GREENSBORO – Thirty-three seconds. Hours, months, years of training and sweat and sacrifice, all down to 33 seconds on Mat 10 in the Greensboro Coliseum.
Zalen McCraw dropped to his knees on that mat Saturday evening and stared straight ahead at defeat inching closer. He trailed Lincolnton’s Jay Mills by two points in their 3A state championship match, had bottom position and knew he somehow needed to get out from under Mills.
In 33 seconds.
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As McCraw waited for Mills to take his stance, he had just one thought, the mindset that drove him through endless workouts, the belief that transformed him from the kid who didn’t take wrestling seriously to the winningest wrestler in Polk County history.
“All I was thinking about was who wants it more,” McCraw said. “Don’t let your last smash be a loss. Who wants it more?”
Wrestling is often a sport where the smallest of things can make the biggest of differences. As McCraw stood and struggled to get to his feet, then fell and had to do so again, time ticking away, Mills slid to the mat, looking to bring McCraw with him. It offered the smallest of weight shifts and openings, and McCraw pounced. He took the upper hand, quickly pushed Mills to his back and watched as the match referee smacked the mat, signalling a pin.
Fourteen seconds remained.
Nineteen seconds from wanting it more to having it all.
“He almost gave me a heart attack,” said Polk County head coach Mark Emory. “But he came back, does what he does.”
Mills pounded his head on the mat in disappointment. McCraw raced into Emory’s arms, then looked up, fingers raised, relief and satisfaction more than evident.
McCraw joins the names of Wolverine state champions mentioned with reverence in Polk County’s mat room – Jim Ollis, Austin Ollis and Tyler Philpott. His 53-1 record this season is the third best winning percentage in school history, trailing only the undefeated seasons of Jim Ollis and Philpott, who won Polk County’s last state championship in 2011. He ends his career with more wins – 176 – than any Polk County wrestler ever.
He can add state champion to that list of accomplishments.
“I just thank God for the ability that He’s blessed me with,” McCraw said. “It just feels amazing. Just absolutely amazing. I’ve been working for this for five, six years, and I never thought it would come true. But with hard work and dedication, anything’s possible.”
McCraw had met Mills in the West Regional final a week ago, pinning the junior in the first round. So the two were not strangers when they stepped onto the mat amid the din and spectacle of the state championships.
McCraw scored the first takedown and led 4-1 before Mills notched a takedown late in the second period, evening the score. Mills took a 5-4 lead with an escape early in the third period, but a stalling penalty gave McCraw a point and tied the match.
With time winding down, Mills scored a takedown with 39 seconds left for an 8-5 lead, but was then again called for stalling, making it 8-6 and sending the duo back to the center of the mat for the final 33 seconds.
“I had seen him in the regional finals and I stuck him first period there, but you never count. You never count,” McCraw said. “He wrestled differently than he did the first time. It just came down to who wanted it more, and I just wanted it more.”
And now he has it, the quickest of moves turning near-defeat into the result of a lifetime.
“I just want to thank all the coaches that coached me over the years and just want to thank my family for sticking through all the early mornings and long nights,” McCraw said. “Thank you Mom and Dad.
“I wish I would have taken this a little more seriously when I was younger, but I can’t complain. Can’t complain.”
