Short-Term Focus, Long-Term Goals Drive Eastern Michigan’s Ed Magrys
Senior 184-Pounder Wants Redemption at NCAA Tournament; Working Towards MBA
By Andrew Hipps “Staff Writer
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He graduated and earned his degree in International Business last year. He was an Academic All-American, team captain, and national tournament qualifier. He also got engaged. And now he has aspirations of becoming a foreign trade specialist in Washington D.C.
So why is he back wrestling at Eastern Michigan?
In his words: “I haven’t done my best wrestling yet. “
He is also working on his MBA, which he is on track to earn in December.
But the journey for Magrys, from Michigan farm boy to scholar athlete and nationally ranked wrestler, has been a rollercoaster.
He graduated from Hill-McCloy High School in Michigan in the spring of 2000. And after a stellar prep wrestling career in which he earned three medals at the Michigan State Tournament (fifth as a sophomore and third as a junior and senior) and compiled over 200 career victories, Magrys was offered scholarships by four Division I schools. His first choice, Boston University, required a higher ACT score. So that was out of the question. So almost reluctantly, Magrys settled on Eastern Michigan, which was located just over an hour from where he grew up.
Shortly after Magrys signed with Eastern Michigan, Charlie Branch was brought in as the new head coach.
“When Ed first got here, it took some of him getting used to us and visa versa, “said Branch. “He was a little stand-offish at first, but then he started to open up a little bit and realized that we had his best interests in mind. We started to lay down our expectations as coaches for our program and responded to that right away. And he has gotten better each year as a wrestler and as a person. “
Magrys redshirted and underwent knee surgery in his first year. He wasn’t able to get on the mat or run. He began feeling lost – wondering whether or not Eastern Michigan would be the right fit for him.
“The coaches set the ground rules and it felt like people were getting cut from the team left and right, “said Magrys of his first year at Eastern Michigan. “It was crazy. I thought that maybe I would get cut since I wasn’t practicing. Looking back, everything was done in the best interest of the team, but it was hard to see that right away.”
Magrys earned the varsity spot for the Eagles the next season as a redshirt freshman, compiling a record of 10-3 and placing fourth in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) at 174. The next season, however, he began struggling with his weight. Midway through the season, Branch convinced him to move up to 184.
“By the time I decided to move up, I had already lost a lot of muscle, “said Magrys. “I was by far the smallest for my weight class, so I had trouble winning matches. I think the biggest thing was filling out and becoming a true 184-pounder. “
Magrys finished his sophomore year 7-5 and placed third in the MAC.
His junior year, though, would be his breakout season.
In fact, he won more matches that season than he had won in his entire career combined at Eastern Michigan. Magrys finished with a 25-12 record, was runner-up in the MAC, and qualified for his first NCAA Tournament – an experience that he would just as soon forget.
“I got to Saint Louis for the NCAA Tournament two days before it started and wasn’t nervous at all, “said Magrys. “But then like five minutes before I had to wrestle, I started getting the nerves. It was my first big tournament like that since high school, so it was overwhelming at first. “
Magrys was pinned by Lehigh’s Travis Frick in the first round of the tournament. He came back to win his second match (over Mark Canty of North Carolina), but was eventually eliminated when he was pinned by Luke Calvert of Navy in the first period.
“The NCAA Tournament just left a bad taste in my mouth, “said Magrys. “It made me realize that I wasn’t quite ready to give it up. You only get once chance to do this kind of thing, so I have to take advantage of it. “
And he has done just that.
He has gone 17-4 this season (heading into last weekend’s action) and is currently ranked 15th in the country by The Wrestling Mall. Magrys is ranked No. 1 in the MAC at 184, and his 8-5 win over conference rival Alex Camargo of Kent State (ranked No. 16 by TWM) on Jan. 12th likely secured the No. 1 seed at the MAC championships March 4-5 at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.
“Beating Alex was a big, “said Magrys. “He’s tough, so it’s always going to be a hard seven minute match when you wrestle him. “
But winning a conference title is just one of the things that he wants to accomplish before leaving Eastern Michigan.
“I want to be MAC champion this year, “said Magrys. “But my goal is to go to nationals and prove to myself that I’m one of the better wrestlers in the country. It doesn’t matter what place I take or if I place at all, I just want to wrestle like I know I can. I don’t want to leave the sport of wrestling knowing that I could have wrestled better. I’m just going to go out there and wrestle the very best that I can. “
His coach sees a hungrier, more determined wrestler this season.
He is a great example, “said Branch. “He got a taste of what the national tournament was like last year and all it did was refuel him.”
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