PHILADELPHIA — March Madness is here. It’s famously used to describe the NCAA basketball tournament, but the same goes for the NCAA wrestling championships.
The slogan goes as follows: anything can happen in March. And in the case of wrestling, one of the best wrestlers in the country, a true title contender in the 197-pound bracket, was nearly knocked out in the first round.
Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan started his match with urgency. The three-time All-American and second seed held an early 3-0 advantage Thursday against Michigan State redshirt freshman and 31-seeded Remy Cotton after the first period.
Buchanan continued to dominate the first-time national qualifier, throwing him to the ground two more times on the way to a 9-2 lead halfway through the second period. The first four minutes were his, five minutes remained on the clock.
All Cotton needed was two. Quite frankly, all he needed was three seconds.
The Spartan knocked Buchanan to the ground and leaped on top of him. And just like that, Cotton was moments away from pulling off an improbable upset. The nearly sold-out Wells Fargo Center was ready to go berserk as the echoes of “three” got louder with each millisecond Buchanan laid there.
The five-time NCAA qualifier transferred to Iowa after previous stops at Wyoming and Oklahoma. Buchanan has been nearly invincible donning the Black and Gold. He came into nationals boasting a 21-1 record on the season — the lone loss being in the 197-pound Big Ten championship match to Michigan’s Jacob Cardenas, a two-time All-American, by a 4-2 decision.
This would’ve been his second-straight defeat. But Buchanan squirmed his way to a full 360-degree rotation on the mat until Cotton lost his grip, allowing the Hawkeye to get back up on his feet.
Buchanan escaped the second period with an 11-8 lead.
During the 10-second window between the second and third period, Buchanan took a deep breath, shook his arms, and took a lap around the mat. That was the break he needed.
It only took 20 seconds into the third for Buchanan to record his fourth near-fall of the match, adding three more points to his name. Cotton nearly got back on his feet until Buchanan slammed him down again for another three-point earning. He went on to record his sixth near-fall and his third of the period before the clock hit zeroes.
Just when there was doubt among the crowd, Buchanan displayed strength, both physical and mental, on his way to a 22-9 victory. Experience matters, and he has plenty of that.
It doesn’t always work like that in March, but it did this time around for Buchanan. His two third-place finishes earlier in his career may linger, but Buchanan’s performance Thursday suggested his focus remains fixated at the top. The quest for his first national title continues.