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One second is all that stood between Princeton University then-freshman 125-pounder Marc-Anthony McGowan and a NCAA Wrestling Championships quarterfinal match with Rutgers’ Dean Peterson last year.
One second, and McGowan would have been one win away from becoming an All-American and keeping alive his goals of a national title.
But with one second remaining in his second-round match against North Carolina State’s Vincent Robinson, McGowan was taken down and a 4-3 lead turned into a 6-4 defeat.
Robinson went on to win the national title. McGowan lost his next match and was eliminated from the tournament.
Beginning on Thursday, McGowan has a chance to right a wrong. He is seeded 10th at 125 pounds in this year’s tournament, which will be held Thursday to Saturday in Cleveland.
“(Robinson’s) outcome never really related to my thoughts or beliefs, in any sense,” said McGowan. “I always thought I’m the best. The reason I was winning the match was because of my mindset of I was the best. No matter my seed or anything else, I knew my capability.
“It stung, but if anything it stung to lose a heart-breaker in the last second and not be able to accomplish your dreams and goals. Would I have beaten Dean Peterson? I lost to him earlier in the year, but to say Robinson won so that means I would have won, 125 never plays out like that. That wasn’t my thought process, calculating results in transitive ways. My thought process is me at my best is better than anybody.”
As McGowan came off the mat he told his coach, Joe Dubuque, his dream was over. Dubuque tried to re-focus his freshman’s goals on coming back and becoming an All-American but didn’t think he was successful.
“The way you handle a match when you’re winning with 30 seconds left, the tactics you put in, he didn’t do those and he learned the hard way,” said Dubuque. “He didn’t handle the loss the right way, and he ended up losing the next match. My sophomore year in college I got upset in the first round and came back and took eighth. His goal wasn’t to be an All-American, his goal was shattered, but you have to ask yourself what can I salvage to help me next year?”
McGowan admitted he had trouble putting the loss to bed, literally. He was about to go to sleep, then saw a video of his last-second defeat on TikTok and he spent three to four hours staring at the ceiling, re-living the moment.
“Emotionally and mentally, I might have checked out a second, it drained me, it was the most heart-breaking loss of my career,” said McGowan. “I cut weight, tried to take my mind off it but seeing that video I couldn’t reset my mind.”
McGowan wasn’t at his best last year because of a shoulder injury that kept him off the mat for a month leading into the Ivy League tournament, which he won.
McGowan injured his shoulder again this year in a match against Lehigh All-American Sheldon Seymour, which he seemed to have won on a last-second takedown before the points were waved off under review.
The Blair product missed a couple weeks, and while he is still dealing with the injury, he said it is much better than last year. McGowan expects he will need surgery after the season.
“He’s definitely managing it, but it won’t stop him from winning a national title,” said Dubuque.
Dubuque points to an interesting stat when it comes to McGowan. He has five losses this year and in those defeats has given up just one takedown.
An example: In the season-opening Princeton Open, McGowan dominated Rider’s Tyler Klinsky - the No. 11 seed in the NCAA bracket - by a 14-2 score in the semifinal, then dropped the championship match, 3-0, to Oregon State’s Maximo Renteria.
“He’s very talented, he works hard, but he holds himself back,” said Dubuque. “He’s learned a lot of lessons. I see a different guy. I think he’s in a really good spot and willing to make hard adjustments.”
The sophomore can be as explosive as anybody but also tends to over-think situations. McGowan agreed his cerebral nature helps him on the mat, but also can get in the way.
“It’s been hard, with the injuries and inconsistencies, my confidence has gone through peaks and valleys and it’s not optimal,” said McGowan. “As much as I love to be super analytical, it’s a blessing and a curse. I have a fear of getting taken down, when I should thinking if I get taken down, I’ll get two or three of my own.”
After McGowan came back from his latest injury, he won three straight matches before facing the No. 1 seed in the NCAA bracket, Penn State’s Luke Lilladahl. McGowan stalled out and lost by disqualification.
“There were a lot of factors, some external factors that go beyond a wrestling match,” said McGowan. “It wasn’t a great showing. I feel like mentally, I got a little flustered, didn’t res-et myself. I had a game plan, it didn’t work and I didn’t adapt to it.”
McGowan carried the loss into the Ivy League tournament. He scored seven points on a late scramble to beat Columbia’s Sulayman Bah, 9-2, in the semifinal, then dismantled Penn’s Davis Motoyka, 10-2, in the finals in a performance that showed what the Tiger standout is capable of heading into this week.
Asked if the Motoyka victory or the Klinsky win was his best match or if it was another - perhaps a major decision over another NCAA qualifier, Pittsburgh’s Tyler Chappell - McGowan thought about it and said none of them.
“I’ve had some great performances, I’ve had some bad performances, but my potential has yet to be shown,” said McGowan. “Hopefully that will come in the next three days.”
McGowan believes he is ready to exorcize last year’s demons this weekend because he doesn’t want to sit on another painful loss for six months like he did a year ago.
“I have a tough road, but it is what it is,” said McGowan. “You have to get through tough draws if you want to win a national title. It’s five matches left in the season and regardless of the result I have to sit with it for the next six-to-eight months, Those are very long months when you don’t achieve the things you want to accomplish.
“Those feelings (stink) to deal with, I know how it felt last year. In my head, I’m just ready to let things fly.”
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