 record.  The native of Bennington, Neb., admitted that he was afraid his 2008 success might not happen.

            “That kind of crossed my mind,” Allgood said. “I came back to school like 25 pounds over and the second semester had already started. I felt like the team needed me. Marc was understanding about the situation and told me to do what I wanted to do. He said I could have waited until next year. I thought it over and said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ ”

            Kearney also accomplished something it failed to do in 2007 when the school in south central Nebraska hosted the event but saw Central Oklahoma win.

            “We thought this might happen last year, but Central Oklahoma’s 125 and 133 pounders, both unranked, got to the finals. That hurt us severely. Then Brett Allgood got upset by the guy from Central Oklahoma and (UCO) got that momentum going,” Bauer said.

            “I don’t know if there was one team here that felt like they got that momentum going.”

            But in the end, only Nebraska-Kearney could smile … by the smallest margin. 

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