By Blair Critchlow The Stanford Daily
Stanford, CA (U-WIRE) — The Stanford wrestling team’s two star competitors, co-captains Matt Gentry and Imad Kharbush, fought hard but fell short of their ultimate goals of individual national titles in St. Louis over a week ago. Despite going down in the tournament, both wrestlers can look back on great seasons for the Cardinal (6-7-1, 2-5-2 Pacific-10 Conference), and for Gentry, a senior, a great collegiate career.
After a first-round bye, the 174-pound Kharbush won his first match in a 4-1 decision over Eastern Illinois’ Kenny Robertson. The junior continued with a 16-7 drubbing of Northwestern’s Jake Herbert in his next bout.
The fourth round would be the beginning of the end as Kharbush fell 15-4 to Cornell’s Joe Mazzurco. In the consolation bracket, Kharbush dropped a razor-thin 3-2 decision to Mitch Hancock of Central Michigan. That loss eliminated Kharbush from competition and dropped him to honorable mention All-American status.
“All in all, it was bittersweet, “Kharbush said. “It definitely did a lot for my confidence. The tournament showed me that I’m at a level I need to be at to be a national champion. Obviously though, it was really disappointing to lose to a lower seed in my third match. It was even more disappointing in my fourth match to lose a shot at being an All-American.”
Gentry began his title defense at an amazing pace. After his own first-round bye, the third seed put on back-to-back clinics, earning 15-0 technical falls against Danny Clum of Wyoming in five minutes and then Matt Hill of Edinboro in three minutes and 29 seconds.
On the second day of competition, Gentry was matched up against sixth-seeded Trent Paulson of Iowa State. The Cardinal co-captain defeated Paulson via a 5-1 decision in the semifinals of the Midlands Invitational Tournament this past winter. Both 157 pounders battled hard to a 6-6 tie at the end of regulation. In overtime, Paulson was able to secure the upset by scoring a takedown for a sudden victory decision, 8-6.
The painfully close defeat ended the senior’s quest at repeating as national champion, and Gentry entered the consolation bracket to face seventh-seeded Matt Lebe of West Virginia. The Cardinal co-captain had another tight battle and once again the match was deadlocked, this time at three. Lebe scored a takedown for a 5-3 sudden victory decision.
“On the first day I was wrestling really well and I won my first two matches 15-0, which is a technical fall, and that doesn’t happen very often in the NCAAs, so I was happy, “Gentry said. “On the second day, I just had an off day. I wrestled two guys who I had beaten before, and I lost to them in overtime. I didn’t wrestle my best, and to win the NCAAs you need to wrestle at your best.”
Gentry ended his collegiate career short of where he wished, but the 157 pounder will remain a Cardinal wrestling legend. Gentry holds the school’s all-time and consecutive wins records and remains Stanford’s only wrestling national champion.
“I guess some career highlights would be obviously winning a national title, and being Pac-10 champion and Pac-10 wrestler of the year last year, “Gentry said. “But other highlights would be the fight. It’s winning the close matches, [or] fighting in the tough matches and pulling it out. I guess I would want my legacy to be someone who worked hard and was exciting to watch.”
Though this was his last wrestling for the Cardinal, Gentry will try to continue his career in international wrestling.
“I’m looking to see where I’ll be wrestling next year, “Gentry said. “They have some Olympic hopeful programs in different places around the country and I will visit them this spring.”
The Cardinal will try to tap their young talent next year, in an attempt to make up for the loss of Gentry, 125-pound starter senior Nathan Peterson and the other seniors.
Leading the charge will be Kharbush. The Stanford grapplers will return many starters next year and hit the offseason not only training physically, but also focusing on mental improvement.
“I think for me personally, I’ve been physically prepared to wrestle since I entered college, “Kharbush said. “I was lacking the confidence and mental game and now I think I’m there, and that will be the difference between this year and next year. Collectively, I’d like to see a lot more emphasis on the team. If our team works together, even though this is an individual sport, we can be firing on all 10 cylinders. If we’re all on the same page going into dual meets, I think we can have more success next season.”
(C) 2004 The Stanford Daily via U-WIRE
Wrestling Gear
