OMAHA, Neb. — The early morning workouts, the long runs, the feverish weight cutting, it was all worth it for Shane Valko when he got his hand raised Saturday night.
The Pitt-Johnstown senior had trained for an entire year for that one moment, a shot at redemption and an elusive national title.
Valko, a Forest Hills graduate, beat Nebraska-Omaha’s Cody Garcia 6-3 for the NCAA Division II championship at 133 pounds.
It helped make up for last year, when Valko fell one victory short of the title.
“Seeing that second place, I put it on my desk, in front my bed,” Valko said. “Every day I woke up I’d see that.”
He’ll have a different medal to look at now.
“It's one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had in my entire life,” Valko said. “I just keep replaying the match in my head. I can’t believe I just beat Superman.”
Garcia won a pair of national titles at
125 pounds before finishing third a year ago, when Valko lost to Kutztown’s Joe Kemmerer. Wrestling in front of his home crowd, Garcia entered the finals with a 48-0 record.
“If Shane was going to win the national title, we wanted it to be against him,” UPJ coach Pat Pecora said. “Garcia and Shane might be the two best Division II wrestlers in the tournament.”
Garcia scored a takedown in the closing seconds of the first period for a 2-0 lead, but Valko escaped early in the second. When Garcia tried an inside trip, Valko was ready and tossed the Nebraska-Omaha wrestler to his back for a takedown and two backpoints.
Garcia eventually escaped, but Valko was able to ride him out in the third for a riding-time point and the national title.
“I’m still thinking about it,” Valko said more than hour after his victory.
“Just knowing I did it is an unbelievable feeling. I have to thank God and my family.
“They gave me the strength to keep going.”
Valko, who beat Augustana’s Laramie Shaffer 4-0 in the semifinals, was the 10th national champion for UPJ and the first since Albert Miles won the 174-pound championship in 2008.
The Mountain Cats had two other All-Americans, as Patrick Walsh placed sixth at
184 pounds while Chris Dempsey was eighth at 285.
“You always want your seniors to leave their mark,” Pecora said.
“I was happy for Patrick Walsh to be an All-American in his final year, and it's important to have one coming back, which we do in Dempsey, who’s a junior.”
