As he first set foot in Mayser Gymnasium, Richard Durso ’15 had a funny feeling he would end up where he did. Over spring break, Durso was the sole Diplomat to represent F&M at nationals in St. Louis. Although he didn’t place, Durso believes his time at nationals amounted to the best wrestling experience he has had in his 14 years.
“[Nationals] was the best experience I’ve had by far,” Durso said. “It was nationally televised and it was all over the Internet and over 100,000 people attended over the course of the weekend.”
“My goal at the beginning of the year was to make it to nationals,” Durso added. “I didn’t win any matches, but it put everything in perspective so I can come back next year and earn a top eight spot hopefully.”
Durso, a 141-pounder, made his nationals debut against Ohio State’s Hunter Stieber, the fifth-seeded wrestler in the weight class. After falling to Stieber 4-2, Durso squared off against North Carolina’s Evan Henderson 5-1 in the consolation bracket.
Even though Durso didn’t come away with a victory, assistant coach Matt Greenberg feels Durso grew a lot as a wrestler just by watching the best wrestlers in the country. Most importantly, Greenberg believes their trip to nationals helped humanize the event, proving every wrestler there can be beat.
“Watching some of the later rounds, [Durso] was so into it,” Greenberg said. “It was disappointing to be there and not be wrestling in the later rounds. Nationals is this thing that you hear about, but until you get out there you don’t realize everyone there has two arms, two legs and can be beat. You can actually get out there, grab it, and make it happen. It’s not something that’s unrealistic.”
“[Nationals] made me really excited for next year and has made me really want to train hard [to get ready],” Durso said. “I realized I can place and I’m not just wrestling to hang in there and I can become an All-American.”
For Greenberg, Durso’s winless appearance at nationals didn’t damper the experience. To him, it was still important and it was still a worthwhile experience.
“I think overall it was a positive experience, even though we would have liked him to get a couple wins,” Greenberg said. “I think that he got a chance to wrestle against the best wresters in the country. We came away with a guy who believes he should All-American.
To become an All-American, Durso recognizes he needs to get better in several areas. Both he and Greenberg have narrowed down areas to focus on and are excited to get to work now that they have an entire offseason to work together. Perhaps most importantly, Durso and the coaching staff want to make sure he gets his weight up so he can compete on a level field in the 141-pound weight class.
“He needs to get bigger,” Greenberg said. “He came in and he was legitimately a 133-pounder. He needs to become a legitimate 141-pounder. We want him to be scoring a lot more points on top. The way he ended his season, he’ll start at the same point. Inheriting the role as team leader will help keep him going.”
That leadership role will be important moving forward. Both Durso and Greenberg believe his unique experience at nationals, one that no other member of the team has had, puts him in a strong position to lead. Going forward, the team will be expecting Durso to fill some of the leadership void that will be left when Matt Fullowan ’12, Colin Ely ’12, Matt Latessa ’12, and David Pucci ’12 graduate in May.
“As far as [head coach Mike Rogers] and myself are concerned, we believe he should be an All-American,” Greenberg said. “We explained to him that we expect him to be a leader; he’s not a freshman anymore. He’s going to have to step up and be the rock of our program. With Rick, he wants it, he needs it, and he’s going to do it. He was not happy [losing].”
“I’m still the young one on the team,” Durso said. “But yeah, I can definitely step into a leadership role and show the guys a couple things that helped me get to nationals.”
Having a representative in St. Louis to compete in nationals was a nice exclamation point for the team. After starting a little slow with some disappointing performances, the Dips finished strong, placing four at the EIWA conference championships and winning the Rupp Cup by dominating Millersville University for the second straight season.
“We had four guys place at Easterns,” Greenberg said. “I’m not sure that’s happened before.”
For Greenberg, the last part of the season has been bitter sweet: despite the success, the end of the season has meant seeing the program’s four seniors wrestle in their final matches. There’s a lot to look forward to, however, as these seniors have lain the groundwork for what should be a bright future for F&M wrestling. Combined with a recruiting class that should turn some heads, that future may be closer than many think.
“I think all of our seniors have made us proud,” Greenberg said. “We have a lot of guys in that locker room who are exciting. I think everyone is ready to go [next year]. We have one of the best recruiting classes in the program’s history. It’s an exciting time.”
Durso’s success this season has helped generate a newfound interest in the wrestling program this season. It will be wrestlers like Durso who continue to strengthen and grow the program.
It’s been awhile since the team felt like it was an important member of the campus community, and even though the season didn’t necessarily go exactly as planned, Greenberg believes the team made huge strides in generating interest amongst the students, faculty, and alumni.
“We want to send a huge thank you out to the students,” Greenberg said. “It’s been awhile since we filled [Mayser] on a nightly basis. Our more exciting matches and our raffles at every match really boosted interest. It was the first time in awhile that we really felt like we belonged. We’re really excited to be doing it again next year.”
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