All-American Hartman finishes 6th

By JONATHAN GUTH
MVI Sports

The last three matches didn’t end the way he wanted them to, but Belle Vernon Area graduate and Bucknell University junior Zach Hartman was pleased with his All-American performance that concluded Saturday evening on the podium at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
Hartman (13-3, 68-20) finished sixth in the 165-pound weight class after three days of wrestling concluded at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The former Leopard won his first three bouts to guarantee a spot on the podium and All-American status but suffered setbacks in the last three.
“I am still proud of myself, but I have a lot more to work on,” Hartman said. “I am looking at the process.”
Hartman won both bouts Thursday with an 8-6 decision over Gardner-Webb’s Rodrick Mosley and a 6-0 triumph over West Virginia’s Peyton Hall.
It wasn’t the way he wanted to clinch a spot on the medal stand, but Hartman’s medical forfeit victory over Virginia Tech’s Mekhi Lewis, who won a national title in 2019, moved him into the semifinals Friday evening.
“Whenever I found out he wasn’t wrestling, I was kind of pissed off, to be honest,” Hartman said. “I am not wrestling to make All-American status, I am wrestling just to wrestle, and that to me was a lost opportunity. He was dealing with that shoulder injury for a while, and I have props to him for even making it to the quarterfinals and winning those first two matches. I wish him a speedy recovery, and if I could, I wish I was able to wrestle a healthy Lewis.”
Hartman dropped a 9-2 decision to Stanford’s Shane Griffith to fall back into the consolation semis. The bout was tied at two on the scoreboard with 35 seconds left in the third period, but Griffith had riding time locked up and technically a one-point lead. Hartman went for a takedown but was caught and taken to his back to trail 8-2. He fought off his back, but time ran out and Griffith had the seven-point win.
“I knew he was tough on his feet and I was trying to get him off-balance by doing something a little nifty,” Hartman said. “I knew I was down in the hole by a point, and I had to do something. I probably should have been more patient and set up a shot that would have been a little bit more favorable, but the past is the past.”
Griffith went on to win the national championship, which was one of the more inspiring stories of college wrestling’s premier event, as administrators at the school are going to drop the Cardinal wrestling program. Griffith wore a blank singlet with no team logo present and had a warm-up shirt that read “Keep Stanford Wrestling.”

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