NU wrestler excited to face Gophers
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BY KARL VOGEL / Lincoln Journal Star
The people in Lakefield, Minn., love their sports and they love their University of Minnesota Gophers.
They’re proud that Jackson County Central High School produced the Gophers’ first four-time wrestling all-American — Chad Kraft (1996-99) — and the high school seniors dream of being able to enroll in the university and become Gophers, too.
Marc Harwood would have been honored to have followed Kraft’s footsteps all the way to Minneapolis just to wear the maroon and gold singlet and compete for the beloved U. of M. and its top-ranked wrestling team.
“I’m a big Gophers fan,” he said. “I know the whole team, all the coaches. They coached me my whole career as a kid in Greco-Roman and freestyle. All the tournaments, they were there.
“(Now) it’s just different.”
The difference is that Harwood will be on the other side of the gym floor today at the NU Coliseum, wearing the scarlet and cream of the University of Nebraska when the No. 21 Huskers host their final home dual of the season.
It will also be the final time Harwood will wrestle in front of the fans of his new favorite school. It will be doubly special for the senior 174-pounder because he’ll be facing the mighty Gophers.
Today, the Gophers might consider Harwood the one who got away.
“I was the first (Jackson County Central athlete) to go somewhere else (to a Division I school),” he said. “I have a little different pressure on me.”
The importance of this dual meet, though, didn’t occur to Harwood until just recently.
“I’m excited about it now,” Harwood said. “(But) I was so focused on the season that I didn’t realize until the middle of this winter that we wrestled them this late.”
Today’s dual is even more special for Harwood, considering how much he’s had to sacrifice just to get to this point in his wrestling career.
“It’s been a big roller coaster, I can tell you that,” he said.
The ups and downs of Harwood’s Husker career include redshirting as a 149-pound freshman in 2003, suffering a season-ending elbow injury early the next year, then being moved up to 174 pounds when he returned in 2005.
“After surgery, I lifted a lot of weights and got bigger, too big to stay at 149 or 157, where they had planned to put me,” he said. “Jake (Jacob Klein) was wrestling 165, and about the same size, so I decided to go to 174.”
After Klein graduated, Harwood moved down to 165 for the 2005-06 season and earned a berth in the NCAA Championships.
This year, with plenty of tumult in the Husker lineup early in the season and talented freshman Stephen Dwyer making a splash in practice at 165, the Huskers coaches asked Harwood to consider a return to 174 to help the team.
He didn’t think twice.
“We asked Marc to move up and wrestle a guy at 174 just to help the team, and he’s done it and it’s been a good weight for him this year,” Nebraska coach Mark Manning said.
“He’s been willing to sacrifice and not be selfish. He wants to win for the team, too.”
Harwood has posted a 10-9 record — 6-6 at 174 pounds with all of his losses coming to opponents ranked among the top 16 nationally.
Harwood said the defeats have been hard to take, but they haven’t dampened his confidence for the rest of his senior season.
“It was not what I wanted, but I look back since the start of January and look at how many of my losses have been one-point matches, two-point matches,” he said. “I know I’m right there. It’s just stepping up one or two more steps and making that adjustment one more time and working harder to see it through. I’ve beaten a lot of those guys before, so I need to turn it up this last month and give it all I can to make the NCAAs.
“I know I can beat these guys.”
That group includes Missouri’s top-ranked and unbeaten Ben Askren. Harwood is one of only four opponents that Askren hasn’t pinned in 27 matches this year.
Today, though, Harwood has a chance to pick up a big win against his beloved Gophers, wrestling against unranked Gabriel Dretsch (22-8). It’s a big step Harwood hopes will lead to a fitting way to end his wrestling career — a return to nationals next month.
Manning expects the normally low-key Harwood to be ready when the whistle blows today.
“I think he’s going to be pumped up,” Manning said. “No, he won’t show it, but I think on Sunday he’s going to go out there with a spark.”
And if Harwood were to win a match against the Gophers, well …
“That would be great,” Harwood said.
Reach Karl Vogel at 473-4732 or kvogel@journalstar.com.
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