By Lori Shontz
Of the Post-Dispatch
When he’s wrestling a home match, he enters the ring – at a dead sprint – to the strains of “the Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme). “After the match, he sprints directly back to the wrestling room for an additional workout that takes advantage of his elevated heart rate.
Nothing makes Oklahoma State heavyweight Steve Mocco’s heart race like a wrestling match. Nothing makes him more excited. Once while watching his older brother Joe compete, he got so caught up in the match that he ran out of the stands and grabbed the leg of Joe’s opponent.
“I was like, ‘Get him out of here,’ “Joe Mocco said. “It was all right, though; it was funny. … He was 5 years old. “
Mocco’s intensity has never waned, and his skills are at an equally high level. He last lost a collegiate match in 2002, and he won two more matches Thursday in the opening rounds of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Savvis Center. He is the top-seeded heavyweight and the 2003 NCAA champion (he took an Olympic redshirt last season), and it goes without saying that Mocco wants again to win every match this season.
Which is why he added a little something extra.
“My goal this season is just that every time I step out on the mat, I want to make the person never want to step back out again, “Mocco said. “If he has to step back out on me, he’ll be cringing. I want him looking at the chart and seeing who he’s going to have to wrestle in the wrestlebacks. “
“I just keep that one goal in mind, “he added. “I want him to cringe when he thinks he’s going to have to feel my hand on his head, or me blowing through him in a double leg, or squeezing his head when he’s on his back. “
So far this season, his plans are proceeding as expected. Except for escapes, Mocco didn’t allow an opponent to score until the Big 12 final. In Thursday’s first round, American University heavyweight Adam LoPiccolo managed three points during Mocco’s 14-3 victory. In the second round, Mocco pinned Peter Ziminski of Eastern Illinois in 1 minute 13 seconds.
And then, of course, he ran off the mat at top speed.
“Sometimes we have to tell him to slow down, “said Oklahoma State’s club coach, Olympian Daniel Cormier, who often drills with Mocco. “He always feels like he can better himself through more work. We don’t have a problem with that. “
Mocco was practically born to be a wrestler. He agitated his family constantly, asking when he could join Joe at practice, and finally his father said he could join Joe’s team when he could do 25 push-ups. By age 6, Mocco had reached his goal.
Although he was big even when he was little, Mocco’s quickness set him apart. “I wrestled more like a heavyweight because I didn’t do anything, “Joe Mocco said, laughing. “He wrestles more like a 157-pounder; he does a lot. “
Mocco’s signature move is the foot sweep, which Cormier believes he perfected when he played judo as a youngster. (His sister, Katie, is one of the United States’ top-ranked judo players.)
After winning four New Jersey state titles at prep powerhouse Blair Academy, Mocco went to Iowa with the understanding that he would be able to take an Olympic redshirt in 2004. He was an NCAA finalist in 2002 and went undefeated en route to the title in 2003.
Then he took a year off to train for the Olympics. “I wasn’t doing it for experience, “he said. “I thought I could win. “But he finished third at the trials, and that experience made him realize that he had to move on to meet his long-term goals.
Iowa coach Jim Zalesky agreed to release him, and Mocco signed with Oklahoma State.
“I got a lot out of that program, “Mocco said of Iowa. “Coach Zalesky taught me a lot. (Assistant coach Tom) Brands was one of my mentors, one of my idols. I looked up to him. But when Coach Brands left, I felt like I needed a change. It was nothing they did wrong or anything like that, but I needed something different to get myself better. “
Cowboys fans welcomed the transfer, and while not everyone around the country regards him with such affection, that doesn’t bother Mocco.
“People here love me, and I think a lot of other people hate me, “he said, sitting in the Oklahoma State wrestling room after a match in early February. “Either way, I get them excited about watching wrestling, so I’m doing my job. Whether they’re booing me or cheering me, at least they’re into the match. You know, you’re not booing someone if you don’t care.”
Wrestling Gear
